THE MOMENT
Jacob flopped on the couch with his last ounce of energy. He was exhausted after the night's events; but, the morning sun did little to comfort him. He cleaned up the rampage-created mess and put the house as close to normal as he could. Some damage couldn't be repaired in a single night, and some not at all. He took careful inventory of everything broken with the intent to make it right. He also left the door on the birdcage open. After the night he had, he felt a strange sense of relief knowing he was going to own up to his mistake. But, the relief vanished as soon as he heard the key in the door.
"Furby! I'm hooooome!" Wendy sang as soon as the door was open. The lean, middle-aged woman with salt and pepper hair glided into the living room with barely a glance at Jacob. She was more interested in her pet.
"Hey, Jacob how did it-," she froze as soon as she saw the open door. She seemed to notice the house wasn't quite as pristine as she left it and she focused a hard gaze on him. "What the hell happened?" Jacob took in a deep breath for courage and stood off the couch as he exhaled.
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault...," he decided to rip the bandaid off as soon as possible; in a way, he hoped it would distract her from everything else. "...I fed him after midnight." Jacob and Wendy had only been acquaintances for a couple of years, growing closer into almost friends over the last six months. He felt honored she asked him to pet sit. In their short time knowing each other, Jacob thought he'd seen Wendy get angry a time or two. But, he instantly realized he'd never seen her really mad.
"YOU DID WHAT!??" She yelled at him as she strode forward to close the distance and slap him hard enough to leave him disoriented for half a second. "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE! DON'T EVER TALK TO ME AGAIN!" she spat. Literally and almost deliberately, as she stared deep into his soul through his eyes.
"I'm sorry! I can explain!!!" Jacob shrunk and took timid side steps to the door; but, he felt like he could still make his case.
"EXPLAIN WHAT!?" Wendy yelled. She seemed to realize she was still screaming. Her face was flushed bright red with anger; but, she had enough presence of mind to not want to ruin her throat on account of his idiocy. "Go ahead," she said quietly after she gave her head a shake. "Explain what magical reasoning made you decide to ignore the very clear instructions I left. You're an adult, Jacob. It's not like I left him with some random 6-year-old I found on the street. And, you had my trust."
"He was whimpering like he was hungry...," Jacob replied. He wasn't expecting another slap. But, the warm sting on his cheek reminded him that he deserved it.
"He was whimpering because he was sick! Eating after midnight reacts poorly with his meds! God!" she threw her hands up in exasperation; Jacob flinched.
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW!???" Jacob suddenly felt like that was information that could have been shared.
"Because it wouldn't matter IF YOU HAD FOLLOWED DIRECTIONS! I can't account for everything you're supposed to know! I left very clear instructions to get you through a single damn night!" She pulled her phone out of her pocket as she berated him. She began typing a message; then, she looked up after she sent it off.
"What the hell are you still doing here? Get out of my house," she said.
"I just thought...," he wanted to tell her about the mess. But, she wasn't in the mood.
"Yeah, you should really stop doing that," she said. "Leave." Jacob nodded and continued to the door. He found a rainbow-haired teen standing on Wendy's porch when he opened it. She seemed surprised to see him.
"Is... Wendy here?" she asked. Luckily, Jacob did not have to answer as Wendy appeared behind him. She held a familiar, small, blanket-wrapped bundle in her hands; it was the same bundle he'd left in the open bird cage. She shoved Jacob aside, further into the house again, to talk to the girl.
"Hey, Monday, thanks for getting here quickly. Is there anything you can do for my furby?" she asked.
"Sure!" Monday, the teen, nodded with a bright smile. Wendy moved aside to let the teenager in. "I have some items that'll bring him back to life; as long as he didn't eat anything a couple of hours before he died...," the teen added as she entered.
"Oh...," Wendy sighed and Jacob felt worse. He didn't know who the teen was; but, Wendy did. The fact that she asked for help, and the teen said she could bring it back to life was music to his ears; until the last bit.
"Whoa...," Monday giggled at the state of the room. "...looks like someone threw a wicked party, then tried to clean it up. Badly." Monday drawing attention to it, along with the last bit of hope leaving her, was enough to put Jacob back in Wendy's sights.
"Hey, jerkwad," Jacob realized Wendy was talking to him. "It wasn't bad enough you murdered my pet; you also had to make a mess??" she asked.
"Sorry...," Jacob shrugged as he apologized; it was the only thing he could do. "... I got a little emotional when I realized how badly I messed up...,"
"So you made it worse by breaking my things too?" Wendy shook her head at him. "Get the hell out of my house."