Bittersweet Sundown

Ash was sitting in Sanders’ kitchen, watching as Val made cookies. Matt and Johnny were talking in the living room, when somebody ringed the doorbell. ​“I’ll get it,” Matt yelled before going to the door. There was a minute of silence.

“Papa Gates, what’s up?” was heard then from Johnny. Ash looked at Val for a second, then jumped up. She was planning on running out of the back door.

“Sit down, it’s not the Gates you think. It’s his dad,” Val laughed, stopping her half way. She turned around to slide the baking tray to the oven. Ash stayed where she was, still feeling like running.

“Hello ladies. Mmm, cookies,” an older man stepped in to the kitchen and stole one cookie from a still hot tray that Val just took out from the oven. Ash noticed that he looked exactly like an older version of Brian.

“Hi Brian, what brings you here?” Val asked, stepping around the counter to give him a hug.

“Actually I wanted to talk to you about Bri and Michelle. If you have a minute,” he said, after hugging her back.

“Sure, let me finish up here and I’ll be all yours,” Val said, starting to clean up.

“Let me do that. I’m starting to feel myself useless around here,” Ash walked to her and pushed her slightly out of the way.

“You sure Ash? I can do this myself,” Val tried to protest, although she actually didn’t want to clean right now. Papa Gates gave her a long look upon hearing her name.

“So you are that little puppy Jimmy picked up on the road,” he joked, smiling wide at Ash.

“What? I’m not a puppy. I’m 100% human. I can get you a doctor’s proof for that,” she defended herself, wondering was this meant as an insult or a joke, deciding to stick to a joking tone at first.

“I can see why all of them like you,” Brian laughed, stealing another cookie.

“Well, all except your son, he seems to hate me,” Ash muttered, smiling sadly to the sink. She was now washing bowls Val had used to make cookie dough.

“I don’t think he hates you. I know when he hates somebody. You two should talk things through instead of picking at each other,” he advised, giving her a thoughtful look. Val tried to pick up a towel to clean up the table.

“Give me that. Now, out of my kitchen,” Ash took the rag from her hands and commanded bossily, pointing at the door.

“Alright, alright. You see how I’m thrown out of my own kitchen,” she complained to Brian Senior when they walked away. Ash cleaned up the kitchen, washed the dishes and took cookies out of the oven. She couldn’t find anything more to do and decided to go out. It was a nice sunny day, like it always was around here.

“Hey guys, I’m going out. Do you need anything from the store?” she asked, passing by living room. Only Matt and Johnny were there, no sign of Val and Brian’s dad.

“No, I think were okay,” Matt said, watching her walking to the front door.

“Okay then, see ya later,” she said goodbye and stepped out to the sun, feeling warmness from the rays on her bare skin. She knew it was soon time for her to move on, she couldn’t take advantage of Val’s hospitality for too long. Last week she had been there almost every day.

​“Hey Princess! What are you doing here all alone?” Ash heard a familiar voice across the street. She raised her head and saw Zack walking his dog, Ichabod. Smiling, she walked over to the other side.

“Hi Z. Hi Icky,” she bent down do give the dog a scratch behind his ear. Icky wagged his tail happily and liked Ash’s arm. “I’m just walking around. It’s a nice weather. Have to think about moving on. What about you two?”

“He wanted out,” Zack pointed to his dog, who was still happily getting attention from Ash.

“What do you have to think about? I thought you liked here?” he asked. Ash got up and they started to walk again, side by side this time.

“Well I do, I love it here. But I can’t stay at Jim’s and Leana’s place forever. I’m starting to get on their nerves already. Besides, I haven’t decided yet what to do with my life. I’m not sure I wanna go back to Jamestown,” Ash told him, looking at the beach up ahead.

“Why don’t you stay here? You could look for a work and find some place to live. I mean that if you’re not going back to Jamestown, then you have to start all over anyway,” Zack tried to reason, glancing sideways at the girl beside him. Ash stayed quiet for a while, thinking about that option. She had thought about it before but she was scared of having to start in an unfamiliar place all alone.

“I don’t know. I’d love it here but I don’t have friends or family here. I’d be all alone,” she admitted, turning her eyes to the pavement in front of her.

“What about us? We’re not good enough to be your friends?” Zack acquired.

“Of course you are. But I just met you guys, I can’t bother you with my problems. Besides, I’m not sure if I’m good enough for you,” she muttered that last part, not daring to look at him.

“Well, since now it’s been all good. To me it seems that there’s a potential for a good friendship,” Zack announced, throwing his hand over her shoulders.

“What is it with you guys, being so open and friendly all the time? It’s weird, in a good way,” Ash laughed, leaning in on him.

“I don’t know, it’s never happened before. It was Jimmy who started this and we trust him. And since Jimmy trusts you, then I’m sure we can trust you too. You seem like nice and trustworthy girl. So it’s probably your fault,” he joked, not removing his hand.

They walked in silence until Zack’s phone started to ring. He took it out and answered with a smile on his face. After few minutes he ended the call, not so happy anymore.

“Fuck. I have to go and pick Maggie up from LA. She has some trouble with her car. Come on Icky, do your thing now. I have to get you back home,” Zack tried to hurry his dog by walking to the grass with him. But Icky wasn’t ready to do anything yet.

“Hey, I can walk him. I wanted to go to the beach anyway, I can go to the dogs beach instead,” Ash offered, scratching Icky behind his ear again.

“You sure? It could take a few hours before I’m back,” he said, thinking about it.

“Not a problem, I like being on the beach. Besides, we can go back to Val’s if it takes you longer,” Ash was willing to look after Icky, she liked that little dog.

“You’re awesome, thanks Ash,” Zack said, kissing her on the cheek and handing over Icky’s leash.

​“You be a good boy to her, okay? See you later then,” he patted his dog shortly and then ran back to his house, to get his car.

“Come on Icky, let’s go to the beach. Let’s go check out some hot chicks,” Ash cooed to the dog, who was anxiously watching his retreating owner. When Zack disappeared behind a corner, Icky looked at Ash, then back at the now empty street.

“Come on, I’ll take care of you, I promise,” she said soothingly, squatting down to Icky. Dog turned to look at her and wagged his tail for a moment.

“Ready? Let’s go find some babes for ya,” Ash smiled, stroking his neck slightly. Icky seemed to accept the situation and they started to walk towards the beach.

Soon, they were sitting side by side on warm sand, watching other dogs run around. Some time later, a man with a Jack Russell terrier walked by. The terrier ran freely and decided to stop and sniff Icky. Icky didn’t like this sudden approach and he jumped up, barking. Not expecting that kind of welcoming, terrier got aggressive too. He wasn’t a big dog but Icky was still much smaller.

Ash saw that terrier was about to attack and leaned in between them, pushing terrier aside and scooping Icky up, quickly jumping on her feet. But terrier wasn’t going to give up now and jumped up, bit into Ash’s tight and held on while shaking his head at the same time, like trying to rip a piece off. Feeling pain, Ash hit terrier with her other leg and the dog let go for a moment. But he was attacking again. This time Ash was prepared tho, she hit terrier’s front legs sideways, so he lost his balance. It was a trick her uncle taught her years ago, you just had to be careful not to put your leg between dogs yaws. She kept doing that until dogs owner pulled his growling monster away.

“Oh my god. Are you okay?” he asked from Ash, keeping a firm grip on his still struggling dog. Ash looked down at her stinging leg, it bled pretty bad.

“Are you stupid? I just got bitten by your fucking dog. Do you think I’m okay?” she raged. She was mad as hell. “Why are you letting him loose when he obviously has aggression issues? You want him to run around and attack people?”

“I am sorry, he has never done that before. He’s been aggressive only once or twice and towards other dogs, not people,” the owner tried to apologize, putting a leash to his dog at the same time.

“And you still come to dog beach and let him loose? Are you insane?” Ash demanded. That open wound on her leg was burning in pain.

“Do you need a doctor? I can take you to a hospital,” guy offered nervously.

“Does he have rabies or something?” Ash asked with a panicked look on her face.

“No, he’s had all the shots, regularly.”

“Then no docs or hospitals, I hate those places. Look, I’ll be fine, just get out of my sight,” she was out of patience.

She was still mad but didn’t want to cause a big scene, so she chose to let go. She turned around and started to walk back to Val’s place, she didn’t have anywhere else to go and it wasn’t too far away. Pain in her leg made her limp a little.

“Hey, are you sure now. I could take you home at least,” man offered, catching up with her. His dog still thought that she’d make a good lunch and growled at her again.

​“Keep your fucking dog away from me,” Ash seethed not stopping for a moment.

Guy seemed to get the hint at last and walked away, taking his growling demon with him. After walking a hundred yards, Ash realized that it was madness to walk back all the way, blood trail on her leg had reached her sneaker already. So she did the only thing she could think of at the moment, she called Val.

“Yeah?” Val picked up almost instantly.

“Hey Val. I kinda have a problem,” Ash muttered, she didn’t like to ask for help.

“I’m listening,” came a short and alert answer.

“Well, I kind of got bitten by a dog on the beach and it doesn’t look good. So I was thinking that maybe you could come and pick me up?” she asked shyly, feeling silly somehow.

“What? Where are you exactly?” Val was on full alert now, ready to run out the door.

“On the dog beach, near the parking lot. I thought that I’d walk back to your place but I’m not sure if I’d make it.” She wanted to sit down. And she wanted painkillers, she didn’t do well enduring pain.

“Stay right there,” Val commanded, then she hung up without saying anything else.

Ash stared at her phone for a moment, stunned. Then she just sat down, still holding on to Icky. And that’s how Brian found her five minutes later.

“What the hell happened to you?” he demanded, crouching down to her.

“A fucking mad terrier who tried to make Icky his lunch,” Ash said, looking around, searching any sign of Val.

“Then why is he okay and you bleeding?” he continued, studying her wound, at least what was showing underneath all that blood.

“Because I saved Icky, terrier got mad and attacked me. End of story,” she felt nervous around Brian, waiting for him to say something cruel again.

“Why am I the one who always haves to save you?” he muttered while moving to other side of Ash and scooped her in to his arms.

“What the hell are you doing?” Ash asked, holding on to Icky, she didn’t want to drop him.

“You needed someone to take you back and I’m taking you back,” Brian said, carrying her effortlessly away from the parking lot.

“Yeah, I thought Val would pick me up,” she muttered, puzzled by the direction he was heading.

“She called me since I live closer.”

“You can put me down, I can walk by my self,” Ash tried to get away from him but he didn’t even notice her struggles.

“Shut up and enjoy the ride, Pretty Pants,” Brian smirked smugly, looking straight ahead.

“Pretty Pants?” Ash asked, giving her short pants a suspecting look.

“Pretty Pants,” he affirmed, not caring to explain.