Animal Kingdom

Mia Burch lay still in her narrow bed, jolted from sleep, her eyes fixed on the window. Rain traced restless paths down the glass, each impatient drop catching the light as a sudden flash lit the room. A heartbeat later, thunder rolled through the darkness like a distant threat. She wishes her parents were here… but there was no one she trusted to turn to.

She holds her stuffed bunny tightly. The eight-year-old loved it and kept it by her side during thunderstorms for comfort.

She tried taking normal, calm breaths. She knew she would fall back to sleep soon if she lay here long enough, maybe close her eyes and pretend. It should come soon. Please come soon.

The storm’s thunder ruined her chance. It is a bad night tonight. She glanced at the fluffy black cat on her dresser, licking its paws and ignoring the chaos outside.

Something outside her bedroom disturbs the animal, which shifts its ears toward the door before jumping off the dresser and dashing out of the purple room. A loud crash of falling pans makes Mia lift her head and turn toward the cracked doorway.

Additional sound of moving furniture raises Mia’s curiosity. She wondered if Cindy, her babysitter, had heard.

She blinks a few times, hoping her dad will check, but remembers they won’t return until morning due to the storm.

Wearing her pink clouded pajamas, she slides out of her bed and takes the bunny with her for something to hold onto. She walks over to peek out to see if she can detect what is outside in the hallway.

The sound of the pots before scared her, knowing her babysitter never went into the kitchen. She especially didn’t touch the kitchen’s cooking items.

She peeks through the door crack towards the end of the hallway, seeing a shadow move past the flickering TV light in the living room.

It wasn’t Cindy’s tall figure, but a small, slender form that quickly passed by, accompanied by the sound of a table sliding across the wood. Startled, Mia rushed to her bed as thunder shook the house.

Someone else is here...

Did the burglar hurt Cindy? Although she wasn’t a nice person to Mia, she was nice to her parents. It might’ve been fake niceness, but nobody deserves to get hurt.

Another noise came.

Then, the hisses of her cat.

“Midnight!”

She peers over the side, her heart racing for her cat, whom her father let her rescue from the shelter. She had fed, loved, and bathed her strange water-loving feline. She did not want him to get hurt.

She slowly slides from beside the safety of her bed and calls her cat again, hoping that he will run into her arms like he always does, and she can lock the door. But he never came.

She leaves the safety of her room to search for him. Calling his name, she peeks out the door, then steps into the dark hallway. Without the TV’s light casting shadows, she feels more assured as she enters the living room.

Once her small feet patter over the wood floor, she gazes at the living room. Cindy lies on the couch with an open bag of chips on the table, but it isn’t that which catches the young girl’s attention.

A fresh, glossy burgundy handprint marked the wall leading from the kitchen, sliding down to the floor. Another print was placed on the table, slightly pushed away from the couch.

Mia blinks and tilts her head at the scene. Someone was here, but she didn’t know why they would cause a mess.

A cat growls from the kitchen corner toward the basement where the red handprints led.

Her breath catches. Clutching her bunny, she dashed to her parents’ room to grab her father’s flashlight. She disliked dark places, especially the basement, but Midnight was hers. She loved that cat, and she knew he was down there.

But who else was?

She cautiously approaches the open basement door, flashlight in hand, and the bunny cradled in her arms. The light flickers as she points it down the stairs.

She slowly steps down each step and wishes that her cat was down here.

She paused when she saw more red on the stairs below her.

“Midnig- oh!”

The large flashlight slips through her small fingers, tumbling down the stairs and rolling to a stop on the floor.

A noise in the basement made her freeze. The crack of lightning was bright but silent. Should she back out now or get her dad’s flashlight?

She heard her cat’s hiss, confirming his presence down here. She needed to make sure he’s alright.

She slid down the steps slowly, her heart racing as she reached for the flashlight. Once in hand, she surveys her surroundings. Boxes were stacked high, hiding the rest of the dark basement. Mia noticed more red leading to a hidden area, along with her cat.

“Midnight!”

The cat arched its back, hissing in the direction the red marks led. Mia stood up with the flashlight and stepped forward. Midnight’s hiss was drowned out by a growl that made the cat flee by her. Mia froze, stunned. She had never heard a growl like that.

A growl is followed by a painful moan that sparked her curiosity. She shifts closer, wanting to know if someone was in pain.

The flashlight flings from her hand as the light flickers away with it, revealing a larger, scarier shadow before her.

As it snarls like a large feline, she freezes with her brown eyes flaring at the glowing eyes ahead. She hugs her bunny tighter to her chest.

Yellow. Yellow, bright eyes that made her continue to stare. Especially when the eyes didn’t look human. It was more like a... Cat.

The taller shadow growls again, more fiercely, trying to run her off so it can slip away. But its threatening growls turn into slight hisses of pain as its arms cover its stomach and chest, bending forward. It’s wound finally takes its toll.

The shadow collapsed and pushed the smaller girl down on the floor. The stranger curls in pain.

Mia left her bunny on the ground so she could reach for the flashlight to shine on it.

She didn’t fully grasp what lay before her. At first, she mistook him for a hurt boy, lying in pain on the ground. He seemed like an older preteen, but there was something more to him.

The boy had the ears and tail of a feline. Two pointed ears sat on top of his head. His tail is long, moving side to side in pain. His clothes were unusual, and he wore only black trousers that looked handmade.

His body faces her direction with his eyes squeezed shut. His bare, slender torso seems to have been wounded. He had bruises, cuts, dirt, and blood covering his battered skin. Mia began to shiver, yet seeing the boy in a terrible condition made her fear slip away. He was hurt.

She sits up and moves closer, but the first slight noise she made his eyes opened to. His pupils were in thin slits as he first stares, his yellow eyes lock onto her brown ones in warning, but as he gazes at her he stills.

Mia examines his pupils as they grow into wide circles while his body goes limp without lowering his head. He blinks a couple of times, more than she did, and let out a breath he had held for some time. The little girl didn’t know what was going on but she knew she needed to help him.

Despite her closeness, he remains silent, staring. Concerned, she says, “I-I don’t know how to fix it, but maybe you should clean up.”

His large pupils made him appear normal, but his dazed expression revealed confusion. He blinks more at her, remaining silent when she touches his battered arm. His pain intensified as she encouraged him to rise. He groans. He just wanted to lie down for a while somewhere.

“My babysitter is sleeping,” she whispers to him and helps him to the stairs. He looked exhausted to her and hurt. She had to help him. “She can sleep through anything, but stay quiet just in case, alright?”

He stares once again.

She helps the exhausted boy up the stairs, his sore body making it difficult. He was bigger and taller, but leaned against the wall for support, struggling with each step. He was quiet through the living room and into the hallway with her. At the very end, right next to her room, was a bathroom she led him in.

By that time, his exhaustion overcame him, and he fell, grabbing the shower curtain in a weak attempt to keep up. She could not stop him from falling in. His head rolled back, his tail halfway out of the tub. His ears were low with his eyes shut. He passed out.

She grabbed the showerhead standing on a nearby stool to reach and turned on the water. She made sure it was a warm temperature so she could clean the poor boy.

She knew he was a strange stranger, but couldn’t leave him filthy. She cleans his face and torso, tilting her head in question as she examines him. He didn’t look like a typical twelve-year-old. His hair was slightly long, which is uncommon for boys in this town with a slim build, a sign of his youth.

Who was he?

He lies in the tub while she cleans the blood off the wall and wherever she can see and manage, hoping to protect Cindy from the blame.

She hated to leave the boy in the bathroom, but she wasn’t big enough to carry him.

She returned to the bathroom to find him awake, his tail curling slowly. Sensing her presence, he turned his head, eyes half-closed and breathing slowly.

“I... I cleaned you off a bit,” Her fingers weave together in her nervousness. “I am sorry I left you there, I just... Well, too small to pick you up.”

She thought he would speak, but he lay there silently, soaking and content. The warm falling rain is pleasant, and the tip of his tail curls.

She wants to ask questions, but doesn’t. “Do you need a medicine box for that?” Her voice trembles. She was rarely around others, thanks to her mom’s homeschooling. Her social skills were lacking.

He stares still.

She looks away from him this time. She is new to this eye contact thing, even with a stranger. Especially with a stranger. A strange stranger.

She leaves for the medicine kit and returns to find him still there. She did not know how to use it, but it seemed like a good idea to grab it. As she sets the kit down by the tub, he snatches and grabs her wrist with her guard down. She begins her struggle.

“No.”

Just that one word prompts Mia to become even more frightened. His voice was too serious for a young boy to have.

He jerks her wrist towards him. In a flash, her eyes spot his front long canines. He used them to bite into her wrist, using his other hand to cover her mouth to smother her panicked scream, and held her down over the side away from the water.

He took light sips, and her body went limp from too much fear. Confused, her eyes watch him. They were wide, seeing his lids were shut casually to focus, her screams stopped when she realized it didn’t hurt. Her wrist was numb, although his fangs were in. She was still nervous at the sight.

Once he lets go, she scurries away and quickly checks her wrist, where two pinpricks now ooze droplets of blood. She shoots him a frightened stare and keeps her distance far away.

Her breath stills when she sees that all his wounds have healed except for a strange white line below the left side of his chest. She held her bleeding wrist as he stared at it.

“A-Are you fine now?” The strange experience was odd but appeared to help him, yet her heart still raced. Her small body was shaking from distress.

For once, he answers with a nod.

“The basement is warm,” she says finally as she tries to find her next words. “Um… uh… Y-You can sleep there... I think there is something you can lie on.”