38
A light breeze wormed its way through the trees, teasing the mulched carpet of leaves, as well as the longer hairs of my ears. The dropped temperatures of late had set the ground to concrete-hardness, and each pummel of my paws sent shocks through my legs that jolted every muscle in my body.
The forest had become my retreat on a daily basis. After work in the week. At night on weekends.
I knew my excessive exercise fuelled the looks of worry I got from Mum and Dad, but I didn’t care—not when it seemed to be the only place I could stem the swirling thoughts threatening to drive me crazy.
What had shocked me the most in the days following the clean-up had been the nightmares. I hadn’t had a nightmare since puberty passed. Why I dreamt of the castle, of Catherine, the f*****g cage, I d
