A different perspective

Travis

My eyes flutter open. That was a weird dream. I had been a human instead of a mouse. Weird.

My name is Travis. I live in your average sized colony of mice in some jerks basement. When I say he's a jerk, I mean it, but I'll get to that later.

In the dream I had just been walking around doing random human things. Mom was right, I shouldn't have been eating all those nuts before bed.

My sibling aren't awake yet. My family is pretty big. I have seven sibling who were born the same time as me; twins I guess. Part of the same litter. Mom has had two groups of pups before mine , one after mine, and another on the way. Each litter consists of around five to ten kids. Plus my dad and my parents' siblings. The den is pretty packed.

I was hungry. However, in order to reach any sort of food, I would have to manage to sneak past my whole family without waking them up. Plus, there's hardly any food anyways, so it is rationed off to everyone. I was sure to get into some trouble if anyone found out my snack last night. But I couldn't help it. I was hungry.

I close my eyes and try to fall back asleep. But that wasn't happening. I decide to attempt to sneak outside, but just to get out of the den. As you can imagine, it gets pretty stuffy. I creep past my siblings, careful not to let my tail flick any noses. I somehow manage to make it out.

The colony was only just starting to wake up. A few mice were roaming around waiting for the morning rations. Others were playing tag or hide and seek. Even though games like those may seem childish, several older children and even adults and elders joined in to entertain themselves.

I consider joining them, but decide against it. I should probably see if I can help out with anything. I smirk at the thought of me doing that. I decide to check out the areas around the nest. It's dusty and cold.

I'm at the edge that includes the path to the steps. That's the way to get out of the basement. No one under a year old is supposed to go up there. I've tried. I got caught before I even reached the border. Since then, I've gotten much better at lying.

The borders are pretty much just small breaks in the dust where the floor is visible. Every few hours a border patrol comes by to redefine the line. Right now it is barely visible.

As I circle the border, I occasionally draw smiley faces in the dust. Odds are, everyone else will probably know it was me. I'm not like the other mice. They would blame it on bad parenting, except they don't want to challenge my dad. They'd say it's because I'm the runt of the litter, or last born, but I'm normal sized and third out of seven. So they have nothing.

The path to the steps comes into view. I pause, sitting back and sniffing the air. I really want to do it. I look around. I don't see anyone. The air is dusty though, so I cannot see very far in front of me.

I'm about to step across the border and onto the path when a voice stops me. "Where do you think you're going?" Damnit.

I turn around slowly and see my dad standing behind me. He must have followed me just out of viewing distance. His fur was coated in dust, hiding his scent. I should have thought of that. I take a mental note to remember to do this next time I sneak out when I'm not supposed to.

"Hey, Dad. What's up?" I give him a smile and a nervous laugh. He gives me a frown and a disappointed sign in return.

"Well, I'll just go back to the den." He lets me go, but I can feel his disappointed gaze follow me.