Through Her Shattered Eyes ✔

Chapter 19

"Yeah, she was my donor," I add, hoping she'll let me in.

"You're the patient Mrs. Stryder was telling me about."

I nod. "That's right." She stares at me, appearing to be lost in thought. "Look, just give me at least ten minutes. There are some things I need answered and since you were her friend, I feel I could get some explanations from you."

After a minute passes, she says, "Okay, hold on." She closes the door but opens it right back up. "Um, do you like dogs?"

Her question somewhat catches me off guard. "Of course."

Even though we don't own one, dogs have always been my favorite creatures.

Faith smiles. "Good." She closes the door again, unhooking the chain. It swings open and she gestures for me to come inside quickly. "I'm really in a hurry, so ten minutes minutes is all I can spare."

One of the dogs I heard barking earlier comes walking toward me, sniffing my legs and arms. Its fur is light brown and it's huge, its head coming up to my waist.

"That's Rex. He's my big boy."

I smile. "Cute dog."

"Very friendly, too. He loves everybody. If you'll come this way, there's a dining chair here if you wanna sit down."

She leads me from the entrance to her kitchen. I see she's dressed in long black pants, a blue Walmart t-shirt, and red Chuck Taylors. With her slim figure, it actually looks nice on her.

I sit down on a metal chair, crossing my leg over the other. All of a sudden, something cold and wet rubs against my calf. Startled, I jump and look down. A little black pug stands under the table, its tail wagging.

"Hey. You scared me, little guy," I coo, reaching down to pet its head.

Faith looks over at both of us while rinsing a thermos. "I see Bubbles has already introduced herself."

"Bubbles?"

"Yeah. She always likes to make herself known. She used to be Erika's pet." Faith stands over the kitchen counter, staring into the thermos. I can see the pain in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," is all I can say.

I don't know what else to say except give her my condolences.

She shakes her head. "It's all right. It's just been a little hard for me since Erika died. I mean, your best friend of six years gone and you still have all her things. I was trying to give them to her grandma but the only stuff she wanted were her pictures and some of her clothes. I'm still trying to get rid of everything else, along with finding a roommate to help me with the rent. I've actually had to drop out of college and work at Walmart full-time to cover it." Faith reaches for the coffee pot and pours herself some into the cup. "Anyway...I know you said you wanted to talk to me about Erika. What about?"

Suddenly, I'm not so sure if talking about her is a good idea; Faith seems to be distraught. But I need answers if I want to find Erika's killer. I can't wimp out now.

"Well, a couple days ago, I went to North Carolina to visit her grandmother and she explained to me a bit of Erika's history. Where she grew up and how she spent the majority of it with them. Then she added after graduation, both you and Erika decided to move to Atlanta for college. Can you tell me the things that happened after relocating?"

"Sure. Once we got here, things were much easier for us since we had our own place. No adults, no restrictions, no people to tell us no for certain things. Life wasn't so bad after that. It was like we knew how to have some real fun again...that's excluding the times when Ben showed up here unannounced."