ᖴI᙭ᗩTIOᑎ

YOᑌ ᒪOOKEᗪ ᗷᗩᑕK

     You woke up to the feeling of 24 little feet pattering around your face and little whiskers tickling your skin. You were truly living your best life.

     Letting out a huff, you gently swiped the little creatures off your head, making a point to flick Ratticus away as he tried to burrow into your hair. You stretched out your arms and went limp again, using all the willpower you had to get your body up and out of bed. Placing a couple of two-fingered kisses on your dearly beloved's photos, you went ahead with your usual morning routine before getting dressed in the most inconspicuous thing you owned.

     Heading into the main room of your quaint apartment, you could just barely make out the shape of what had been blocking the door yesterday. No longer in it's former glory, the odd popsicle-stick contraption was now spilled all over the floor along with pillow feathers you had yet to clean.

     It was almost as if your rats had become hyper-intelligent overnight and decided to revolt by building a popsicle stick wall to keep you out of your apartment just so that they could take over and form their own government and judicial system and eventually take over the rest of the world...

     ...or maybe they just spilled your bag of popsicle sticks and wanted to chew them up by the door and there was no deeper meaning. Regardless, you now had a huge mess to take care of.

     Mama Rat entered the room and followed after you as you began to sweep, holding her own tiny feather and using it to copy your cleaning movements as you walked around the room and pushed all the trash into a little pile. If you lived anywhere else then you might've considered yourself a modern-day Cinderella but this was the Uncanny Valley- it was a miracle you hadn't seen a flying worm or a certain people-eating realtor yet toda-

     The doorbell rang.

     Speak of the devil and he shall appear, they always say.

     Quickly putting down your broom, you soccer mom jogged your way to the front door, peeking through the little peephole and seeing just the man you'd been thinking of. You hit your head against the door and took a deep breath, mentally preparing yourself, before opening the door and putting on your best customer service smile.

     "Maison! I was just about to call and see if you had any j-" You were quickly cut off by the grinning man as he waved a hand in your face, shutting you up as you just stared at him.

     "𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝙵𝙾𝚁𝚃𝚄𝙽𝙰𝚃𝙴 𝚒𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗, 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚎. 𝙼𝚊𝚢 𝙸 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗?" He gave you the same unsettling smile he always did, continuing with his speech as he walked inside before you could give him express permission.

     "𝚈𝚘𝚞'𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚊 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎, 𝚗𝚘? 𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚢. 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚞𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚍𝚘." He motioned his hands at random intervals throughout his talking, the sudden actions putting you on edge.