CHAPTER 2: Theo

The small thing was just lying there in the box as if it was not even alive at all.

Joost hurriedly picked it out of the box, doing so snapping some of the cords that were wrapped all around it.

Lisa hurried over. "Is it breathing?"

"I think so. But it's just barely."

"For how long you think that this thing has been trapped in there?"

"I don't know. Maybe thousands of years."

One of the fluffy ears of the creature twitched as it slowly awoke. With great interest he stared at the human that was holding him.

It's bright blue eyes curiously followed all of their movements.

When Joost noticed that the thing was awake he nearly dropped it. But he managed to tighten his grip before that happened.

He placed the creature on the table and slowly backed away.

Something in the creature was alluring. It was as if something was telling them to make sure that it was safe.

"We can't just kill it. Can we?" Joost muttered while keeping his gaze focused on the small thing.

"I-I mean. It has just come to this world. It wouldn't be fair."

"Don't you think that it is dangerous? We have no idea what it is." Lisa commented.

"Then we will teach it not to be dangerous. Right now, this thing is like a baby. We can teach it not to hurt anyone. And besides, what do we have to lose."

The blue creature was quietly sitting on the table, slowly wagging his tail from left to right and occasionally flapping its leathery wings. Not knowing that the two humans in front of him were discussing if he should or shouldn't live.

Lisa sighed. "Yeah, what do we have to lose."

...…..

A few months had passed by, and They had named the creature Theo.

Joost and Lisa had soon found out that the creature had a purely carnivorous diet. They had tried to feed it other substances because meat was rather expensive. But Theo would often throw up after consuming plants.

So whenever Joost went out to collect tings from the ruins, he would also hunt some wildlife to feed to Theo.

The weird feeling of needing to keep it safe had already faded a few weeks after they had released Theo. But now that no longer mattered, since Joost and Lisa now genuinely cared for the creature.

One evening when Joost just came back from selling some of the objects that he had found in the ruins Lisa ran out of the door holding Theo in her one arm.

She nearly bumped into him as she was slipping on the sow in front of their house. He barely managed to catch her by her shoulders.

"Is everything alright?"

"It- It's Theo. He just spoke. Come on little one does it again!"

Theo looked up at the human who was holding him. He was still too young to understand the common language. He had just repeated some of the sounds that these humans made.

He sorts of realised that they expected something from him. But having no idea what they wanted he just stood out his long-forked tongue.

Lisa laughed and small clouds filled the air in front of her face. "Not that little one. "

She looked at her husband. "Do you want to hold him?"

Without awaiting the answer, she handed the small blue creature to her husband.

In turn the young being playfully grabbed the beard of the man.

Joost smiled upon the actions of the little creature. "Maybe we should go inside. It is really cold."

Theo twitched his left ear as he listened to the sounds that the human made. Like he had done before he tried to copy one of the sounds.

"C…lad?"

"See!" Lisa cheered as she walked back to the house. " I told you that he could speak."

Joost followed, still holding the small blue thing. Back inside he placed Theo on the table and started to cut up some of the meat that he had brought for him.

Theo watched this process with great interest.

When the meat was sliced in small cubes Joost handed one to Theo, who in return happily started to chew on it. Joost grabbed the rest of the meat and placed it in a bowl so that his wife could kook it later.

Joost noticed the longing gaze of Theo as he placed the meat away. "Don't worry little one. You will get some more once it is cooked."

This didn't satisfy the young creature. It liked the meat more when it was raw. Cooking it only got rid of the tasty juices inside it.

"I can take it from here sweety." Lisa spoke as she bluntly pushed Joost aside. "Why don't you play with Theo? Maybe you can teach him some more words."

"You hear that little man? She wants me to teach you some more words. Do you think you can handle that?"

Theo tilted his head and gave a questioning look to the human.

"Aw, come on. Don't look at me like that."

He picked Theo up and walked with him towards the other side of the room where he placed the little creature on the ground. He sat down next to him and showed him various objects while naming them.

This greatly interested Theo. Longing to understand the sounds these creatures made, he tried to repeat more of them .