A true story

It was well after 11 PM when I finally slipped my key into the lock. The lock was half-broken and needed to be jiggled loudly to enter, so serruptitious entry was already out of the question. I had already steeled myself, given up all hope of precluding the inevitable.

"I was wondering when you'd finally show up." The words were quiet, but crackled through the dark air, as if the room was filled with dry dust, her throat stale and vocal cords lifeless. The room itself seemed to smell funny to me. Something was off.



I made a sheepish grin and shrugged my shoulders in a hopelessly ineffectual attempt to look nonchalant about it, before realizing that in the dark room she probably couldn't see my face at all. Surprisingly she didn't say anything else, but instead swiftly changed the subject. The change in tactics gave me a queasy feeling. I couldn't seem to pull my hand off the doorknob.

"We need to decide whether or not to put the dog to sleep."

"You're right, it's probably the only humane thing to do anymore."

She somehow knew this was a touchy subject, but we had never spoken about it before. But I collected my wits and tried to say it as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

I heard her sigh and walk over to the couch, setting herself down with what now sounded like casual, patronizing composure. I stood there, my hand still on the doorknob. I tried desperately to remember how this woman came to be living with me, but I could never quite trace the events. I couldn't even remember what I had done or where I had been 3 years ago.

I looked at the dog lying in the corner but couldn't make out more than his curled shape. Where did I find him? Either way, I wasn't going to let her put him to sleep. I looked instinctively at my watch, again forgetting about the darkness.

"Henry, where have you been?"

She was direct now, condescending, and by the sound of her voice her mouth contorted into the grin I had seen so many times before. I could feel her eyes still on me. As she flicked her lighter and brought a cigarette to her face, for a single moment I saw the dog, his eyes glassy. A shock of horror ran through my body, and for a moment I seemed to understand everything. Adrenaline poured into my veins, until all of my energy had passed through me, dissipating into the air in reverberation after reverberation.

I kept my eyes on the darkness in the room. Was she even still there? I couldn't see anything anymore.

I calmly and quietly backed out of the room and shut the door behind me, my ears pricking up as I slipped down the flickering hallway and listened for any sound of her, coming after me.