III
729 Words
She sinks to the floor, her knees digging into the grass and hands limp.
The dogs don't move as they watch her baffled.
A sound escapes her mouth before she covers her mouth as water runs down her cheeks, destroying the facepaint she was wearing. Sobs rack her chest as she pulls her legs to her chest, hiding her head in her knees as the three dogs whine, the white one tugging on her sleeve.
'Leave me alone, Cerberus!' Hope snaps when the grey husky joins the other.
The puppies retreat with their ears flicked back and heads dropped making Hope feel even worse.
She sniffles while wiping her eyes. 'I'm sorry,' Hope whispers as she opens herself up. She pulls each puppy into her lap. 'You must hate me right now. I don't blame you. Almost everyone does.'
The three puppies share a look before looking back at Hope.
'No? Oh,' Hope mumbles. 'What do you think I should do?' the grey husky wags his tail with a yap. 'I can't just kiss her, she has a boyfriend.' the same husky tilts his head and Hope looks at him baffled. 'That ain't f*****g happening. I may be desperate to have her but with him as well I'll throw you off a cliff.'
The husky seems to grin before running to the front door, the other two following. Hope smiles and lets them into the house, the trio joining her on the window seat under the stairs.
She flicks to the next page of her book, feeling the three heads shift off her stomach and look out the window. 'It's fine,' Hope whispers, offering out her hand to soothe Cerberus who had shifted into his normal form in the house.
Cerberus whines before putting his heads back on Hope's stomach, eventually settling and falling asleep.
Hope's phone screen lights up making Hope pick it up.
Are you feeling better? You seemed weird earlier? Xxx
I'm fine now, having a bit of a rough time xx
I'm here to talk if you want. Anyway, my Coco seems excited about Rus' scent, maybe I can bring her over tomorrow for them to meet? Xxx
Hope looks at Cerberus who looks back at her with two out of three heads tilted. 'What do you think about meeting Oriana's puppy? You got to be nice,' Hope says.
The furthest head yanks the body up excitedly and hitting its head on the bottom of the stairs in the process making it whine. The two heads look at the other amused before nodding in agreement.
Hope laughs before responding to Oriana's text.
Yeah, the puppies are up for that. We'll arrange a time in the morning as I'm going to bed xx
Talk to you in the morning, sweet dreams xxx
Hope smiles as she locks her phone and puts the book back on the little built-in shelf before heading upstairs for bed.
She rolls off the bed with a groan, stripping off as she pads to her bathroom to take a shower. Hope had been staring at the ceiling unable to sleep.
The water runs over her as she stands in the shower wishing that she wasn't home alone.
Hope rolls her eyes before startling as her phone goes off and Cerberus lifts his heads and looks back from the entrance to Hope's room. She shuts off the shower and sees Oriana's contact on her screen. Hope answers the call confused.
'I can't sleep,' Oriana mumbles across the line.
Hope smiles softly as Cerberus lowers his heads. 'Why?' Hope replies softly.
'I don't know.'
Hope laughs quietly. 'Will you be alright if I finish my shower?'
'Keep the line open, the water might help me sleep.'
'As you wish.' Hope puts the call on speaker and goes back to the shower.
'I wish you came to the party.'
'So do I.'
'Because you would have been there for me to kiss instead of him.' a muffled groan escapes across the line. 'Don't go.'
'I won't.'
'Why do I dream of you crying?'
'I don't know.'
'You do as you're crying over me.'
'You wish.' Hope winces at the words.
A breathy laugh escapes her phone. 'Then why do you intoxicate my thoughts?'
'Are you m**********g?'
'You wish.'
Hope laughs, knowing that Oriana hadn't believed Hope's denial as she could tell that Oriana clearly is.
- Writer
