Chapter 2

I sleep in the safehouse. My (wanted) Mistress, who I call Marv, since she has yet to properly claim me, set up a little cot for me in the back room. Its the bare minimum but its leagues better than the floor. Warmer, too.

By the barely there light outside, I know it's early morning. I remove myself from the pile of scratchy blankets Marv gave me, and head for the small bathroom in the corner of the room. Marv has provided me with me all the essentials- toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, lotions, all that. I take a bath in the porcelain tub and prepare for the rest of my day. Usually Marv comes in around noon to watch over all that happens around the safehouse.

The safehouse is a moderately sized warehouse that holds all of her product. Marv makes sure the product is distributed properly and no one takes anything from her. I don't really have a true job around here, I just do whatever Marv thinks I can handle. She doesn't know of my true powers, so she usually has me keep things clean.

   Though Marv doesn't come in until noon, I always wake up at the crack of dawn. I like to keep watch while she's gone. Its a job I wasn't asked to do but theres always room for help especially when I know that the safety of her tiny empire is what she most values about her work.

When I'm done taking a shower, I get dressed in some clothes Marv bought me, and walk out onto the main floor. Its an open space, product in every corner. I walk around and smell. I don't smell anyone here yet, so I sit down in a chair by the side door. I close my eyes and listen to all the noises around me. Nothing out of the ordinary, a few bird calls, a car or two. I sit and listen like this every day, surrounded by Marv's livelihood unsupervised. She doesn't know I do this. Only Joe, the first person always here, knows my morning routine. He doesn't understand that I can actually hear noises more than a mile away if I concentrate, he just passes my behavior off as a harmless quirk of a broken girl.

I hear Joe's car as soon as it's in range, and open my eyes. I get up and unlock the door for him. Since I can hear him from such a far distance, I have to wait a few minutes before he will actually enter the warehouse. I sit back down on my chair and listen for his footsteps on the gravel outside. I'm not really concentrating anymore, so I can only hear the creaks of the warehouse, and a few dozen feet outside. When I hear the crunch of his shoes hitting the ground, I immediately smell him. He always smells of cigarette smoke and syrup. I asked him one day why he always has a syrup-y scent and he told me his wife makes him pancakes every morning, without fail. He was amazed that I could smell it on him, but didn't question me about it.  

     Joe finally reaches the door and opens it. "Mornin' Lost." He looks at me, smiling.

Everyone around here calls me Lost. When they brought me here and asked my name, I told them I didn't have one. What I didn't say was that I was always called Pet by my owners. I figured they didn't need to know so I just kept saying I didn't know my name. One of Marv's goons, who had brought me in, laughed that I lost my name. Since then, everyone just calls me Lost.

"Awake before me again, I see." He chuckles at me, lighting a cigarette. "I don't know how you do it, Lost. I could never get up that early every day and stay sane." He exhales and puff of smoke swirls around his face for a moment. "Anything interesting happen in the few hours before I got here?"

   "Nope." I shake my head.

    "Good. With that new guy in town, I don't want nothin' happenin' to Marv's stuff." Joe is referring to some new dealer trying to muscle in on Marv's turf. Marv's turf isn't that big to begin with, but it's still hers and she's proud of it.

Joe walks away checking the product, mumbling about how the new guy burned down a strip joint that wouldn't play ball. He always talks about it when the new guy is brought up, even if he's the one who did the bringing up. I remember that incident, too. The owner of a strip club a few miles away that sells Marv's product wouldn't sell the new guys stuff and ended up paying for it. Marv was absolutely fuming. That strip joint had a good chunk of costumers. Now that its gone, she's lost a good amount of money. This was a few months back, the club is already almost fully rebuilt now.

As I'm watching Joe do inventory, I hear footsteps walking around outside. That's odd. Its usually at least an hour or two before anyone else shows up. I stand up from my chair and call to Joe.

     "Hey, Joe. Someone's outside." I cock my head, listening. The steps are close to the walls, underneath the sound of steps I hear liquid hitting the ground.

     "Are you sure? No one should be here to pick up anything yet." He scratches his chin, staring at me. "I'll go check." He starts for the door beside me, but I stop him. He looks at me curiously, wondering why I wont let him go. I sniff audibly, and my eyes widen.

     "Oh no." I whisper. Gasoline. Someone's trying to burn down Marv's warehouse.