I Fell for a Killer

Chapter 2

Three days have passed since the incident and meeting my mysterious savior in a white hood. It was now Monday, which meant I had work. I volunteer down at the animal shelter, but since I contributed so much time with the little guys they decided to give me a $12 a day wage. I hesitantly got out of my comfortable and warm bed and stretched my limbs. I saunter over to the bathroom, taking a shower and washing my face. I stop and stare at myself in the mirror. I had obvious dark circles around my eyes from the lack of sleep making me look dead. I sighed and went on with my daily routine. I threw on my plain black bra and matching underwear, a baby blue T-shirt with the shelters logo and branding, black leggings, and my black stripes on white adidas. I stride out of my room and into the kitchen to quickly make myself a cup of coffee.
"Where're you going?", I hear my mom ask behind me. "Work", I simply answer like it was obvious, "Oh, well while you're out buy me some more smokes, I'm all out", she says while opening the window and lighting her last cigarette. I snicker,"You don't need anymore, stop smoking already, that shit's gonna kill you someday", I say emotionlessly. She lets out a nasty cough like laugh before taking another drag, ending our conversation completely. I shake my head and grab my bag, making my way out of the apartment and down to the parking lot. I get in my old Ford Focus and drive down to the Riverndale animal shelter.
When I arrive at the shelter, I can already hear the many barks of dogs. I feel bad for all of them, just wanting a home to call their own. I wish I could just adopt them all or at least one to make a difference, but I live in an apartment where animals aren't allowed, better yet afford one in the first place.
I exit and lock the car as I make my way to the entrance of the building, tie my chestnut hair up in a high ponytail in the process. I open the front doors and am instantly greeted by the shelter receptionist, Lucas Windam, my best friend since middle school. "Yo, Maya. Where've you been?", he asks, furrowing his brow in concern. "What do you mean? I've been home all weekend", I say before sudden realization hit me, I turned my phone off and haven't checked it since Friday. "Oh yeah, I turned my phone off, sorry Lucas", I say apologetically. "It's fine, I was just trying to call you to tell you that we got another special case in", he says, signaling that the new animal was in the back. "What's the special case?", I ask, "The dog has abandonment issues so he won't eat or let anyone come near him", he reads on the dog's files. "They said they found him in an abandoned house near the outskirts of town, he must have been there for at least a couple weeks", he says, voice thick with sadness. Both Lucas and I love animals, when we first met it was the first thing we bonded over and we decided together to volunteer at the town shelter.
He places a hand on my shoulder and gives me a reassuring smile,"Cmon, I'll bring you to him", he leads me into the back where they usually keep the animals that don't get along with others or have disabilities.
We stop in front of a cage with an Alaskan Malamute curled up as far from the entrance as he can. Lucas hands me the keys to his cage, "Work your magic, I believe you can get in better in no time, just - be careful in there", he says. I give him a confident smile as I unlock the cage and enter slowly. The dog instantly noticed my presents and growled, I crouch down to his level making sure to move a slow as possible to not frighten him. "It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you", I whisper to reassure him. I extend my hand out to him, his low growl grows louder as I move closer. I've done this many times with cases like this, I believe there was no such thing as an aggressive pet, just an animal that is reflecting their previous owners treatment since they don't know any better until someone shows them kindness and love.
My hand was now two inches away from the dog's face, he sniffs it a couple times before he stopped growling all together. He rubs against my hand and lays down on my lap, almost knocking me down in the process. "Aww, you're just a big sweetheart aren't you", I coo as I continue to pet him.
After spending some time with the once detached Alaskan Malamute, I work with some more animals before clocking out and walking out to the parking lot. "Maya, Wait!", Lucas calls out, I stop midway from getting in my car to listen. "What's up?" I ask, "I-um, I was wondering what you're up to this weekend, cuz I thought I'd be fun if we could go up to my parents lake house to just get away from it all for a couple days", he rambles. I smile, Lucas knows about my family situation and the stress that comes with it, so I was grateful for his kindness and reliability as a friend. "Sure, sounds great", I answer, he lets out a sigh of relief, "Great, I'll pick you up this weekend", he says. We exchange goodbyes and drive off.
When I get home I notice that my mom decided to go into work today so she won't be home until later. I exit the car and lock it in the process and enter the building. I take out my apartment keys as I approached the door to my apartment and unlocked it.
The room was completely dark and awfully quiet. 'Huh, that's weird, usually mom would forget to turn off the TV or something', I think to myself. I glance over at the digital clock on the kitchen counter, it was 7:12 pm. I kicked off my shows and put them on the shoe rack my the door, and then walk to the kitchen. I hang my bag up on a hook in the wall and open the fridge. Once again my mom forgot to go grocery shopping, "I guess it's PB&J again tonight", I sigh. I make my sandwich and head to my room, open my door and not bother to turn on the lights. I remove my pony tail and brush out my hair with my fingers. I change out of my work clothes and throw on sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt. I sit on the edge of my bed as I finish up the last bites of my sandwich. I notice my phone on the nightstand and pick it up to turn it back on. I press the home button until the Apple logo shows up.
Instantly my phone is spammed with missed calls and texts, all from Lucas. I was going to send him a quick text until I felt a slight draft come through my room, making me shiver. I look up from my phone to see my window wide open. 'Did mom open that? Cuz I sure as hell didn't', I ask myself.
I get up and stride over to the window and shut it, locking it in the process. I turn to go back to bed, until I'm met with the last person I thought I'd see today.