I couldn't tell what time of day it was when i hunched into the bask of the light. The storm whistled through my flattened ears, bashing the open gate that snapped on front of me like a gnashing beast. I slipped through it when it snarled open, darting for the pouring stairs tumbling into the river of water sliding down into the darkness.
Finally at the door, I scratched at the soaked wood I huddled against.
There was no movement inside. I could smell the wood of the fire burning away, but didn't hear Missy around it.
Scratching again, I strained my ears against the whistling wind that deafened me.
"Missy?" I called after more silence "It's me!"
I felt so stupid. Of course it was me. Nobody else sounded like a monster when they spoke.
But, still, nothing.
Was she still upset with me? Ignoring me now that I had decided to leave her for the storm?
"Missy" I whimpered as I slipped down the door to curl up at the foot of it "i'm so cold."
It all just felt like icy fire. Everything ached from shivering so erratically. My muscles screamed for rest while my body begged for the warmth of the fire teasing in the wind blowing from under the door.
"M-Missy...."
"Soup?"
I lifted my head to the door that was still firmly closed. Turning towards the slamming gate, I saw Missy fighting it back into it's latch before staring in disbelief at me.
Her dark blue raincoat whipped around her body she hugged for some sort of warmth. One shivering hand gripped a torch that cast the most pitiful beam into a spot on the ground before her.
Her face was drenched from the rain spraying it. Her hair straggled towards her eyes glistening at the sight of me.
"Soup!" she cried out in relief.
Fighting the storm, Missy staggered up the stairs, almost slipping, and pulled out her key to fumble the lock. When it managed to slot in, the door was almost blown out of her hands as I darted inside and shuddered against the sudden temperature trying to beat back the cold.
"I've been looking all over for you!" Missy grunted, slamming the door closed again and locking it to keep it in place "you had me so worried!"
While I hunched in front of the fire, Missy pulled down her raincoat hood to strain her hair into the kitchen sink.
"I really thought something happened to you, Soup" her voice wavoured.
Glancing guiltily at Missy now peeling her boots off, my eyes caught the thistles on the table she admired.
"They are nice" her smile caught me staring "thank you."
Flustered now, I pulled my eyes to the fire to focus on it instead, since I couldn't just hide from my problems in this small house.
I heard her frustrated groans when she hit the side of the dying torch that refused to stay on. Leaving it beside the kitchen sink, Missy's wet bare feet slapped past me on the march for the linen cupboard.
"Can you help me plug up the gaps?" her voice called out just as her head poked into view around a pile of old towels and blankets.
I didn't even have a chance to respond when I had my own small pile tossed to me that draped over my face instead. Pulling off the towel covering my sight, I saw Missy giggling at me before heading to stuff the back door.
I smiled to myself under my new coat of linen and marched in the opposite direction to start shoving the first towel under the spitting front door for her.
After successfully boarding the door, I moved across and lifted myself up to pack the bottom of the kitchen window too.
With one last towel clutched in my claws, I stepped back to check my handiwork.
"Once you are done over here" Missy's voice came up the house "I've got the b...."
It trailed off and I saw her eyes running from my head to my feet. They were wide and unbreakable from me.
They ran over my face staring at hers, my claws curled around the scrunched towel, the way my ribs jutted out in this position, and how my legs supported me upright.
She was much smaller than me like this. I had to be at least a whole two heads over her, maybe three if I wasn't slouching.
Did I scare her? Is that why she didn't move or speak?
Now aware of my stance compared to hers, I slowly lowered down with the towel still gripped tight.
Even when I was below her eye level, Missy's eyes didn't leave me for a second.
If she had anymore doubts about my identity, they'd be gone now.
I was more like her than she once thought. It just wasn't the life I wanted to live.
Missy swallowed her breath and found her words again as a finger pointed elsewhere.
"I... uh, i've got the bathroom free, if you.... if you want to use it?" she finally offered.
She needed it more than I did. Her skin was so pale and her trembling fingers looked frozen. She was still in her dripping raincoat splattering across the floor that wasn't already wet from her feet or hair.
Shaking my head, I mouthed the towel to offer it up to her instead.
Her hand dropped to gently grip and lift it from my jaws. She was still looking bewildered when her head turned to the direction of the bathroom. Her body followed, looking back at me before entering the room and slowly closing the door behind her.
I returned to my place by the fire to watch the bathroom door before the rushing water started. I heard Missy drop the plastic raincoat and sigh at the hot water she entered.
Her voice hummed softly to a tune as she showered. The water splattered as it was disturbed by her movements in trying to scrub away the layers of iciness from her skin.
Little words tangled into her soft tune. They didn't even stop when the water did, only pattering out as a towel was run over her body.
A billow of steam flitted out across the roof when the door opened, and I quickly looked elsewhere, but not before Missy caught my curiousness.
"Bathroom's free" she said with a small smile when her body walked behind me in her knotted towel. She headed for the bedroom while I made my hurry for the bathroom and the warmth awaiting to wash it all away.
157Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1plmgNgJSo
With feeling now flooding back into my scrubbed fingers and through my steaming body that smelled like sweet strawberries, I was hit with hunger that growled through my stomach.
Missy was nestled in her chair by the fire when I entered the room. Her legs were crossed to support her yellow dress draped over them that she pinched and hand- sewed the edge of. I saw an orange fabric had been chosen as the patch that was cut into the shape of a heart.
She looked so comfortable there in her dark blue shirt adorned with a picture of a pot plant in the middle. Her fluffy baby pink pants kept her warm alongside her striped white and grey socks with gripping dots glued to the bottoms.
Her tussled hair was tied up with a sand coloured towel headband that poked up at the back like rabbit's ears.
"I don't think I'd have anything that would fit you, so I got a blanket" Missy picked up one hanging off the arm of her chair to hold out to me "it's got a few holes, but it still does a good job."
Anything was better than what I had forced myself to struggle through.
Smothering myself in the oversized patchwork blanket, I laid myself at the bottom of Missy's chair and faced the dancing fire. Buried beneath the fabric kept me both warm and shielded from anything else Missy might dig deeper into about me now that I was literally below her tucked feet.
Hunger still clawed at my stomach pressed to the floor, but I was slipping into sleep now that crackling comfort cradled me. The temptation of hot soup could wait just a little bit longer, now that I was where it was safest.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
