Discombobulate

Chapter Twenty-Three

Denise peeled another piece of cheese off her string cheese. "It's currently twelve-fourteen am on Tuesday. It's the twenty-third of October. I've been up for about fifty hours. I'm-" She paused trying to find the right words. "I'm beyond exhausted. I can barely keep my eyes open." 

She stood facing the camera. The camera was teetering on the edge of a box in her kitchen. It was the only spot where the camera could see her full body.

"For the past two hours, I've been walking around my house. I think I'll fall asleep if I sit down. I've never felt like this before. The lack of sleep is messing with my emotions. Earlier, I started sobbing and forgot I had Andy on the phone. She thought I was dying." 

Denise cringed at the memory. When she heard Andy's yelling from the opened bathroom door, she panicked. She shoved herself off the bathroom floor and sped back to the phone. She played it off as a cruel joke. 

"Never do that again!" Andy spoke from the other end of the phone. "I thought you were in trouble." 

"Sorry," Denise had apologized. "I wanted to know what you'd do. I wanted to find out your reaction and use it for my newest story. If I told you what I was doing, your reaction wouldn't have been genuine." 

Denise hated lying to Andy, but she didn't want to tell the truth. She wasn't going to admit she had mixed emotions about leaving Brimington. She'd have to figure out what she wanted to do at some point. 

"Nothing has been too crazy." Denise turned her attention back to the camera. "My emotions are jumbled, but that's it. Fortunately, I'm still sane at the moment. Dupe has been a perfect companion for this experiment. He keeps me on my toes." 

Denise turned around to find Dupe. Her eyes scanned over the living room furniture. The couch, where he had been sleeping, was empty. She turned back to the camera and placed her half-eaten cheese stick on the counter. "Give me a minute to find him." 

She started to turn back to her room. Something inside her hesitated. She turned back and wrapped her fingers around the camera. "Never mind, I'll take you with me. It can be an adventure for future me to enjoy." 

She turned the camera around to face the floor. "Dupe!" She called out. "Where are you?" 

She strolled down the hallway. She pointed the camera into her room. A warm yellow light flooded the room when she turned the light on. Since the camera was older, it didn't have night vision. 

"If he's not in the living room, he's usually in here." 

She made sure to look on both sides of the bed. She glanced underneath the bed. He wasn't there. She made her way to the closet. He wasn't on the top shelf of her closet either. 

She left her bedroom and entered the bathroom. A quick flip of the switch revealed it to be empty too. She stood in the doorway of the bathroom. The camera continued to aim toward the floor. 

"Okay, this is kind of weird. He never comes in here. I guess he's in the bathtub." She shoved the shower curtain back. She peered over the edge of the tub to reveal it to be empty. "Where did he go?" 

She made her way back towards the kitchen. She turned the camera around to face her. "I don't know where he is. I'm starting to get concerned. Maybe he's in the kitchen and I didn't see him." 

She tried to hold the camera steady as she walked. She glanced back into the living room on her way into the kitchen. The couch was still empty. Her bare feet slapped the kitchen tile.

She went from one side of the bar counter to the other side. She peered underneath the lower cupboards near the ground. In a panic, she started flinging open cupboard doors.