Rescued

From OSAD - A story about learning to trust

I’ve lost count of the days. All I knew was that I’m still not safe. I missed the sunlight, the rain, the bugs and flowers. My life was now this dark area, beneath some large thing that smelled a bit like the trees outside, but not too much. Just enough to make me feel homesick, really.

I peeked out a bit. The tall human was still present. For the first few days, the human had tempted me, tried to lure me with food. Hungry as I had been, I had refused, knowing my emergence would only be playing straight into her hands (literally and figuratively). After what seemed like ages, she had finally slid my food into my little hiding place, and she periodically refilled it along with a bowl of water and a box of…pebbles? I didn’t understand it, but I stayed, begrudgingly accepting her offerings but refusing to give in.

The human tended to stay within this area, often remaining sedentary for long periods of time. It did many things I don’t understand, mostly staring at bright things and opening small rectangular objects, both of which require hours of concentration. I concluded that this human was probably quite intelligent, because anything that can sit and stare that long must have a very high concentration, which is a mark of genius. Eventually, the human leaves, sometimes for a few moments and sometimes for hours. I assumed most of the longer trips were hunts, and the human sometimes returned with spoils, though I didn’t recognize many of the smells.

When the human does leave, another smaller human invades. The small human, unlike the tall one, spends the entirety of her time trying to touch me. It calls to me and makes odd noises with its mouth, attempting to entice me. I assume that this small human is the equivalent of a kitten, and thus I resist the urge to swipe at it, mostly because I’m not so far away from my kitten days yet.

My human stood and stretched, then left the area. After a long while, I decided my human was out on a hunt and snuck out to stretch my legs.

No longer than five seconds later, I heard the telltale footsteps and bolted back to my dark hiding place.

There it was; the miniature human. It got down on all fours and peered at me through the gap between the structure I resided under and the floor. The hand crept in and, much to my shock, managed to reach just a little bit further this time. Other days, the human was mere centimeters off, but today it finally managed to reach me. The shock kept me tethered to my spot as its fingers slowly stroked my fur, and I had to admit it felt…kind of nice, really. I felt myself purring pleasurably for the first time in ages.

After a few moments, the small human left me alone, and I suddenly realized that this human had only wanted to touch me a little, and that my moments with it would be much more brief if I simply allowed it.

So the next time the tall human left, I allowed myself to scoot just a bit closer to the gap, and the small human was granted a slight advantage over me. It was now able to pet me freely, even my cheeks and the top of my head. It was always gentle, and it felt rather nice, so I simply allowed the arrangement so we could both benefit. The human got a few moments with me, and I got far more moments away from it. Win win situation.

Then, one day, out of nowhere, the small human gravely violated our silent agreement.

It reached for me with both of its hands and locked them around me, not hard, but strong enough to prevent my escape. It gently began to lead me out of my hiding place, and I felt paralyzed as I was forced to emerge. I looked up in fear as I finally observed the small human’s face in its entirety. Its eyes were so big, and it was smiling. I wanted to run, but my limbs were stuck.

Slowly, the human placed me on the floor and began to stroke me again. I stared at it, scared but stationary, mostly because I wasn’t really sure how to feel. A few moments later, the feeling returned to my joints, and I bolted back into my hiding place. The small human reached for me, then simply stroked my cheek a little before retreating from the area. I watched in silence for a few moments, then allowed myself to rest.

This behavior continued for a few days. The small human would drag me out and set me on the floor, petting me, offering me food, and rolling noisy objects and things that looked like mice around me. I batted at them a few times before coming to my senses and retreating back into my hiding place, and every time I did, the small human would pet me one last time and leave.

I was tempted to swipe at it, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

And, quite honestly, I was really getting tired of hiding in this dark spot so much.

The next day, the small human took me out again, and I tried to settle the rapid heart beating in my chest. The routine was unchanged, the same toys and offering of food present in the room. My limbs unlocked and normally I would bolt back into my spot, but I fought to stay this time. I allowed the little human to pet my fur and took a few small bites of the offering, deeming it worthwhile and moving onto the objects. The human and I played a little, it rolling the objects around and me chasing. It reminded me of mama teaching me to hunt, and I felt a little happier doing it.

Regardless, these humans were the enemies. They had kidnapped me from my home, from my little bed of flowers on the outside where I bathed in the sunlight all day.

The only problem was there wasn’t much of anything to hunt around here, and I admit I had been getting…famished.

Quite famished, actually…

I looked up and spotted two areas where sunlight could reach the room. The small human gently lifted me into one of them, and I peeked into the very area the humans had captured me. I finally caught a whiff of the air I missed, but I wondered now just how badly I really did miss it. I looked to the outside, then back to the little human, and I finally decided to return to my hiding place to thing. The little human pet me again and left me to my own thoughts.

The next day, I licked the small human’s hand.

I was still nervous, but I decided maybe it was time to come out. I followed the small human through other areas of her domain, areas I didn’t even know existed. The small human fed me scraps of foods I’d never tried, showed me some of the bright things it stared at for hours on end, and even showed me its own little domain, which was much messier than the one I had been accustomed to.

it smelled nicer, though.

The little human lifted me onto a large rectangular surface and felt soft beneath my paws. I kneaded it with my claws and sniffed at it, sensing no danger, and lay down on it for a little while. The little human joined me, opening one of those rectangular things and staring at it while stroking me with its free hand.

Maybe this little human wasn’t a kitten, after all.

I felt warm and happy, so I allowed myself to close my eyes and nap as the little human continued to pet me. As I drifted off, I wondered if I’d regret my decision to emerge, wondered if I should wait for a way out to appear and run through it.

No. Maybe I should just give this a chance.

Who knows? It might end up being fun.

Author's Note

Critique is always welcome~