Dearest Lottie

Day #200

"Who is Lottie, Aaron?"

I blinked, and sat up. A girl stood in front of me. A girl holding a puppy, no less. A girl and a puppy all in one. This was a living nightmare.

"Why do you ask?" I ask, nudging the bed with my toe.

"Because, Aaron, you have been writing this Lottie girl for weeks on end ever since you arrived here. Is she fake?"

"No! Th-they said that they would send all the letters to her! Is that a lie?"

Harlow simply shrugged. "I was not told that. As far as I know, they make a copy and keep it, so I assume they send the real letters to her. Don't worry about that."

I didn't calm, but I simply pushed it out of the front of my thoughts. "Why do you have a small dog?"

She petted it. "This is Skunk. We call her that because of her white belly."

"Are you aware that a skunk has their white stripes on their backs, not their bellies?"

Harlow did some movement with her eyes that suggested irritation. They rolled up, the irises tracing the top of her eyelids. Professor Cambridge did something of that sort quite a lot.

Even more awful, she set the rodent on the floor. I knew it wasn't quite the size of a rodent, but it was close. The thing was about the size of a small loaf of bread, it's legs giving it two or so inches to waddle around on, and sniff my foot. It was disgusting.

"You don't like Skunk, do you?"

I made the rolling eye motion. "No. Why are you in here?"

"I was told to come in and try to work with you. Basically, I'm here to test your brain's limits. You will probably think this will be fun."

"The only thing I will find fun is if you remove the pathetic excuse for a canine that is sniffing my shoe from the vicinity."

In defiance, she put her hands on her hips. "No. The dog stays, and I stay."

To show that I was not okay with this, I sat back against the wall at the top of the bed, and started writing a letter to Lottie.

'Dearest, Lottie,

There is a girl here now. I do not like her, not even the smallest fraction of a likable amount. She is beyond terrible, and I know that from being in the same room with her for less than five minutes. Harlow brough in a dog, and that is not what I want at all. I wish she would leave me alone so I may go back to my calculations.

Love, Aaron'