Page 54 of Like An Animal
Just fucking peachy.
What part of “I don’t like dogs” does the universe not understand?
“Xavi, I swear…”
“Just pet it and it will probably get off of you. I’m not helping you. You didn’t come to my defense when it tried to bite me.”
I swear, I’m going to kill someone over this. Probably Xavi.
I reach my hand down and lightly tap the dog's head.
“I said pet it, notpatit.”
I swear, my eye twitches as I press my hand down on the dog's head and it pants its disgusting dog breath in my face.
It’s times like these where I wish I was taller.
“If you were in any other house, you’d be dead, stupid mutt.”
Then, it licks up the side of my face before jumping down.
“Don’t say a fucking thing,” I warn Xavi before wiping the slobber off my face, being careful not to strip off the paint.
“I didn’t say anything,” he responds while I can hear him laughing under his breath, causing his voice to crack.
“Go get the kid and take the mutt with you to the plane.”
His eyes widen and horror is written across his face. “Me? Why?”
“Because there will be no one here to take care of it. Do I need to explain any more than that?”
If no one is here, the dog will starve and I don’t think my little ghost would appreciate that.
“But, can’t you bring it?”
“No, I can’t have thatthingdisturbing me. Get it out of here.”
He concedes and I watch him head up the stairs next to the door. I wait at the bottom as I look through a window. This place is built in the shape of a C so looking out the window allows me to see through to another section of the house, one where I catch sight of the fucker sitting at the kitchen table, reading a newspaper like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
A minute passes as I watch and see my little ghost walk into the room with herhusband. She starts to speak, stealing his attention from what he’s reading, but they lose my attention when Xavi walks down the stairs, carrying the little girl. The child’s face is pressed to his shoulder with her eyes closed.
“She’s so exhausted that she didn’t put up any fight at all,” he states, but I roll my eyes.
“She’s a child. What do you expect?” I respond, but then the girl’s eyes open, looking pretty loopy for someone who probably just went to sleep half an hour ago.
“Daddy?” Then her eyes close again, but her face twists with disturbance.
“Shh. Your daddy isn’t here. Go back to sleep,” Xavi soothes her, but then she slowly shakes her head.
“But, I want my daddy,” she whimpers as he carries her out of the house. Almost as if on instinct, the dog follows Xavi and the child to the car.
That was easier than I expected.
I turn and head in the direction I saw them, but what I see through the window is my little ghost slowly backing away from her husband, a look of horror across her face. The husband in question looks pissed and is screaming at her.
That’s a change of pace from what I saw this morning. He was pretty docile then, but right now, he looks ready to kill.
And his sights are set on my little ghost.
