Just as I’m about to crack and emerge to show myself, the kitten springs and pushes off the mirror’s frame with four weaponized feet, sending me swinging wildly.
I feel my world lift and snap back in place, whatever I have that passes for a heart juddering in fear.
The message is clear.
“Leave my human alone, Phantasm. Or I’ll break your world and piss on the shards.”
“All right, all right, cat. Truce. For now.”
Chapter Five
“It could have been a grunt from the neighbors. You live in an apartment. A person outside in the parking lot. Someone’s television turned up too loud. Someone who snores!”
Junie is calm and factual. Fear falls off of me in the daylight as I listen to her voice.
“I’m just so afraid. I’ve been feeling so good, like a new person,” I whisper, clutching the phone as I sit in my car. I’m on my lunch break, and I don’t want to know what my boss would do if he thought I was nuts. No, that’s not the term people would use these days, but it’s the term people use when they whisper about you behind closed doors.
“Good, I’ll tell your mother. Well, I’ll tell your dad to tell her.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Oh, your mother and Arnie left some frantic messages this week saying you hadn’t called them back or answered their emails.”
“Arnie is slimy.”
There. I said it. I’ve never said it before, not blunt like that. I guess being afraid you’re losing touch with reality makes you stop beating around the bush.
“Slimy how? Honey, did he ever—”
“Not slimy like ‘call the cops’ slimy. Slimy like ‘I don’t trust him’ slimy. He was always pushing me to change meds and try new ones. I don’t want them in my life right now. I know that sounds horrible, but it’s true. They... They won’t agree, butI feel like they kept me from getting better. I know. I sound ungrateful.”
“You sound confident and sure. You haven’t sounded like that in a long time. Arnie might be a slimy guy, and your life is your life. He doesn’t need to know anything other than you’re fine.”
“But what if I’m not?”
“What if you’re paranoid because you have legitimate fears? You’ve been down this road before. Did it start this way?”
“No! No, not all.”
“You know I don’t believe mental health is all mind over matter, but I believe you’re smart and sane enough to know what should concern you. One trick of the light and one odd noise when you live in an apartment building? Girl, please.”
I can picture June’s face as she says that, and my smile creeps back and overtakes my frown. “Tell my crazy to sit down and shut up?”
“Yeah—and if it talks back to you? Then we’ll worry. Okay, baby?”
