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With one foot lodged in her house shoe, Toi searched in vain for the other, all
the while fighting the urge to roll back into the warm covers that invited her
to resume the deep sleep she so desperately needed. The cold floor beneath her
only enforced the desire. Instead she inhaled - hard even breaths, then,
almost in a trance, dragged herself towards the room at the end of hall,
beckoned by the unrelenting demand of her daughter's cry.
For the third night in a row, no sleep. Another day of work after suffering
from sleep deprivation and she would lose the little sanity she had left. The
serge of heat that met her at Nessie's bedroom door blinded her into an even
tighter squint. Toi had left the door slightly ajar, but the heat had managed
to stay trapped inside. She turned off the space heater and carefully reached
into the crib, making sure to protect her back as she lifted her three-year-old
from her nightly prison that Nessie, no matter how upset she might get, would
never venture to climb out of in the dark. Her daughter's tiny body weighed
heavily in her exhausted arms as she carried her into the kitchen and filled her
training cup with water.
His mind raced as he maneuvered his way behind Charlie's store - past the
dumpsters, the broken crates, over the scrap heap. He had to think fast.
Thickets grabbed at his legs as he propelled forward into the land mine of
rubble and aimlessly scattered, abandoned vehicles. Sharp, jagged, weaving
movements allowed him to clear the field, distancing the gap between them.
Full force and head down, he skid over the dismanted concrete slab into the
alley. He shot past the vacant houses that stood along each side. The house
with the rottweiler was coming into view. Running with all his might, hoping
that no one was behind him yet, he leaned forward, almost stumbling, and
barely grasped the empty bottle that lie in his path. As he sped past the
opening leading to the backyard, he hurled it, hitting the back of the house -
an old game of his that suddenly came in handy. The bottle shattered.
Without hesitation, up jumped the rottweiler, barking wildly at the commotion
that disturbed his sleep. There was another opening on the opposite side -
the next house up - hedged in with wooden fences throughout. If he could only
make it to that, they might think he had escaped past the angered beast that
wanted so desperately to break free.