Skye Life - No Pets Indeed Part 1

Cyd waited for a second, then knocked. “Serena…. we need to chat.”

“Kinda busy,” Serena answered. “Cleaning up.” It might have been true.

“Now,” Cyd demanded, adding a softer “please,” on the end.

Vas looked to Serena trying to sit up and then to the door not sure what he should do. There was also a window but he didn't know if he would fit. It was ridiculously small.

“I have to go get hollered at,” she told him. “But don’t worry. It’ll be done quietly. You just rest up.”

Vas looked like a puppy about to be left alone in the room. At the moment the only person he knew was in the room with him and the only thing scarier than being left alone was being left alone with his thoughts that had too many disturbing questions. The more his head was clearing the more he realized something was very wrong with him.

Serena closed the door behind her, and sure enough, Cyd hollered, but in a whispered tone.

“Sit.” Cyd cuffed the back of Serenas’s head to lead the teen to the kitchen table with miss-matched chairs rather than on the couch.

“I can expl….”

“No, you can’t.” Cyd said, cutting her off as Serena plopped down onto one of the chairs dramatically. “You can’t explain because I don’t want to hear any of your excuses, and I’m not gonna buy any of your lies --” Instinctively Serena’s eyes swung to Mathias.

Mathias just motioned for her to focus back on Cyd. Serena was on the Titanic of her own making and he was not a life raft in this disaster. Worse. The bathroom was now coated in dried blood and there was no more booze in the house. It was a bad day for everyone involved.

“What were you thinking?” Cyd demanded.

“That he needed help, an’ I at least have a heart,” Serena whispered back.

Cyd glared. “That has nothing to do with it. We know nothing about him, what if he’s dangerous!”

“I know about him,” Serena said, folding her arms. “And he is dangerous. An’ brave.”

“So naturally you’d bring him here. Serena, do you know what happens if anyone realizes what Mathias’ side hustle is? Any idea at all?” Cyd asked. “He goes to jail, for life, if he’s lucky. Made an example of if he’s not, and when have you known any of us to be lucky?”

“I dunno, Isaac is kinda lucky…” Serena said with a shrug.

“Isaac is in lockup,” Cyd hissed back. “Save the wisecracks. Spill. How do you know him? Who is he? Hell, what is he?”

Serena folded her arms. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?” Cyd demanded.

“He told me not to talk about it - ever. An’ I gave my word I wouldn’t.” She made a zipping motion on her mouth, miming throwing away the key.

“Who told you?” Cyd asked. Serena jerked her thumb towards the door just as Vas was peeking out.

“When I was ten,” Serena added through closed lips.

Cyd looked to Mathias for help. He shrugged, and like Serena, pretended to lock his lips. Cyd glared. They were both impossible.

“Don’t get attached.” Cyd decided. “He can stay until Mathias hits him with the antibiotics, then we give him fare for the metro, and he’s on his way.”

“That’s what you told Mathias to do to me, too,” Serena said pointedly. “The first day, when he found me, you told him to give me money an’ put me on a train to the city. The walls in the apartment are super thin. An’ I betcha Vas can hear everything we’re whispering.”

The door to the bathroom door opened a hair. “Do you know what happened to my clothes?” He whispered peeking through the crack.

“Mathias had to cut ‘em off. I’ll find something to fit you,” Serena told him.

“Oh. Okay.” Vas said quietly, the door squeaking as it closed.

“Are we done?” Serena asked. “He wants to get dressed. Prolly on account of you being rude.”

“I’ll find him something to wear,” Cyd grumbled, sifting through some piles of clean clothes stacked on the dining room table.