"You ain't nothin' but a hound dog, cryin' all the time", Tori was singing aloud for Zeus as she washed their dinner plates in the rusty kitchen sink. Zeus loved to hear Elvis, Tori liked the oldies so she figures he was stuck with it whether he liked it or not. The dough eyed dog was watching her so carefully in hopes she had left a piece of hamburger on her plate for him. He gobbled down the last bite as she tossed it on the floor to him.
"Crazy dog you should chew your food. You know so maybe you could taste it for once." Tori giggled as he turned his head to one side. She had no TV and so she read a book before getting ready for bed.
Zeus got up quickly from his usual spot at Tori's feet. He stared down the front door and gave a low and gnarly growl. Tori could now hear the truck coming up the dirt driveway to her house. Zeus was a good guard dog and was a great judge of character. He had once snapped at a man who came up behind them at the park with bad intentions.
Tori pulled back the sheet she had covered the front window with just far enough to make out an older Chevrolet pickup. Her stomach tightened as if she was about to give a speech in front of a thousand strangers. It was Andy's truck. Even in the pale moonlight she was certain.
Zeus remained fixated on the front door as Tori looked around for a weapon in case she should need one. Andy had become obsessed with her after she had broke up with him. She didn't know what he was capable of. She didn't want to know.
Andy ran his bony fingers across the side of the old Pinto of Tori's. He stepped up onto the porch with heavy work boots and did not knock on the door.
"I know you're in there Tori. I just want to talk. I know things between us are in a weird place right now, but we can work it out."
Things were not in any place as far as Tori was concerned. But she did not respond as she hunkered down behind the recliner that Zeus had chewed half the fabric off of.
Tori's heart beat like a drum in an empty tunnel. So loud that she felt maybe Andy could even hear it from outside. She was scared to death and gripped the only weapon she could find in the house, an old steak knife she had stashed in a bottom drawer.
"Don't worry your pretty little head Tori. I will catch you out somewhere and we will have our talk." Her heart did not stop pounding even after she heard the truck crawl back down the driveway.
Zeus did not sleep with her that night. He never laid down at all. He sat like a gargoyle statue staring at that front door. Although he did not know Andy he could sense that he was a bad man. He also knew the way Tori had felt when he had arrived.
YOU ARE READING
Dead of Winter (2018)
Literatura Feminina"The wind is harsh and cold. The sound of it hits her ears like a thousand whips. It is a good pain. She hasn't felt anything other than numb for so long."
