Ice by Elissa Lewallen Page B

jeans were slowly sagging down his thin frame and he was putting Uncle Justin’s long sleeved tan and red plaid shirt on now. “You’ll help me now, right?”
    “Well, it depends on what it is you need help with,” I asked uncomfortably. Sure, I was all for helping someone in need, but the whole situation was just so bizarre and sudden. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. Once again , I felt like I needed to be in a mental institution.
    He smiled and said, “I knew you would. You’re such a kind person. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
    I was surprised by how grateful this seemingly teenage dog-person was. I hadn’t even agreed to help him yet. And, no one had ever told me I was kind before.
    “I need to stay here tonight.”
    I opened my mouth awkwardly, unsure of what to say for a minute. I finally chose my words and raised an index finger.
    His face instantly fell again at the sight of the finger.
    “Only until my uncle comes back. I’m sorry, but that’s just how it is. He can’t know I let a boy in the house. It will create so many problems I don’t want to have.”
    “How long will that be?” he asked, seeming to understand my situation.
    “I don’t know,” I shrugged. I let out a sigh and ran a hand through my hair, thinking about Justin fighting the huge fire. “He’s helping the town put out a fire.”
    He nodded confidently and said, “That will give me a couple of hours, I think. Maybe that will be enough… .”
    I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering how he was able to put a time frame on the fire. “You know about the fire?”
    He just nodded at me instead of rambling like his earlier explanation.
    I turned around and walked out of the room, motioning for him to follow me. He followed closely behind. Big John, too. I picked up the rifle from the living room couch, wondering if I should put it away. I didn’t feel threatened by the boy now. He seemed so harmless and, dare I say, normal? Of course, turning into a dog wasn’t normal, but he seemed like such a teenager. So far, he was energetic and full of emotion, his face always changing when he spoke.
    Unlike me.
    How long have I felt dead?
    Since my parents died. Since Marcus abandoned me. I had only just started warming up to the idea of living with Uncle Justin, having a few moments of happiness here and there, and then I would suddenly return to feeling depressed and empty, like I was a hollow shell.
    “So what kind of trouble are you in?” I asked as I walked away with the rifle.
    He followed me back to the doorway of Uncle Justin’s room. “I don’t think I should tell you,” he said uneasily.
    After I had taken the bullets out, I looked up from the rifle. He seemed uncomfortable standing in the doorway. He had one hand on the doorframe and the other clutching Justin’s pants. I noticed he had only buttoned the bottom half of the shirt for some reason, revealing his pale, white chest. This boy looked like he hadn’t seen a single day of sun.
    “Why not? You’re going to be staying with me, so shouldn’t I know?” I put the rifle in the box and slid it back up into Justin’s closet. I turned from it and watched his face change. He first solemnly stared at the floor, and then he frowned. He looked up at me and then stepped aside so I could leave the room. I turned the light off on my way out and shimmied past him. For some reason, I felt nervous being that close to him. Probably because he was still a stranger to me and, after all, he did turn into an animal.
    “I don’t want to get you in trouble, though,” he said, sounding like a little kid who was talking about getting a time out, or grounding.
    “I think I need to know what I’m getting myself into,” I argued, getting nervous that it was bad enough he wouldn’t tell me. I was starting to fear I had made the wrong decision by letting him stay in Justin’s house.
    “Hopefully, you won’t be getting into anything, but I’ll tell you anyway.