Disclaimer- This story contains plot developmnent and *gasp* no yiffy scenes. That’s right, no sex. Just two fifteen year old furs trying to stay alive. You should read it. It’s got a great twist. Also, none of the characters in this story are based on people in real life. Yadda yadda yadda. Any similarities you might find between this story, and your life are completely coincidental. Now, if you decide to read further, enjoy.
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Peace. Serenity. Tranquility. That’s what I was feeling just moments before I startled myself awake. Now my heart is pounding and I’m breathing heavily. For no good reason mind you. Well, unless you count being in an old, creaky, haunting house a good reason. It takes my eyes a while to adjust to the light in the room. It’s early morning. A golden hue is spilling through the window. A crystal type amulet, or necklace hanging from the curtain rod spreads a rainbow across the entire room. It’s quite beautiful really. It almost makes me forget where I am, and why I’m here. Almost.
Luke lays next to me, still sleeping. I don’t want to disturb him, so I gently crawl out from under the covers of our makeshift bed and start looking around. Since there’s plenty of light, I can explore with a little less fear. It’s not that I’m afraid of the dark. I’m just afraid of what might be lurking in the shadows... Yeah, I might be a little afraid of the dark... But hey, there’s not much I can do about fear. It’s one of those emotions that can become so strong in people.
I look around in cupboards and closets. There’s not much. I go up the stairs. There’s two bedrooms and a bathroom up there. In the bathroom, the floor is littered in nothing but dead flies. Eeewww. In the first bedroom, there’s a bed, a dresser, and a mirror. Otherwise, it’s not very well furnished. As I’m looking around I happen to glance at the mirror. The sight scares me.
In the mirror there stands a young lion, looking no more than thirteen years old covered in cum. His face is sunk into his skull, his ribcage is clearly visible. His arms and legs look very thin. His tail hangs behind him, not moving very much. He sighs. It’s hard to believe that’s me in there. Before today I haven’t really looked at my whole body in the mirror, but I know for sure my face wasn’t this bony. Well... I think it wasn’t...
This is scary. Talk about fear, this has to be pretty high up on my list of fears. I look anorexic. It’s not really the physical appearance that I’m afraid of. It’s just being this... weak. Some people would kill for my appearance. I say they can have it. I know I’ve always been small, but this isn’t me. I don’t want it to be me. I don’t want to be this scrawny little thing, that needs to carry rocks in his pockets just so he doesn’t fly off to Timbuktu with a gentle gust of wind. I don’t want to be prisoner of my own mind, living with the burden of my father’s death. I don’t want to be in hiding for the rest of my life, living on scavenged scraps from a dumpster.
My eyes fill with tears. Fear, sadness, anger. Remorse. That’s what’s going through my head as I throw my fist at the wall, leaving a hole in the flimsy particle board they used for the walls. My paw hurts but I ignore it. I just grip onto the hole I just made, shaking. Then I feel something on my paw. At first I think it’s a snake or something. It felt cold, so I drew my paw back quickly, shaking it, then holding it. Then I look into the hole I made. The sparse light in the room reveals something gold in color glinting back at me. It’s a chain. But a chain to what?
I grab onto it, and pull. Out comes a surprisingly heavy golden pocket watch, tarnished a little from age. I hold it up to the sliver of light coming from the window. On the front it has the scene of what appears to be an old steam engine train, with smoke billowing from it’s stack, on a railroad that has workers hammering in railroad ties. Behind the train flies an eagle carrying an American flag in it’s talons. If I didn’t know any better, (and I don’t) I’d say this was handcrafted back during the westward expansion of the United States. Probably during the Gold Rush...
I click the button at the top of the watch. The door swings open revealing the hands and arms of the clock. It’s not ticking, but then again, I don’t expect it to. On the inside of the door there’s an old small picture of two young male furs. I can see a small piece of paper sticking out from behind the picture. I pull it out and open it up. This is what it says;
“My dearest John,
Please take this watch as a symbol for our love. Carry it with you always, and forever let it remind you of us, for while my body lies six feet under, my love for you will always remain in your heart. Don’t let our love die.
Forever and always, into the afterlife and beyond. I love you,
~William T.”
I lean against the wall and slide down to my butt as I read this. It brings a tear to my eye, but for a different reason than before. I hold my head. Aged letter in one paw, tarnished gold pocket watch in the other. I’m not sure for how long I sit there, and I’m not sure how I didn’t hear the stairs creaking, or the foot fall coming into the room. All I know is that I can feel Luke kneeling next to me, hugging me tight. His whispered words of consolation fall on deaf ears. Moments later I come back to the present.
“Tony? Are you okay?” I pass him the letter, then show him the picture in the watch whilst remaining silent. Luke reads the letter, and glances at the picture. He does a double take when he notices the golden watch. “Where did you find that?”
I point at the hole in the wall. Luke grabs my paw and brings it toward himself. “Your bleeding...” And so I am... I didn’t notice. It doesn’t even hurt. Although, I’m sure I’ll feel it later. Luke inspects my paw. It’s bleeding from the knuckle, and there’s a scrape down the back. Must have been a nail sticking out of a stud. Luke stands, and guides me onto my feet. He brings me to the bathroom where he finds some gauze, neosporin, hydrogen peroxide, and medical tape. He holds my paw over the sink.
“This is gonna sting.” He pours the hydrogen peroxide onto the open wound. I close my eyes and grit my teeth, a single tear coming down my cheek. For those of you that don’t know, hydrogen peroxide stings like nothing else as far as I’m concerned. Luke dabs the my paw with some of the gauze before putting on the neosporin, then some clean gauze which he holds in place with the medical tape.
After I’m all patched up and Luke washes the cum off of my face and chest, we go back down the stairs to the living room. I sit on the bed, still holding that pocket watch. Luke opens some cans of Chef Fur-R-Dee for the both of us. We eat our ‘breakfast’ in near silence. That is, until Luke breaks it.
“I think we should pawn that watch. It could get us enough money to live with for the next few months.”
I stay silent for a bit, then; “I’m not so sure about that... It should stay here, for those two lovers.”
“Tony, think reasonably here. We could use the money. What difference does it make where the watch is?”
I want to tell him that the watch was put there for a reason. But deep down I know he’s right. We need the money for food, and possibly winter jackets, what with it getting colder and colder each day. Heck, I can see my breath coming out of my muzzle. The thought makes me more aware of the cold, and the fact that I’m still naked. I shiver. “I guess your right...”
Luke hugs me to warm me up a little. “You should get some clothes on.” He takes my can of food. I do as he says and slip on my underwear, pants, shirt, and hoodie. Already I feel warmer, but there’s still a slight chill. After I’m all dressed I sit back down, and start eating again.
“It’s settled then, we’ll find a pawn shop somewhere and sell that watch. Maybe then we can move on to another city. I’m still not convinced that we’re far enough away.”
“I guess so.” I’m still not very ecstatic about pawning the watch. It should be buried in the garden, or re-hidden in the house somewhere. Just as the second lover intended.
After we get done eating Luke suggests we clean up our mess, so it’s like we weren't even here, save for the food, which we’ll leave in the cupboards. He says it’s best to clean up just in case someone comes in. Not that that’s likely to happen any time soon. Still, it’s better to be safe than sorry. So for the next half hour we clean up our makeshift bed, and take care of our empty cans. When we’re all done, we head out through the window and on to the city. Luke decided it was best to leave his blood stained coat in the house. I’m sure it might raise suspicion, and get cops after us.
Luke and I walk through side streets and allies on our way to where we presume the business part of town is. I keep my hood up and head down, both for the cold, and so people can’t see my face. After an hour of walking, and another hour of searching we manage to find a small pawn shop. Luke steps in before me.
Inside there’s a whole bunch of different things. Random objects of value one might want to collect, or return to their car. There’s a whole stack of car radios... An eccentric looking parrot man in a purple business suit and small wire rimmed glasses comes over to us.
“How might I help you two boys this fine morning?”
Luke speaks up. “My brother and I would like to sell this old watch.” I hold up the pocket watch for the man to see. The man takes it and inspects it.
“Yes, yes. This looks and feels like real gold all right.” The man bites on the metal. “Tastes like it too. What are you two, uh...” He looks at both of us in turn. “brothers looking to get out of it?”
“We want whatever we can get.”
The man chuckles. “Don’t we all. How does fifty sound?”
“It sounds like you mistook us for two year olds. One fifty.”
The parrot bites his lower lip. “One bill.”
“One twenty five, and that’s as low as I’m going.”
The man thinks it over. “Deal.” He walks around the counter to a register, setting the watch down next to it. He writes something down on a piece of paper, then punches in a few things in the register. The drawer pops open. The parrot takes out a hundred dollar bill, a twenty dollar bill, and a five dollar bill. He hands them to Luke, who hands them to me.
“Pleasure doing business with you, boys. Have a nice day.”
With that Luke and I leave the pawn shop. I stow the money safely in my front pocket. For the rest of the day we wander around the city. We go into a small grocery store and buy stuff for peanut butter sandwiches. The hundred dollar bill remains unbroken. When we can tell there’s only a few more hours left of daylight we head back to the house. It takes us two hours from where we were with traffic the way it was. Luke entered the window first, before taking my paw in his and pulling me in. It never ceases to surprise me just how easily he can do that...
Once we’re inside we work together to make our bed again. We decided against sleeping in one of the bedrooms just in case we have to get out quick. After our bed is all made, we go into the kitchen and make ourselves some sandwiches.
“Om nom nom. Hey Tony. Did you notice that there aren’t any heating ducts, or radiators in here? I think there might be a wood stove in the basement...”
Come to think of it, I haven’t seen so much as a space heater in this old house. It could very well be that it has a wood stove in the basement... “You might be right...”
“I’ll check when we’re done eating. You can stay up here if you want.”
I just nod. As much as I would love to stay with Luke, I don’t think I would be able to brave a strange, dark, dank, basement. I mean, there could be spiders, or snakes... I shudder at the thought. I don’t like creepy crawlies and reptiles. Heck, I was afraid to go near the principal at the school because he’s a lizard. Yes, I know. Being afraid of your principal is an irrational fear... well, for most people.
After Luke and I finish our sandwiches, Luke locates the door to the basement. It isn’t hard to find. Looks more like a closet door than anything. He goes down the stairs. I hear the creaking of a heavy cast iron door swinging open. Then I hear Luke banging on some type of hollow pipe. A few minutes later Luke reemerges.
“There is a wood stove, and as far as I can tell the chimney is clear. We just need wood.”
I get a sudden thought. “What about the smoke?”
“Nobody will see the smoke at night. Besides, if I do this right, there won’t be any smoke at all. Just need to collect some wood, and get a lighter. Would you mind going to the store and getting one? I can get some wood.”
“Sure, I guess so... “
Luke hugs me, then kisses my nose. “Thank you sweetie. Now lets go before it gets too dark.” Luke goes over to the window and helps me though it. He then follows himself. We split paths. He goes back into the forest in search for fallen limbs, and I head back into town, in search of the nearest store that sells lighters.
It doesn’t take too long. There’s a gas station about 15 minutes away. I get a grill lighter -- the hundred dollar bill is still unbroken -- and start walking back. On my way I see a lemur man, maybe 40 years old or so walking in the opposite direction on the other side of the road. His apparel consists of a pair of ragged pants, with holes in them, a tattered shirt that just hangs off of his thin yet tall body, and a pair of shoes which let me see his socks, which in turn let me see his foot paws. He’s rubbing his arms to try and keep warm, but even in the decreasing light I can see his finger tips are a purplish color. Surely his short fur can’t keep him warm enough...
I sigh. My good nature not letting me keep walking without doing something. I cross the street and jog up behind the lemur, pulling the hundred dollar bill out of my pocket. When I’m close enough, I tap the man on his shoulder. The man jumps a little and moves away.
“What? What do you want from me?”
I hold out the bill. “Here. Take this and buy some clothes, and food. You need it more than me.”
The man looks between my face, and the hundred dollars in my paw. “I don’t need no hand outs.”
“Please sir, take it.” I put on my classic ‘Puss-in-Boots’ eyes.
“Listen kid, I can’t just take your money.”
I hold my classic look whilst saying nothing.
The man sighs and takes the money. “I thank your kind generosity, but I can’t just let you give me this without giving you something.”
I just smile at him. “Buy some clothes and stay warm. The satisfaction on knowing I did something right is enough.” I turn to leave. “Good night.”
The man stares at me, with a perplexed look as I walk away, swishing my tail with the cool nights air. This might not be one of the smartest things I’ve done, but it has to be one of the most rewarding. Better than Christmas really. As excited as I get about getting gifts, it pales in comparison to giving gifts. Especially to someone who needs it more than I do.
When I get back to the house, I can see Luke tossing broken branches and other pieces of wood through the window in the now dark night. I hand him the lighter. My muzzle has a seemingly permanent smile glued to it.
“So I take it your trip went well? Your smiling quite a bit.”
“It went fine. On my way back from the store I met a homeless guy. All his clothes were ragged, and his fingers were getting discoloured from the cold, so I gave him the hundred dollar bill. He n-”
“You did WHAT?!?!” Luke’s scream permeated the night. My seemingly permenent smile dropped just as quickly as it came. My heart skipped a beat from the surprise. Luke jumps down the short distance from the window. “That was supposed to help US survive, not some hobo!!” He yells right in my face. It scares me, bringing a tear to my eye. The next thing he did surprised me more than anything else. He slaps my muzzle hard. Hot blood floods the area making it sting really bad. I hold my muzzle, looking back at Luke in fear, anger, and confusion. Tears stream down my face. Then I run. I run as fast as my lithe legs can carry me and I don’t look back. Luke’s face still showed anger when I turned and ran.
When I finally stop running, I collapse on the ground on the sidewalk. Soon after I pass out from the exhaustion and incoming cold. I remember coming half to consciousness when I feel my body lifted and moved to a warm place. After that, it’s all black. Nothing but me and my torturous subconscious.
To Be Continued
