Proper Perspective By Pent Ghelsburg
Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this work are purely fictional. Any resemblance to persons alive or dead is purely coincidental. They are the original and rightful intellectual property of their creators. I use them with permission and respect. This work involves underaged characters. You have been warned.
``Everything we see is perspective,
not the truth.''
-Marcus Aurelius
The day is new and the sun is burning. Its eternal gaze turned bright onto the dark world below. Its rays expanding over the scape below and giving hope to the denizens who awaken anew. Every person waking up to the different sounds that come with the morning. Birds chirping, the breeze rushing by, and the occasional sound of a raucous radio sounding off to wake up the denizens of the house in which it was placed.
The house was a wooden one, a bygone relic of the long-abandoned practice of the architects of the past. Its frame was worn and aged, showing off some of the scarrings that came with several generations worth of wear and tear. Still, the residence hold firm, and the owners of the place were not yet ready to move on to a more modern cookie-cutter style home made of brick or cerement. The family who lived inside were renters who had recently moved into the place and were looking to improve their lives and spread their wings to a new horizon.
It was a sleuth of panda bears that had moved in at the beginning of summer, a family of three. The family had been there a few months and the two parents already had found stable jobs that supported the small family. Many of their neighbors thought them to be Asian due to their species but in actuality that came from south of the border as part of an immigration program to bring skilled workers into the country. The only one who hadn?t seen the benefits of the move was their young son who was still transitioning
The boy was just past his 12th birthday and was affectionately known by his nickname Paco. The panda cub was your regular kid with his unique interests and fancies in life. Over the last few years he had gotten into art and as such much of his free time was spent sketching on whatever piece of paper. Already in his short career, he had several notebooks sketched of whatever subject interested him. Lately, he had been focusing on drawing other furs, like himself, in more fanciful situations that one would generally find themselves.
As such Paco generally kept to himself. He was one of those quiet kids at school, especially since he had not yet gotten assimilated into the culture of his new school. The institution was one a private one but one that did not have tuition to speak of. As such the community of school was mixed among pretty much every group in society that was represented in the small suburb. Paco hadn?t found a group with which he fit in quite yet.
One day at school when Paco was in Science class the teacher announced that there would be a science project that the students would have to do together. Paco wasn?t really into the whole pursuit of science but the idea of putting it off and ignoring it. He immediately began to look around the room looking for anyone else who might be alone and in need of a partner. As he panned his head around, he saw that most of the other cubs already had found someone.
Then he saw someone in the far white corner of the room. It appeared there was someone alone and they seemed small enough to be a kid instead of some teacher?s aid. As Paco approached the other person he could see that he was wearing a lab coat and seemed to be of predominately white fur. Once the panda was in a more personal distance he could smell the faint smell of some unknown chemical. The bear reached out and gently grabbed the other cub on the shoulder to get their attention.
They turned around immediately seeming somewhat startled. Their face and eyes were obscured by some foggy goggles that poorly fit over the boy?s pronounced vulpine. At first look, he seemed to be a fox, though his fur was pure white so he was most likely of the arctic fox.
``Hmm?'' The slightly bigger boy peered at Paco expectantly.
The panda boy hesitated a second before answering. ``I was wondering if you needed a partner?'' His statement had a slight Spanish accent to it.
``Partner, eh? I suppose that?s fine. You?re the new kid, right? What?s your name again?'' The fox took off his goggles so he could get a better look at the other boy.
The smaller cub gazed up at the other boy. ``Paco. What?s yours?''
``My name is Pent. Come on over and I?ll show you what I?m working on. Grab some goggles off the nearby table for safety purposes.'' The kit pointed over to where he was talking about.
Paco padded over to the table with the lab equipment and grabbed a pair of goggles for himself. He fit it over his head and returned to where Pent was.
The fox had moved over a bit to give the other boy more access to the station where he was working. Paco peered down once he got a better look at what the other cub was working on. It seemed to be nothing other than a toy gun to him. It was neon yellow with bright red tips to signify that it was fake. A small vial ran through it showing some faint energy coursing through it. There seemed more to it than the eye could perceive, at least that?s what Paco thought at first glance.
``So...what is it?'' The panda asked before reaching out to touch it.
Pent quickly reacted to stop the other cub by gently grabbing his rest. ``Don?t...yet. It?s quite volatile and needs to be adjusted.''
``Oh...sorry. So...what does it do?'' Paco retracted his touch and rubbed his wrist once it was let go.
The fox sighed gently. ``Well, nothing yet but it?s supposed to generate energy and power up old batteries.''
``Wouldn?t it be easier to just replace them with a new battery?'' The panda folded his arms figuring he had an easier solution to the problem than his new friend did.
Pent threw up his arms in disappointment. ``Well...yes but think of the time and money this could save in the long run. Anyways...I?ll be right back...don?t touch anything.''
Paco looked around the room and saw that most of the other cubs had left. Looking over at the clock he saw that it was just about time for recess and wondered why Pent hadn?t said anything about it. The panda decided to wait anyway since he would usually just doodle during recess anyways. He looked back over at the table where the toy gun was situated and stared at it. It looked so harmless and he badly wanted to try it out, thinking to himself as to what the harm could be in trying a toy that didn?t work anyway?
Paco looked over his shoulder to make sure Pent had not returned and sure enough, there was no one else in the room besides himself. The panda smirked and knew this was his chance to try it out. He reached down and palmed it in his paw feeling the neoprene rubberized handle against his fur and skin. Slowly he picked it up and looked over it. The thing was warm and emanated some static that made his fur sticking up ever so slightly. Holding it up near his ear, he could make out a faint buzzing sound as he listened in to it humming ever so slightly.
He extended his arm back outward so that it was straight and looked directly down the plastic orange sight that was plastered on the top of the gun. For a split second, he fingered the trigger without putting any pressure on it, enjoying the sensation of static the gun was created in his hand. Ever so slightly he began to apply pressure on the trigger. The little lever gave way ever so slightly and as he continued to apply a little more force into it, he could hear the humming noise grow ever louder.
Just as he squeezed it entirely he saw Pent re-enter the room and a flash of light projected from the end of it, bright enough to blind him. The gun shocked him and he dropped it to the floor, sending that familiar sensation of static coursing through his entire body. For a split moment, he couldn?t move his entire body felt whimsical and weightless. Paco felt a sense of panic come over him, his vision still blurry and unable to make out anything in front of him.
Suddenly he felt the breeze of cold air rush over him as if his body warmth had escaped him. Paco shivered as the world around him seemed to spiral, making him feel dizzy causing him to drop the gun on the floor and fall behind flat on his butt. He took a second to recover, the cool chill continued to make him shiver. Once he was able to refocus, it took him a moment to collect himself. He tried moving but found that his movement was constricted by something.
It was dark and he could no longer see in front of him. Looking down at himself it appeared he was naked now and he had no idea what happened to his clothing. Perhaps the gun had burned it...or something, he thought to himself. He continued to try to move, his entire body was more or less restricted by whatever was surrounding him. It took him a few minutes before he was able to maneuver through it, eventually having to climb out of the fabric prison in which encapsulated him.
Once he escaped Paco found that the confinement that he just experienced looked very much like the clothing he was wearing earlier. Upon looking behind him, everything seemed bigger and very much out of proportion compared to what he was used to. The air condition of the room continued to chill his tiny body and caused him to shiver. As he gazed around, the room very much resembled the lab he remembered earlier. Little by little, it dawned upon the Panda that he had been shrunk.
Paco began to panic, the bear ran around in place for a moment, at a loss for what to do. He pinched himself to make sure this wasn?t a dream or some other sort of nightmare he might be having. Sure enough, it didn?t change anything and he was still very much in the same position. The panda began
to walk forward, each step he took didn?t achieve him much distance. The spacing between each of the marble was made more obvious as he made very little ground as he continued moving.
The tiny bear continued to tread onward as he passed by some of the legs of the table, which looked more like tree stalks now. Paco hoped he was going in the correct direction since it was hard to make out which direction he was going since he could see neither the door nor the wall except to his right. The bear tried to keeps his hopes up realizing that he had no other choice if he wanted to return to normal. Eventually, he small a rather small blur in the distance.
Paco thought about it a second and wondered if Pent had been shrunk as well. He began to run in the direction of it, hoping that the other boy would be just as small as he was. Sure enough, he found the fox kit just as small as he was.
``Well...I told you not to touch it...didn?t I?'' The arctic fox?s face was one of annoyance.
The panda sighed gently. ``Yeah, I guess you did.''
``It?s fine. We?ll figure out how to get back to normal.'' The slightly bigger cub patted the other boy on the back.
Paco smiled lightly and looked over at him with a little more hope in his eyes. ``Okay, so what should we do?''
``I?m not sure we could use the gun to get back to normal. After all, it wasn?t even supposed to do this and we?re probably not even big enough to do anything with it now.'' The fox kit scratched his chin lightly, considering what to do next.
The panda blurted out loud as an idea came to his mind. ``Do you think the school nurse could help us?''
``I mean that?s not a bad idea but I don?t think they could do anything for us.'' Pent tried his best not to sound dismissive of the other?s idea.
The smaller boy shrugged his shoulders. ``Do we have any other choice?''
``Well, you?re probably right. We can?t just create our solution considering our...situation.'' Pent considered it a moment and had changed his mind.
The two began walking together along with one of the outlines of the tile. Paco assumed they were going in the right direction since he remembered Pent was closer to the front of the room when the gun initially went off. After some time they could see that they had reached the end of the counters that were stationed alongside the right side of the room. Now that they could finally see beyond them they could see the bottom of the door.
Paco and his friend were able to walk out relatively easily as the door itself was open ever so slightly. But even that small opening they were able to make their way out of it. Once they were in the hallway, Pent pushed his arm back against Paco. The fox?s ears perked up and flicked as they picked up the sound of footsteps nearing ever closer to them. A few seconds passed as a nearby kid?s foot came crashing down in front of them.
The fox quickly rushed Paco to the side, thinking that the seemingly giant student would walk their way. But as soon as he did so, the shoes carrying the massive body moved on further into the hallway. Pent eased up and allowed Paco to straighten back up. The kit remained at the front since figured he knew the school better than his new friend. They kept to the sidewall, every few moments as they progressed towards the clinic a cub passed by but did not notice them.
As they were walking they came to a bypass in the hall. The wall had ended for the time being and a crossroads was right before them. Fortunately for them, traffic had died down and only the occasional passed by without so much as a word. Many of them were entranced by the phones and their eyes were transfixed on the addicting screens before them. Pent looked back at Paco who had backed away against the edge of the wall, seeming afraid of the prospect of crossing.
The fox reached back and took the other cub by the hand. Pent lurched his head, looking both ways. Paco pulled back a bit but eventually gave in after Pent pulled him forward a few times. The fox began running as fast as he could, feeling like he was on a treadmill as he wasn?t making any progress. Once they made it to the middle of the hall, the bigger cub came to an abrupt stop causing the panda to run right into him.
Just as they stopped, the entirety of their bodies was overshadowed by a looming dark silhouette overtop of them. The darkness didn?t last long as the person over their head walked over them without a second thought. Pent resumed soon after the threat had passed over them and they were able to make it to the other side without much of an issue. After they did, the two of them stopped to catch their breath as the distance they had covered was much more than they had realized.
It took them a few seconds to recover but once they did they continued following along the wall. Pent figured they had to be getting closer but still had no idea how much further it was. Paco was feeling somewhat helpless but decided to not say anything since Pent seemed to be so confident in the decision they had reached together. The panda continued to remind himself that there was no alternative and that they had to get back to normal as quickly as possible.
Eventually, they came to the part of the hall where it cornered off to the left. A hole in the wall was obvious as they looked at the large opening before them. They could overhear the faint sounds of squeaking as they stopped just before it. Pent slowly moved across it but Paco wasn?t quite as keen as making a move across it. The fox tried coaxing his friend over, gesturing at him with a waving motion but fear had overcome the smaller boy.
A second or so later and a snout appeared from within the crack. It sniffed for a second before bringing itself out into the light. The gray mouse didn?t even notice either of the two tiny cubs, its nose has picked up a stray scrap of food that had been dropped on the floor. It began munching on it and enjoying the small morsel as its buck teeth crunched down. Pent slowly walked towards it and extended his paws to stroke along the rodent?s side.
The creature was a long and slender one, but longer than they were tall. Its face and mouth were fixated and nibbling on the food item. Pent looked back at Paco who was still wary of the seemingly giant rodent before them. The fox reached back towards his friend and pulled him toward it. The mouse still had very little concern about them as it gently tilted its head to gaze at them. The fox felt no distress in the beast and began to form an idea.
The bigger cub began to climb ever so gently over the back of the mouse. The rodent made no obvious movement as its head had returned to eating its little snack. Pent was able to mount the critter with ease, looking down at Paco who wasn?t quite as sure about this decision. The kit offered his paw to the other boy who hesitated a second before finally helping himself up just behind where his friend was sitting. Now the both of them were mounted on the rodent.
Pent looked down at the mouse?s head, which was still eating away. He wasn?t entirely sure what to do next as he had never ridden a horse before let alone a mouse. It took a few more moments before the rodent finally finished its meal. When it did, it?s reared its head and began walking back towards its hole not even minding the fact that it now had passengers on its back. As it did so, the two cubs on its back struggled to maintain their position.
Each of them writhed in place and were sent reeling flat on their back as the thing crept towards its home. Pent reached forward to grab some of the furs on the back of its neck. The moment he did so, the mouse came to an abrupt stop. Both Paco and Pent lurched forward now in a contrary position to the one they just found themselves. The panda pushed himself off the other cub before Pent came back to an upright position, still holding onto the neck scruff of the rodent.
The fox made gripped his hands even tighter so that he had a better footing on the best. With each movement he made the mouse moved in kind. Pent smirked as it dawned on him what he needed to do. The kit began to maneuver the mouse as it began to move again. Paco began to giggle realizing what Pent was doing, feeling much more hopeful about the situation than just moments ago. The fox continued to drive the mouse as it made its way down the hall.
Luckily for them, most of the school traffic was now gone and the mouse went unnoticed. Eventually, they found their way to the school nurse, the door of which was wide open. Pent stopped the mouse for a second, which squeaked and looked up expectantly at the forward-most rider. After thinking about it a second, the fox figured the best way to be noticed was to enter with the mouse. He knew full well that the school nurse was sketchy around them.
The fox applied pressure once again and the rodent began moving into the school clinic. Both cubs shivered as the first aid area of the school was kept at a much cooler than the rest of the facility in an extra effort to remain sterile. Pent knew they were in the right area because the red crosses on the floor served to indicate the place for those who did not speak the local language. The fox brought the rodent to a stop near a white spot on the floor between the door and examination table.
Pent looked back at Paco who had a smile on his face. The panda reached forward to touch Pent?s shoulder and ease the hyper-focused fox?s tension. A moment later the school nurse walked in from behind. Her muffled footsteps could be heard and yet the two boys remained steadfast. At first, she did not notice the mouse but the second her foot landed on the thing?s tail. It squeaked loudly and reared backward sending the two tiny boys reeling onto the floor beneath them.
The woman screeched loudly and the mouse scurried out of the room. She was still tip-toeing around the room searching
around for signs of the object of her fear. As she was surveying the room she spotted a few dark spots on the floor. The rodent seemed to be gone now so she bent over to see exactly what had sullied her otherwise spotless workspace. Sure enough, upon closer examination, she spotted the two tiny cubs.
``What the...?'' She got as close as she could to the tiny boys and examined them closely.
Paco yelled to her. ``Help us!''
All she heard was a squeak. She was now as close as she could get and extended her palm out to the small cubs. Paco surprisingly was the first one into her grasp as he was more than ready to return to normal. Pent followed soon after and they soon found themselves being brought up right next to her face. She stared at them for a moment, believing she could recognize them if she got a closer look at them. Sure enough, it was Pent and Paco who she knew from introducing herself to each of the classes.
The two cubs continued to yell at the woman, Paco more than Pent but each time they did so seemed to fall on deaf ears. She continued to try to hear what they were saying but it was obvious as to what their problem was. Regardless, it wasn?t something she?d dealt with before. The nurse began to ponder a solution to their problem and decided to bring her so-called findings to the computer to search it up. After a quick browsing through some forums, it seemed scientists were experimenting with some serums that could reverse the boy?s situation.
``Well...seems like this isn?t the first time this has happened. Consider yourselves lucky. I went ahead and ordered you two some. I will let your parents and brother know that you with me but I won?t tell them why.''
This set the two cubs at ease who were relieved to find their situation could be resolved. It was only a day before serum arrived and both of them were provided the treatment. They returned to normal size and the nurse returned their clothing. She eyed Pent warily as she thought him behind their predicament. He promised her that it wouldn?t happen again and they were allowed to leave. The two of them headed out together.
In the hallway Pent and Paco shook hands. The two of them glad they experienced it together and made a new friend out of it. The fox returned to the scene of the accident deciding that the gun needed to be fixed before any further mischief could be caused. Smirking to himself, thinking of the grand possibilities that the gun could lead to. But upon returning to the lab he found it missing. What could this mean? He had to figure it out and fast...
