The Bone Cutter

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

When we finally returned home after two whole days of being gone, I realized just how much I hated this place. I've always been aware at how much it felt like a prison but stepping into the front door took more strength than I expected it to. 

Leech ran to greet us, as a passing housemaid bowed to Inanis and I, before rushing back to the kitchen. I smiled at Leech, who was wagging ferociously, circling around my legs. He then ran over to Inanis, jumped up on his leg, and attempted to lick his hand. Inanis frowned and pushed the dog away, but he refused to give up, as he kept running around Inanis's feet.

"Disgusting thing." Inanis sneered as he tried once more to push the dog away with his boot. It didn't work.

Leech has grown attached to not only me, but Inanis as well. I wasn't fond of the idea of my dog loving Inanis almost as much as he loves me, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"He's happy to see you." I say with a frown, "Just pet him and he'll stop."

"Yes, well I'm not happy to see him so grab him or I will step on his back until the crack of his spine gratifies me."

I roll my eyes as I walked over and grab Leech from between his legs. "You're cruel."

"Yes, the sky is blue, and the sea is salty, I don't see your point."

I shoot him a look, and he waves me away before walking up the stairs, unbuttoning his coat as he did so.

Our conversation in the car once again resurfaced in my mind, and I felt myself become drawn to my husband, not necessarily in a concerned way, but I felt as thought my human decency was fighting to reassure him. Reassure him of what? I wasn't sure.

Instead, I waited until he left down the hall that was up the stairs, before I, with Leech in my arms, climbed up the stairs to hide in the guest bedroom.

A whole night of sleeping without Inanis anywhere near should be an exciting thought. Instead, I was left slightly unsatisfied by the silence of the room, nothing to be heard but Leech's soft footsteps on the carpet as he walked over to the bed and attempted to jump up. When he failed in doing so for the third time, I went over and picked him up, gently putting him on the bed as I quickly tore off my clothes and pulled on a basic oversized white T-shirt that I happened to steal from one of the other guest bedrooms. It seems Inanis kept not only spare clothes for guests, but a whole closet of fresh clothing for his oversized mother.

I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I wore one of her shirts as a nightgown, seeing as that's how it fit me.

I slipped into the bed with Leech and let him dig underneath the blankets until he found the perfect spot to lay, as he curled up against the curvature of my back.

After the day's traumatizing events, despite how exhausted I was mentally and physically, I couldn't sleep. I stared at the wall, then the door, then the shadowed corner of the room.

The blankets were warm with Leech with me, as he was growing bigger every single day. Yet, despite his warmth, and the muggy June heat, I still felt chilled, as though no matter what I did nothing could warm me.

I tossed and turned for what felt like hours. The night seemed as though it would never end, as I glanced at the clock for it to only read 1:06 in the morning.

I realized that this was becoming a habit. My inability to sleep seemed to stem from my dramatic husband, and the hundreds of ways that he crawls into my thoughts like a venomous spider.

I thought about pounding on his -our- bedroom door and shouting at him to leave me and my thoughts alone. I thought about telling him off, and insulting him, his mother, and his stupid job title.