Unraveling Soren by Marisa Maichel (books under 200 pages txt) 📕

kidney. I ignored the dog person, who tried to chase us, but was held back by her master.

I didn’t stop running until I’d reached the house. By then, I was back to vampire, and naked, cold, covered in blood and dirt, and heaving with breath. I collapsed on the ground, exhausted. Mother set Sarah down first, then picked me up and carried me inside.

To my surprise, Father was there, along with Louis and Uncle Soren.

“Reese!” Father ran to me. Mother hissed as he tried to take me from her.

“I will bathe him,” she said.

“I’ll do that,” Father said. She growled at him.

“Because of you, I didn’t even meet him until he was seventeen. I think I deserve to have some more time with him.”

Father pouted, but knew she was right.

“Back, dog,” Mother commanded.

“Come here, Spunk,” said Sarah’s soprano voice.

I fell asleep sometime while I was being scrubbed down. I woke up about an hour later, resting on the couch in the living room. Mother was there, and so was Sarah, back in her old clothes. She looked like she’d been crying. A fire was roaring in the fireplace.

I tried to get up, but I was halted by Spunk, who was laying on me.

“I’ve been writing in my journal,” Sarah said. “I took some meds. Mom made me.”

“You needed them,” Mother said.

“Where’s Father?” I choked.

“I’m right here, Reese,” he said, bringing me a glass of water. I sat up and gulped it down.

“You both need rest,” Mother said. “Take the rest of the week off.”

“I have cheerleading,” Sarah protested. “And Ariella is staying over on Saturday.”

“No cheerleading,” Mother said. “You will exhaust yourself.”

“Mom, I want to be in shape. I can’t keep being the damsel in distress. I want to be able to defend myself, and cheerleading helps.”

“Oh, very well. You may have cheerleading and your sleepover. But you and Reese do need sleep.”

“I’ll take him home,” Father said.

“Leave him here, Mordecai. He can sleep in the guest room. Let him live here for a while.”

“Marina-“

“Please, Mordecai. I spent so many years away from him, I need to spend more time with him. Let him at least spend the night.”

“Oh, fine. Have you clothes for him?”

“Alexander has some shirts he can loan him, and I will see if he has trousers for him as well.”

“I’ll bring over some clothes for him.”

“Dad, bring some books, too. I can’t take any chick-lit.”

“Hey!” Sarah squeaked.

I fell asleep and slept the rest of the day and night. I woke up the next morning, aching, stiff, and still groggy. I was laying in a bed, Sarah next to me. I purred and pulled her close.

“Reese,” she mumbled. “Give me five minutes, Jojo.”

“It’s me,” I whispered. “Jojo’s not here yet.”

“Reese?” she asked. She rubbed her eyes. “I’ll be right back. Bathroom break.” She got out of bed, pulling the sheets off my legs, and went into the adjacent bathroom. I heard dog whining, and realized Spunk was at the door.

Sarah finished and washed her hands, then came back into the bedroom and opened the door. The golden retriever nearly knocked her down, then he jumped onto the bed and started licking my face. Sarah got back into bed and sidled in next to me.

“You used to be able to pay for a zoo admission with a cat or a dog,” I said. “The cat or dog would be used to feed the lions.”

“That’s sick,” Sarah said.

“The practice was stopped after too many people protested that it was cruel and unusual.”

“Reese, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Sorry.”

She fell back asleep in seconds. I was awake, though. Sarah was softly snoring away, mumbling in her sleep. I rolled over onto my belly, and grabbed my phone. I went through my social media accounts. My latest update was noting that I was in a relationship with Sarah. I checked hers.

She had posted a few selfies, and then posted in an all-girl group. I leaned over her and grabbed her phone. I put in the password (her birthday) and went to her Facebook. I checked her phone for messages. Nothing of interest.

“What are you doing?”

I about jumped out of my skin at the sound of her voice. She was looking at me, her eyes still groggy. She snatched her phone out of my hands, and went through it. She sat up cross-legged, and went through her phone.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“No, you’re not. But anyway, there’s nothing you’d be interested in here. I stopped talking to Caden Cartwright and Elliot Marsters. The only thing you’d be remotely interested in is my music collection or my Amazon wishlist.”

“Babe, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. But geez, way to make me feel…well, like my privacy’s been violated.”

I felt guilty. I stared at the ceiling, not looking at her. She started playing music. She got out of bed and went into the bathroom, where I heard the shower running. I thought about what I’d seen. Nothing of interest. Not even a text or a call.

I sat up, only to get licked again by Spunk. I growled softly in warning. I’d always been more of a cat kind of guy. I heard a plunk in the bathroom, a small “Ouch”, and then a louder falling noise. I got up and rushed into the bathroom.

Sarah was frowning and clutching her breast.

“Are you hurt?” I asked.

“I banged my boob really hard. You don’t know pain until your boob has been banged or scratched. But yeah, I slipped and fell. I’m okay, though. I’ll survive. I’ll just writhe in pain for a few minutes.” She was holding a curling iron dangerously close to her other breast. I took it from her and wrapped it around her hair like I’d seen her do. I waited, and then released the contraption. A fresh new brown curl sprang into place.

She allowed me to do her whole mass of hair, and then she ran some mousse through it. Her hair was curlier than usual due to my styling and some other beauty routine that I couldn’t wrap my head around.

She flipped her head forward, gathered up all her hair, then flipped back and pulled her hair into a ponytail. I ran my fingers through the soft brown tumbling locks. I kissed her neck, unplugging the curling iron, then she applied deodorant and perfume that smelled like lilies and rain and freesias.

She applied lotion to her freshly-shaven legs. I could tell they were freshly-shaven because they were so smooth. She liked having shaved legs; she didn’t like her leg hair because it was so dark and made her look hairier than she actually was. I personally didn’t mind a little fuzz. I just did not care. She pulled on her pajama shorts and turned to me.

“I am so ready for a nap,” she said.

“You just got up.”

“And I’m tired as heck. I’m going back to bed.”

I was amazed as she crawled back into bed. She never ceased to amaze me. A few minutes later, she got up again, coming down to breakfast in the dining room. Zie put a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her, and she dug in. I was sitting in front of her, drinking blood from a bottle.

The baby, Cirino, was eating baby mush. I smelled carrots and sweet potatoes. He grabbed his spoon and dipped it into the mush, then brought it up to his mouth. Zie went over to him and began feeding him properly.

Kellan and Kieran appeared in the living room, whispering to each other. Sarah rolled her eyes at me and glanced over at them.

Kieran saw this and stared at her. I hissed at him. He looked at me and hissed back. Kellan hissed at me. I hissed at him. And then Mother hissed at all of us. I finished my breakfast and when went to clean my teeth. Blood stains teeth. And I wanted my teeth as white as possible for Sarah.

I heard Ariella arrive. I heard her voice, and Mom inviting her in. I heard her speaking to Sarah; the girls went up the stairs and into Sarah’s room.

When I went into Sarah’s room two minutes later, I grew excited. Ariella was kissing Sarah. She was on the bed with Ari’s arms wrapped around her.

“Reese!” Sarah exclaimed when she pulled away.

“Ariella,” I said, my eyes reddening. “Do me a favor. Kiss her again.”

“Huh?”

“That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Kiss her again.”

Ariella leaned forward and slowly kissed Sarah again. Then she pulled away.

“If I didn’t do that, I’d explode,” Ari said.

“What about Cate?” Sarah asked.

“She and I broke up,” Ariella said. She fingered a white gold necklace, which had the initials CB on it. “It turns out she was only dating me to get back at her ex, Brianna.”

“Is that where you got that necklace?” I asked. She blushed.

“Yes, I stole this from her while we were at the gym. There’s another thing…Sarah, think something.”

There was a pause.

“You thought about Reese, and how you’ve always liked guys with long hair. You’re also remembering when he used to wear those snake bites and how you thought that was cute.”

Sarah blushed and grinned cheekily. “Wait a second,” she said, her face falling, “You heard what I thought?”

“Yeah. Reese, think something.”

I thought of something.

“You were thinking of Sarah, and how you like her hair. You like the color-it’s not mousy, or frizzy, or plain. It’s curly and got blonde highlights. You were thinking that she might have touched it up, because there’s more blond than usual.”

“Um…that’s right.”

“I did touch it up,” Sarah said, fluffing her hair. “I’m glad he likes it. So you can read our minds?”

“Yeah. It happened after the accident. During the MRI, I overheard the doc thinking that it was lucky that I was alive at all, I hit my head so badly. And then I heard my parents’ voices in my head, praying to God that I was all right and hoping that Jesus would make me, you know, better.”

She fluffed her dark grey metallic dress. “So that’s it. I’ve had a crush on Sarah for forever, even though I know she’s straight and she’s my friend’s girl, and I can read minds. Oh, and Chips died.”

“Your fish?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Her eyes reddened. “I had him for four years. He was a betta, so I couldn’t put him with any other fish, or he’d kill them. Have you ever had a pet die?”

“Years ago,” Sarah said. “I had an orange tabby cat named Marilyn. She was old when I got her, and she was old when she died. I had her for six years, from the time I was six until I was twelve.”

I was stunned. Not because the fish died-pets die all the time, especially fish. I was shocked because she now had the ability to read minds.

“You’ve been my friend for three years,” I said. “I never…well, I’ve never encountered a human with this ability.”

“Have you ever had a pet die, Reese?”

I frowned. “There was a fish in Denmark that I named Pearl. It lived in the koi pond. One day, it stopped showing up. Father told me that Pearl had probably died, and then Louis told me that the other fish had probably eaten him.”

Ariella bit her lip, and tears rolled down her cheeks. Okay, I probably should have kept that part to myself.

“What did you do with him? Flush him down the toilet?” Sarah asked.

“No…I buried him in the backyard. Dad made a little coffin for him and we buried him in the garden. At least he’ll be some use to Mom’s roses.”

“Are you going to get another pet?” I asked.

“Actually…I was thinking about getting a cat. You know…like one of your cats. I want to be able to know what they’re saying.”

I thought for a moment. “Frodo and Catniss have been looking around, seeing who all takes care of them. Maybe you could take one of them.”

“Which ones are they?”

“Frodo’s the black one, and Catniss is the calico. I could ask them.”

“Yeah, you do