Harsh Sounds [Part 3]

The hands lay me back down and put the covering over me. I didn't sense the body move, but I figured it must have. I brought my hand up to my mouth to think. The first two animals had pounced on me in their own way, knocking open my feelings, my hearing, but they had left calmly. Nothing penetrated as far as….

A loud slam made me jump. My jaw hurt and my legs felt like they were being twisted. I choked and gagged on metallic tasting liquid. There was a small thrust in my core and the pain in my jaw increased, giving me a headache and causing my ears to burn. My legs jerked and twitched on their own. I opened my mouth to cry, but more liquid filled my mouth and I choked on it before I could swallow it. I moaned as the intensity softened. As the pain continued to decrease, I was more aware of what I felt both inside and around me. Subtler sounds were more apparent.

The comforting body stood at a distance. I coughed and swallowed a bit more liquid. Then I struggled to get up. I needed to eliminate and this was not the place to do it. The scuffling of feet on the floor preceded the hands as they tried to keep me down.

I shook my head and started to push the covering aside.

"Where are you trying to go?"

I pointed to between my legs and squirmed.

"Oh."

The hands and arms lifted and carried me to another place and set me down, being sure that my tail stayed out of the way. The body stepped away for a second, ran the liquid used to wash hands with, before touching my mouth with something soft, warm, and wet. I sat back a little, my tail flicking a bit.

"It's alright. I'm just cleaning some blood off your face."

One hand touched my neck before the soft, warm, wet thing came again. I let the hands run the cloth across my cheek and mouth. I finished eliminating then wiped off. The hands helped me stand and stay standing while I washed my hands. Once my hands were dry, I was picked up and carried back to where I had been laid down. I was left sitting before my coverings were handed to me.

A knock sounded off to my right and the body walked in that direction.

I slipped on the top covering and had just placed my feet into the holes of the leg coverings when I heard Bodrai's voice.

"Have you seen our son?"

"He's here," Johann replied.

There was a creak and several stomps as I pulled the legs coverings the rest of the way up. They remained a little lower in the back because of my tail. The foot falls stopped, but I could feel two bodies not far from me.

"What… happened?" Bodrai asked.

"He was nearly mauled by a wild cat early this morning. I brought him here to make sure he'd be fine. Seems to be acting alright."

"Thank you for checking. Come on, Boy."

I didn't move. I didn't want to go back if they were going to be mean to me.

"I said, 'come on,'" Bodrai commanded.

"Best to obey your father, Son," Johann said.

Slowly I stood and stepped towards them. My tail wrapped around my left leg as I took another step. I took a third before Bodrai's rough hand grabbed my arm. The hand towed me away from the kind voice and hands. I was taken across dusty, crunchy rocks that hurt my feet, but the hand didn't care. I was brought inside and shoved onto a soft seat—like the one I had been laying on in Johann's place. The body that brought me back stomped upstairs. Slowly, I let my tail release my leg and just rest on the cushion beside me. The high pitched voice came down the stairs softly, but clearly.

"Did you find that thing, Bodrai?"

"I did. …Over at Johann's."

"What?! Did he see? Does he know?"

"I don't know how much he knows," Bodrai sighed. "But he's seen."

"…No."

"Yes. A lot."

There was crying. "I don't understand, Bodrai. Why us? And why now after 11 damn years of nothing?!"

"I wish I knew, Shirhar."

"What's changed this time?"

"Brown-orange hair mixed into the silver. Ears are sharply pointed on the top."

I lifted my hands to feel my ears. The hanging lobe was no longer there and the tops were indeed pointed.

"And a long brown-orange tail," Bodrai finished.

"A tail?! No, no, no, no. This cannot be happening. We were told they'd be normal if we gave them enough touch."

"Maybe we should take them in again."

"No."

A door opened upstairs.

"Shirhar…."

Thundering steps hurried down to where I sat. A high pitched shriek filled the room and I covered my ears. More thundering came down the stairs.

"Shirhar. …Shirhar, calm…."

"Get it out! Get it out, get it out!"

"Shirhar…."

"Get rid of it, Bodrai. Now!"

Bodrai sighed. "Alright."

There was a wet smack then a foot scuffled on the carpet towards me.

I bolted. Toward the door I was most familiar with, knocking over something as the foot falls followed. I ran into the door, but managed to get it open and step through it before I could be grabbed. I booked it across the soft ground; I needed to get away. Escape. Escape. The wind whistled by me, but I could still hear the thudding of pursuit. Both of my feet planted together and I jumped. Consciously, it made no sense, but once I landed I kept running. The steps of pursuit soon stopped. Bodrai's voice called after me.

Only when I couldn't hear the voice anymore did I slow. Panting, I stumbled over soft, yet hard things, I scraped my body against very rough things taller than me, and ran into solid things that were rough or smooth. Eventually, I sat. My panic disintegrated into tears. I cried hard. I was scared; I was hungry; I still couldn't see; and I didn't feel very good. Pulling my legs up to my chest I wrapped my arms and tail around them. I put my head on my knees, no longer hyper-vigilant about my surroundings.

With a deep breath, I calmed my tears. It didn't last long as my mind replayed the scream that made it very clear I was unwanted. I wept. I was fine. I wept. I was fine. I wept. Time had no meaning either. I had just gotten my tears to calm down again when I heard.

"Kid! Are you here?"

"Eh?" I started, recognizing Johann's kind voice.

"Kid. It's Johann. Are you here?"

"Ah…," I started, but then I wondered if the voice would give me back to the other voices again and I curled back on myself again. I held very, very still.

Something crinkled and groaned softly though there was no wind. Barking broke the silence and the movement came closer.

"Hey, Kid," Johann said. One of the hands touched me.

I pushed it away with a growl. Then I started to stand.

The hands grabbed me and I struggled to be free of them, crying and hissing. But it seemed the more I struggled the more of a hold the hands got until the arms held me fast against the body. I still tried to push away.

"Shh, shh, shh, shh," Johann soothed.

I stopped trying to pull away, but didn't relax and gave the body a short growl of disapproval.

"I can tell you are angry and I'm sorry. If I had known Bodrai and Shirhar felt that way about you, I would not have sent you back."

One of the hands gently rubbed my back. I wanted to relax, to trust that these hands, the voice, and the body, were truly safe. But I refused to. Still, the touch made trying to hold back the liquid that left my eyes nearly impossible. The hands and arms brought me closer and my tail wrapped around one of the body's legs. I gripped the coverings and wailed.

"It'll be alright." One of the hands moved to the back of my head and held me until I wasn't crying as hard. "We should go."

The arms released enough so the body could turn though one arm remained around my back. But when I felt a slight nudge, my tail let go and I stepped back. I wasn't going to go back. Not with the mean voices close by.

"I need you to trust me enough to come with me. You won't make it on your own out here."

I folded my arms and hung my head as I debated.

"Please." I felt fingertips against my elbow.

I didn't move as the fingers crept their way around to get a better grip on my elbow. The hand tugged gently and I finally allowed my feet to follow the pull. We stepped through many things and around many tall other things, to a clearer, more open space. Clicking and scraping came from my right. Jerking my arm away from the hand, I unfolded my arms and took several steps back.

"What's the matter?"

I shook my head and took a few more steps back.

"It's okay. It's just a truck."Again I shook my head, stepping back more when I heard a step come towards me. That sound meant I was being taken somewhere where other hands would hurt me.

"It'll be fine. It's safe."

My steps sped up before I turned and ran. The feet followed. I was confused. Why would the kind voice say it was okay when my experience told me otherwise? A hand grabbed my wrist and spun me around. I stumbled into the body and my right ankle folded. I yelped and held my right foot above the ground.

"Sorry. Nothing is going to happen. I promise."

I took several shaky breaths then shook my head.

"I want to take you to a place where it's just you and me, okay?"

Very slowly I nodded.

"Alright."