Under a Funeral Moon

Daniel sat in the heat of his garage, a cold Cobra in his hand. "It's fucking hot," he muttered with a half sneer, half exasperated whine. He placed the beer down as his dog sauntered over to his chair, placing a paw over his thigh and licking his hand encouragingly, but sluggishly, as he petted him. "Yeah, I know, you're hot, too." Daniel wheeled his computer chair a few inches before standing up, picking up the water bowl, and heading into the main house. He returned, bowl filled with cold water, and placed it before his dog.

Locie was about 100 pounds, an American blue nose pit bull, intimidating and strong, with a head so big it was often mistaken for a bully. Together, Daniel and Locie lived in the garage, renting for a reasonably cheap price, but always suffering through the summers. The main house belonged to a family that with the years came to acknowledge him as one of their own, from a distance, of course, but loved him no less.

Daniel had recently been put on house arrest, and the black ankle bracelet caught in his jeans every time he took them off. He was free from 11PM to 11AM, but only to go to work his graveyard shift. He looked at the time on his computer screen, 9:45AM. He placed both hands on his head as he reclined back, running them back through his hair. "I work nights, and come home to boil in this fucking garage." He grabbed a hair tie off of his computer desk and tied his hair back. He had mid-chest length light brown hair, goatee and mustache, going a few days without shaving, giving him an unruly dirty look. He took his shirt off and sat there in his boxers. "How 'bout some music, eh?" He looked down at Locie, but Locie was already lying down, sleepily watching the street through the slightly raised garage door, enough for him to peek his nose outside. "Metal it is." Daniel navigated to YouTube, to play his favorite Darkthrone album, but before he hit play he heard an all too familiar voice...

"Hey baby, aren't you a cutie! Look at you, you're hot aren't you? Yes, you are!" Daniel looked down at his now animated dog, tail wagging quickly. He heard Aurora's footsteps coming up the driveway as she cooed at his dog. He gave Locie a few pats on his back and waited for Aurora to walk into the main house and through the garage door.

"Hey you!" Aurora emerged, face flushed from the sun, hair in a high ponytail, ripped jeans, and a slightly over sized maroon colored tee. "I brought you something to eat." She held up a Burger King paper bag in one hand and a iced coffee drink in the other, "but coffee's mine," she smiled. Aurora was his older brother's girlfriend, but she was younger than Daniel by about 2 years. She was a perfect 21 year old rascal of a girl. She liked to stop by Saturday mornings, usually with food, but mostly to curb her boredom while she waited for Matt to come home from work. "Matt's getting out a little later today, maybe around 3 he said." She plopped down in a lawn chair next to Daniel, "I can see Locie's not the only one who's hot," she raised her eyebrows at Daniel as she looked him up and down.

"It's rough, alright!" Daniel threw the cap to his beer at her. She laughed, playfully kicked his leg, and handed over the bag.

"I got you two chicken sandwiches." She slipped off her sandals as Locie licked one of her toes, and then proceeded to try to climb onto her lap. "Locie has puppy syndrome, he thinks he's still a little baby!" She grunted as he tried licking her face, the entire front half of his weight on her lap. "You're not a puppy!" She giggled, but Daniel could tell Locie was starting to feel heavy on her.

"Locie! Down! Go to sleep!" Daniel gave him a stern look, but Locie obediently stepped off, gave Aurora one last lick on her hand and walked over to his bed, circling once before lying down. Locie's intelligence astounded Aurora, but she only smiled.

"Hey Daniel, have you heard about that disease going around? It's manifesting itself like a cold or something, but I guess it's really dangerous, landing people in the hospital. Crazy, right?"

"Where'd you hear that?" Daniel started unwrapping one of the sandwiches.

"The homepage for Yahoo." Aurora shrugged, suddenly feeling silly.

"It's probably just the news trying to amp up people. There's always a new disease going 'round." He took a bite out of the sandwich.

"Let's listen to some music!" Aurora sipped on her coffee, "Were you about to play Under a Funeral Moon?"

"Mhm." Daniel hit play while Aurora proceeded to set up her hookah which she left in his garage for days like these. Daniel watched her, she was beautiful. He loved her, she was to be his future sister-in-law after all, but sometimes...sometimes it felt like...No. He pushed those feelings deep deep down into the pit of his stomach. No. Never. He resumed eating, but continued watching her.

"I'm going to go get some water." She looked up at him, she was leaned forward enough for him to see down her t-shirt. Cheetah pattern bra. She didn't notice. He nodded. She stood up and walked out of the garage. Locie lifted his head, tailed wagged, but set it down as soon as she exited. Locie and Daniel stared at each other. Daniel shrugged, arms raised, half-eaten sandwich in one hand, "What?"