A Chance to Live

Chapter 8: Mending

Muscles tensed. Here I was, lying peacefully in my dreams, undisturbed and shut away from the world as I tried to get an extra few minutes in. This didn't work, the humans too nosy to care about my sleep. The lights flickered on, bathing the room in bright light, shaking me from cozyness.

     My eye snapped open at the intruder of my sleep, who happened to be James standing in the doorway with his hand over the light switch. I growled in irritation, to which he responded by simply shrugging, having gotten used to my general demeanor.

     "Don't growl at me, you're the one sleeping until two o'clock in the afternoon." he accused, as if this had any meaning to me. I curled up into a ball and laid my tail on the bridge of my snout, shielding my eyes from the glaring light above.

     He glared at me, so I just moved me tail a little farther down to cover up his face from my vision. I heard him grumble before the rest of his body disappeared from the open door, and a slam soon followed as the door closed. I stared at it in momentary curiosity, wondering what reason he had for having such a bad mood today, especially towards me.

     This was replaced by joy when I felt movement from the nearby body of heat and fur. I poked my head up to look over at the sleeping form of Omega, who began to stir. My snout nuzzled her head, poking at her to further awaken her. She responded by jolting upwards with a derpy look on her face, complete with a limp tongue dangling from the side of her mouth.

     "Well, guess I can't go back to sleep now" I muttered. She just stared at me, unable to understand the weird noises I made. After a strange moment of silence, she jumped up and licked me before running away. "HEY" I called out, understanding that she wanted to play.

     Not denying the request, I leaped to my feet and chased her through, still groggy from the morning. Or afternoon. Whatever that man said.

     Down the long blocks called stairs she went. I was terrible at trying to maneuver those cursed objects, multiple experiences told me so. I looked over at the banister, and at the long, soft cushion seat below.

     Getting an idea, I perched on the top of the railing and gazed down at the inviting couch below. The main room was a huge box shape, so the platform that the stairs lead up to sticks out of the side of the wall, overlooking the living room; the center of the house.

     Hesitation gripped me for a hot second, but I still hurtled myself over the edge, spinning through the air. I landed on my head, the couch letting out a creak of tension, before bouncing back up. I tumbled over the side and ended up sprawled out on the ground, but I immediately got to my feet and made a mad dash to the bottom of the stairway.

     My eyes pinpointed a little furry dash, and I lifted my feet and pounced on it right as it stumbled from the steps. It squirmed around, barking like crazy, to which I just stood up with a prideful look.

     "What's going on out there?" A voice called. I scrambled to get off Omega and try to run up the stairs. The only thing I succeeded in doing was landing flat on my belly half way up, stuck in a comedic looking position.

     "What happened?" The woman, named Linda, asked, as if expecting a response. This meant she somehow hadn't noticed me. I was quite sure I didn't have invisibility, so I quietly crept up the stairs, careful not to make a sound.

     I felt the air tense, my body felt like it had put on weight suddenly. My own heartbeat pounding in my ears. My thoughts seeming to echo in my head. It was exhilarating, yet tense, like collapse was imminent, inbound for me.

     Her eyes must have glazed over me, not noticing the shadow in the dark, moving ominously up the creaky stairs. They rested upon the couch, narrowing her eyes at the slightly out of shape cushion, with a couple of holes, but no characteristics.