The Shedding Skin

Chapter Fourteen

Stephanie was fairly quiet as she listened to her sister inform her of everything. She only asked a few questions here and there about things. And she sat there processing the things she was told as Rebecca said,"It was weird. Just a random rabid dog in the locker room with us...we don't even know how it got there."

"It might have been that 'kid's' doing.",she said. Looking up at them as she continued,"I mean how else could a rabid dog get into the building undetected like that? She must've either been it or placed it there, right?"

They all looked at each other for a brief moment. It made sense but it still seemed too strange to be the case. But no one had any other theory for how it got there. And they all talked about what to do about the creature when Peggy came in. Morticia bit her lip as her Mother came in with a big bag of McDonald's. She hurried over to her eldest daughter's side as she said,"Hello, sweetie. I got you some dinner in case you were hungry."

"Thanks, Mom.",Stephanie said. Taking the bag from her hand as she said,"I got you some cheeseburgers and fries. I hope that's fine with you."

"Yeah that's fine.",she told her. Morticia fiddled with the remote as her Mother talked to her sister. She told her that the Doctor's were going to let her go in an hour. And that she should take it easy for a while. Stephanie promised her Mother that she would. Peggy found another chair and sat down next to her. Flipping through the channels, she asked,"Anything anyone wanna see in particular?"

"I think they got the 'It' thing playing on TNT.",Rebecca said. The series wasn't her favorite but she figured it was a good time waster. And she flipped to the right channel as she snuck a fry from her sister. Stephanie was too busy eating her burger to notice. Her Mom frowned a little as she said,"I'm not a huge fan of that book. The kids swore too much and that clown is just too freaky for words."

"When aren't clowns freaky?",Raven asked. It was a fair question. Most clowns were either unintentionally scary or just weird. They didn't have to do much to scare Peggy whenever she saw one. And she toyed with her purse as she watched the screen. Raven went to sit by Morticia as she asked,"So Peggy. Would it be cool if Morticia stayed over at my place tonight?"

Looking at her youngest daughter for a moment, she frowned slightly. Then she looked back at Raven as she said,"That's fine. I don't see any reason why she can't spend the night at your place."

Morticia thanked her mother while she glanced at Raven. It seemed odd that she wanted to spend the night at her place. But decided to ask her about it later when her Mother wasn't with them. Then she glanced over at Rebecca who seemed to be texting someone. And she guessed it was probably her own Mom or Dad. She figured that she was telling them where she was so they wouldn't be worried. After a few minutes, she looked at Raven and asked,"Would it be cool if I crashed at your place? My Dad said that he's going to be staying overnight at work and I don't wanna be alone."

"Yeah that's cool.",Raven answered. Peggy glanced at the young girl before she asked,"I'm sorry. I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Peggy Gossamer."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Gossamer. I'm Rebecca Sheldon.",she said. Rebecca put her phone in her purse and stretched. When the movie was over, they got out of the hospital. They stopped briefly at the Gossamer home to drop off Stephanie before heading to Rebecca's. She sat up in front with Peggy as she directed them to her place. It wasn't exactly what they expected either. Her home was an old house that looked fairly run down. The paint was peeling in a few places. And some of the shingles were missing as well. Neither of them expected this when they looked at Rebecca. They had expected her to live in a much different house. And when she noticed they were staring, she said,"My Dad's working on flipping this house so he can sell it."

That made enough sense and they didn't say anything about it. Rebecca ran inside and got the things she needed. All of them sat in silence on the way to Raven's place. As soon as they got there, she told her Mom that she loved her. And that she'd see her tomorrow. Her Mother told her that she loved her too and waved as she left them. And as soon as she was out of sight, she asked,"So what's with the sleepover thing?"

"I was worried that your Mom would hear us planning to get rid of the little girl.",Raven answered. She explained her fears as they walked into Paulina's place. Telling her that she worried Peggy would take it wrong or something like that. It sounded fair but she wished that Raven told her ahead of time. Sitting down, they started discussing ordering some food. Rebecca suggested getting pizza from Domino's. And the other girls agreed. Morticia got out her laptop from her bag and turned it on. She got to the website and asked,"So what kind of pizza do you guys want?"

"I vote we get the Philly Cheesesteak pizza.",Raven said. And Rebecca seconded the vote for it as well. Morticia picked that in a large then added a second pizza. She asked,"Would anyone object to having a pepperoni pizza with this?"

Neither girl said anything against it so she added it to the list. Along with some stuffed cheesy bread. When she finally got the order paid for, she said,"It'll be here in like an hour or so. I vote we watch some movies while we wait."

"Sounds fine by me.",Rebecca said. She hurriedly turned on the TV to TNT as she said,"I wanna see if they're showing more than one Stephen King movie."

"But if they're not?",Morticia asked. Rebecca shrugged her shoulders and she said,"Then we'll watch something else."