Iso's Short Stories

Red (Wolf's Perspective)

Written ~12/22/2020 || One of my first finished short stories; I wrote this in 3 days next to a heater.

I exhaled lightly, looking up at the sky. It was a beautiful night, captured straight from my imagination. A gaping, silent darkness with an uncountable number of lights staring at me. I was lying down in a small clearing, with my pack and lantern at my side. I had been wandering for months, and that was one of many stops I had taken. I was looking for a place to settle down, and it proved more difficult than I expected. Nowhere felt right. I just finished eating, and I was feeling drowsy.

I looked around, making sure I was alone. I've always had to worry about thieves. I had a few encounters with them. The most recent was only a couple days ago, but I didn't have anything valuable to give them. They left me alone once they understood that, but not before they "taught me a lesson." The trees that surrounded me weren't very tall, but this forest was dense enough to forget about that. The lantern might as well have been a spotlight, though.

After a silent minute, I turned on my side, content. I eventually fell asleep on the cold grass.

A rustle jolted me awake. I cracked an eye and saw that it was still dark. The crickets were in full effect. I opened my eyes fully. My belongings were where I left them, but there was a bigger problem on my mind. What woke me up? I knew I heard something. There was soon another sound. I quickly did a 180 towards the direction of the sound, and saw nothing. It didn't help that it was dark. I hated a couple aspects of myself, but none as much as my eyes. I didn't have the special reflectivity that most wolves had, so I couldn't see far into the dark without some kind of bigger light. I was a defect. My lantern was still lit, so it wasn't impossible to see anything. It might've just been a small animal. It's not like this place was entirely uninhabited.

I got up quietly to make sure there was nothing. I grabbed the lantern and moved over to where I heard something. I lifted it high, and saw nothing but flora. Suddenly, my vision went dark. I scrambled backwards, almost tripping. The only thing I saw was the sky. My lantern went out, and I left my pack where I was resting. The moon was barely visible, and it wasn't reflecting enough light for me to see where my belongings were.

I cursed quietly. I looked up again, thinking that I should just lay down where I was and sleep the rest of the night away. As I slowly got lost in thought, a tree swayed in the corner of my vision. It looked odd, though. It seemed to be getting closer. The shape of it was strange, too. I gasped, realizing that it wasn't a tree. Something was looking at me, and it was tall. I started to run, but it heard my surprise.

I was pushed off my feet, backwards, and hit the ground. Or- I... didn't? I was stopped just before hitting the ground. The lantern fell out of my hand, but I didn't hear a thud. That didn't matter at the moment. I could feel the short grass with the tips of my fingers, but something caught me. It took a moment before realizing what exactly did. Before I could push myself up, something wrapped around my arms, squeezing me lightly. It set me on the floor, not letting me go. The head of whatever this was lowered towards me, and as it got closer, I saw a small glow in its eyes. It could definitely see me, and it seemed to be doing a lot of that.

I wanted to do something, but I couldn't. I didn't know what to do, and I was panicking too much to form a plan. I struggled, attempting in vain to push my arms outward against the soft rope that caught me. It was soft, but tough. It was easy to stretch, but it was impossible to wiggle my way out. After a few seconds, it tightened, rendering movement that much harder. I looked up, on the brink of tears. My breathing was heavy and quick. What's happening?

It moved in front of me. I heard dragging of some kind. It stopped eventually, and I heard rustling. I tried squirming away again, but I was squeezed. A sign to knock it off. I guessed it was intelligent... whatever it was. I heard a click, and another, before a very small fire blazed before my eyes. My lighter. It illuminated my attacker, although only partially. It was red, and its hand looked like a paw? How was it holding that lighter?

It held up the lantern, and lit it carefully. It seemed to be wary of the lighter, more so than I. The lantern gave off much more light, and I could finally see again. The thing set the lantern on the ground before looking back at me. It lifted me silently, bringing me to a sitting position. It was indeed all red, and it looked nothing like me. It had the face of a fox, but its body was strange. Or rather, its composition.

It was also almost twice my size, a true sight to behold. It was kneeling. It was anthropomorphic, like me. Its tail was much longer than any I'd ever seen, and it trailed behind me. I was wrapped up by its tail. I asked it what it was, only to be met with silence. It kept staring, but no response. It was impossible to read. I didn't know if it wanted to kill me or not. It was feminine, I could tell. It was... cute. Any blushing couldn't be seen under my fur.

As I stared back, I noticed the tail split again. It slithered, working its way around my legs. I could see a small bit of my dark brown fur through the crimson. Is this how I was to go out? It seemed so arbitrary. Why here, why now? Why wasn't I more careful? Was any of this worth it? My thoughts were abruptly cut off by a boop on the nose. It tapped me on the nose, in a seemingly playful manner. It was smiling. Does it play with its food? Is this so I feel safe, or is it just for its own entertainment? I felt helpless, and I hated it. I started to break down. I didn't care if I was loud anymore. I yelled, begging it not to end me. My pleas echoed through the trees, but not for long. Mid-sentence, a tendril made its way into my mouth and quieted me. My crying became muffled. The tendril filled my mouth, almost muting me. It didn't taste bad, but I wasn't focused on that. I couldn't see well through the blur, but it came closer. I tried backing away, but I couldn't move. I closed my eyes, and was suddenly embraced.

The thing had both its arms wrapped around me, squeezing lightly. Its breathing was deep, rhythmic. It felt like a soft bed, and I subconsciously enjoyed it. It was unusually warm, which I didn't expect for some reason. I cried until I was spent. When I stopped, a small branch from its tail wiped my tears. I was pulled closer, and I shut my eyes harder. I may have stopped crying, but my heart was still racing. I wanted to hug it back, but it wouldn't give me the opportunity. It was just fine being in control.

After a while, it pulled me forward, itself falling back, causing my heart to skip a beat. I landed on it, but it didn't seem to mind. I bounced a little. The tendril was removed from my mouth. I didn't want to yell anymore. I didn't think it was going to kill me; at least, not yet. That didn't stop me from shaking. I was sweating, and it wasn't because of this thing's warmth. It was looking at me again. Despite its tail already being coiled around my upper and lower body, it kept its arms around me. It stayed like that for a while, watching me as I tried moving at least a little. I couldn't get more than my feet and my hands. My head was positioned as if I was looking straight up, and it was looking down.

On cue, it pulled me up a bit as I would to a stuffed animal, and brought me close to its face, closer than I had been every time previously. I felt the heat rising in my face. I couldn't keep looking at it. Its tail moved my head back towards it, and it moved closer. It flipped us, so it was over me once again, and it kissed me, muzzle to muzzle. Time seemed to freeze, and my brain momentarily turned off. The moment was strange, but far from fleeting. It... she didn't seem to want to move away. I didn't want to, either. It was partly exhilarating, mostly peaceful. She made it feel like it was a everyday gesture while also making it feel like the most special thing ever.

She leaned closer, pushing me into the ground. I was locked in. It felt like an eternity, but it was realistically no more than half a minute. She let up for a moment, before kissing me again, for almost as long. She finally stopped, put her paws on either side of me, and moved down. She stopped, resting her head on my chest, her ear to my chest. I couldn't wrap my mind around her, but at the same time, I stopped really thinking. I just started observing. She made no sense, and I still didn't know what she wanted from me. I looked up at the sky. The stars saw everything that has transpired, but they won't tell anyone.

I looked back down, and she wasn't there. At least, her body wasn't. Just the ropes from her tail. How does something that big manage to move like that? Out of nowhere, I was dragged backwards, stopping after a few feet. I was in a sitting position once more. I froze as I felt a breath on my neck. Paws made their way around me, just below my chin. They didn't squeeze, but they were a nice reminder that I was very stuck. She rested her head on mine, and I saw another pair of paws reach around my belly before forming one link. I saw that her legs were on either side of me. I didn't know if they had always been there or not. She moved them around me, keeping me in a sort of ring.

Her tail seeped from under her left leg, starting to cover the ground and move up. I looked up, trying to get some reassurance from her, but I still couldn't move. Her tail removed its two ropes from my torso and legs before quickly coiling around me more fully, starting at my feet. Before I even processed that I was freed for any period of time, her tail was past my forearms. If I thought I couldn't move before, any hope now was actually impossible. It felt like a big blanket being pulled around me. It was so warm. I leaned back, and her torso supported me. Her tail finished its job, stopping at my shoulders.

I wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind. I wanted to stay like this for a while, but there was one more thing she wanted to do. A last set of paws covered my mouth before joining together. It was a simple action, but the meaning was clear. I was to stay here, and I was safe. I couldn't say I expected this to happen. I like her, though. I... enjoyed this. I'd like to get to know her. Maybe tomorrow. On that note, my eyes refused to stay open any longer, and I drifted off.