Chapter 16

The huge animal growled at Ella. Aurora could feel the growl of the large animal vibrating in her chest. She was both scared for Ella and herself. She brought the huge animal into their home and not only that, but she also placed her family in great danger.

She stared at the drooling animal that was pinning her mother to the floor. Adrenaline coursed through her stomach, speeding up her heart rate. At that moment she didn't know what to do. Should she try to kill the animal? Or should she stand and watch as it made a meal out of her mother? And then make a meal out of her and use her bones for a toothpick.

'oh dear lord' she gulped.

She swallowed the lump that formed at the back of her throat. She couldn't just sit and watch the animal bring forth any harm to her family.

"Mom dont move." She tried to remain as calm as possible.

The animal that was once friendly looked evil and its warm eyes were frosty. Huge drops of saliva fell from its mouth as it bared its sharp teeth at Ella.

Aurora thought pensively biting her fingernails. The animal hasn't hurt her mother which might mean it felt threatened. Why did the animal charge at Ella and not her?

Maybe it felt safe around her and threatened around her mother.

She was able to communicate with the animal a few minutes ago and it understood her clearly. Maybe she could try to communicate with him again.

"Bad dog!" She wiggled her index finger at the huge animal.

It peered up at her and she could have sworn she saw it frown.

"This is my mother, not a midnight snack." She continued to scold the animal.

The animal went back over to its bed and lay staring up at Aurora. Its eyes were however not friendly. They now resembled the eyes of an animal.

She could have sworn she saw the eyes of a human but now the eyes resembled a predator. How was that possible? She felt as if she was going insane? Maybe she was seeing things because she did hit her head in the woods.

She Closed the cellar door and trailed behind Ella back inside the house. She could feel the anger radiating from the woman. She was angry at her. Aurora knew things wouldn't end on a good note between the both of them. But whatever her mother would say she couldn't blame her.

"You brought that thing into our home?" Ella said pointing her index at Aurora.

"It was injured when I found it. I couldn't just leave it in the rain." Aurora replied. When she stumbled upon the animal it was in bad shape. Her heart ached to see its condition thus she couldn't leave it. Who knew what or who was after the animal. She couldn't bear to know that he was killed when she could have saved him. She would have felt guilty.

"Did you even care to mention it to me? Aurora this is our home, not an animal shelter."

"I'm sorry mom." She apologized knowing it was wrong of her to not mention the animal. She wanted to tell her about the animal but she couldn't bring herself to because she expected this reaction from Ella. The disappointed look that was on her face made Aurora's heartache. She never intended for anything to happen to her mother. She never expected her to trail behind her into the cellar in the first place. But she was alright, no cuts nor bruises Aurora couldn't be more grateful.

"That's not good enough. It could have killed me!" She folded her arm over her chest. It was the first Aurora was seeing this side of her mother and it was scary.

"But it didn't," she said with a tiny bit of hope. She was hoping that her mother would notice that the animal was harmless. It might have seemed big and scary but Aurora saw beyond that. The animal meant her nor her family no harm. It was quite friendly and very intelligent. She wondered if it had an owner who trained it to become as intelligent as it was. She read in books that animals that were trained would then be adopted. Was the animal in their cellar have an owner?

Ella opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but she closed her mouth to take a deep breath.

"Get rid of that thing or I will kill it." She sounded so emotional as the threat fell from her lips before she began to cough.

"The animal did not do anything wrong. It doesn't deserve to die." Why would her mother threaten to kill an innocent animal? She was still standing and breathing? The animal speared her life. Her mother now sounded like the people of her village.

"That animal might have murdered your father!" She blurted out before she covered her mouth with her handkerchief and began to cough up more of the black fluid. She walked over to her bed and sat at the edge. Her hands trembled vigorously when she looked down at the crimson red fluid on the piece of ragged cloth.

"You told me dad left." Her face was clouded by confusion as she stared over at Ella. What was she talking about?

"Right." She said before she was attacked by another coughing fit.

She couldn't believe her ears. She couldn't believe what her mother just said. Did her mother lie to her all those years about her father? Was he truly dead?

"No." She whispered more to herself than to Ella. "You are a liar."

All her hopes of finding her father vanished. She wanted to believe he was alive so that she could look for him or maybe one day he would return home. A drop of tear slipped from the corner of her eyes. She couldn't stand to look at her mother anymore. So she ran, far away from both her mother and reality.