Page 57 of My Little Doe
“Hey… I’m gonna go frolic in the woods… naked,” he said before laughing. “Joking… maybe… sort of…”
I stared at him, unsure how to respond to that. I looked over at the clock, and it was already after four. I’d read right through lunch.
“Um… okay… You have fun with that,” I said.
“Seriously, though, if there is an emergency, holler my name real loud. Or call 9-1-1 or Lina. Although I suspect Lina will be here after a while,” he said, then walked out the door.
My stomach twisted, and my chest ached. I was alone. Truly alone. Even before I was kidnapped, I hadn’t really been alone. Aspen was always there. Our door was always revolving with friends escaping their own shitty home lives. I picked my book back up and carried on. Escaping in the books had made the days go by faster. They reminded me that true love was out there somewhere.
Awooooooo. Awooooooo.
I let the book drop into my lap, my eyes darting around the room. My heart was probably doing double time. Nausea rushed over me. It sounded somewhat close. It had to be Quinn.
A couple more howls, but they were a little further away. It was almost pitch-black outside. My hands started shaking. Good Lord, Zalayuh. Get it together. You’re an adult. You’re fine. An adult who has been held captive for months and never spent a night completely alone, but you’re fine.
The rattling noise of a truck and headlights coming down the drive eased me a little. It was Lina. Or I hoped it was. I went to the window and peeked out. The truck pulled in, cut the engine, and then Lina started walking toward the house. I opened the door to invite her.
“Hi Lina,” I said.
“I heard you might need some company this evening,” she said.
“Yeah… honestly, I was having some anxiety right before you showed up.”
“Figures,” she said. She walked inside and sat down in the blue chair that I normally claimed. I took the green one.
“What was troubling you?” she asked.
“I… well… I’ve never actually been alone, and… of course I don’t really know this place. Then I heard the howls outside,” I said.
“Oh, I’m sure it was Quinn letting you know he was near,” she said.
“It’s nerve-racking,” I said.
“Yeah, I’m sure it is. Have you eaten?”
“No… I need to get up and make myself something,” I told her.
“Figures. It’s why I brought a casserole,” she said, then stood up and walked out the door. Within a minute, she came back inside with a glass pan all wrapped up. “It’s kind of like jambalaya.”
I got up and grabbed two plates, one for both of us. I scooped her some food and handed it to her. She looked at me and gave a slight smile. I served myself and joined her at the table.
“How has it been… with Quinn?” she asked.
“Good, I guess… what do you mean?”
“I know they can be broody the days before shifting.”
“Oh yeah… he was like that when we were at the house. I just didn’t know why then,” I said.
“Oh, so he told you why he or some of them get so flustered?”
“Well… he didn’t say a reason… I just thought it related to the moon.”
“Oh, it relates to the moon, all right,” she said.
“I told him he was like a PMSing woman, grumpy in the days leading up to it,” I told her.
She almost choked on her food laughing. “How did he take that?”
