The Pack Slut

Twenty Three- Caller ID

I follow Darren's white truck down a long driveway. It is surrounded with tall trees on both sides that reminds me of the woods back home.

Except that's not home anymore.

I couldn't silence the dark thoughts but I could ignore them.

I park next to Darren and shut off my engine. I follow him silently up to the door of his house with my bag in hand. The house looks cozy and small but neat enough.

"I have a dog," he warns as he unlocks the door with his key. "He's friendly enough with strangers though."

"Shouldn't be a problem," I nod with a forced smile and Darren opens the door for me to enter after him.

Inside, the first thing I notice are the books. There are stacks of them that overfill a bookcase and then more piled on the ground. There is a saggy couch and a large chair in the main room. As I follow Darren through the house I scope out the light green kitchen and pass by two shut doors that I guess are his bedroom and a bathroom.

It's not as I expected—a small house, yes—but neat as a pin despite the obvious age of the walls and furniture. Nothing like how I imagined the dirty man from the gas station would live.

Darren notices my astound nosiness and chuckles, "my mother always insisted that I kept a clean room."

Just then, a large brown lab trots in the room. He has a bit of grey surrounding his muzzle and he has the kindest brown eyes I've ever seen on a dog.

"That's Bear," at the sound of his name, the dog's ears perk up and he hurries over to greet Darren. Darren bends over to scratch Bear behind the ears and the dog rewards him with a frantic wag of his tail. "Bear, meet Nora. Nora, meet Bear."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Bear," I sink to my knees and Bear jogs over to me as if I'm his old time friend.

"I don't have a guest room but you can take my bed and I'll grab the couch," Darren offers and I rise to my feet.

"Nonsense, I'll take the couch. It's your bed, I wouldn't want to kick you out of it." Darren looks at me skeptically so I add, "I want to sleep on the couch. You wouldn't deny me, would you?"

"I don't think I could deny you anything," Darren laughs and then points at the second closed door on my left. "That's the bathroom, you can go first. Towels are in the cabinet."

I mumble a thanks and haul my suitcase into the tiny bathroom. Between the sink, the toilet, and the shower, there isn't much room but I wiggle around until I balance the suitcase on the countertop of the sink. I open one of the cupboards and take out a clean red towel. I place it on a hook near the shower and pull back the curtain. I stare at my distorted reflection the facet for a moment.

"Nora?" A knock from the real world makes me jump and I smack my elbow on the wall.

I hiss and rub my sore elbow before responding, "Yeah?" I couldn't keep the slight edge of fear out of my voice.

"Do you ah need help or something? You've been in there a while and that water hasn't turned on so I uhh..." Darren trails off and I squeeze my eyes shut and tip my head back.

I'm not there anymore, I remind myself. I'm in the present now.

"Uh yeah, I couldn't figure out how to turn the shower on. I got it now, thanks," I hope my lie is convincing. Darren mumbles an ok through the door and then I listen to the sound of his footsteps walk away. I let out a sigh of breath I didn't realize I was holding in and turn back to the shower.

I reach out and flick the facet so that shower-head springs to life with running water. When I am scrubbed clean and rinsed off, I shut the water off and step out of the shower with the towel wrapped around me. I dry my body and dress in a thermal long sleeves with black sweats. I leave my hair down to air dry and exit the bathroom.