IncuBUST

The Basilisk and The Black Dog

The rain was just letting up as I made it back to Center Park. I buzzed myself in and ran up six flights of stairs. I felt bad for what I had done. I wanted to be morose and lethargic, but I was full of energy. 

I wanted to do something good. I wanted to do something productive. But first I had to stop dripping freezing water all over the hard wood floor outside our apartment.

 I unlocked the door and kicked off my soggy shoes, peeling off my water logged socks and hanging them over the kitchen sink. I rushed into my bathroom and removed my wet clothes. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. 

My skin was glowing, the shine had been restored to my dark brown hair, the purplish bags under my eyes had all but disappeared. I looked healthy and alive which wasn't something I was very used to. 

I took a quick, scalding hot shower and then dressed myself in grey sweatpants and a baggy pink t-shirt with a panda face on it. I threw my wet clothes in the laundry room, shoved my penguin slippers on my feet and went to the kitchen.

I made a cup of blueberry tea and set it to steep. I looked around, took off my glasses, decided I could see better without them and set them aside. It was nearly midnight. Sissy wouldn't be home for at least another two hours. I drummed my fingers against the counter top for a moment and then sighed. I had to do something.

***

Six cups of herbal tea and two and a half hours later every available counter top was covered with confectioneries. Cookies, muffins, hand pies,brownies, and poorly decorated cupcakes. 

I heard the door open and brushed the flour off my hands, checked the last batch pies and went to meet Sissy at the door. She wasn't alone. They skated past me on drunken feet, eyes glazed with drink and lust looking right through me. Sissy winked at me and directed the young, nubile man and woman down the hall to her bedroom. I recognized the Black Dog she had been snogging at Samael's and underneath the smell of booze I caught a hint of Basilisk in the woman. I thought I noticed a hint of green beneath her alabaster skin.

I heard her bedroom door slam and some faint giggling, clothes hitting the floor, the creak of the bed and once the screams and moans of pleasure began I decided to fetch my headphones.

I listened to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" starting with Fall and boxed and plated all the treats. Once that was done I made myself another cup of tea and thought about Octavia. 

She said she had no one to call. Did that mean she was lying awake in her apartment watching the death of her father play over and over behind her eyes? If her dad was the only person she lived with how would she pay rent? Did she have someone else to care for her? Maybe her parents were divorced and the other lived on the other side of the city. Maybe the other one was on a trip and would soon be back. I didn't want to face the reality of what I had done to this girl. I may have saved her life today, but what about tomorrow?

I didn't want to believe that I had made this girl an orphan.