My Borrowed Son

P.O.V.

Chapter Thirteen | | P.O.V

What had he just witnessed?

Was what he saw real? Or part of a dream?

No.

There was no way this was part of a dream. It was real.

Kers decided when the snow began to fall that staying on the ground was far too dangerous, so an elevated position above the roots would be better. The four-inch tall Borrower scaled the side of the tree he was hiding under using his broken paperclips and the little bit of string he had saved.

He had to immigrate because the previous home he was in gave their two young daughters cats for their shared birthday. Two cats. One Borrower. Kers did the math and decided it would be safer to leave, even during the cold winter months, and chance getting into another apartment building a few doors down.

He trudged out into the frigid cold with all of his worldly borrowings on his back and found shelter among the roots of a nearby tree. It wasn't until the morning that he realized he needed to find a safer place, hence the dangerous climb up the tree.

Each handhold felt as though it would give way at any moment. The slickness of the frosted bark was treacherous. The slightest slip would mean his demise, but it needed to be done.

As he climbed, he couldn't believe that immense creatures such as squirrels and mice could scurry up these things with such ease.

Part of the terror and danger and thrill of being a Borrower.

The few times he nearly slipped made him tremble and shake, but Kers finally made it to the top where he found a notch in the tree that used to belong to a family of squirrels. He wasn't sure why it was abandoned, but it was warm and a place he could secure while he waited out the storm.

After a midmorning nap and a quick inventory of his belongings, Kers began preparing his food ration for the day when he heard a voice outside. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and send chills ripping down his spine. The Borrower knew the volume of the voice could only mean one thing – a human was nearby.

And, based on the words she was saying, the human wasn't alone. He couldn't hear who she was with, but the words she was using made Kers think she was with a young child.

It was odd.

Usually children were loud and obnoxious, making them easy to identify and run away from. So, why couldn't he hear the child? Was she even with a child? Maybe the human woman was with a pet. Humans did that – talked to animals as if they could understand.

The thought that humans would treat animals more like humans than his own kind if Borrowers were discovered made Kers squirm uncomfortably. If he were caught, Kers had little doubt in his mind that he would be tossed in a cage to live out the rest of his days. He suspected he would be tricked into talking and, if everything went well for him, would live performing tricks like some pet. If things went poorly, he would be experimented on and exposed to the whole world.

It was a terrifying thought.

Still, his Borrower's curiosity got the better of him after an hour or so of listening to the woman talking and responding to someone she called "Parker" and he peered out of his hiding place, acorn cap disguise on his head, to see what he could see.

His heart sank into the pit of his stomach when he glanced down and saw a Borrower child far below near the roots of the tree. He was barely visible because Kers was so high up in the tree, but there was no mistaking the frame of the small being.

What is happening?

What is going on?

That's a child!