The Gods' Puppet Show

Chapter One

Corrine Romer walked through the Downtown area of Pinedale, Wyoming, a black duffle bag by her side. Maneuvering her way through the afternoon crowd she walked passed a dirty street corner. A large rustle from behind broke out. She jumped and whipped her head around.

Sitting in a pile of garbage was a small pika. Corrine let out a sigh then turned around and walked into a small building. She walked down a long hall and ducked into the bathroom. Quickly changing her cloths, to a leotard and ballet tights, she glanced at herself in the mirror. She threw her dirty blond hair into a bun then left the bathroom and walked into a small studio, joining a group of dancers at the barr.

After a long warmup followed by an overly rehearsed routine, the dancers were sent out for a quick water break, while Corrine was left to fix her shoe. A loud scream broke the silence and the dance instructor ran out of the room, followed by a curious Corrine.

At the water fountain they discovered a group of nervous dancers standing a few feet back from a large rodent. It looked eerily similar to the pika Corrine saw outside of the studio. She shrunk back, hoping she wasn't the one who let it in.

The teacher sighed heavily. "You guys can go home. I'll have to call animal control for this."

The dancers hurriedly grabbed their stuff, and rushed to the bathrooms to change. Corrine was the last one to get changed and on her way. When she opened the door, she could see the animal control car pull into view, but then she heard a scurry from behind her. The rodent ran through the open door, faster than she thought it should have. Corrine took up pace, hoping no one saw her set it free.

After a long ride, home, Corrine was relieved to find that her parents were not home yet. She's been avoiding them for the whole month, because they were fussing over her going out of state for collage. She was only going to Colorado, but that didn't stop them from worrying.

Corrine sat down in her living room and turned on the TV. She didn't pay attention though, she only used it as an excuse to sit down. Over an hour went by before she heard a strange noise coming from her parent's room. She turned off the TV and listened for a moment.

The noise continued and it was enough to get her on her feet and down the hall. The noise sounded like it came from something small, so she went on empty handed. She crept up to the door and creaked it open. She saw a small rodent, rolling around on the bed. She stepped into the room and the rodent jumped up and ran out of the room.

"What the Hell?" Corrine whispered under her breath, as she took off after the rodent.

The rodent ran into the living room and went under am arm chair. Corrine grabbed a book from the coffee table and pushed it under the arm chair. It ran out from under the chair and jumped onto the couch. It stood on its hind legs sniffed the air, then sunk back to sit on it.

Corrine raised an eyebrow and brought the book up high above her head. Completely done with rodents for the day, she went to bring the book down by it to scare it away. Before she could a gruff voice broke out.

"How about you hold off from hitting me?" the voice sounded deep and gravelly, it definitely belonged to a man.

Without hesitation, Corrine dropped the book and ran for the door while digging her phone out of her pocket.

"Leave and I'll shoot." The man announced.

Corrine stopped dead in her tracks. She was standing completely still now, sweat forming on her forehead. The rodent scurried its way over to Corrine, walked in front of her, and sat down.