HOME | DD

Description
This tale is one that most would find most unlikely, and I'll tell you why. It's just plain weird. I mean, if you saw what I saw, did what I do, well, you'll never believe, but I stand here now as living proof...but, let's not get too far. How about I start from the beginning. A dream that started it all...

Thickets of wood and forestry, a thick ceiling that blocked out the sun, surround me. Yet, I could see everything around me. It was a mystical sight, as though the darkness never there. Then, I hear a rustling. At first, it was silent, then, slowly, it overcomes my surroundings, as though I am surrounded. When I feel as though everything is about to end, I see a pair of feline eyes from the darkness. The rustling ends. I can hear a growl, but it was vicious...It was more seductive...

I wake up. My face and forehead is covered in a cold sweat as I lay in my bed, wondering what happened. Was I only dreaming? If so, why did it feel so real? I could feel my heartbeat slow down from what seemed to be an ecstatic encounter, and I couldn't get my mind off of the scent I could smell in it. A musky smell, sweet and hot. It was as though I knew where I was and who was in the thickets.

But now wasn't the time to think of dreams. Getting up, I go to the shower to clean up. It was rather apparent that I needed it, for my sheets stuck to my pelvis and hardened piece. One thing was for sure, when I had the time, I would have to reminisce on this dream. It took only a few moments to get clean again. It seemed almost like instinct about getting clean. Soon, I had breakfast and was out the door to catch the early bus to my job.

During the trip, my mind continued to return to the dream. It was strange. It felt so familiar, and those eyes. It was as though I saw them before...no, I was certain I saw them before. It was hazy, but I knew I saw those eyes back in college, three years ago when I was lost in the forests...but the rest. I knew there was something more to it than just the eyes...

"Hey, Zach-o, this is your stop." Alex, the bus driver, was the one who broke my muse. He and I knew each other since I started work at the beginning of the year, and I was lost in thought, he knew better than to let me miss my stop and be late for work. Standing up, I walk towards the front, but before I step off, Alex taps me on the shoulder. A reckless smirk for a smile, he only said, "Don't let it bother you too much, kid. If it's still on your mind, talk to me on the bus. Its usually empty by the time you catch me."

Being one of the younger employees, I found that age is a double-edged sword. You are given more slack than others since you have youth and ambition, but you also are called upon to do more of the more physical labor of the work since you have youth and ambition, and today was no different. Being called into the lower laboratories of the building, I knew that it meant moving some of the massive computers over a bit for more equipment to be moved in, but it was my job. I was the technical mechanic and go-to guy of the place, however much I didn't like it.

Sighing with a heavy heart, I exit out of the elevator doors as the small moving room came to a stop, looking forward to a nice lunch after the business in here. I always hated the labs. It was creepy, some of the things they worked on. Enhancements formulas, DNA reconstructuring, not to mention some of the illegal activities that I heard rumors of, but never truly seen. Coming to one of the doors, I slide my card through, the door beeping as my code was accepted. Walking inside, I noticed the room was empty with a note.

Zacheriah,

We decided to take lunch since we cannot continue our studies until you finished checking out what is wrong with the computers. Just give us a call when you finish.

Kezralo

Great. Why can't these scientists fill out a stupid repair request form like the others? Idgits. Now I'll get in trouble for taking care of the computer without the proper form being filled out. Kneeling down in front of the computer, I look around the back to find that a few of the cords were pulled loose. Scowling, I begin fixing the cords and connections, which took only about 15 minutes. I had 15 minutes left before they returned. Shaking my head, I begin to leave...

Then I heard it. The soft mewing of a cat...and a voice. Turning around, I look back into the room, noticing the darkened glass wall. Was there a cat in here? Naw, couldn't be. Work must have been starting to get to me again. Maybe I should get a free day off tomorrow or the next to clear my head. First the dream, and now voi-

"Help me..." I turned around again. This time I was sure I wasn't imagining things. Walking to the window, I peered through it. Behind the glass was another room, dark and bare. I couldn't make out anything in there, at was as though I was peering into the night. Then, I saw it. A pair of hazel eyes...

The same ones as in my dream.

Before I could even say anything, I heard the door beep. Jumping slightly, I grab my tool bag, turning just in time to see Kez and his colleagues come in, laughing over a joke that was being passed around. Kezralo saw me and took a look on the monitor, smiling widely. "Just like new. Zach, what would we do without you?"

I simply smiled, an awkward one to most, but this time more awkward as those eyes were fresh in my mind. "Well, for one, you wouldn't have to wait a day for the repair order to reach me, which, by the way, you owe me, Kez. I expect to see it on my desk tomorrow so that the boss doesn't jump me again. You remember the least time, don't you?"

Kez grimaced, his tan lines furrowing as he remembered the distasteful verbal pounding each of our bosses gave us. Not very pleasant. Nodding, he handed me a sheet, filled out with the proper work. "Way ahead of you. Help me, Lord, I don' want to go through that Hell again." Walking past me, he stopped and grinned. "Speakin' of which, you got the memo on the party this weekend, right?"

"How could I not? Not only is it on the desk, but it's on every wall in the building. I'm surprised they didn't wallpaper the place." Despite the mental image I had, I smiled more fluently, grateful for a different subject. The Annual Employee Jamboree was something I had always looked forward to. I could see the light in Kez' eyes as he smiled back. "Well, you had better bring a date, kiddo. From what I hear, its gunna be a good one. The boss says he's goin' to break out ‘The Good Shit.'"

We spent a good five more minutes talking before I left, ready to go on my own lunch break, though, through my grumbling stomach, my mind wasn't on food anymore. The image of those same hazel eyes was burned into my head. Was my dream a premonition, or a piece of my memory brought from the depths of my mind...

...or was it both, and I don't even know it...

As Alex had predicted, the bus was rather empty when I boarded it for the ride home. I still had those eyes running through my head that it was apparent on my face that I was lost in them. Alex only smiled and motioned to the front seat, which I took without a second glance. One thing about Alex: When he wants you to talk, you better talk.

Before he could even ask what was on my mind, I just simply answered, "Have you ever had a strange dream? One where you swore you've been there before, yet it seems so far ahead of you?" Alex was caught slightly off-guard, more or less disappointed by me starting before he could, but smiled none-the-less. "Déjà vu, eh? Yeah, I can understand that. It's happened to me every once in a while. Thing is, it never really happens. Zach. Its all what it really is...a dream."

I nodded, keeping a slightly thoughtful face, but I could still see those eyes, deep hazel, burning in the darkness of my mind. I couldn't tell Alex what I saw. For all I knew, even I wasn't supposed to see what was behind that glass, and for all they knew, I didn't. Still, I couldn't help but think of them. Why were they so familiar, why was it that I felt so much...care...

Then the bus stopped. Alex turned around and looked at me, smiling his lop-sided smirk as he opened the doors. "Zach-o, trust me when I say just to forget about it, ‘K. All it will do is just haunt your nights if you keep thinking of it."

"Thanks, Alex. I'll see ya tomorrow." I stepped off the bus and waved a farewell to Alex, putting my bet face on as he closed the door and drove off, but it was of no use. My face soon fell as I opened the door to my apartment. I tried to get those eyes out of my head, that weak voice, that small cry for help out of my ears. TV, games, I did the works, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get them out of my head.

It was going to be a long night.

I called into work the next morning. The vision of the eyes continued to haunt me through the night, just as Alex predicted. I couldn't sleep at all. With a heavy sigh, I got out of bed and got ready for another day. If I was going to be awake, I may as well move around.

It didn't take long before I decided to go outside for a walk. Lord only knows a bit of fresh air would help me now. Stepping outside into the brisk morning air, I start walking, my mind going over everything from the past few days. What was so important about those eyes? Did I know whom they belonged to? I must have, considering how much they haunt me. But why couldn't I remember? Was it something I forgot?

Then I came to my senses of where I walked. It was the campus of the college I used to go. It was rather close by. Why, most of the apartment residents were students who had enough income to live on their own or with roommates. Walking along the empty yards, I look about, letting memories flow from the days I speant learning of electrical equipment and computers. Of the times I spent just sitting under trees, especially the ones that stood next to the woods...

OF COURSE! That's where I remember them! Jogging through the courtyards, I come to the far end of the college. Most students didn't come to the area; it was why I liked the place. It was a large oak tree, standing just less than a foot from the border of the forest, where I would lay back on after a rough day in class. It was there that I first saw the eyes, no more than 6 years ago. Back then, it was only a glimpse, at least, the first time, but the second time...

The second time, I couldn't help my curiosity. I got up from where I lay and went into the woods, leaving my belonging behind. The eyes had intrigued me so much back then, and I was so curious, as though I myself would have been a cat in a past life. Finally, I had come to a clearing, looking about as I caught my breath. Where could they have gone? Where were those eyes?

Rustling in the brushes then divert my attention to my left, seeing what seemed to be a cat...no, it was as though it was a young woman, but I was so sure I had seen a tail and whiskers. The rustling continues to round me, overloading my hearing as I become lost in them. Then they stop in front of me...and I see those eyes again as they are accompanied by a voice.

"Why do you seek me?" It was a soft, silky voice, pure and untouched, as though spoken from an beauty. I stood there, speechless as I stare into her eyes. Finally, I get my nerve and I stammer out, "Because...I never seen eyes like yours...beautiful eyes...and a beautiful voice to go with them..."

There was no sound for a while after I said that. I could still see her eyes, though they held shock to them, as though she had never considered herself as so, or that she never thought I would even say such a thing. I hear a low purr from the brushes that surround them. "Thank you. You're not so bad looking yourself, but...you may not like what you see if you saw the rest of me."

I was about to deny what she said when the eyes disappeared. I heard rustling, fading as I heard the voice one last time..."I hope I get to see you again...Good-bye"

But I never saw her again...

And today, I stand in that same clearing, the memories pouring in like an avalanche. Could it be the same one in that darkened room that I met all those years ago? It couldn't be...could it...Standing there, my mind filled with new questions to replace the answered ones. Who was she, is she the same one...

I had to know, and I was going to find out...tonight.

It was eleven o'clock when I walked off the bus. Alex had said nothing about my thoughtful face, though he could tell that I had almost broken through my dream. The dream no longer mattered anymore. The dream was gone. It had helped me remember something I had forgotten years ago, a fire in my heart that I had covered in what I thought was only a dream. Now I knew better, and I was going to confirm it all.

Knocking on the door of the building, the guard walked up to the door, smiling as he noticed it was I. Opening the door, he let me in. "Forget your bag again, Zach?" "Yeah, James, sure did," was all that fell out my mouth. James, the nighttime guard, was a familiar. If I had forgotten something, he would let me in and not worry about a thing. He was also the laziest slug on earth, normally asleep by 1 and awake just before his shift was over. To him, it was standard procedure.

Once out of sight, I made my way to the stairway, opening the door and taking the flight two steps at a time downwards, until I reached the science floor. Opening the door, I walk to the room I visited the other day.

The room that kept all the secrets. The room where she was.

Sliding my card through, I open the door, walking into the dark room. Turning on a flashlight I kept in my pocket, I walk to the darkened window. I could still see nothing in there. Looking about, I find a door on the other side of the wall. Walking towards it, I try the handle. Locked. Looking around and precariously putting the flashlight handle in my mouth, I pull out my code card. It wasn't an electronic lock, but then again, it wasn't why I got my card out neither. The door opens outwards, and that made it easy to open the door as long as the bolt lock wasn't...

Bingo! Effortlessly, the door opened with a groan as I retrieved my flashlight out of my mouth. In the corner, I notice someone huddled in the corner, shivering under some black fur. Walking into the room, I look closer. It wasn't a blanket, it was actual fur on the body of a female. I notice the tail on the ground, quivering as it slid closer to the body. From the huddled mass, I hear a shaky voice, soft, but hoarse, as though she had been screaming. "Not more tests...please, not more tests..."

I kneel down to the young lady, noticing the damage on her body. Small patches of fur were missing, where bruises could be seen. A collar around her ankle tight enough to cut the blood circulation. Nodding to myself, it was agreed that it must be taken off. Getting out my pocketknife, it opens with a soft click. Her body clenched together as she heard the noise. I smile softly as I take her ankle and start to slowly cut the anklet, a tear falling from my eye. How could they have done this to her? What right do the have?

The anklet finally off, she starts to settle down. By now, she was sniffing the air, a relaxed calmness about her. I could hear a soft purr from her throat, her hoarse voice rattling with the rumble. "It's you...I never thought I'd see you again..."

I simply smiled as I helped up to her feet, holding her up as I start to help her out the door. "Yeah...I always thought it was a dream...but...now I know better...Nalia..." I could feel her tense up as she stumbled down. Her foot was hurt worse than I thought. Without a second thought, I picked her up into my arms. She looked at me with her hazel eyes, curious, yet knowing. There was no need for words. I was going to get her out of there, and she would have her freedom.

Walking into the stairwell, I look down to here. Her eyes were still locked on me, questions arising behind them, and one that left her lips. "Why?" I simply smiled as I started to climb the stairs. "Because, ever since the first time I saw you, I fell in love with you. Your eyes, your voice...and you..."

She was silent as I continued to climb the stairs. I could only imagine what was going through her head. Was she surprised that someone human would love a morphed being like her? Was she battling her own thoughts, trying to answer her own questions? It was what happened to me, and what led to my revelation.

And it was what led to hers. As I pushed open the doors to the ground floor, she leaned forward and nuzzled her head against my cheek, whispering into my ear. The sweet angelic voice I always remembered, and always will. "I love you too...Zacheri..."

I smiled widely as I heard this, my step becoming faster. I could already hear James waking up to my footsteps and hitting the alarm, but by then, I was out the door and into the alleys, where I ran with my love in my arms to the place we last met, and the place we will always be.

Home...

Description
This tale is one that most would find most unlikely, and I'll tell you why. It's just plain weird. I mean, if you saw what I saw, did what I do, well, you'll never believe, but I stand here now as living proof...but, let's not get too far. How about I start from the beginning. A dream that started it all...

Thickets of wood and forestry, a thick ceiling that blocked out the sun, surround me. Yet, I could see everything around me. It was a mystical sight, as though the darkness never there. Then, I hear a rustling. At first, it was silent, then, slowly, it overcomes my surroundings, as though I am surrounded. When I feel as though everything is about to end, I see a pair of feline eyes from the darkness. The rustling ends. I can hear a growl, but it was vicious...It was more seductive...

I wake up. My face and forehead is covered in a cold sweat as I lay in my bed, wondering what happened. Was I only dreaming? If so, why did it feel so real? I could feel my heartbeat slow down from what seemed to be an ecstatic encounter, and I couldn't get my mind off of the scent I could smell in it. A musky smell, sweet and hot. It was as though I knew where I was and who was in the thickets.

But now wasn't the time to think of dreams. Getting up, I go to the shower to clean up. It was rather apparent that I needed it, for my sheets stuck to my pelvis and hardened piece. One thing was for sure, when I had the time, I would have to reminisce on this dream. It took only a few moments to get clean again. It seemed almost like instinct about getting clean. Soon, I had breakfast and was out the door to catch the early bus to my job.

During the trip, my mind continued to return to the dream. It was strange. It felt so familiar, and those eyes. It was as though I saw them before...no, I was certain I saw them before. It was hazy, but I knew I saw those eyes back in college, three years ago when I was lost in the forests...but the rest. I knew there was something more to it than just the eyes...

"Hey, Zach-o, this is your stop." Alex, the bus driver, was the one who broke my muse. He and I knew each other since I started work at the beginning of the year, and I was lost in thought, he knew better than to let me miss my stop and be late for work. Standing up, I walk towards the front, but before I step off, Alex taps me on the shoulder. A reckless smirk for a smile, he only said, "Don't let it bother you too much, kid. If it's still on your mind, talk to me on the bus. Its usually empty by the time you catch me."

Being one of the younger employees, I found that age is a double-edged sword. You are given more slack than others since you have youth and ambition, but you also are called upon to do more of the more physical labor of the work since you have youth and ambition, and today was no different. Being called into the lower laboratories of the building, I knew that it meant moving some of the massive computers over a bit for more equipment to be moved in, but it was my job. I was the technical mechanic and go-to guy of the place, however much I didn't like it.

Sighing with a heavy heart, I exit out of the elevator doors as the small moving room came to a stop, looking forward to a nice lunch after the business in here. I always hated the labs. It was creepy, some of the things they worked on. Enhancements formulas, DNA reconstructuring, not to mention some of the illegal activities that I heard rumors of, but never truly seen. Coming to one of the doors, I slide my card through, the door beeping as my code was accepted. Walking inside, I noticed the room was empty with a note.

Zacheriah,

We decided to take lunch since we cannot continue our studies until you finished checking out what is wrong with the computers. Just give us a call when you finish.

Kezralo

Great. Why can't these scientists fill out a stupid repair request form like the others? Idgits. Now I'll get in trouble for taking care of the computer without the proper form being filled out. Kneeling down in front of the computer, I look around the back to find that a few of the cords were pulled loose. Scowling, I begin fixing the cords and connections, which took only about 15 minutes. I had 15 minutes left before they returned. Shaking my head, I begin to leave...

Then I heard it. The soft mewing of a cat...and a voice. Turning around, I look back into the room, noticing the darkened glass wall. Was there a cat in here? Naw, couldn't be. Work must have been starting to get to me again. Maybe I should get a free day off tomorrow or the next to clear my head. First the dream, and now voi-

"Help me..." I turned around again. This time I was sure I wasn't imagining things. Walking to the window, I peered through it. Behind the glass was another room, dark and bare. I couldn't make out anything in there, at was as though I was peering into the night. Then, I saw it. A pair of hazel eyes...

The same ones as in my dream.

Before I could even say anything, I heard the door beep. Jumping slightly, I grab my tool bag, turning just in time to see Kez and his colleagues come in, laughing over a joke that was being passed around. Kezralo saw me and took a look on the monitor, smiling widely. "Just like new. Zach, what would we do without you?"

I simply smiled, an awkward one to most, but this time more awkward as those eyes were fresh in my mind. "Well, for one, you wouldn't have to wait a day for the repair order to reach me, which, by the way, you owe me, Kez. I expect to see it on my desk tomorrow so that the boss doesn't jump me again. You remember the least time, don't you?"

Kez grimaced, his tan lines furrowing as he remembered the distasteful verbal pounding each of our bosses gave us. Not very pleasant. Nodding, he handed me a sheet, filled out with the proper work. "Way ahead of you. Help me, Lord, I don' want to go through that Hell again." Walking past me, he stopped and grinned. "Speakin' of which, you got the memo on the party this weekend, right?"

"How could I not? Not only is it on the desk, but it's on every wall in the building. I'm surprised they didn't wallpaper the place." Despite the mental image I had, I smiled more fluently, grateful for a different subject. The Annual Employee Jamboree was something I had always looked forward to. I could see the light in Kez' eyes as he smiled back. "Well, you had better bring a date, kiddo. From what I hear, its gunna be a good one. The boss says he's goin' to break out ‘The Good Shit.'"

We spent a good five more minutes talking before I left, ready to go on my own lunch break, though, through my grumbling stomach, my mind wasn't on food anymore. The image of those same hazel eyes was burned into my head. Was my dream a premonition, or a piece of my memory brought from the depths of my mind...

...or was it both, and I don't even know it...

As Alex had predicted, the bus was rather empty when I boarded it for the ride home. I still had those eyes running through my head that it was apparent on my face that I was lost in them. Alex only smiled and motioned to the front seat, which I took without a second glance. One thing about Alex: When he wants you to talk, you better talk.

Before he could even ask what was on my mind, I just simply answered, "Have you ever had a strange dream? One where you swore you've been there before, yet it seems so far ahead of you?" Alex was caught slightly off-guard, more or less disappointed by me starting before he could, but smiled none-the-less. "Déjà vu, eh? Yeah, I can understand that. It's happened to me every once in a while. Thing is, it never really happens. Zach. Its all what it really is...a dream."

I nodded, keeping a slightly thoughtful face, but I could still see those eyes, deep hazel, burning in the darkness of my mind. I couldn't tell Alex what I saw. For all I knew, even I wasn't supposed to see what was behind that glass, and for all they knew, I didn't. Still, I couldn't help but think of them. Why were they so familiar, why was it that I felt so much...care...

Then the bus stopped. Alex turned around and looked at me, smiling his lop-sided smirk as he opened the doors. "Zach-o, trust me when I say just to forget about it, ‘K. All it will do is just haunt your nights if you keep thinking of it."

"Thanks, Alex. I'll see ya tomorrow." I stepped off the bus and waved a farewell to Alex, putting my bet face on as he closed the door and drove off, but it was of no use. My face soon fell as I opened the door to my apartment. I tried to get those eyes out of my head, that weak voice, that small cry for help out of my ears. TV, games, I did the works, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get them out of my head.

It was going to be a long night.

I called into work the next morning. The vision of the eyes continued to haunt me through the night, just as Alex predicted. I couldn't sleep at all. With a heavy sigh, I got out of bed and got ready for another day. If I was going to be awake, I may as well move around.

It didn't take long before I decided to go outside for a walk. Lord only knows a bit of fresh air would help me now. Stepping outside into the brisk morning air, I start walking, my mind going over everything from the past few days. What was so important about those eyes? Did I know whom they belonged to? I must have, considering how much they haunt me. But why couldn't I remember? Was it something I forgot?

Then I came to my senses of where I walked. It was the campus of the college I used to go. It was rather close by. Why, most of the apartment residents were students who had enough income to live on their own or with roommates. Walking along the empty yards, I look about, letting memories flow from the days I speant learning of electrical equipment and computers. Of the times I spent just sitting under trees, especially the ones that stood next to the woods...

OF COURSE! That's where I remember them! Jogging through the courtyards, I come to the far end of the college. Most students didn't come to the area; it was why I liked the place. It was a large oak tree, standing just less than a foot from the border of the forest, where I would lay back on after a rough day in class. It was there that I first saw the eyes, no more than 6 years ago. Back then, it was only a glimpse, at least, the first time, but the second time...

The second time, I couldn't help my curiosity. I got up from where I lay and went into the woods, leaving my belonging behind. The eyes had intrigued me so much back then, and I was so curious, as though I myself would have been a cat in a past life. Finally, I had come to a clearing, looking about as I caught my breath. Where could they have gone? Where were those eyes?

Rustling in the brushes then divert my attention to my left, seeing what seemed to be a cat...no, it was as though it was a young woman, but I was so sure I had seen a tail and whiskers. The rustling continues to round me, overloading my hearing as I become lost in them. Then they stop in front of me...and I see those eyes again as they are accompanied by a voice.

"Why do you seek me?" It was a soft, silky voice, pure and untouched, as though spoken from an beauty. I stood there, speechless as I stare into her eyes. Finally, I get my nerve and I stammer out, "Because...I never seen eyes like yours...beautiful eyes...and a beautiful voice to go with them..."

There was no sound for a while after I said that. I could still see her eyes, though they held shock to them, as though she had never considered herself as so, or that she never thought I would even say such a thing. I hear a low purr from the brushes that surround them. "Thank you. You're not so bad looking yourself, but...you may not like what you see if you saw the rest of me."

I was about to deny what she said when the eyes disappeared. I heard rustling, fading as I heard the voice one last time..."I hope I get to see you again...Good-bye"

But I never saw her again...

And today, I stand in that same clearing, the memories pouring in like an avalanche. Could it be the same one in that darkened room that I met all those years ago? It couldn't be...could it...Standing there, my mind filled with new questions to replace the answered ones. Who was she, is she the same one...

I had to know, and I was going to find out...tonight.

It was eleven o'clock when I walked off the bus. Alex had said nothing about my thoughtful face, though he could tell that I had almost broken through my dream. The dream no longer mattered anymore. The dream was gone. It had helped me remember something I had forgotten years ago, a fire in my heart that I had covered in what I thought was only a dream. Now I knew better, and I was going to confirm it all.

Knocking on the door of the building, the guard walked up to the door, smiling as he noticed it was I. Opening the door, he let me in. "Forget your bag again, Zach?" "Yeah, James, sure did," was all that fell out my mouth. James, the nighttime guard, was a familiar. If I had forgotten something, he would let me in and not worry about a thing. He was also the laziest slug on earth, normally asleep by 1 and awake just before his shift was over. To him, it was standard procedure.

Once out of sight, I made my way to the stairway, opening the door and taking the flight two steps at a time downwards, until I reached the science floor. Opening the door, I walk to the room I visited the other day.

The room that kept all the secrets. The room where she was.

Sliding my card through, I open the door, walking into the dark room. Turning on a flashlight I kept in my pocket, I walk to the darkened window. I could still see nothing in there. Looking about, I find a door on the other side of the wall. Walking towards it, I try the handle. Locked. Looking around and precariously putting the flashlight handle in my mouth, I pull out my code card. It wasn't an electronic lock, but then again, it wasn't why I got my card out neither. The door opens outwards, and that made it easy to open the door as long as the bolt lock wasn't...

Bingo! Effortlessly, the door opened with a groan as I retrieved my flashlight out of my mouth. In the corner, I notice someone huddled in the corner, shivering under some black fur. Walking into the room, I look closer. It wasn't a blanket, it was actual fur on the body of a female. I notice the tail on the ground, quivering as it slid closer to the body. From the huddled mass, I hear a shaky voice, soft, but hoarse, as though she had been screaming. "Not more tests...please, not more tests..."

I kneel down to the young lady, noticing the damage on her body. Small patches of fur were missing, where bruises could be seen. A collar around her ankle tight enough to cut the blood circulation. Nodding to myself, it was agreed that it must be taken off. Getting out my pocketknife, it opens with a soft click. Her body clenched together as she heard the noise. I smile softly as I take her ankle and start to slowly cut the anklet, a tear falling from my eye. How could they have done this to her? What right do the have?

The anklet finally off, she starts to settle down. By now, she was sniffing the air, a relaxed calmness about her. I could hear a soft purr from her throat, her hoarse voice rattling with the rumble. "It's you...I never thought I'd see you again..."

I simply smiled as I helped up to her feet, holding her up as I start to help her out the door. "Yeah...I always thought it was a dream...but...now I know better...Nalia..." I could feel her tense up as she stumbled down. Her foot was hurt worse than I thought. Without a second thought, I picked her up into my arms. She looked at me with her hazel eyes, curious, yet knowing. There was no need for words. I was going to get her out of there, and she would have her freedom.

Walking into the stairwell, I look down to here. Her eyes were still locked on me, questions arising behind them, and one that left her lips. "Why?" I simply smiled as I started to climb the stairs. "Because, ever since the first time I saw you, I fell in love with you. Your eyes, your voice...and you..."

She was silent as I continued to climb the stairs. I could only imagine what was going through her head. Was she surprised that someone human would love a morphed being like her? Was she battling her own thoughts, trying to answer her own questions? It was what happened to me, and what led to my revelation.

And it was what led to hers. As I pushed open the doors to the ground floor, she leaned forward and nuzzled her head against my cheek, whispering into my ear. The sweet angelic voice I always remembered, and always will. "I love you too...Zacheri..."

I smiled widely as I heard this, my step becoming faster. I could already hear James waking up to my footsteps and hitting the alarm, but by then, I was out the door and into the alleys, where I ran with my love in my arms to the place we last met, and the place we will always be.

Home...