Coming Back Home

PANDA

.hel

man for two solid minutes. Charlie wonders how she hasn't pooped

ehind her bedroom door or the bow and arrow underneath her kit

u doing in my ba...backy

that the tip of his leather boots is

roof. She clutches, tightly, the hem of her p

his

how she'

k! Or read all the books in the rom

. Well, I have, you know, Ibuprofen, Paracetamol, Advil, Lo— Well that's not the point! The point is, I

ses his eyes. Charlie would've noticed this if she wasn't starin

grips her phone tighter. She presses the

e, The man drops one of his bags on her f

me to dive in

ioned my hair! I can

click the dial button,

is shi

his teeth clattered noisily. He breat

the screen. Her face fa

de, his midnight-black hair that had a touc

ing the police by this time of the night is pretty futile. Cha

im a place to sleep and feel good

s me in my sleep with

lity, the man picks up the bag he dropped on the groun

like to come in? It's snowing pretty

ay something but frowns immediately. A tiny g

lie takes an unconsc

she mutters as they wal

. Charlie wants to add but thinks against it. She

ou hot chocolate, " Charlie announ

living room and kitchen. This is a perfect excuse to watch the man like a

ss you,

on the center table, she trips on one of his

guffaws and scoffs e

the and now she's feeling light-headed. An embarrassed blush ap

the hell happened there? She grabs her phone from

ater but Charlie naturally loves the cold. Right now, there's something about standing in t

have to—uh, that... yeah!" She run

call Deedah overcomes her. The black woman w

ario. His height could intimidate the man in her house and make him leave. But who's she

er head, "Mario

assassin. He looks, more or less, like a panda bear. A panda bear hunched slightly with Charlie's throw blanke

, "...but you can sleep here tonight. I don't know if you're

Charlie can't decipher the color under the dark—looks hooded and droopy. He keeps staring at Charlie

alarm clock on her nig

Charlie

definitely