Death's Pet

Part 2

   An hour later I'm stuffed in a small, plastic pet carrier with a magical lock on the door to keep me from escaping. Grey eyes appear behind the metal bars. I grumble at the man and turn away as best as I can within the confined space.

  "Well Mr. Mortimer, this should be everything you need. Raw food dietary needs, toys, litter box, etc. Paperwork is all set too, once you sign. If there is something else, I can do for you let me know. Also, if she proves to be too much to handle you can bring her back and we can find a more suitable pet for you at no extra cost." I hiss at Nick's last comment and hear him take a step back. The greedy money-loving back stabber will be lucky if I ever come back to his shop. Judging by the fresh scent of fear I can smell on him, he must know that he's messed up with me too.

  Mortimer chuckles quietly. Without a word from him, he swiftly signs the papers and leaves the shop. With me in one hand and the other an over flowing bag of goodies all meant for me, we set out into the chilled autumn air. We walk down to the far end of main street where City Hall is perched neatly at the end. Despite the cool weather there is still a fair amount of people milling about around the shops and along the sidewalks along the busy road. Walking behind the century old City hall building there is row upon row of run-down houses. The roads here are cracked and in some spots the asphalt completely gone, bare earth exposed.

  Addicts of every kind and the simple unlucky and poor folks of this town fill the area to the brim. Thieves and probably even the occasional murderer, stalk the streets. A shiver runs all the way through me and down to the tips of my tails as we continue through the throngs of the unfortunate and the degenerates. Why the hell would he take me here?? Does this stranger not know what some of these people would do to a creature like me? Does he not fear for his own life?

  I'm hyperventilating and hissing in my mobile prison, Mr. Mortimer carries on without a care. Several unimaginable and horrific scenarios past through my mind as he continues down the road. All of them end with me either dead or gruesomely mangled and wishing for death. It's several minutes before I notice that each person, he walks by doesn't even cast him an acknowledgement of his presence. It's as if we are not even here. The most I can see through the tiny bars of my walking jail cell is the occasional person shudder slightly as we walk past them.

  While I'm pissed at Nick, I'm sorely missing the comforts he provided me at the Forever Pet Shop. While I had to endure being loaned out to some pretty strange animal collectors, I never once felt I was endangered. I've lived a high-class life so to speak since Nick took me in at a young age.

  At some point it all became too much for me. The constant worry of some crazy human going totally insane and harming Mortimer and then savagely dismembering me was beyond overwhelming and I let the blackness of my panic take me. I welcomed blissful ignorant sleep as it pressed in on me. All my stress and worries are gone with a blink of an eye as my immortal body shut itself down to protect my mind.