Bitter Blood (BBi)

Chapter 2: Growl On Little One

Chapter Two
Growl On Little One

I'm typing away on my laptop when Blue lets out a long whine. I set my computer aside and slide out of bed.

"Hungry?" I ask him and he bounces towards the door.

I walk downstairs and into the kitchen with Blue following close behind me. I find a can of plain tuna in the cupboard and empty it into a bowl for him. I sit it down on the floor, grab myself a can of coke from the fridge and take a seat at the round wooden table in the middle of the kitchen, mentally noting to pick him up some proper cat food from the pet store.

I look over at the clock and see that it's already eight forty-five pm. I spare a glance at Blue before going into the lounge room where I flick on the TV and scroll through the few trashy channels. I find a show I like and sit watching for quite some time before the hunched over figure of my father shuffles into the room, eyes blood shot and searching.

"Where is it?" he asks, staring directly at me.

"Where's what?" I ask.

He clenches his fists in irritation. "Where's my drink? You hid it."

"You don't need it." I sip my own drink and turn back to the TV, attempting to end the conversation.

"Where is it!" he shouts.

I'm about to respond when a deep rumbling growl shocks me into silence. I turn to the opening of the kitchen as Blue creeps out, his fur sticking up on end and his tiny teeth bared at dad. He stares down at the cat, his eyebrows creased in confusion.

It's a strange sight. I always thought cats hissed not growled. But here he is, a tiny little kitten growling like a protective dog.

Blue steps forward and growls again, the eyes I named him for staring dad down.

"What the..." Dad stares for a long moment in shock before abandoning the search for his drink and fleeing back upstairs.

The moment he's gone Blue returns to his usual calm and cute self. He trots back into the kitchen and finishes off his food before running to bed with me.

I lie down beneath the blanket, stuck in the pages of my book for hours before I reluctantly turn out the light and go to sleep.

-
-

Sunday morning I leave Blue sleeping in my bedroom and go for a run.

I pass by houses I've seen all my life. I can recall their weather board exteriors, name their colored walls, trace their white picket fences. I know each one has a whole family inside with enough money to stock their cupboard's full with lollies and snacks, their bedroom's with toys and games.

I had been in a few of those houses, ate some of those lollies, played with some of those toys.

But that was before.

To me, the entire neighborhood had once been a twisting maze.

When I was nine years old and making my way home alone from school, I found myself on a totally unfamiliar street. It was getting late and the sun was beginning to die in a burst of orange across the afternoon sky. I knew that I'd be in the dark soon and probably end up getting myself even more lost than I already was.

I remember that was the first day I had walked home alone in over three years. I had always had Avery with me but that day she had been sick and I had spent my time with a girl in my class named Emily. But Emily lived on the other side of town so at the end of school we both went our separate ways.

I had wandered around for two hours before I found my house again. I had promised myself I would learn every street and every sidewalk, every short cut and every road name so I would never get lost again.

And I didn't. Now I know the neighborhood like the back of my hand.

I realize suddenly that I've been running towards Emily's house without thinking. She doesn't live there anymore. She moved away three years ago along with her entire family after they decided they needed a “new start”.

The fact is no one gets a new start. You live with who and what you are. There's no changing the past, no erasing it.

Before I can reach that old house, I turn around and head back home.

-
-

That afternoon I walk straight to the diner to get my working shift schedule for the holidays. I go through to the back room, waving to Stacey as I pass, and knock on my bosses door.

"Come in!" he calls.

Paul is a fairly nice, middle aged man who pays a little extra when I work on Sundays. He's always at the Diner flicking through papers in his office or helping around the work area when he can. Once I'd even caught him passed out sleeping in an arm chair in the back room despite the fact that he owns a perfectly good house just two minutes down the road.

I open the door and walk over to his desk.

"Parker." he greets, only briefly glancing up.

"Hey Paul. I was wondering if you have my schedule for next week?" I ask.

"Uhhh..." he flips through a stack of papers and when he finds what he's looking for, hands it over to me along with a sealed envelope.

"What's this?" I ask and hold it up.

"Your pay for this week." he answers.

I thank him and leave him to his work, waving to my co-workers as I head out the front door. I go to the grocery store to get some supplies, which includes milk and cat food for Blue. I pick some books up from the library and eventually make my way home.

Before going inside I get the mail from the mailbox and flick through them. Most of them are bills except for one or two useless brochures. I toss it all onto the kitchen table including my pay check and vow to sort it all out later. I go upstairs, strip off my clothes and climb into the shower.

After standing under the hot water for half an hour I climb out and dry off. I pull on a pair of snug jeans and a warm sweater. I walk down stairs and curl up on the couch with Blue beside me. For a couple hours I watch TV, indulging my already bad sleeping pattern, and eventually begin to drift off to sleep.

A loud banging jerks me awake.

I sit straight up on the couch and look around the room which flickers with colour from the TV. I check the time and find it's twelve thirty.

Who the hell is knocking on my door at midnight on a Sunday?

I groan in irritation as I pull myself off the couch and walk to the front door. I rub sleep from my eyes and reach for the handle. I miss, try again and grasp the metal. I flick the lock and swing open the door. When I focus my gaze on the person standing on the other side of the threshold, my heart drops through the floor. The air escapes from my lungs in a painfully fast rush, leeching me of breath so that I stand with only a hollow feeling at my center.

She looks the same as she did four years ago; her light blue eyes, her dirty blonde hair, her thin and even nose. She's taller than I remember and curvier, too. But her pale pink lips smile familiarity.

"Long time no see, Park."