Naked And Alone

When James woke up he was in darkness. Panic filled his heart as he felt extremely strange. The sudden shock of it froze him in place. He couldn't move for the feeling of otherness that overwhelmed him.

[Quiet child, it is okay. Quiet down, calm down.]

A reassuring voice in the darkness came to him. His brain told him that it was some kind of demon sent to destroy his soul, but his heart gave him the slightest of reassurance. Sweat formed all over his body and he felt the strangeness of another or many others that he could not escape.

Amid these emotions he felt the tiniest touch on his ear. It was brief, but the sense of physical touch did wonders for calming him down.

[Easy, child. Quiet now, there you go.]

Slowly James started to reconnect with the part of him that he recognized. The part of him that was seventeen years old and had a mother and a father. The part of him that has a sister. The part of him that was graduating from high school soon. The one who couldn't think on his feet and the part of him that made a fool of himself in front of women.

'I like to study and go rat hunting with my Dad. I like yoga and meditation with my Mom, and I like having fun with my sister while she is working with her bee hive.'

Telling himself some good things helped him overcome the last spasm of fear and finally his body relaxed.

[Cheep, cheep! Hi!]

Sitting up James knew he was sitting up because of the way his body felt, but there was absolutely no light.

"Hey, buddy, are you learning some language now?"

It was a question and his voice broke at the end, he was still feeling so much strangeness.

[Peep, peep?]

"Ha, ha."

James had to laugh, it wasn't a loud laugh and there was very little real joy in it. But it helped him deal with what was happening around him. 

"It is good to hear your voice, buddy."

Then the new voice came across a contract, only he knew it was not the same contract as Wilbur's.

[Human, are you well? Do you need anything?]

This voice didn't carry any of the youthful exuberance that Wilbur had, and there was a mature almost alluring quality to it.

"I don't know if I am okay, everything is so strange. And I don't know what I need right now..."

Trailing off James shrugged and tried to feel around a bit.

[Human, please don't destroy our burrow! Wait!!]

This time it wasn't Wilbur and it wasn't the alluring voice. It was some other male voice that echoed in his head.

"Ouch, that was loud. Sorry, I didn't mean to destroy anything."

[Don't mind him. He is just a bit protective. Let's get you out of here and back to your world, human. I think it will do you a lot of good!]

The alluring voice came back and then a bright light flooded the mouse's dungeon.

After a few minutes James eyes adjusted to the light and he could see some bushes and which he recognized, barely as the place he had planned to sleep for the night.

"What?"

[Isn't this your home?]

"No, …, this was just where I was stopping for the night."

She was just a mouse, but for some reason he felt a bit ashamed to say that he didn't have a home.

[You are welcome to make this your home. We would be glad to have you!]

She bowed her mousey head and gestured to the pile of scrap and trash that could be called a home for the mice.

Seeing the trash and nearby area where the mice relieved themselves James unexpectedly felt a sense of warmth at her generosity instead of disgust. Having lost his home twice in two weeks James was stunned to already feel at home here.

He knew it was just the contract giving him the feelings and thoughts of his pets, though.

'Got to stay clear minded. I can't sink down into thinking and feeling like a mouse. Come on James think like a human! What would a human do right now?'

Having already experienced a little of the depth he had the tendency to fall into James accepted the matriarch's kindness and also said that he needed to take his college entrance tests and take care of some human business. Not telling her what business it was because he really couldn't think of what he needed to do or why right at the moment. James just knew he had to get away despite everything calling him to stay.

Walking out of the mouse dungeon James heard the matriarch call out one more time.

[I'll reopen the gate tonight! See you then!]

James was about to say that he might not be able to make it out here tonight, but the half size gate he had just crawled out of silently disappeared.

Also he realized that he was stark naked. All his clothes were completely gone. Ashamed that he was naked and even more ashamed that he hadn't realized until now! A slight breeze had blown by chilling him in the early morning haze. A bit of fog lingered on the ground in the distance.

"Phew! This is cold!"

Protecting his middle section despite the fact that there was no one out here to see James started circling back to the gate first hiking parallel to the road away from the wall and then back along the road to the city wall.

With every step his human mind became a little more clear. First thing he had to explain himself to the guards at the gate, get some clothes, and then get to the school for his last test.

Try as he might he couldn't come up with any reasons for being naked in the woods. There was just no explanation that he could come up with that he reasoned would be good enough to excuse him and not be seen through.

Of course the guards saw him a long way off and he could hear them talking long before he ever came close.

"Looks like we have another one, sarge."

"What? Oh, right. Looks like it. Second one this week."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Same thing, put it in the report." Then a radio's static, "Daile come in, Daile, over."

The sarge spoke into his radio, calling his squad's liaison.

"Yes, sarge? Over."

"Will you bring out a change of clothes for a young man? Over."

The radio beeped as if it was being handled incorrectly. James was close enough now and could hear a little what was going on. He had some kind of intuition that Daile and whoever was hearing the sarge on the other end were having a good laugh.

After a few moments,

"Roger that. Clothes sir. Yes, sir, sarge. I have the clothes right here. Will run them out. Over."

"Roger, over."

Then there was radio silence as a big guard double timed his way out of the guard room that was just inside the gate with a package under his arm.

Doing his best to protect his own modestly James came within about ten feet of the group. And just when he was about ten meters away the Sargent spoke up.

"Hold it right there. Put your hands up and slowly turn around, twice. And when I said slowly I mean slowly."

Unexpectedly the guard said something first. Blushing red James decided to keep his mouth shut. It seemed like this was progressing different from what he thought would happen. His Dad had always told him to listen and obey soldiers and police officers. You might not know why, but to just do it. So, he put his hands out wide and palms forward raised his hands. And then started turning around carefully.

"That's right. Looks like we have a winner here."

The sarge encouraged him.

"I am sorry, sir. I …"

James began to explain some story.

"No need to explain. We get your kind all the time. What's your name, boy? We have to write you up in the report, but we won't give you a fine. It is okay, no worries."

"James. James Johnathan, sir."

Answering quickly James responded with the answer to the question and nothing else.

It seems the Sargent could tell he was nervous and embarrassed. They probably didn't want to deal with this situation any more than he did. Evidently they had done this many times before. Pointing a scanner at him they pressed a few buttons and manipulated the screen while James was spinning gradually.

"He looks clean Sarge."

"Alright James, that's enough. Here put these on and get out of here. You are temporarily banned from the gates for two weeks. Both gates, do you hear? I don't want to see you or I will fine and lock you up. Got it?"

"Yes, sir. Got it!"

Feeling like he had got off easy James dressed in the clothes. A one size fits all long sleeve long shirt and sweat pants. For foot gear there were sandals that expanded and then hugged his feet when he put weight on them. They were a little weird getting used to them, this one size fits all shoe felt like it was going to fall apart anytime. They definitely weren't quality clothes.