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The house was empty. Devoid of any vibrations emitted from large footsteps; there was no noises or shifting of anything. It was early in the morning and, strangely, The Giant had left earlier than usual.
But we still had to be cautious. Many times, we thought it was quiet, only to find out that he was sleeping in the other room. We were under the miniature table that hid our hole in the wall; each of us close behind the other, Mother peeping her head out from the foot of the table as the piece of worn-out floral cloth draped over it shaded us, shielding us from the wondering eyes of The Giant.
"Okay let's go"
With that command, Mother scampered across the mahogany floor, heading straight to the inner bend of the two counters in the Kitchen; there was the normal counter attached to the wall that was the main area of the Kitchen, then there was another Kitchen counter that was by itself, jutting out from the rest in the middle of the room; I heard the Giant call it an "island". Its top was made from marble, but both countertops had much of the same things. Various glass jars filled with sugar, salt, rice, beans, and other spices and herbs. The only difference between the two was that the pots, pans and glasses were hanging from some metal thing above our heads on the lonesome island. Only two cupboards were below it, and a sink with a drain that never had food in it. At times, I would hear strange racket sounds come out of it, like some sort of machine below the strange counter..
On the wooden counter by the wall, there was glass jars everywhere, twelve to be exact, and a bowl of onions, scallions, garlic and cloves in the center. The Kitchen was filled with strange machines that we dared not trouble. Behind the bowl of seasonings, there was always a machine with a glass and a rubber top that was always plugged in, (it mashed up food when you touched one of its many buttons) and a tiny heat box thing that the Giant warmed food in, it acted like a miniature oven. After that, the sink was six paces to the right, a bit away from a Black stove. It was always filled with forks, spoons, knives and plates that had bits and pieces of food scattered all over them. That was the second-best place to get food. The first place was the garbage of course. Five or six cupboards surrounded us above our heads where we got some of our food from, adjacently there was also five or six cupboards below, right next to the black garbage bin nudged between a space by the stove and the wall.
Mother had reached the bend. With concerned eyes and pointed ears, she pushed her nose out from the bend, waving and calling to us.
"It's good over here. Now hurry!!' she called out.
I turned to Sharp, gesturing for him to go first. With a huff and some attitude, he dashed forward, his legs kicking off and sprinting across the path so fast, he looked like he was hovering.
Cheesy followed, his paws landing on the ground in a scattered, haphazardous way, he was still advancing rather quickly along the passage. I chuckled at that bit of awkwardness he still had in his movements, feeling a short sense of pride in my heart when I remembered how slow he used to be and how far he had come. I followed right along, hastening across the floor as well, closing the space between the hallway and the marbled island.
We dove behind a tight, narrow space between the regular counter and the stove, one behind the other. I was in front, my ass to Chessy's face, Chessy's ass to Sharp's face, Sharp being last in line, Mother on the outside looking in on us squished together.
"Wait here you three. I'll check to see if the coast is clear, and then I'll come back, and we can all go. Burrow, make sure no one goes anywhere until I come back, understood?" I nodded my head at Mother's assertive flash. She took off, running along the sides of the walls, dipping in and out until she disappeared into the living room.
"Make sure nobody goes anywhere understand pet??When I come back, I'll give you a treat for being suuuch a good Buck. My wonderful, ass kissing son..." Sharp mocked, sticking his tongue out at me. He hated when Mother gave me commands to keep everything in order while she was away, so he mocked me at every chance he got, calling me Mother's "Pet".
Rolling my eyes at his nonsense, I continued to ignore him.
"Hmph. Favoritism at its best if you asked me.." he continued. I watched him, annoyed.
"I wonder if that would be the same case if-ow!!!" Sharp jumped up, holding a spot on his behind, a fart escaping his exterior simultaneously. Cheesy nibbed Sharp in the butt, being just as tired as I was of his talking.
"Cheesy!!!What's wrong with you??"
"You talk too much Sharp. Be quiet, please." I held my paws to my mouth trying my best to keep my snickers in, delighted at what happened. Just as I did that Mother came back around the corner, after having quickly scanned the entirety of the living room.
"Okay my young bucks, follow me closely!" she exclaimed. I dashed ahead of Sharp and Cheesy as she led the way, selfishly and completely throwing the "Keep Cheesy in the middle" rule out of the way. Sharp scrunched up his snout, annoyed at me for bypassing him; suddenly I felt someone holding my arm and pulling me back.
I turned around and saw that it was Sharp.
"And just where in the rat sack are you going??Your supposed to be behind the both of us so that Cheesy can go in the middle!" he recollected.
"If I'm up front behind Mother, and you're in the back Cheesy will still be in the middle. Now let go of my arm!" I yanked my arm from his grip and galloped forward, feeling his palpable shock in the back of my neck.
I didn't care how rude I was being, I refused to allow Sharp nor Cheesy to ruin this for me. This was the moment I'd been waiting for my whole life. I spent so many nights sitting under the clearing glass, looking out at the moon, staring at the stars. Watching the trees dance in the breeze, seeing the bountiful array of lavenders, rose reds, pinks and blue flowers that were below, in that miniature garden beside the house. There was a clear, spacious pasture of grass in the front yard, the apple tree in the middle of it. For so long I wanted to run across that field, stopping in the wide, open space, just taking everything in. Breathing fresh air into my lungs, seeing the racing sky, feeling the sun hitting my back! The thought of it kept my heart pumping. Then, I'd go to the highest tree nearby and climb to the top of it and be bigger than everyone else that ever existed. Even if it was just for one moment, I wanted to relish in that power at least once in my life.....
I was only seconds away from experiencing all that I had hoped for. The time was finally here!!
"I'm right behind you mother- I mean, we're right behind you! Come on Sharp and Cheesy, hustle!! You two are going too slow!!" I admonished them, unconsciously doing that so loudly that Mother warned me to hush and keep it down.
"Oh!!" I covered my mouth eagerly, chuckles escaping through my fingers. I couldn't even pretend to hide my excitement behind my usually calm demeanor. We moved from the crevice of the island and began trotting across the hallway, transitioning from the polished wooden floor to the red rug that sheltered the floors of the living room.
Out of all the rooms in this Giant prison, this was my favorite. There were three clear eyes in this room, one in the center above the couch that was right next to the door, and two other clear eyes to the far right and one to the far left with smaller couches underneath them.
We ran to the couch where I sat under every night, the one in the middle that was roomy, an old-fashioned brown and beige styled covering on it, filled with pink, red and purple embroidered flowers. A table like the one that covered our peephole was in the center of the room, a red cloth flung across it with a ceramic vase filled with flowers on it. A small pot of a weird, prickly, bitter, plant that Mother liked to eat was also right at the side of the couch arm. We were at the edge of the couch arm, looking up at something Mother was showing us.
"See that hole that's in the mesh of the window? I bore it last night when you all were asleep" as Mother pointed up, our heads swerved to the clearing eye. I covered my eyes from the whiteish, yellow glow shining out of it, and a medium sized hole right in the corner of the black mesh could be seen, where I usually moon watched.
"We shall go through that hole and squeeze under another hole in the clear eye, and we shall also come back through that hole. Now, keep close to me, we're going up'' we were at the leg of the couch now; steadily, she ascended, setting her claws into the cotton material of the couch arm and using that as a hook to pull her up, one hand after the other. I unsheathed my claws (they were extra sharp today because I knew that we would need to climb) and sunk them into the soft pad, hoisting my body up. Cheesy and Sharp followed behind me. Now, all four of us were climbing up to reach the couch arm; but, I could tell she was holding back.
I knew my mother. I knew how capable she was, and how fast she moved. She was going at a slower pace, which was still quickened, but slow for how fast she would usually move. Probably, If it wasn't for us, she would've sat perched on the couch arm eons ago, instead she decided to take her time so that we could keep up with her. Either that, so she was deliberately taking long to delay our time from getting out of here....
Within two minutes she reached to the top. Shoving the claws of her feet into the soft cushion for leverage; she wriggled her waist and tail, pulling herself up on tpo of the arm. She turned back and stretched her hand out. I grabbed her palm, and she pulled me up. I pushed myself off of the soft resistance of the couch arm and fixated my waist to go up.
As I gripped the top of the arm to pull myself up further, we heard something.
.....................................
It was clanking noises. Jiggling, of something...metal. Mother and I looked to our right.
It was the doorknob.
The silver knob was twisting and turning from the door, that was right beside us.
Someone was trying to open the door from the outside.
Mother's eyes enlarged, she rushed to the edge of the couch and looked over.
Cheesy and Sharp were still climbing up.
The door was about to be opened....