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Chapter one: Unreliable
Despite this flaw she had a wide range of friends and an almost tolerable boyfriend, and all this she had obtained in her senior year of high school. Not to say it had been particularly hard for her to secure friendship, she just wasn’t used to its being offered to or accepted by her.
But it had, and she had, since then, formed tight bonds with all of her friends, but four in particular.
There was Jason, the connection, who knew all the hot party spots, all the cool people, and how to get alcohol without being caught. Then there was Abigail, or Abby as they all called her and she was the conscience of the group. She was as naïve as a prostitute but in the stead of good upbringing she had a charismatic kindness that drew her close to everyone she knew. Next was Sammy, the intermingler. She was the only one that ever really experienced close connections with other groups, and not any less wild ones either. She was the one that experienced new things all the time and shared them. She was the wild child of the group and did not try to conceal the fact. Finally, there was Natasha. Natasha the seductress who was good to have in any sticky situation. Though she as affianced, Natasha did not hesitate to use her attributes and use them well. She was smart and beautiful though, and sensible to top it all off. Of all those in her circle of friends, Sarah was closest to her.
Since she had hit puberty, Sarah had become aware that she was different from those around her, not by appearance, but by something much deeper and much harder to understand. Sarah’s friends were smart, no doubt, but it seemed that at an early age she had gained on her peers in logic, reasoning, understanding, and the application of all three. This, instead of strengthening the bond she felt to them, rather separated her from them, for they did many things that she logically reasoned against understanding or even trying to for that matter. They lived a life of immature indulgence that she found dangerous, unappealing, and sometimes even repulsive.
Though not the most extreme case of teenage partiers, the group did have an active social calendar thanks to their very social friend Jason, who was the best of all worlds. He was popular, well known, and everything that was considered attractive at her school.
Sometimes though, however rarely, she did join in and get drunk and sneak home and get grounded. If not for the freedom from worrying that it allowed her, then just to feel that feeling of belonging to something bigger than herself, which was how she felt when she was with her friends.
But most of the time, her days were rather average and consisted of going to school, going to the library, volunteering or going to work, and then going home and going to sleep.
Though it was boring, it was constant and it afforded her many chances to avoid not only her mother, but also the rest of the world. The world that didn’t have to do with the animal hospital anyway.
Sarah shook her head of these thoughts as she pulled slowly into the parking lot of St. Adam’s Animal Hospital. Parking with nearly expert precision, she leaned her head back, closing her eyes for just a second before turning off her car radio and pulling the keys from the ignition.
Stepping out of her car, Sarah buttoned her green scrubs shirt over the black long-sleeved tee she already had on. Without stopping, or thinking for that matter, she pulled her hair into a ponytail and blindly searched her wrist for the scrunchie that was nearly always there. Finding it, she pulled her hair tight, but despite her tough ministrations, a few shorter hairs escaped the grasp of her scrunchie as they always did and fell into her face.
Sighing, she shrugged to herself, forcing herself not to care then entered the small animal hospital.
“Hey, you’re early.” Sarah smiled at the greeting as she stepped behind the counter and grabbed her ID and pulled it over her head where it rested right below her chest.
“And you’re supposed to be out of here,” Sarah replied once she was settled in the small office chair in the corner.
“Not until four,” the tall black girl named Jessica countered, bringing her cup of coffee to her lips. “Damn it, not until four.” Sarah laughed quietly then rested in a slightly pensive state. “What’s the matter, Sarah, “ Jessica asked after looking out into the waiting room to make sure no one was around.
“Nothing, just another boring day at school and as you can imagine, I can’t wait to get home.” Sarah tried to smile but it only came out as a half-hearted grin so she quit. “I’m so tired.”
“Take some of this, it’ll help,” she handed Sarah her large coffee mug. They both started as the bell on the door rang, announcing the entrance of a patient and its master. Sarah quickly set the mug aside and went to the computer, leaving Jessica to the counter.
Sarah scanned through the appointments listed on the page for three forty five. Benjamin and Lawrence Taylor. Sarah smiled at the thought that she didn’t know which was the human and which was the dog but was immediately sobered as patient and owner appeared at the counter. Determined not to look up, she waited.
“Hello, sir, can I help you?” Jessica’s voice was dripping with unnatural civility and Sarah was surprised at how sincere it actually sounded. As soon as Sarah was eighteen she would go through the training course and actually employ herself here instead of volunteering, then she too would be overly pleasant.
“Yeah,” came a quiet, similarly civil male voice. “I have an appointment at three forty five for Lawrence.”
“Last name?” Jessica asked, looking back at Sarah.
“Oh, sorry—it’s Taylor,” the man immediately returned.
“All right, go ahead and have a seat Mr. Taylor and we’ll have a room ready for you two shortly.” Sarah looked up just as the man nodded and turned, pulling the leash of the invisible animal towards the row of seats against the wall. Turning back to Sarah Jessica motioned her to stand at the counter while she ran into the back room and apprised the vet of her next patient’s arrival.
Sarah complied and took her place at the counter. Now she could see the animal the man had brought in and it was a beautiful specimen. Lawrence was what looked to be a full-blooded husky at the height of its life.
“Where did you get him?” she had tried in vain to quell the urge to ask, but it didn’t seem the man thought the question abrupt or rude. Actually, he seemed rather used to admirers.
“From a guy I knew down town,” the man replied. “He bred them, but couldn’t sell Lawrence so he offered him to me for free,” he finished and the way he spoke the dog’s name said he was more than a pet, he was a companion, which heightened the owner in her opinion.
“Is he full husky or does he just look it?”
“I really don’t know,” the man replied honestly, shrugging his shoulders. “I didn’t know the guy all that well. He was just a friend of a… friend that had puppies.”
Just as Sarah was just about to ask how old Lawrence was, Jessica hurried into the back and whispered, “the vet’s got a problem with the three O’clock, she’s going to be a while.”
Sarah nodded. “What’s going on?”
“The Joneses’ dog is a bleeder and she’s having a lot of trouble keeping it under control.” Jessica looked worried and glanced anxiously to the waiting room.
“I can wait,” said Ben Taylor and Jessica looked relieved with the reassurance.
“Well, Sarah, go ahead and take Lawrence there for a walk, I’ve got to go help out.” Jessica said. “Lock the door when you go out, my replacement should be here any minute and she’ll be able to take the counter and explain the delay to the four fifteen appointment and so on.”
“Okay,” Sarah said, not giving it a second’s thought. She grabbed Jessica’s jacket from the rack and walked from the small office room. “Does big guy want to go for a little old walk with me?” Her pitch was high and babying and Lawrence responded by happily wagging his tail and looking up at her. “I take that as a yes,” looking up at the owner for permission she found an apprehensive look on his face.
“It might seem strange but… I don’t feel comfortable letting him out of my sight.” He stated apologetically and Sarah shrugged.
“I don’t see why you can’t come with,” Sarah said, standing up straight as he stood. “Just let me do my job and he won’t be out of your sight.” Sarah gave him a winning smile that seemed to persuade him that she wasn’t an evil dog-napper.
“All right,” he said good-naturedly handing her the green leash that was attached to a matching collar.
“And he’s wearing my favorite color!” Sarah said playfully as she led them out through the back door and onto the back lawn. “He even has good manners,” she stated happily and it didn’t take long to confirm her suspicion of him being strong as a horse as well.
“He’ll pull you right down if you let him,” Benjamin said and Sarah nodded, pulling back on the leash just hard enough to let him know she was leading the walk, not him and Lawrence obeyed. “I swear he’s not this well-behaved at home,” Benjamin said a few minutes into the walk. “He would usually be dragging me all over the place by now.” He looked almost ashamed that he had said as much but Sarah brushed the comment away with a question.
“How old is he?” She asked, quickening her pace to keep up with the lively animal that had sped to a trot. Benjamin fell behind her a few feet, but was never too far off.
“Two years old in a few months,” was the reply and Sarah nodded.
“I would have guessed just by his behavior that he was at least four or five years old,” Sarah admitted, her green eyes glowing with excitement and admiration. This husky was wonderful compared to the sick over-nighters she usually had to tug around when she volunteered. “He’s very demure.” Patting his head, she turned back to the door to see Jessica waving her in. “Well, that’s it for the walk, I guess. Come on boy, let’s go in.”
Once back inside, Benjamin and Lawrence were once again seated in the waiting room along with the four fifteen appointment and the four thirty appointment.
Not even two minutes after they had gotten settled, another nurse called them into an open room and Sarah could ponder the last few minutes.
It was strange, she knew, but she felt very… attached to this man and his dog. Both were of good temper, but where one was hairy, the other was very handsome and she wasn’t thinking about the dog. Sarah definitely had a thing for animal lovers and here was this apparently single guy (no wedding ring) who was afraid to even let his full grown dog out of his sight with strangers…
But sadly she wasn’t given much time to ponder it, for a few minutes later, Benjamin and Lawrence walked out of the room and walked to the counter to pay.
Looking at the computer, Sarah logged in the numbers and the treatment list she was handed by Jessica’s replacement.
“That would be fifty four dollars and twelve cents, would you like a receipt?” Benjamin nodded and pulled out a very frayed and beaten wallet from the back pocket of his jeans.
“Here you go.” He handed her the bills and she immediately went to work on the math in her head.
“Out of a fifty and a five?” she asked, speaking more to herself than to him, but he nodded any way. “Eighty eight is your change. Have a great day Mr. Taylor,” she said add, reaching into the jar on the counter her, she looked down at Lawrence and handed him a beef treat, which he well deserved, along with the receipt.
“Have a nice day as well, Miss Roberts,” he replied, their eyes meeting. She saw the smile spread across his face and felt herself responding with one of her own. What seemed only a second later, but she knew had to have been longer, he turned, leading Lawrence to the door.
Another second later the bell on the door rang and they were gone. Now she had to face the disgruntled others who were growing restless at being delayed and who weren’t quite as nice or understanding as Mr. Taylor had been.
“I’m sorry, but an emergency happened,” she was forced to explain repeatedly. “You’re just going to have to wait. That, or reschedule…” But no one seemed to want to listen to her excuses or her alternatives. It seemed they were all bent on being surly and mean to her.
After another hour of this, she decided to call it quits. She was tired of smiling at them and acting like she wanted their service when she in fact wanted to strangle them all for their rude impatience.
Did they even care that a dog barely over three years old had just bled to death in the back room and someone was grieving the loss of a family member? Did they even care that Mrs. Jones was going to have to go home and tell her eleven-year-old son that his dog went in for a vaccine and wasn’t coming home?
Screw that. She’d rather be at home with her mother and her boyfriend than sit here and deal with this and that really said something.
Sighing as she climbed the stairs and entered her room, she found her mother in her closet.
“Hi, mom,” she stated blandly, walking to her desk where she groped for, and turned on the light.
“Good, you’re home.” Was the muffled reply as her mother continued to scour her closet for some unknown article of clothing. “Ah hah!” she exclaimed, straightening. “Found it…” Sarah’s mother held in her hand one of Sarah’s favorite shirts. It was a green silk shirt that bundled right below the breasts and flowed downward, meeting at both the sides where it was tied. She immediately knew what this invasion was about and subconsciously she set her jaw, pulled her lips tight, and rolled her eyes.
“When do you have to work?” her mother asked, walking out of her room, down the hallway and into the bathroom where she slipped her own shirt from her shoulders and put Sarah’s on.
“I don’t work tonight,” Sarah replied, following close behind. “Why?” she asked and her tone was full of more suspicion than she had meant but her mother didn’t seem to notice. Good, let her think I don’t know.
“John and I are going out tonight, that’s why,” her mother said, smoothing out the ruffles in the shirt and fluffing her blond hair obnoxiously. “How do I look?” she turned to face Sarah and she had to admit, her mom looked good for a forty-year-old divorced woman with a kid.
Her mom was a bit taller, but shared her figure: a short torso and long, slender legs. Her breasts were certainly of a smaller size, but not by much, and not that it mattered, because any size that she lacked was made up for by the prettiness of her face. With slight, round and elegant features, her mother looked like a princess, even with the wrinkles of hard work and age etched into every corner of her face.
Sarah was often told how much she resembled her mother and though she did see it, she could trace more of her father’s features in her face than those of her mother and for this, she was grateful. Sarah had a sort of unproven theory that if the appearances are alike then the fate is alike as well.
“Where are you guys going?” Sarah suddenly asked, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer and as she had suspected she would do, her mother laughed, shrugging it off. “When are you getting home?”
“Jesus, Sarah, are you my mother?” her mother asked, putting down her mascara with a feeble laugh, a failing attempt at lightening the air between them. Her mother was looking at her through the mirror. It must have been easier to do that than face her daughter face to face…
“I just want to know. I have school tomorrow andI don’t want to be waiting up until midnight, that’s all,” Sarah explained, her tone sharing her obvious irritation at her mother’s lack of discretion and forethought for anyone besides herself and John.
“We won’t be home any later than eleven, I promise sweetheart.” Sarah nodded even though she knew that, by eleven, her mother meant twelve thirty. The air was suddenly filled with a loud buzzing noise and Sarah’s mother straightened, concentrating. “That’s him. He’s here,” she said, quickly brushing a lip-gloss stick over her lips and puckering up.
“Joy,” Sarah said sarcastically under her breath. Her mother danced out of the bathroom, down the stairs and waited impatiently at the door. Suddenly there was a knock and she hesitated just a second, composing herself, then opened the door and invited John in.
“Well hello, lovely,” John drawled towards her and Sarah had half the mind to think him drunk. Why else would her mother like him?
“Hey John,” she replied, her expression and voice both noticeably surly.
“Why the long face darlin’?”
“She’s just tired is all… spent all day volunteering at that animal hospital down town.” Her mother bragged and for a second, Sarah felt a surge of pride. But it faded as John pulled her mother into a distasteful embrace and allowed his hands to wander and roam until they found the rounded part right below the curve of her back. “You make beautiful babies,” she heard him whisper and Sarah couldn’t stand them down there any more.
“You guys have a great time,” she said loudly. “I’ll be waiting up for you so remember, be home at eleven,” but her entreaties fell on deaf and disgustingly preoccupied ears. “Bye!” Sarah walked down the stairs and ushered them out, politely of course, and once they were gone she slammed the door and locked it. Jesus it was going to be a long night…
The door opened at twelve thirty four and Sarah hated herself for being so right. Walking from the upstairs living room she turned on the stairwell light and stared at her mother, arms crossed over her chest, an angrily brooding expression on her face.
Her mother on the other hand was slightly staggering her way up the stairs, a guilty smile on her face, “Sorry,” she offered and though she didn’t say it aloud, Sarah thought, no… sorry’s when you wouldn’t do it again.
Suddenly, Sarah wanted to scream and beat her fists on the wall, yelling to her mother that she had a test in history in the morning that she couldn’t afford to fail. Instead she just shook her head and said, “Why can’t you ever be reliable?” Then she turned and walked to her room, turned the light off, and crawled into bed.
A/N: so, here is chapter one, an introduction into the life of Sarah. Tell me what you think :)