Page 31 of Welcome to the Heart Of A Maniac
“Gremlin!” I yelled out his name, and my eyes scanned the yard in search of him. I didn’t see him. I’d just come back after a while and see if he turns up.
Shutting the door, I went into the kitchen to grab me a snack so that I can settle on the sofa with a book. Book club was coming up, and I had to finish reading Kimberly Brown’s book so that we can discuss it at the next meeting. I’m excited for the next meeting because I’m supposed to pull the name from the jar for the next read.
My book club is some people that I ran across on Facebook. It was just six of us from this small ass town that enjoys reading similar books. They were my safe space. The only people that really understood me. We got together twice a month and discussed whatever book we were reading at the time and have food and drinks. Can’t beat that. I love talking to people about books. I have one person in particular that I’d text from time to time whenever I needed to get something off my chest. We read about the same speed. Her name is Mariah. She a few years younger than me, but one really can’t tell. She’s very mature for her age.
I fixed me a fruit bowl, grabbed a small bag of cheddar popcorn and a bottle of Eternal water and left out the kitchen. Purring could be heard at the front door. I pulled it open to find Gremlin standing on the porch, soaked. He looked like he’d fallen into a pond somewhere. I don’t think Maniac has water on his land anywhere, but I can be mistaken.
“Look at you. Now you need a bath because you’ll have the whole house stank.” I scrunched my nose and set my snacksdown on the kitchen table. Reaching down, I picked Gremlin up and carried him into the bathroom. He jumped in my arms when he realized what was about to happen. This cat can’t stand taking baths. He gave me the most trouble when it came down time for them.
I placed him down on the floor and shut the door behind me so that he wouldn’t be able to go hide from me before I’m able to get dressed to give him a bath.
Though I kept all of their nails clipped, Gremlin would still try to claw me and bite me whenever I placed him in the tub. I always have to put on three to four long sleeve shirts and pants before climbing over into the tub with him just for my protection.
Once I was dressed, I headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Gremlin is hiding behind the toilet as if I can’t get him from back there.
I checked the water to make sure it was the perfect temperature and grabbed him.
“It’s going to be quick and easy,” I told him as I picked up the shampoo and stepped over into the shower. He jumped, climbing up my chest, trying to escape. When he hissed at me, I knew he was over it and angry.
“I promise if you just be still for five minutes, we can get this over with.”
I wet his coat and poured some of the shampoo on him. Gremlin snapped at me and missed. “You’re not being a good boy. You bite me and I’m gon’ have to put you in yo’ room in time out for the rest of the day.”
I rubbed the shampoo into his fur with my hand. Gremlin climbed me, trying his best to run up the wall. I fought with him for twenty minutes to give him a bath. By the time I was done, I heard thunder erupt in the distance.
Wrapping him in a towel, I carried him out the bathroom and dried him before brushing his fur. Soon as I finished up with him, it started pouring rain. The raindrops made a melody on the roof. I released Gremlin and went back into the living room. I grabbed my snacks off the kitchen table and got comfortable on the sofa.
The news was still playing, and I saw that there were several tornado warnings in different areas, leading up to Montgomery. “Fuck.” Going off the weather all the other times, I thought today was gon’ be safe. If I knew that it was gon’ get this bad, I would’ve gone to Aria’s house like I do any other time. She stayed in an actual home. A trailer wasn’t ideal for bad weather. Another reason why I plan on getting something more stable in the future.
My phone chimed. Picking it up, I looked to see who it was.
Aria: Are you okay?
Me: I’m good for now.
I allowed the news to play in the background while I went on to read my book and eat my snacks. Whenever the weather got bad, I’d watch it ’til the worst part passed. Thunder vibrated the windows and not long after, lightning struck for a second time.
“I really should’ve thought this through,” I said when the lights flickered.
Looking up at the television, I saw that a new tornado warning came up on the screen and my phone screamed with the warning not long after.
“Oh hell nah.” Jumping to my feet, I collected the cats and ran out the door.
The rain crashed down on my head as I ran bare foot toward Maniac’s house. He was the closest thing to me. If I didn’t want to ride this out alone, I had no other choice but to go in the housewith him. It’s big enough for me to go in a room away from the windows on the first floor and not have to deal with him.
Stopping at the front door, my chest heaved as I banged on the door. “Maniac!” I yelled his name and kept beating.
The door yanked open and he stood there in a pair of Versace pajama pants and no shirt. My eyes scanned his frame. The abs were abing. Not a spec of his skin was bare. From what I can see, he’s covered in tattoos.
His gaze met mine. I stood there with my cats tucked in my arms, soaking wet from the rain. My clothes weighed me down. Without mustering a word, he gripped me by the wrist and pulled me into the house.
A loud burst of thunder erupted behind me as he shut the door. “Why are you out in the rain?”
“Did you not get the alert? We’re under a tornado warning.” I released the cats onto the floor and they took off running. “Can we stay here ’til it blows over? I don’t like being in the trailer when the weather is bad.”
“Yeah, just keep their asses downstairs.” He strolled down the hallway and the lights cut out. “Looks like all of us will be down here. C’mon.”
Using his phone, he turned on the flashlight and led the way down the hallway. I followed closely behind him, trying not to bump into anything.
