Zootopia: The Visitor

Could You Let Me Down Easy

[Luke] 

  I stood in front of the crosswalk, waiting for the light to turn green. Whether I was in Seattle, or San Francisco, I can't really remember. What I do remember though, is that I was happy. Behind me, I had my parents. We were surrounded by people. People like us. I was with my own kind. My family.

  The light finally switched. My parents and I started down the crosswalk. As we did, I looked up at them, just beaming. It felt like it'd been so long since I had seen them, and we were finally spending time together.

  People passed us, walked alongside us, behind us and in front of us. For me, I had never been more comfortable. But the moment I stepped foot on the sidewalk after reaching the other side, things started... changing.

  The people around me began to look less and less like people, and more and more like animals. Fear and confusion overtook me. All I could do was watch in horror as everything I knew disappeared so quickly, leaving in it's place, something frightening and alien to me.

  I looked back at my parents, and to my growing despair, they had changed too. "Mom? Dad? What's going on? Why is this happening?" I asked, frantic.

  My mother laughed at me, her fangs glinting in the sunlight as she knelt down to my eye-level. "Sweetheart, don't you realize that you can't escape this place? You're stuck here, forever."

  Suddenly, I felt so small, like a naive child who couldn't do anything on his own. I backed away from them. They weren't my parents anymore. These animals weren't like me. How could they be?

  The one that had once been my mother continued. "Besides, do you really think they'd ever accept you back? Look at yourself."

  I looked down at my hands, only to find that paws had replaced them.

  "You're a freak, just like us. And you always will be."

  I jumped to life, drenched in sweat, and with my heart trying pound it's way out of my chest. I checked my hands and chest, breathing a sigh of relief. No fur. Just skin. I was still human. Still me. Still home. Or was I?

  Where am I? I thought, trying to remember. I was sitting on somebody's couch, but I had a hard time recalling who it belonged to. Then the fox I had met the night before came to mind. Nick. That's who's couch I was sitting on, which meant I was still stuck in Zootopia. I guess that dream was more relevant than I thought.

  All of the memories came flooding back, as I thought about everything I had gone through the previous day, and how I had met Nick. I'd say these past twenty-four hours have been somewhat eventful. I thought, shaking my head.

  My thoughts were interrupted by my stomach as it emitted its musical tune, reminding me that I hadn't eaten a thing since arriving in this strange place. Nick had warned me ahead of time that he didn't have anything very appealing to eat in his home. I decided to check anyway.

  As I stood up, a pain in my right arm pulled at my attention. I noticed the bandage and remembered the wrestle I'd had with that wolf. I had thankfully survived, but the ravenous animal was still out there, which meant that it would eventually attack somebody else, and I doubted they'd be as lucky as I had been. The situation was frustrating. What a mess.

  My stomach growled again, bringing food back into my mind. I looked at the microwave oven clock from where I was standing. 6:14 A.M. Disappointment drizzled my early-morning emotions. I had been hoping to sleep a little longer, and there was no way I was gonna be able to go back after a dream like that.

  Also quickly found that Nick hadn't lied, because when I opened his mini-fridge, I found half a tinfoiled onion, a saran-wrapped bowl of rice, and a pack of blueberries. There was nothing but an empty cube-tray in the icebox.