SUBMIT✔ (DSD SERIES, BOOK TWO) WATTYS2020

Everything reminds me of you

JOHNATTAN'S POV

I open the door to my house but it doesn't feel like I'm home. The tapping of a dog's paws against the floor catches my attention as Roxie runs towards me.

She spots my person and stops in front of me lying on the ground whimpering.

Roxie hides her nose under her paws as she whines at me in dejection. She has been doing this for months, each time she hears the door opens she runs to it hoping to see her master. Months of disappointment have made her gloomy and most days she lies around whining and staring at people as they move about. She is depressed and misses her master as much as I do.

I take off my shoes at the door and walk towards her. I scratch behind her ears and ruffle her white fur, she lies there unresponsive to my caresses. I sigh as I pick her up and bring her into the hall. I place her on her red dog bed and she lies down looking up at me with empty eyes.

I throw my briefcase on the couch as I stare around the place. Her things litter the empty spaces: her furniture, her figurines and boxes filled with her stuff. These make my living room seem clustered but I could care less, everything for her is here. Everything except her.

Crash.

I walk briskly to the kitchen as something falls onto the floor smashing and I curse as I take in the situation I stumble on.

"Don't bend," I say to Alexis as she attempts to take up a broken glass plate from the floor.

Her brown dull eyes meet my electric blue ones that seem to have lost their shine and she forces a smile. Her wild curly hair is braided behind her back a bit longer than before and she is in a white T-shirt with 'Simple plan' written in a graffiti design on it and a pair of blue sweats.

"Hey Johnattan," she whispers as she steps away from the mess with a wobble. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I just got in," I reply and she nods.

She takes a seat on a stool around the island and rubs her swollen stomach breathing deeply. Lexi is now six months pregnant and she is already starting to feel extremely tired and fatigued. Her morning sickness has eased up and regardless of my warnings to stay in bed and rest or not to overwork her body she continues to.

"Lexi, you can't be bending like that with your belly," I scold. "It may affect the baby."

She releases a sigh and I place my hand on her shoulder as she shakes her head. "I can't just sit around doing nothing. It's tiring and my body always being tired makes me feel uncomfortable."

"I know but you have to take it easy for the baby. Did you take the pills as instructed today?"

She nods as her facial expression turns into a sad one. She looks out into space, biting her lip and frowns tears welling up in her eyes. "I miss Christina so much. She's the one who's supposed to be here helping me not you. No offence."

"I understand. I want her back too," I say softly as move to clean up the mess.

It has been three months since Christina ran away and we are still feeling the full effect of it as if it only happened yesterday.

Roxie misses her owner, Lexi misses her best friend and I... I miss the woman I love. I miss my Christi.

After Christina left, Lexi's health took a turn for the worse and she had been admitted into a hospital. They gave her iron tablets to help with her blood count and advised ways to help to lower her blood pressure because the fact she was pregnant meant she could not be given those pills.