Just Off The Key Of Reason

Chapter 25: My Unpredictable Girl, You're Impossible Girl

Camila had put too much trust in Cornelius. He had been slightly less demonic after the kitchen sink fiasco, so she'd let him carry her away with his splotchy fur and happy eyes. But that hellion was lurking underneath. He was a loose cannon by now. Purely psychotic. Camila realized those happy eyes were crazy eyes and his splotchy fur was a devil's mask. He'd lulled her into a comfort zone, and then struck again in the worst way.

He had torn the head off of Lauren's Pooh Bear.

The head was in the middle of the living room floor, like Cornelius had set it there in some kind of grotesque display of pride. The body was a couple feet away. Decapitated, but not spewing fluff. Camila and Lauren had returned home before Cornelius could get that far.

It was like a murder scene.

Fucking Cornelius.

Camila stood in the doorway, blocking Lauren's view. Would it be traumatic to see a headless Pooh Bear strewn about the living room? Probably. Camila was approaching this like there was actually a dead body in there.

She was frozen. Should she call someone? The police? Probably not. Maybe animal control. Maybe a nice family with a big farm in the country.

Camila looked down at Lauren greeting all the other animals. Plus Cornelius. She didn't know what he'd done yet. Camila shoved him to the side and walked into the living room. She grabbed Pooh's head and body, and held them together so that she could show Lauren what happened without horrifying her.

She turned around and held them up with a pained expression, and Lauren looked over at her, dropping George when she saw what Camila was holding. The cat landed with an enormous thud and sauntered away nonchalantly. Lauren's eyes widened. She took a step forward and then stopped, just staring at the bear.

"It was Cornelius." Camila said quietly, gauging her reaction.

Lauren swallowed and her eyes flickered to Camila before looking around for the culprit. She looked betrayed. Camila managed to restrain herself from yelling "I told you so" because Lauren looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown.

It was her bear. She had the right to be dramatic.

Camila put Pooh carefully on the couch, wincing when his head rolled off, and stepped towards Lauren.

"Seal." Lauren whined, kneeling in front of the splotchy dog. She sighed and looked straight into his psycho eyes. "You're a meanie." She said sadly, tugging on his ears.

Then she stood up and turned to Camila with those puffed out cheeks and shiny eyes, and let Camila wrap her in a hug.

"He's not getting bacon with his dinner anymore." Lauren muttered into Camila's hair. "Or Sugar Puffs."

Alrighty. Just high-quality Pedigree dog food instead. That would show him.

"We'll fix him, bear." Camila said, pulling away from Lauren and tapping her on the nose. Lauren dropped down on the sofa and held Pooh's head and body in separate hands. She looked up at Camila helplessly.

Camila hurried to get the sewing kit out of the hall closet. When she returned, she found Cornelius trying to get Lauren to play with him with Pooh's head. Like a ball.

God. He really was a psychopath. Camila locked him in the bathroom and then sat next to Lauren.

"You can use green." Lauren blurted, watching Camila anxiously and seeing that all the other colors of thread were tangled. Just solid masses of color. How did they even get like that? The same way iPod headphones turn into tangled solid masses as well. Magically.