In Alien Hands: Meeting Merle

Lost, pt. 1 - Holli

A/n: this chapter was (ironically) lost after being published. I have rewritten it. Some details may have changed.

After being given the collar, I turned to face Merle, entirely unsure of what I was meant to do. It wasn't until Merle began making shooing motions with his hands and said a word that I'd come to believe meant "play" or "explore" that I figured it out, and even then I didn't like it. I tried to follow my Dog-man as he walked away, but the furred form of my owner turned and shooed my off until I slowly took a few steps in the other direction.

I watched them closely as they wandered to a nearby bench. I finally gave in and walked off a short distance. I approached a tree, trying to make Merle happy. The park was really quite beautiful, huge trees provided shade that I was sure would be amazing on a hot day. They formed mottled shadows throughout the area.  What appeared to be butterflies flitted about, what must have been alien birds chirped off in the distance. The tree I approached was too wide around for my arms to span the width of the trunk, I didn't think that even Merle's arms were long enough.

As I circled the tree, I was surprised to find a hollow in it. It wasn't a natural hole, I could clearly see it had been intentionally carved into the wood. The bottom of the little cubby was flat and the top sloped upwards. Sitting at the bottom of the cavity was something made out of plastic and metal, its paint was chipped from years of use. It was tethered to the tree by a tough looking rope. On the side of the mechanical looking object was what appeared to be a wind-up key, which I turned in a pure act of curiosity.

I couldn't tell what the metal object would do when I began to turn it, but pure curiosity demanded that I find out. I was quite disappointed, as you can imagine, when I let go of the key and nothing happened. I chuckled to myself, thinking about the broken playground equipment back on earth. As I did this, I turned over the object, trying to figure out what it was meant to do, when I found a button. Without any sort of hesitation, I pressed the button.

I immediately regretted it, as the object came to life, pulling at its rope and flapping wildly around. The thing made a loud, mechanical screeching sound, making my head hurt at the sheer volume while I was still in range of it. I wasn't for long. I immediately backed up away from the object, trying to get as far as possible without letting it, or Merle, leave my sight.

I had forgot about the hill, however, and immediately lost my footing on the slick grass. It was like a slide, and I tumbled  down the slope with no hope of catching myself. I tried anyways, grabbing at the grass that easily slipped out of my fingers.

I ended up solidly at the bottom of the hill, frozen for a moment before pushing myself to my feet. I took another look around. The hill sloped a head of me, blocking my view of Merle or Green. Behind me was a thicker section of the woods, with loads of smaller trees and bushes surrounding the same large trees as earlier.

I decided to head towards another large tree to see if it had a cubby as well. After I checked, I'd head right back up the hill to find Merle and Green, surely they would be worried to death after my fall.

The tree did, in fact, have another object. This one seemed much less intimidating than the first toy, but I decided not to try it out and return to my Dog-man immediately. I found a smoother slope on the hill that I quickly took advantage of, using the nearby fence as a hand hold. I made it up the slick hill in short time, ready to find Merle.

However, I was shocked to find the bench empty. I dashed over to it, my heart racing while my eyes darted around the entire area in a panic. My Dog-men were no where to be seen. I began to tear up. Had I been abandoned? Had Merle left me here? I raced over to the door of the park and peeked our through the grate, unable to see anyone outside the park.

Distraught, I headed back to the bench, fighting off sobs as I called my Dog-man in a last ditch effort.

"Merle?"

Rewritten and published 6/21/19