A Presence in the Dark

Suddenly I heard a scraping of claws against the pavement. What the? I perked up. What was that? A hunter? Or a dog? Some people paid good money for an Abnormal to have it as a pet. Disgusting, right? About two months ago a man was caught that had a whole collection of female cat Abnormals and used them for god knows what! It made me feel sick to the stomach. My inner fox growled. I really wanted to help these poor souls! But if an Abnormal were to intervene, only disaster could come of it.

I sniffed the air. Maybe it was another Abnormal! Just to stay safe, I packed my food away and hid myself in a crevice five meters above ground on the Notre Dame. I felt my fox instinct tug at me, telling me to slink away to avoid any kind of trouble. But my human side was too curious to comply. I really wanted to know what was going to go down now.

A cold shiver ran down my spine. What if that store keeper had seen our faces and sent the police to collect us?! Oh oh, this wasn't good. Nervously I twitched my tail. But we only wanted to steal some bread! We were starving! Even though we were allowed to go to school, no one took care of us. We didn't have a home or a place to stay. And no one wanted to employ or even adopt and Abnormal. I started shivering at the thought of being caught. No! I didn't want to! I grabbed my head with my hands, eyes wide.

I realized that I was slowly winding myself up into a frenzy.

Okay Fox. Calm down. Stop this thinking. My heart was still beating rapidly. I focused on the scenario below.

But nothing happened. Nothing moved.

Huh? Had I imagined it? Warily I poked out my face and saw... nothing. Wow. Great job Fox. Congratulations on giving yourself a heart attack. You don't even need Raven to do it for you. With a sigh of relief I hopped down from my perch. One last time I sniffed the air and listened intently but I detected, yet again, nothing. I grabbed my bag and started off towards home without my headphones on.

Silently I crept down the silent streets of Paris. Surprised? Well, there was a curfew in the old parts in town from 12:00 until 05:00. Oh what a bad girl I was. If you got caught, you spent the night in prison and paid a hefty sum. But thanks to my fox senses, I never got caught. The guards walked like elephants. I could hear them miles away. And if I couldn't hear them, you could usually smell them. They smelt so rotten, I cringed every time.

Paris at night was the most wonderful experience ever. The street lights stayed on 24/7 as did the lights of the Eifel Tower and the Louvre. A warm night breeze swept through the street, tugging playfully at my hair. I felt myself relax and enjoy the mid summer night. This is what I lived for.

One of my favorite songs came on and I felt a sudden surge of energy. Without a warning I burst out into a full sprint. Whooping with joy I jumped from roof top to roof top twirling and dancing to my music. Little did I know I was being watched.