Best Served Cold

Handle With Caution

Note: Thanks for the patience, weekends I tend to be around my laptop less lately. Better rested and ready to write now. So the characters belong to MysteryBen and Artsy.

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            “Squire!” The cave was falling in on him, everything was cracking apart and crumbling, and somewhere Mystery was howling. “Squire!” He couldn’t move his own body. Someone was holding his arms and the cave kept crumbling.

            “SQUIRE!”

            The cave vanished as his eyes shot open. There was no cave-in, just Vivi shaking him as hard as she could.

            “V…v…v….v…”

            “Vivi I just got him a little calmer last night!” Lewis complained from Arthur’s mouth.

            “It’s an emergency!” Vivi dropped him and ran over to Arthur’s clothes pile on the floor, grabbing a few things. “I woke up to four missed calls from the vet.” She chucked her phone and a handful of froot-of-the-looms in various stages of cleanliness at his head.

            “Arthur!” Lewis practically shrieked, clawing the underwear away. “You STILL don’t wash them right away?”

            After his right arm finished swatting away the pungent undergarments, he yanked it around to scoop up the phone, clicking straight to the voicemails and putting it on speaker. Doctor Noble’s harried voice came on loud and clear.

            You have four new messages. First new message: Hello, Vivi? Doctor Noble here, we need you and your friend, ah what’s on the paperwork… Lewis, to come back quickly. Mystery is starting to wake up, and he’s showing signs of severe anxiety. Please call back. End of first message. Second new message. Hello Vivi? Doctor Noble again. We’ve had to sedate Mystery, he’s not ready to be moving like he is and he’s made three escape attempts, please call me soon. It might help him calm down to see you. End of second message. Third new message. Vivi? Vivi, what breed is this dog? Our normal sedatives aren’t working! I don’t want to have to pull out the larger tranquilizers but Mystery is beginning to display threatening behavior and he needs to be contained so no harm comes to our other patients. Call me now! End of third message. Fourth new message. VIVI YOU AND LEWIS NEED TO GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU LEFT HERE BUT YOU NEED TO COME GET IT! End of fourth message. There are no new messages in your mailbox.

             Arthur clicked the phone off, turning to Vivi, eyes wide. “Was that Mystery snarling the background?”

            “Sounded like it. I’ll leave you two to get dressed, but hurry.” She headed for the door.

            Arthur swung one leg over the edge of his bed, fully intending to stand and dress himself. Instead he found himself flat on his back, hands gripping the bedspread, gasping.

            “Squire!” Vivi was back at his side a second later. “What is it?” She peered at his face. “Is this that same thing as last night?”

            Arthur shut his eyes tightly, allowing Lewis to answer for him. “It’s pretty bad, Viv. He wants to get up but every time he does he has a panic attack.”

            “Because he was dropped from the ceiling of the cave?” Vivi guessed.

            Arthur felt Lewis pause, weighing his answer. They both knew it was more than just what Vivi had seen, but the rest would have to come later. “Mostly, yes. Right now even the distance from his head to the floor is too far."