Dangit, he’s right. Begrudgingly, I open my front door and prop against the wall inside my hallway while he puts on booties and gloves, then takes the canvas tote of puppy supplies from my shoulder. He’s never been inside my house before, not many people have. He follows me to the sunroom and looks out at my back yard. “This is the puppies’ space. They should be fine to run around out back for a little, if you can leave the dog door open for their return then lock it up behind them, that’d be great. You can just take out their toys in here, then leave the tote in the kitchen, I’ll deal with it in the morning. Feel free to grab a drink or some food but please take the dishes with you. I’ll just be a moment, then I’ll let you out.”
I stagger down the hallway into my room and close the door behind me. I wash my face, brush my teeth, then comb my hair out. Just letting my hair down relieves some of the tension, so I leave it loose. I change into my pyjamas, which is just a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top. I prefer to sleep under blankets and restrictive sleepwear isn’t my thing. I can’t find my robe, it’s not something I wear normally. Fuck it, I’m tired and I’m just walking him to the door so he can deal.
I come out into the living room but don’t see nor hear him there or in the kitchen. Just then, the puppies come from the sunroom, followed by Sheriff Helki. Echo and Shotzie, sensing I’m at the end of my rope, herd me to the couch for a cuddle. Shit, that does it. I’ve managed to keep it together since I came out of the memory lake, but now the tears I’ve held back begin to silently fall as I clasp the dogs to me. I sense Sheriff Helki gingerly take a seat on one of the end recliners, waiting for me to regain my composure.
“Sorry, it’s just been a really bad week. I can only keep going for so long before I need to decompress. I hate that I did that to Meathead, no matter if he acted against us, it’s not right to have any part of that. I’ve never done that while in contact with a PsySentient, and I think her presence boosted my abilities and I got all his memories dumped in my head. It’s taking time to separate them out and properly store them. Sorry, you’re seeing me blubber like this.”
“Gray, don’t apologize. You’ve had a relentless week and you need a break. I think you can use a little time away. Maybe skip tomorrow’s social. I think Professor Biobaku, Tiko and the girls can handle it. Plus, you’ll be there in the afternoon for the training.”
“How do you know all this stuff? Did I accidently send out my calendar again?”
Sheriff Helki chuckles, “no. Tiko told me when I called him about today. He also said you’ve been doing great on the Council, but he feels guilty he asked you to run for the position. He didn’t realize how much work you’d have to do.”
“Yeah, it’s a lot. I don’t know if previous councilors put this much effort in. But if I’m going to do something, I won’t half-ass it. Okay, I’m almost done,” I say as I bury my head in Echo’s neck.
“You don’t have the same restriction against touch with your pets. Did you build an immunity to them?”
“Nope. The farther from human someone is, the more difficult it is for me to read them. More difficult isn’t the right word. It’s like a frequency. I’m always tuned in for humans, so if I encounter one, I automatically read their memories. I must actively keep them out, so no touching humans or things they’ve handled. Sentimental items connect me best with memories, but a stray touch can still get me random stuff. In fact, stray touch is worse because of the randomness. Memories have an order, random is chaos.
“Anyway, I’m not automatically tuned to animals. I can shift to their frequency easily enough, but it’s deliberate. Plus, I can only maintain that frequency for a bit, and honestly, most animal’s memories aren’t that formed. Time doesn’t exist the same for them and they have much better memory for scents, visuals, or something else outside human’s usual spectrum. Same with other species of hominids or even further back. I can do it, just not as easily or for as long. So, I leave animals to PsySapients and extinct close ancestors to Bone Sages or PsyChometrists.”
Sheriff Helki looks keenly interested in my explanation, which is my cue to go to bed because obviously I’m imagining things. No one can be interested in my ramblings. “Well, thanks for bringing me home. And putting up with my whining. But now you are free to go home. I’ll walk you out.”
Sheriff Helki turns to me as we reach the door and I turn on the hall light. Slowly, he reaches out and tucks my hair away from my left eye. I freeze at the motion.
“Gray, there is strength in perseverance but it’s okay to ask for help. The weight of the world is not on your shoulders, just as it’s not on mine. Go to sleep, I’ll let Tiko know you won’t be there in the morning.” Then, after dropping those truth bombs, he vanishes into the night. Or, you know, drives off.
EPILOGUE
Sunday evening finds me back at home, finally finished with this weekend’s training. It went well, but thankfully I won’t have to do anymore. Vic and Jay have training well in hand and their team is eager to roll it out to other Psycepts, new and existing. There is even interest from other categories of Psycepts wanting to volunteer
