Remnant Of The Gods

Chapter 13

A week went by of cleaning, reminiscing and Simon correcting Sandra. I could feel myself getting at ease and slipping back into the life I had left so long ago. Sandra was so happy, her love for life bubbled out of her in never-ending streams regardless of what she was doing. I swear that lady could clean toilets and still be just as happy as a child on a fairground. It was so refreshing and so heartbreaking at the same time. This was what Mary and I should have been. This is what Mary could have been. Happy. She tried so hard and for so long and yet Sandra could just live in the moment and love every second of it.

As the days went on I continued to check the window in the darkest hours of night but it still remained closed. I went around to each of the doors, taking a different route to the bins each time I needed to leave and checking if there was any way to silence their loud screeching every time they moved. There was a pressure in my chest that increased as I was thwarted each night by the closed window, by the locked doors and the feeling of being trapped. I had even tried opening it myself just to 'let the air in a bit better' earlier in the day but alas, it was locked tight by nightfall.

I had all but lost hope as my heaviness in my chest amplified when one night it was just... open. It was shut when I had gone to bed. I knew it was shut. It had been closed all week but I was not one to pass up an opportunity when it arose. From the cupboard under the window I grabbed a small pack that I had made during the week to help me with a split second decision like this which held my wallet, spare cash, a cardigan and the necklace that Mary had gotten me. Wallet for cash, spare cash for emergency cash, cardigan for cold and necklace for comfort.

This time, the shadow dog was waiting at the gate when I arrived. I smirked to myself as the scene played out like a sitcom, with my loyal dog greeting me when I came home. The feeling of nostalgic home settled in upon me again, we locked eyes as I came towards it and, lowering my mental barrier that I was beginning to understand, I let the creature in.

Confusion, appraisal, curiosity all swam through me in a haze so that it was difficult to tell whose feelings were whose. Frustration, anger, curiosity churned in my stomach and it was hard for me to keep track.

I came to a stop about a metre or two in front of the creature and I squatted down to reach eye level and cocked my head to the side.

"Hello?" I said tentatively, unsure of how to start the interaction.

The emotions within stopped and the blank emptiness without the creatures thoughts left me reeling.

"Please, I don't really know how to do this - I can only get bits and pieces and you not thinking or feeling or whatever it is that you're doing isn't helping," I explained to... a dog. "I've gone loopy-"

Confusion.

"Loopy, insane? I've lost my mind?"

Disapproval.

"Well would you like to explain to me how I can understand you?" I arched my brow, "We got to the subject of gods last time, are you Cerberus?"

Panic, Disapproval and more panic. Anger, hatred, panic all swirled and peaked.

"-Okay. Okay I'm sorry, you don't particularly enjoy err... word, thing, so like Hades, greek - something?"

The angry thoughts stilled again. I almost jumped in success.

"Okay! Greek, we got somewhere, so why if you're part of that, whole... thing are you here? We're nowhere near Greece? If you're linked to some kind of ancient beings, it makes no sense for you to be here and why me?" I stopped as my thoughts darkened and I rounded on the creature

"Why me? Why M-" I swallowed hard as my thoughts swirled, making me dizzy "Why did you - why would you-"

There was a mental push, much different from the feelings that the creature had projected. Not quite intrusive but dismissive.