Attachment (Unedited Rough Draft)

Chapter 1

My phone started to sing the chorus of The Police song Roxanne as I walked into the woods near where I rented a one-bedroom apartment in a fourplex building set at the end of a dirt road.

"I will deal with you later mom, I need to clear my head first." I responded to the phone singing as I let the call go to voicemail.

I had only been in this apartment for a couple of months and hadn't explored the woods near it yet, but after having a bad day at work that ended in a network failure that sent everyone home, I wanted to clear my head away from everything. I had stopped by my apartment long enough to change into a baggy Fender t-shirt and harness up my Blue Nose Pitbull, Cupid, to join me.

"You ready to check this out?" I asked Cupid as she tilted her head at me.

Cupid stayed by my side as we followed the path deeper into the woods. One of the neighbors had told me there was an old manor house left from the original owners of the property. The fourplex we lived in had been remodeled but at one point had been living quarters for gatekeepers and groundkeepers. The part of the property the manor house is on is now considered part of the Forest Service land. I was told it wasn't too long a hike to get to it and the path was what was left of the driveway to the manor. Even though it was an old abandoned house the Forest Service had decided to upkeep it for hikers to explore and as part of the history.

I wasn't told if the manor had a name and figured I could always look it up later, first I just wanted to be outside and if we did walk that far then I could explore and take pictures. Cupid was enjoying being further outside then just the back yard of the apartment.

"The path seems pretty clear, what do you think girl, should we see this manor we were told about?" I asked Cupid.

She looked at me and wagged her tail as we walked. My sister's text tone, proceed with cation, went off on my phone. I groaned as I stopped to read the message not knowing if this was going to be friendly or bitchy.

Her text: "If it was an emergency, we can't get ahold of you. How can you be so selfish? Call mom back.

I read it a second time as I tried to think of what to respond that wouldn't turn this into my phone going off every few minutes with either texts from my sister or calls from my mother.

I texted back: I will when I get home. I'm out in the woods walking Cupid right now.

I was still looking at the screen when her response text came: Yeah right, you care more about that damn dog than you do about your blood family.

I didn't respond to that. It was just the normal thing of them trying to get me to do what they want. Any response I made at this point was just going to fuel the anger they were already building up to. As I thought about that I could already hear the voicemail from my mother starting the same as my sister's text, If this was an emergency...blah blah blah..., I turned my phone to silent before I returned it to my back pocket.

I was thinking about how much my mother, Roxanne, and my sister, Harmony, were exactly alike. The term cut from the same cloth was the perfect way to describe them. Me on the other hand, I got along better with my dad, Jason. I was named after him because the doctor had told them I was a boy. Then when I was born, I turned out to be a girl and my mother never forgave me for it. So, Jason Jr became Jacelynn.

Cupid licked my hand as she stared up at me, bringing me back to where we were. It was so peaceful out here; you could hear the light breeze play through the leaves in the trees. We watched a squirrel scamper up the tree closest to us and bark once it had the high ground. Cupid looked up at it and tilted her head giving a light bark back. I was shaking my head at the exchange when I noticed that through the trees ahead, I just barely see a building.