The Options

Weeks passed and Jennifer's condition declined. Mark took responsibility, since he had a record, until we could sort it all out. His arrest was quick. Sorting it out was the problem, though. _Things_ in the basement are hard to comprehend, our options were limited.

1) Try to interact kindly with it again; risk being torn apart. 2) Call in an "expert", animal control or police. Risk having a stranger torn apart. 3) Call the Government.

We wrote it all out on paper, drawing plans for approaching the _thing_. My heart skipping beats every time I think of Jenn. We looked up numbers for the government and animal control online.

We rehearsed the calls. "This is Kelly, how can I help you?" "Yes, we have a thing in our basement. Your teams should come here immediately. It is incredibly dangerous and has already hurt a person." "What is this 'thing'"? "It's a..." That's where the call would fall apart. _We were down to one plan._