I'm His

14

At first he doesn't believe me. Chance stands still, that cool mask breaking for a second just to show a hint of reservation. "Are...are you being serious right now?" I try to keep my face blank, but I know that I'm too upset right now to actually keep it up.

"Yes." The words sound like they're coming from another person's mouth, ten billion miles away. "Why would I even joke about something like that right now?" His jaw works, teeth clenched as he stares at me with wide eyes.

"Then go. Go!" Turning from me, he slumps back onto the bed, head in his hands. "Get out of here while you still can." Numb, I go into the closet, grabbing one of my overnight bags. There's so much of my stuff here, I can't hope to pack it all. 'And so much of it is stuff Chance got for me...' I don't want anything he bought me, I don't want anything to do with this life anymore. Not even-

Halfway through shoving a pair of pants into my bag, my eye catches on a new piece, hung right where I would be able to see it as soon as I walked in. My suit. '...When did that even get here?' It looks perfect, pristine, ready and waiting for me. The sight of it is like getting socked in the stomach, a reminder of what I'm throwing away. This house and the people who live in it are unquestionably dangerous. What happened downstairs is just a taste, a glimpse of what they've been hiding from me. Tears blurring my vision, I quit packing half  way and just take whatever is within reach. Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I march away. At the threshold of the door, I turn and give Chance a parting look. He may as well be a statue. He hasn't moved an inch. '...Am I waiting for him to stop me? As if I've ever let him stop me before.' With that in mind, I go downstairs.

The living room is empty, with nothing but the bloodstains on the floor making it seem different than usual. 'Where did they go?' I open the front door, whistling for Jazlyn. 'Is Hideyoshi okay?' My girl comes galloping to my side, tail waving, ready for whatever I decide to do next. Walking down the long driveway, I exit the gates and start walking down the road, phone in my hand dialing for a cab.

~~

Dust covers every flat surface in my parents' house, thick as a coat of paint that makes me want to sneeze in every direction. The emptiness of the place hits me more than the state of disarray. It's obvious no one has been here since I last dropped by.

The rest of the night is spent with the hopelessly mundane task of getting the place cleaned up. 'How many months has it been now?' The last time I came by, Chance and I were still prickly strangers. He didn't trust me and I loathed him. 'He was so rude all the time. Why didn't I take the hint and run?'  I pause before dropping my head. 'Right. Because he was supposed to help me find my parents.' Chance was the only link I had to them. Everything else was too dangerous or pointless. 'Not to mention...he kidnapped me.' That's over now. All of it. The good AND the bad. "It all feels like a wild dream, now. That's all it should have been. There's no place for someone like me in a world like that...well, I suppose there's no place for me in this world either." Sitting down on the couch, I lean back and sigh, running my fingers through my hair and tugging on the strands.

Jazlyn - who had been pacing back and forth from the kitchen to the living room - finally rests in front of me. She props her head on my shoulder, quiet, but listening. "Hmm." I laugh, sounding tired. "You really look like you understand what I'm saying. Have I told you lately that you're the best dog in the world?" She woofs at me happily. Bending down, I put my arms around her neck. 

~~

The next few days are spent trying to get the house back in order. The utilities needed to be turned on, for one thing, and a mountain of overdue bills. 'That's what happens when you vanish into thin air and join the mob, damn idiot.' Coming back is more than just a matter of trying to slip back into my old life, trying to make it fit like a badly assembled shoe that I don't want to fit into anyway. Jazlyn starts barking incessantly. Pulling my head free from under the sink - duct tape can really only do so much with a leaky faucet - I look up at my dog, who is doing a familiar dance by the back door. "Oh. Need to go outside? I got you, honey, I got you." Trying to get up, I bang my head against the wooden frame. "Ow!" I fall onto the floor, clutching my head. Jazlyn sniffs me curiously, tail wagging. I'm waiting for a joke, a scathing comment, or an offer to help. It takes me a moment to realize I'm bracing myself. "Urgh. It's too quiet in here." Instead of just letting Jazlyn roam around the backyard by herself, I hook on her leash and take her for a walk. Jazlyn only had a few cans of dog food left, so I grab a bag of the dry stuff while we're out.