"Ack!" I yelped as I bonked my head against the low ceiling of the sewers.
At the moment, I was crawling through the pipes, making small splish and splash noises as I went. My combat boots were slowly getting wetter and wetter as I went deeper underground, which caused an unpleasant feeling to reach up first to my toes. Then my ankles. Then my knees.
Another ten minutes and I'd be drowning in my own sweat. And toilet water. Ew.
You see, while I was in my room, I realized that I couldn't be cooped up there forever. So, I started going back down the familiar routes out to another place.
The problem was, I had no idea where I was going.
Hey, don't judge me! You wouldn't know where to go either if you made a dramatic exit, stayed hidden from your friends for 3 and a half hours, and was groping around the sewers. Which you probably wouldn't do, because you're probably still sane.
Anyways, I gave up and sat down on a nearby ledge, pulling my wet knees up to my chest. Sighing, I looked around. There wasn't much down here, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a family of mice hiding in a crack in a wall a few meters away from me, probably terrified.
Honestly, I'm not very fond of mice, but that family looked really cute.
Two baby mice were hiding behind another mouse, which I assumed was their mother, because she was trying to usher them back inside the crack.
The other one, which was probably the father, was bravely guarding their little home, his teeth bared and his tiny fists raised.
It was quite adorable, actually.
I knew that they were trying to act tough, but I could see that the entire family was trembling from their teensy toes to their furry heads.
Not wanting to scare them off, I slowly got up and started towards them.
As soon as they saw me stand up, the mother and the children gave frightened squeaks and the father hissed, putting his fists up higher.
"Shh.. it's okay," I said in a soft voice, "I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise."
The father was still tense, but I could see that my soft voice had soothed the mother and the children, because they were slowly peeking their heads out from behind the crack.
When I took another step forward, the father jumped onto my right boot and tried to bite me.
I mean, that's very brave of you, Daddy-Mouse, but you have just one problem: I'm a human.
Instead of shaking him off, I reached down and gently picked him up with both of my hands.
The mouse squealed in protest, but I didn't let go.
Instead, I gently stroked his furry head, trying to show that I wasn't a threat.
"Hey, it's alright," I whispered, "you're safe with me."
The mouse relaxed, probably from my soothing voice and the stroking. When I lifted my finger to itch behind my ear, he hissed, and using his little hands, he grabbed my finger and pulled it back down to his head.
Then he squeaked sharply at me, as if ordering me to continue rubbing his head.
Well, at least I gained his trust.
I gently put him back down to the muddy ground. His family finally came out behind of their crack.
Not wanting to seem hostile, I crouched down and waited.
I wasn't really expecting anything, but one of the baby mice squeaked and jumped out behind its mother's back.
As I got a better look of its features, I realized that it had a brown patch of fur over one eye, which contrasted greatly to the white fur that covered the rest of its body.
Its sibling, still half-hidden behind its mother did not.
Despite its parents protests and squeals of alarm, the mouse with the patch of brown fur ran all the way to my left foot. Then it stopped.
It looked up at me with its tiny eyes glistening with wonder.
I scooped it up, patting its head gently with my forefinger while doing so.
Slowly lifting it onto its back, I saw some tiny pink dots in the middle of its chest. Its nipples were starting to grow, so it was definitely a girl.
Turning her back around to her original position, I met eye level with the baby female mouse.
"Mind if I name you?" I asked.
She just squeaked. She didn't bite, so I guess that was a yes.
"Alright then," I smiled, stroking her fur, "how about... Jilly McGollen?"
She squeaked in surprise. She was definitely not expecting that.
I bent down and whispered in her ear, "Personally, I never really liked Jilly, so I'll give you a nickname instead."
She nodded her tiny head.
"I mean, forget the J!" I rolled my eyes, "I'll just call you Illy!"
If Illy was a human, she would've been raising an eyebrow right then.
"Hey, it's either that or Jilly McGollen, also known as the leader of the Mean Girls squad," I said firmly.
She thought for a moment, then furiously shook her teeny head.
"Alright, Illy it is!" I exclaimed happily.
Illy scrambled onto my shoulder.
"You like me, don't you?"
She nuzzled her head into my neck as a response.
"Would you like to come on an adventure with me?"
Illy jumped up and down, causing a ticklish sensation to flow through my body.
I giggled.
Illy's family, however, was not so thrilled about the idea of having to leave their sewer home.
The father hissed again, making all of my hard work to gain his trust be wasted. The mother hid back behind the crack, and the other baby mouse just gazed sadly at Illy, who was absolutely over the moon about having some adventure in her life.
Illy's sibling started crawling towards us, but its parents panicked about losing another child, so they pulled it back. It stumbled, then it fell onto its back.
I saw no pink dots, so I figured that it's gotta be a boy.
Suddenly, I felt a pang in my chest as my eyes went back and forth between the two siblings.
One who was overjoyed to leave her home, looking forward to having some fun.
One who was forced to stick with his parents, but didn't want to leave his sister all alone.
One with a brown patch of fur, the only one who was different in the family.
One who didn't and looked exactly like his parents.
One who had dark brown eyes that matched her patch of fur.
One who had bright green eyes that you could still see in the dark.
One who had a brother.
One who had a sister.
They reminded me so much of me and Jamie
As I stood there in my trance, the father ran to my foot and tried biting it again, demanding for me to return his daughter.
I picked him up again and placed him back down next to his family, but not as gently as before, because I wasn't trying to gain his trust anymore, and he pissed me off.
Illy didn't want anymore drama, I guess, so she squeaked hurriedly and pointed to the sewers behind me.
"Right," I muttered. "But before we go, don't you want to say bye, Illy?"
Illy scrambled down and stopped in front if her family. She tried saying bye to her dad, but he thought that she had betrayed them somehow by leaving, so he scoffed (if mice can do that) and turned away. Wow, what a great dad. (note the sarcasm)
Illy's mother was much more reasonable. She came out of the crack in the wall and gave Illy a quick hug. Then she squeaked some stuff to her in Micelish or something.
Finally, her brother. Illy crawled over to him, but he just gave her an angry squeak and ran back into the crack in the wall, leaving a guilty and heartbroken Illy standing there with her tiny arms outstretched with a hug ready for nobody.
Seeing that scene made my heart break. But I felt a little better that me and Jamie had never in our lives abandoned each other.
Not on purpose, at least.
And Jamie's disappearance didn't count. Because he wouldn't abandon me in a time like this. He wouldn't.
I gently scooped up Illy and placed her back on my shoulder.
"This is exactly why moms are better, see, Illy?" I muttered under my breath. Illy's mother gave a triumphant squeak.
I turned around and started heading back to the school—I had gone too far underground.
Then, I glanced back one last time at Illy's broken family: Her father huffing with his tiny arms crossed, her mother's distant figure waving at us with a sad expression, but supportive of Illy's choice nonetheless, and her brother, her best friend for her entire life so far, not there to say farewell.
Illy gave a sad squeak, but did not regret her choice.
And so, with the gray sewer water splish-splashing around us, we trudged through the waters back to my home.
Not looking back.
But little did we know, another small figure was watching us. Following us.
His bright green eyes pierced through the darkness as he skittered silently after us.