The Runt of the Litter

Chapter 33

"Do you gots a girlfriend or a boyfriend?" I asked.

"No, I don't," he said.

"I didn't used to either but then I started dating Daddy and it was so nice," I said. "I just wish I can be with him again, I miss him so much. Daddy always takes care of me and I know that he's gonna help to make me grow my tail back."

"Grow your tail back?" He asked. "I-I'm sorry, Gee, but you're not going to be able to grow your tail back."

I looked over at him with wide eyes.

"B-but I need my tail," I whimpered. "I can't stand up without it, I can barely even sit down."

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Andy grabbed a towel and dried me off. He put a clean nightgown on me and carried me back to my room.

"I don't think I need to chain you up, you can't even stand up, you're not going to run away," he said. "Although if you did run away then, you know, I guess I could break the lock for you and, you know, turn a blind eye."

I frowned sadly as I looked down. There was no way I was going to be able to run away from here. Maybe they cut off my tail on purpose just specifically so that way I wouldn't be able to run away even if I wanted to. That's smart, really mean but it's smart.

"Come on, maybe we can get you a little book in here to read," he said.

"But I don't know how to read," I said quietly.

"I can read it to you," he said. "What kind of books do you like?"

"I like princess books," I said. "And I'm a princess too and Daddy is my prince because I love him and he loves me too."

"Just keep thinking about that, it'll help you feel better," he said. "You have to hang onto something while you're here, I don't want you to lose your hope and your spirit. You're sweet and precious and you deserve to keep your spirit."

"Daddy's gonna save me, I know he's gonna save me because he's my prince, my knight in shining armor," I said. "He would even run into a burning building for me. He would do anything about me, he loves me so much. He's my Daddy, he's always supposed to take care of me and right now I really need him." 

"I know you need him and I know he took really good care of you," Andy said. "I watched the two of you for a while, he really loved you and he always took really good care of you, anyone could see that. I saw him the other day, he's a complete mess. He's searching everywhere for you, he's so worried about you. He's calling everyone he knows and all his friends are helping to look for you. He's just a complete mess, he's crying and begging for his kitten to come back home."

"What does he think happened to me?" I asked.

"He thinks you were taken, which you were," he said. "He's also worried that maybe there's a slight chance he was just too hard on you recently and you ran away and you just don't want to come back. He doesn't know what's worse for him, the thought of you getting hurt by someone or you voluntarily wanting to leave him."

"How do you know all of this?" I asked.

"They've still got me following them to make sure they aren't getting close," he said. "Him and that other chick, what's her name again?"

"That's Jamia," I said.

"Well, Jamia has been getting Frank to go on walks to try and help him feel better and they usually talk about all this," he said. "I wanted to go there and try to tell him that it's all gonna be okay or something but they would hurt my sister if I ever did that."

I nodded my head, sniffling as I hugged Eva.

"You wanna play some Hungry, Hungry Hippos now?" Andy asked.

"A-Are you allowed to be down here with me?" I asked.

"No, I'm really not but, you know, as long as they don't catch me then it's okay," he said. "You don't deserve to be kept down here all alone in a cold basement with nothing to do. I got them to let me take you to build a bear just so that way you wouldn't be alone here and you'd have someone to keep you company. They just wanted to keep you strapped to the table all day long, they weren't going to feed you or bathe you but I got them to let me take care of you."

"Thank you, Andy," I said quietly.

"It's the least I can do, they just want me studying you," he said. "I can at least try to make you more comfortable and at least slightly happy. Even though I am one hundred percent confident that you aren't happy here and that makes complete sense. You shouldn't ever be happy here no matter how comfortable I try to make you."

I nodded, gently kissing the top of Eva's head.

"I have to go to," Andy said. "Just for a little bit to go check on things and then I'll be back. Are you hungry at all? I'm sure I can sneak in something that actually tastes good."

"No, I'm not very hungry, just a little bit sleepy," I said.

"Do you need more medicine? Are you in any pain at all?" He asked.

I shook my head and Andy left the room. I sighed as I looked at Eva sadly.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

I sat her down across from me on the board and smiled softly.

"We're gonna play the funny hippo game," I said. "I'll be the pink one and then you can be the green one."

I put one hand on my lever then my other hand on her lever.

"Ready! Go!" I shouted.

I clicked the levers as fast as I could and laughed as the hippos ate all the little white beads. That grew boring after about an hour and I laid down with Eva. Andy came back about an hour after that with a small smile. He sat beside me on the bed and smiled.

"I got you a little story, are you tired?" He asked.

I nodded my head, gently resting my head on the pillow. He read me the story of the princess and the pea as I smiled softly. Andy ran his fingers through my hair, gently scratching my kitty ears as I fell asleep to his gentle touch.