Off Kilter

SHIBA KLEIN

He began to speak, but the apologetic tone in his voice agitated her as he offered to explain, claiming the story was wildly unbelievable. Her tail lashed, in her eyes, it didn’t matter how believable the story was, his absence to her was a betrayal, and him being back here now seemed to anger her more than she had been when she hadn’t known where he was. It was hypocritical, of course, given her flaky track record, but that had just made the disappearance all the more upsetting. She knew how easy it was to vanish, and how easy it was to simply not return. He had returned though, and perhaps deserved some credit for that, but she was stubborn, and had decided to be angry already.

"Did those spirits and puppets tie you up and prevent you from returning? Big, tough guy like yourself?" Her voice was bitter, as she thought about all she had given up to spent the last year pulling him back from death's door. Her ambitions had been mostly selfish. First wanting a distraction, something that was challenging but familiar to help her get her bearings when she realized her life would never return to the way it used to be, but she had also known he could prove to be useful to her. Still, she felt like she needed his debt to be paid. If he left without giving her something in return, she had no real justification for her absence. Her time would have been truly wasted, and already she felt how flimsy her excuses were. She couldn’t handle the idea that she might lose that, too.

"Speech."