Ninny
Story by significantotter on SoFurry
Was he wrong?
When Lewis's house burned down, the support was overwhelming. Not for him, for his dad - the perfect figure of innocence and the best actor Lewis ever saw. Tall, thin, and meek, he dressed every day in a meticulously pressed navy blue pinstripe suit and mismatched black dress pants. His eyes radiated compassion and empathy. The shuffling pacing of his steps seemed to relax everyone around him. All in all, Mr. James Byrd had a disarmingly passive air about him.
He corralled the media with a thin lipped smile and crocodilian tears so genuine that Lewis himself almost believed him.
Lewis shuddered. The screams of agony rang in his ears and the stomach turning odor of searing skin stung his nostrils.
What if he had died instead of Mom?
He shook his head. That was a dark thought. There was no changing what happened, he'd been too exhausted after the fire to lie to the persistent cameras. There wasn't any way to rectify what he'd done. His whole life was completely fucking ruined.
And that wasn't an overreaction. Kathy Grensten had screamed in the eighth grade how her life was over because her fancy new phone broke after she dropped it down a flight of stairs. This wasn't like Kathy's phone, though. This was the real deal. Lewis couldn't look Dad in the face again. He couldn't go back to school; everyone knew about it by now. There was nowhere left for him to be.
Except alone in a park staring at a roiling river.
Well, not entirely alone. He slipped two fingers into his mouth and blew a short, sharp whistle. Ninny burst from the red currant bushes with a sloppy smile like nothing was wrong. Lewis just needed to see that face. He reached out a hand for the Australian Shepherd to sniff. She happily did so, wagging her tail like smelling his hand was her favorite thing in the world. His fingers gently threaded through her thick brown, black, and white speckled fur, knocking off loose burrs and clumps of dirt that had collected during her woodland romp. He tried to avoid the sensitive patches of bare red skin as best as he could. Tears wettened his cheeks.
Maybe he should have let everything happen as nature intended. If he just laid calmly in his bed, pulled the warm blanket of flames snug up to his neck, and let the thick smoke lull him into a deep sleep, then all his problems would be gone. No Ninny, but no Lewis to miss Ninny.
That would never happen. He had always been too much of a coward to give up.
“Screw them," he said to Ninny. “They didn't know what she was like. You hated her too, I know you did." She wagged her tail in silent agreement. That iota of affirmation was plenty for Lewis. Her licks and tail wags kept his sunk gut from infecting the rest of his body with chilling despair.
He stood up and stretched. It had been almost six hours since he walked out here. The sun would be setting soon. Hopefully he'd be able to sneak back inside the motel room while Dad was out for dinner.
He stopped at Terry's on the way home. Terry was the only one who hadn't made him out to be some murderous monster. Of course, Terry was the only one who Dad and Mom had gotten comfortable around. He knew them like Lewis did. Ninny could stay with him and be safe.
Taking her home wasn't an option. Dad had already whispered his promise to kill the “fucking horse-shit asshole mutt bitch" dozens of times.
Terry's mom opened the door with a nervous smile. Her eyes anxiously glanced this way and that, making sure that none of the other neighborhood moms saw her talking to that kid. When she was satisfied, she called Terry down. He greeted Lewis with clear apprehension, but Lewis understood. It wasn't the kind of apprehension that indicated Terry thought he was dangerous or unhinged; it was the kind where he was unsure of how to deal with the terrible sadness that seeped out of Lewis's smiling face in an appropriately masculine way for a teen-aged boy.
“Thanks for watching her."
Lewis handed Terry a crumpled five dollar bill. Then, he leaned down to the blissfully unaware dog.
“You know I'd still save you if I had to choose again, right? Love ya, Ninny. Be good for Terry." He sent her off with a swat of the rump.