You walked into the apartment.
The heavy door creaked like always when you leaned into it, pushing it open with a shoulder.
You stood at the entrance to the living room in a trance.
The awkwardness of the action didn’t register.
Your roommate sat on the couch, head hunched over and hugging her legs tight against her ample chest.
She stared unmoving at her laptop on the coffee table.
If she realized you came home, she didn’t acknowledge it.
The off-white wolf wore a pink sweater two sizes too large for her.
A birthday gift from an overweight aunt with no understanding of clothes sizes for petite women.
At the party, you joked she’d grow into it.
Little did they know…
You thought you’d seen the last of that shirt this morning.
As you left for work, she told you her plans to return it at the mall.
You opened your mouth to ask what was wrong.
She beat you to it.
”Are you okay?”
Only her blue eyes had moved to focus on you.
She looked about to cry.
She tried hiding it with a forced smile.
You did the same.
”You’re home early.” She noted.
You wanted to respond. You opened your mouth to answer her but the words couldn’t leave your throat.
You swallowed hard, choking down your emotions and nodded.
“I, uh…”
You lifted up the plastic bag in your right hand and pointed at it.
“I got subs.”
You hobbled to the couch.
The fake smile on her muzzle disappeared as she forgot to hold it.
Yours did too.
Neither of you could hide something from the other.
She groaned as she stretched her legs off the couch.
Sounded like she hadn’t moved for some time.
Stiff joints popped as she planted her paw pads on the ground and sat upright.
Too upright.
The pose was unnatural. She didn’t use the backrest of the couch.
Like her smile, she didn’t hold the pose for long.
You pulled your roommate’s sandwich out, handing it to her.
“Tried calling to see what you wanted, but, uh…”
“Kept going to voicemail, so I got your usual.”
”Yeah…” She muttered, grabbing the sandwich and fiddling with the wrapping.
You pulled your sub out of the baggie, and let the plastic slowly fall to the floor.
Your stomach gurgled, but you couldn’t find the strength to take a bite.
It hurt too much.
You set the unwrapped sandwich next to your friend’s superheroine outfit on the coffee table.
The two of you sat in silence, neither of you ate.
”You go first.”
You needed a minute before you began.
You brought your hands to your face and rubbed your eyes.
Not the first time this happened, but that didn’t make it any easier.
”I lost my job.” You blurted.
Dancing around the fact would only make things worse.
She chuckled.
But you could hear the bitter gloom in the laughter.
She hugged your arm and leaned into you.>“I’d say we’ve got… three months in the bank.”
“Four, if we stretch it.”
”We’ll be fine.”
Her arm wrapped around your back, and she pulled you closer to kiss the side of your head.
”We always are.”
”What happened?”
You exhaled loudly through your nose, taking your time to collect your thoughts.
“There was a fire…”
“While I was driving to work.”
“Big one, chemical plant.”
“Could see the smoke miles away.”
“It was on the car radio too, I…”
The wolf nodded.
And smiled.
A genuine, small smile.
“I can’t ignore that.”
She knew where this was going.
”Pulled into a parking garage and…
”Suited up.” She finished, cracking a small, genuine smile.
You nodded.
“Faster than driving.”
“Firefighters waved me down. Told me a few workers were trapped in there.”
”You did the right thing.”
You nodded again.
Too bad your boss couldn’t hear that story.
Late during your probationary period?
Fired. No exceptions.
“Oh, got a ticket too.”
“I was in such a rush I never paid for that stupid parking spot.”
You held each other close, lightly rocking back and forth.
Despite being in front of you the whole time, you hadn’t registered what was on her laptop.
It was the news.
The preachy anchor was on one side of the screen.
An upshot of a viscous-looking macro wolf was on the other.
And a manipulative, nasty headline topped it off.
You stretched a socked foot to close the lid of the computer, but the girl held up a hand to stop you.
“That, uh…”
“That’s worse than usual.”
The wolf in your arms huffed and buried her face into your chest.
“Tell me when you’re ready.”
You looked at her superhero outfit haphazardly strewn over the table.
Untold thousands of lives saved.
Billions in property damage averted.
Crisis after crisis stopped.
And vilified for it.
Real or otherwise.
”I went to the mall, like I said this morning.”
”The one on the east side.”
”Was gonna return this…” She said, flapping the baggy sleeves of her sweater to and fro.”
”But then I got the idea of looking for a smaller one. You know, getting a size that fits.”
You nodded.
”And when I was trying the new one in the changing room, well…”
”The kaiju a-alert began blaring on my phone…”
You remembered hearing the alarms earlier.
The all-clear came a few minutes after.
”So I started suiting up.”
”And I got real worried, and, a-and I thought it said it was already in the city.
She blubbered her words.
You ran your fingers through her creamy-blonde hair, trying to comfort her.
”I gre-he-hewwwww…!”
”Right through the mall!”
You cursed.
When she grew, anything and everything around tended to break.
Except her outfit.
That thing was damn near indestructible.
Sure enough, the news cut to an aerial shot of the mall.
The corner of the mall was devastated.
Rubble covered the street and rooftop of the building.
“Was anyone…?”
You were afraid to finish the question
She shook her head, flinging tears onto your shirt.
Thank God.

If there’s one good thing about online shopping taking off, it was that.
”But it could’ve happened!
Poor girl must’ve been watching the news for any signs of casualties.
Grainy security camera footage showed cracks forming in the sides of the department store before a pair of growing paws pushed the wall into the street.
Your masked girlfriend’s head popped through the top of the mall, sending rubble in all directions.
The girls’ ears, both in the video and next to you, pressed against her head in embarrassment.
There wasn’t any audio, but you’re pretty sure she was apologizing as she slowly climbed out of the wreckage.
”So, I was real careful, I looked around and made sure everyone was safe.
You weren’t surprised that the news cut that bit away.
Wouldn’t fit their narrative.
She brought a hand to her face in embarrassment.
”God, I apologized so many times when I was climbing out of the rubble.
You knew her too well.
“Then what?”
”And I looked around and, you know, I can’t see past the tall buildings in the finance district, but I heard roaring at the harbor, so…”
“Uh…”
“Franklin or East Spring?” You asked.
”I sprinted down Franklin.”
”Less traffic. Fewer light poles.”
”It’ll be a few weeks before they pave all those paw prints.”
“It happens.” You reminded her. “It’s inevitable.”
”Ugh…”
”Living up to the ‘She-Wrecks’ name, I guess.”
The media’s newest nickname for her.
You scratched the base of her ear.
“So, yeah, big kraken monster in the harbor.”
”We do our thing, sent it packing, but…”
She waved a hand towards her laptop.
”Why do they expect everything to be so perfect!?”
Helicopter footage showed the fight.
It was brutal.
She and the beast traded blows that could break skyscrapers.
And you noted she kept taking blows whenever she repositioned herself to stay between the creature and the city.
The aftermath of capsized boats and broken piers and interviews with tossed sailors was showcased next.
Speculation on what she prevented and saved took a backseat to images of destruction.
”Like, I can’t not kick up tidal waves when I’m wrestling a something that big.”
She collapsed against the couch’s backrest.
”So, yeah, put a bunch of mall workers out of jobs on top of almost squashing them.”
”Ruined an avenue.”
”Smashed the harbor.”
Her hunger got the best of her.
She fiddled with the parchment around her sandwich and sighed.
”And my phone got obliterated when I outgrew the mall.”
God, you hoped insurance would cover that.
Given your finances, she might have to use a burner phone for the foreseeable future.
After a tentative sniff, she took a small bite of the sub.
She grimaced while chewing, and swallowed the food with difficulty.
”Blegh.”
”They messed it up, too…”
You unwrapped yours to find most of the contents spilled out.
“Perfect end to a perfect day.” You bemoaned.
”Here’s to the good guys.” Your girlfriend said, poking her sandwich against yours.