Lost Change

Chapter 43

I glanced around the Kymari's living room. Susie licked along my back one more time... no... Susie was gone. That meant...

I hissed and bent my neck around to bite at the Kymari's hand, but I was too slow. She had already pulled her hand out of reach.

I slumped back down into the sand and let my hiss turn into a depressed warble. That had been a cruel trick. It may have been the fault of my own subconscious for giving me the dream, but I still felt it was her fault. I wish she would stop that...

But I had really missed Susie's licks these past few months. Other than Ivy stretching out beside me, the Kymari's hand had been the only form of comforting contact I had experienced. There was a large, lonely part of me that just wanted to let her do it.

The Kymari frowned at my sad sound. "Sorry... Trenil says you'll start to like it soon, or else I wouldn't."

I already like it. That's the problem.

"Want some breakfast?" She held up a container of assorted fruits and shook it. My ear tufts perked up at the sound. I was hungry... I stood up and shook the sand off me, then hopped down to follow the Kymari over to the couch.

Breakfast went about the same as it usually did. I thought the fruit tasted a little odd, with a slightly metallic taste to it that seemed to tug at some memory that was out of reach of my groggy awareness... but she started trying to pet me, and I ignored the taste to eat fast enough to be able to slash at her.

I managed to hit her the first time, but after that she seemed to be getting faster. It got harder to focus, too. Each piece of fruit seemed to be a little heavier than the one before, and even though I was still hungry, it got harder and harder to eat. The raspberry in my hands was pretty... I could just stare at the red bumps on it for hours...

I wasn't sure how long I had been thrumming happily on the Kymari's leg before I realized she had drugged the fruit with those stupid sedatives.

"Sorry. The vet's going to need you to be calm." Her hand stroked over me, and she pressed a sliver of a mango slice to my mouth. I knew I should be mad at her for... something... but the coffee table just looked so... neat...

She spent the next several minutes feeding me the rest of my breakfast. When she was done she lifted me in the air - wheeee! - and put me inside the pet carrier she had used for the last trip to the vet. The side of the carrier was just as remarkably fascinating as it had been the last time.

I spent a while staring at the walls around me until we arrived at the vet. I was vaguely aware of other people in the lobby - conversations in the background, somebody asking who the patient was - then I felt the carrier settle on a chair. I assumed I would be there for a bit before the doctor was ready for us, but she seemed to have something else in mind.

The carrier opened and the green hand slipped in through the opening. I felt myself lifted into the air - wheeee! - then I was in her lap. I grumbled for a bit at losing sight of the side of the carrier, and the fascinating half-shade covering the bland, non-descript wall... then I caught sight of the far wall. There was a counter set in it, with a glass wall that seemed like it would slide open, and the light played such interesting tricks over the glass as I watched. I stared at it for a long moment, then frowned a little as I caught a sight of a greenish reflection moving in the glass.

Oh no.

The hand returned to my back and began calmly petting me.

A very small part of me found the energy to fume internally at the indignity, but the rest of me was just too lethargic to care. Besides, her hand was warm, and felt good. She was helping catch itchy spots near the base of my neck that the casts simply hadn't allowed me to contort to reach, and it felt nice. Her lap was warm, and her hand was warm too, and the room at large was a bit too cold, so why wouldn't I want to just relax here and let her pet me?  I could still stare at that interesting window, and everything still felt nice.