Feral

Of Cats and Rabbits

Then

There is a child in the forest.

This, it knows.

Pitched wails pierce through the air, distressed and desperate.

Humans leaving behind children and friends alike, is nothing short of unusual. Pranks, abandonment, and just foolishly getting lost in its forested depths is only to be expected, as the forest sits back and watches, unconcerned.

But with this child, it's different.

Where squirrels and birds would take off at the hint of a human getting too close, they instead lean forward, watching. Cowardly deer hesitantly inch onwards, unsure. Frogs cease their croaking. Chipmunks, mice, and rabbits still in their foraging. Foxes disregard the now oblivious hunting. Badgers poke their heads out of their dens and listen. Cats gather to look.

The entire forest stills and holds its breath.

The child's cries tamper out into whimpers, fragile and heartbroken. For reasons the forest doesn't understand, it wishes to reach out – to comfort this child who was thoughtlessly abandoned by its very own kin. To make it its own.

And so.

That is exactly what it did.

[Why are you upset, young one?]

Now

Turning the hard material in his hands the green-eyed boy frowns.

He's not sure what its purpose is. The two-leg cladded in black carried the item around his eyes.

Why?

He examines it closer.

Bright yellow in color with many indents lining throughout that dip into a cool clear surface on its inside. A thin strap surrounds and wraps around to connect the two sides.

He thinks back to the two-leg and hesitantly slips it over his own head, brushing his fingers over his wild, untamable curls. Holding the strange item by its sides, the boy puts it up to his eyes.

Dark lines obstruct his view. Swinging around still holding the eye gear tightly against his face, he moves around, hoping over dead branches and onto a rather large boulder where he sits.

Humming in the back of his throat he lets go of the yellow eyesore. Where it slips off his head and around his shoulders, too loose for it to stay properly.

Honestly, just how did he fight with that on? He huffs. It's probably the reason he got jumped on in the first place.

The boy's tail twitches.

He might've.... Gone a bit too far when he reached the two-legs.

He only wanted to play! He wasn't originally planning on showing himself, but rather play a game of hide-and-seek.

Making it obvious that he was there, leaving hints, being barely on their edge of sights as they would whip around trying to locate him.

Sometimes they would shout, stomp, and run about. Other times they would be visibly unnerved, their scent spiking in fear at something they cannot see.

The creature found it a bit amusing.

After the first time he encountered two-legs, the green-haired boy tries to stay a healthy distance away from them.

Furred fingers clutch at the loose cloth material covering his upper body.

Bones crushing under his paws, as he pounces on the body hardly bigger than his own in this form. A scream of agony cut short but a strangled gurgle that reverberates through his skin.