| They appeared quickly from drainpipes and garden bushes, before being followed by others from underneath parked cars and benches! Grimly rodents they were, appearing from everywhere imaginable as the cold town continued its otherwise ceaseless restive atmosphere.
Nearing the end of twilight, clouds slowly revealed a fading crescent moon. Mr. Tara stepped out from his house, and stared blankly at his frosty company van parked diagonally across his equally frosty lawn. He started to scrap the ice off grumpily when suddenly, he was forced to move aside due to scratching and gnawing at his shoes. Countless small furry animals scurried past, fast and slow, sniffing their way and barely noticing him. From under his vehicle they emerged, and across his and his neighbours gardens, until every one had crossed to the other side of the street. Four by four, as Mr. Tara curiously observed them, the rodents were swallowed up by the darkness of an alleyway. He said nothing and got into his van and drove out of town. As dawn became evident, a utility vehicle noisily drove in on a dirt road which had lead into the small town. It had earlier passed through large fields and farmlands. It was in one of these locations two animal hitchhikers had made themselves at home in the back of this old machine. As a day had passed of travelling, one already jumped off and leaped onto the van that left earlier, as the two vehicles passed. Why? It was sensible. It came to its senses. It knew something was wrong with this area. Whatever the reason was for their coming here, only the other one was to do so now. Under a chequered blanket, stained with various substances, the remaining creature poked its head out. The utility vehicle halted and it jumped off immediately after. A lingering chill sprinted down its bent spine the moment its feet contacted the ground. It wiped any pieces of icy dirt that stuck to its grey fur from the crunchy ground of ice. It briefly wondered about until noticing a thorny bush that sparkled with ice. Here it swiftly hid itself once again. Nothing had too much broken the unusual silence since the last debile sunset. This wary visitor had noticed birdsongs getting quieter and quieter the closer it had gotten towards the town. The appearances of wild and domesticated animal alike had dwindled gravely in the countryside. The traveller had not smelt, with its tiny sensitive nose, or seen, with its even tinier beady eyes, hardly any living thing except humans for days. The old visitor looked up to see an unidentifiable bird appearing as nothing more than a shadow with an identical shadow trailing behind, gliding in the slight wind observing the idle town below. It swerved over to an alleyway and landed on the pavement near the same bush clumsily. “Here?” it cried loud and briskly. “HERE? Is it here?” It then left the pavement and flew up and landed on the parked utility vehicle energetically. The hiding animal, peering its head from the plant, recognised it now and replied bitterly. “Featherhead - add to the quietness!” Meanwhile, however, the concourse of rodents nearby in the alleyway had surrounded a widely respected street rat, known only as Old Boss, as he recited his last tenebrous words before perishing in a deluded way. A disturbing and upsetting way even, which I shall not describe. The closest rodents to the boss were street rats themselves, and appeared most sorrowful, while others were on their own in utter dismay. This had clearly effected most of them, though one bistre-coloured buck was not bothered in the slightest and was placing himself in all sorts of positions as he observed, well, everywhere. “Espy is that you?” an ecru pup asked innocently curious. The preoccupied buck did not answer. Espy indeed he was named - a naturally obscure and precocious rat, so rarely spoke to anyone who he did not consider intelligent or open-minded. He was often considered a weirdo, an outcast, and though being young, his hunchback posture, exceptionally long whiskers and depleting fur gave him a look of an older creature. “Old Espy?” the younger rat said in a similar curious tone, knowing saying old would probably get some attention. “What’s the matter?” “Old?” the abashedly reply came. Removing a paw off his head, the rat Espy sniffed and recognised who it was. “Oh, Gaze!" he smiled. He stopped looking around the alley for the first time since he got here and faced towards him. "What’s the matter, did you ask?” “That I did. Why are you in the town? You hate it here…” Espy stared for a bit. “Oh. Dreams, mainly." Gaze stared blankly. He knew him well and knew full well this conversation was going to be a another strange one when either 'dreams', 'daydreams', 'nightmares', or anything along those lines was mentioned by him. "They're so much worse than usual,” the brown buck continued, once again peering around but more lightly than before. He spoke quiet, as if talking to himself more than the pup. “I‘m strongly drawn to this area, not due to the town boss death - I'm rather just more curious of his passing and the feeling I get from it. It's a claustrophobic feeling - a suggestive pushing feeling too... I, I can't explain it." Gaze eyes locked with Espy's expectant ones. The pup felt the need to ask a question. He wanted to go. He didn't like when Espy was like this. "So, friend, why... why does the recent death here bother you?" he finally asked. “The old boss. Well, I saw him briefly in the glorious secluded field lands talking to a vole once. That vole, in fact, has recently died in the same manner as him. The vole's family told me he went on about a red sky - a colour us rodents are not meant to see. Also, they mentioned his sightings of an increasingly larger half moon. Not just a moon though, it was facing upwards, devil-like, and so bright even he, a fellow rodent with poor sight, could see all too clearly.” He leant in closer, trying to catch a glimpse of the intrigued yet disturbed Gaze with his blurry vision. “All those things the family described. I've seen them, Gaze. The dreams, Gaze. Gaze, you've all been around Old Boss a fair bit now. Have you experienced anyt…” “Oh my baby,” interrupted a doe. “Gaze? Gaze! What did I say? Do not wonder off at such times, especially with that one in the vicinity!” She leered at Espy with disgust. “Scaring my youngling with your fake disturbing fables again? The locals warned you, Espy. Stay… away. Come, baby.” Not giving Gaze a chance to reply in the mild conversation with Espy even if he wanted to, or vice versa, he was harshly dragged off by his disgruntled parent and placed back with his sisters in single file. “As usual, no one, no one will believe me of course,” the brown rat nodded to himself affirmatively and squinting. “But the signs, yes I do wonder.” Espy, being sniffed at by the mother in protest to him still being around, suddenly heard a distant voice calling for him. The caller then collapsed and was joined by the strange bird. Espy swiftly left the alley and headed towards the visitor. Meanwhile the curious Gaze, half being forced to stay with his sisters by his distracted mother, managed to wonder off aside one of the leaving crowds of fur. He stopped and started gazing up and sniffing at where the apparent rambling Espy had leered persistently towards the moment ago. The sunlight had become much stronger as the morning progressed, fervid even, as it now covered the entire town in a radiant light. A few beams faintly entered the alleyway. With this, it was enough for Gaze to notice anxious movement of a snake-like shadow swinging back and forth against the wall. At closer inspection, it appeared to be what looked like the presence of a large tail. It in fact, belonged to a creature that had lingered in darkness around the bins of all night, taking persistent note of Old Boss’s deterioration and eventual decease. Gaze begun to feel slightly unnerved, and as soon as started to wobble slowly back towards his family. The figure was perhaps bothered at being noticed as it now only made the slightest quietest chuckles as it remained motionless on the highest, filthiest as well as the only standing dustbin. “Gaze, listen up now…” the mother anxiously cried out. “Like I told your sisters… our kind caring leader has quite obviously gone,” “Quite obviously,” he stated mockingly. “So, us vulnerable denizens have to look out for ourselves for a while until we get a new boss.” “Oh, okay,” Gaze replied blankly looking back at the dustbins. A thought dawned on him. “Actually, why do we need a boss?” he asked. “Protection,” she in turn replied with a disappointed nod. “You may not understand the rules of life yet, Gaze. That stops those disgusting violent outskirt rodents from…” “Okay,” he replied interruptedly, paying little interest having got his answer. “So, until we get a new boss, a new protector,” she dragged on, “we should be extra alert from now on from, Gaze, strangers. You shall not associate yourself with Espy, for a start.” Gaze looked even more out of little interest of his overprotective mother. He knew that she knew he was going to talk to anyone he wanted to. NOT FINISHED. |
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| GLUM RATS Chapter I: Lab Rat |
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In a blood-red sky, a crescent moon shifts upward! No matter how bright, everything underneath still a thick shade! Only in the eyes of some is this known, Only in the eyes of some is this reality. |
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