Mikey reentered the room, interrupting them. "Are you ready to go for a walk?" He asked Emily.
"Walk? What walk?" Emily asked.
"Around the neighborhood," Mikey said, grabbing her arm. "Come on..."
"Have fun, sweetie," Linda Madison said. "We'll pick this up later."
Mikey urged a confused Emily out of the house. She was having trouble figuring out what had just happened till it suddenly hit her. "Stacy..." The girl had found out she was trying to escape.
She broke free from Mikey's grip and started running toward the house next door, tripping and falling to her knees, then continuing to run toward the gate.
Mikey was chasing her, calling her name. Even though the distance between houses was not very far...the seconds seemed to drag on forever. She needed to find Stacy and apologize before she got too mad.
She got all the way to the door before Mikey caught up with her. "Why'd you start running all of the sudden?" He asked, reaching down to clip something around her neck.
Emily tried to move forward, but felt a sharp tug. She looked up at Mikey.... "This isn't you....she's done something to you..." She insisted. "She's...e....rrr...." her throat seized up on her.
"Come on, let's get out of the Riley's yard," Mikey said.
Stacy ran up to them. "Hi...you're Mikey from next door," she said.
"And you're...."
"Stacy Riley...my parents and I just moved in," the little girl told him.
Emily tried to call out for Stacy, but she could barely muster a whine.
"Sorry...there was a squirrel in your yard...." Mikey said. "We're just going for a walk."
"Can I come?"
Mikey was surprised. The girl was much younger than him. He shrugged. "I guess." Mikey wasn't interested in girls, but she seemed more interested in Emily. "Do you have to tell someone?"
"My mommy isn't....home yet." Stacy said.
"Bark...bark!" Emily said. And closed her mouth. Oh, no...not... She looked down, seeing the tiny paws on the ground in front of her.
"I think he likes me," Stacy said, patting Emily's head. Emily could feel her ears suddenly shift. "Let's go," she told Mikey. "After that, I have to go find Mommy."
Emily found herself moving along with the two. She tried to speak a few times, but nothing came out but barks, arfs, and whines..and she was distracted by the feeling her bones were shifting with each step, to the point she was barely listening to Stacy ramble on at Mikey. She hoped that after the walk, Stacy would forgive her and put her back to normal. Unless she was going to find a new Mommy.
