Street Dogs
Chia walked down the street, pulling her coat tighter around herself. Her nose had turned red from the cold, and thin clouds of vapor escaped her trembling lips.
She watched the stray dogs wandering the sidewalks and felt just as abandoned as they were.
She didn’t know where to go. Every direction in the world felt both open and closed to her at once, because she had no roots tying her anywhere.
Yes, she was free. But every step she chose could be the wrong one. Every sign she followed could lead her straight into another mistake.
She was like a dog that didn’t know what to do once its leash was finally unclipped.
Like a fish thrown from an aquarium into the ocean, stunned by the sheer size of it.
She had fought for this freedom. She had taken risks for it. Run for it. And now that she finally had it, she was realizing just how enormous the world really was — and she was terrified to swim.
There was only one place she knew.
Maybe that was why she had spent the last hour circling the same house over and over again.
At last, she gathered the courage to climb the cracked front steps. The owner clearly hadn’t cared enough to fix them. Chia thought that suited him perfectly.
She reached for the doorbell, pulled her hand back, then finally pressed it.
From inside came the sound of footsteps, followed by bottles toppling onto the floor.
Of course, Chia thought. She knew he was an alcoholic. He had probably knocked over a few bottles just trying to get to the door — the empty ones he kept scattered across the floor instead of throwing away.
The door finally opened.
The man in his forties stared at her through straw-blond hair that looked like he’d been passed out for hours. His blue-gray eyes widened in shock. It was obvious he hadn’t expected to see Chia here, looking like this.
The thin gray sweater clung to his skin, either from sweat caused by nightmares or because he’d gone through one of his episodes and forgotten to shower again.
Chia couldn’t really tell the difference.
She didn’t care enough to try.
At that moment, Haymitch was the person she respected most in the world.
Without caring that she was shivering in the cold, without even waiting to be invited inside, she finally said the thing she had been thinking about for hours.
“Is your offer still open?”
