Page 75 of Heartsong
Even though Frey would be a statue this time of day, not seeing him anywhere in the apartment brought another wave of heartache. It’d been sharp, stealing her breath and keeping her on the verge of tears all last night. She’d concerned the cab driver who’d taken her home, the man asking several times if she was okay and if he could call someone for her.
“No, no one. I’m okay,”she’d said. There was no one to call. She’d left the only one who cared behind in that park.
The driver’s look of pity had been unbearable, and Anna fled from it as quickly as she had from Frey. Coming home to her dark apartment had been its own kind of agony. The dinner Frey had been preparing was still warm in the oven, the table set for two. Captain had been fed and a whole Tupperware of freshly cooked and shredded chicken sat in the fridge.
The apartment felt…devoid without him.
Heart heavy, she set about shutting the blinds and changing into comfy, stretchy clothes. She gave herself another shot and forced some oatmeal down her throat. Then with a full water bottle and heating pad, she laid down on the couch and turned the TV on for some noise.
Drifting on the ebb and flow of pain, Anna sipped her water and adjusted the heating pad over her face. Captain eventually settled on her hip, purring as she scratched behind his ears.
Daytime television eventually moved into afternoon variety shows then finally the evening news. From the little line of light she could see from under the heating pad, she knew when the sun slipped behind the buildings across the street.
He’ll be waking up soon.
Wherever he was.
The thought gnawed at her. She’d justleft him there,out in the middle of San Francisco. Sure, he could fly anywhere he wanted, but where could he really go? She was all he knew in the modern world.
Should’ve done more for him.She should’ve taken him…somewhere. Somehow. She’d never bothered with a car, but he might’ve enjoyed driving around. Maybe they could’ve gone out into the more rural areas; he could’ve flown around without worrying someone would see him. She could’ve gotten him a phone or something to keep in contact when she was still out in the evenings. She could’ve…she didn’t know, done somethingmore,but she hadn’t.
She let him do thingsfor her. She let them play house for a while. Yet she hadn’t tried to do much for him, hadn’t really taught or introduced him to anything after the TV. She’d let him cuddle her close and take care of her and offered him nothing in return.
Because that would mean letting him in.
And she just…couldn’t do that, either.
So Anna did the only thing she knew to do. She kept her heart safe—but it broke anyway. And she’d no one to blame but herself.
For the first time in a long while, Frey followed the tendril of belonging back to his kin. It faded over distance, and even now, it was like looking across a fast-flowing river. Frey’s mind found its way back to the collective of his kin, where they huddled together for safety and comfort, though he was too far to truly join them.
There was nothing to say. No one asked questions. They shivered in recognition at his familiar mind linking back to them.
They wanted to ask where he’d been. Why he’d been gone and why he was back now.
None did. Shrouded in his misery, devastation followed him like a shadow. He was a wraith, heartbroken and world-weary. His kin looked on with pity.
Frey didn’t try to cross that river and join them. It was enough to stand on the bank and feel them, to have some sense of belonging in a world that made little sense anymore.
I tried,he wanted to tell them.I tried.
Anna had almost dozed off when what a reporter on the six o’clock news was saying caught her ear.
“A bit of a mystery out of McLaren Park this evening. Joggers reported finding a grove of trees shredded by what is likely a large animal. Claw marks were evident in the bark and the area is currently closed as officials…”
Heart jumping into her throat, Anna peeled back the heating pad to squint at the TV. The camera panned from the on-scene reporter to show a copse of trees and underbrush absolutely trashed. Huge gashes had been slashed into the trunks, four razor-sharp claw marks patterning every surface in that small area.
Anna’s stomach clenched painfully, and she braved her phone as the reporter went on.
“Residents are urged to take caution. All signs point to a large black bear, though one hasn’t yet been spotted in the area. Anyone with home surveillance footage is urged to call the San Francisco or San Mateo Sheriff’s Office so they can begin tracking the animal’s whereabouts.”
She tapped every keyword combination her tired brain could think of into the search engine, trying to find any news about possible giant gargoyle sightings. To her relief, there was only today’s story and one instance of someone asking about a giant bat flying around the city on a Reddit thread, and that was days ago.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Anna replaced the heating pad.
The scars left on those trees were burned into her retinas, though.
It had to be Frey.
