This is what I got for listening to Sharp. I knew better.
I knew, like I knew, that I knew; Better than to listen to Sharp and his foolish and impulsive ideas.
"What was I thinking?" I questioned myself rhetorically.
I looked down from the edge of the cupboard at Cheesy who was figuring out how to get in the bin. Crawling backwards and descending down the wooden wall until he was right above the lid, he eased himself down onto the top of it.
His nose was hovering over the bin while his tail pointed out into the air, he sniffed away endlessly, moving from one spot to the next; the way a fly did when it was looking to lay its germs on a discarded piece of meat, or some nasty garbage. Getting around to the far edge of the bin in an attempt to open it from the top, he squeezed his fingers into the small gap left that fitted over it. He struggled to get it done.
With my hands on my hip and a tapping foot, I motioned my head from side to side.
That was something that would never change about Cheesy. No matter how hard me and Sharp disciplined him, I suppose his love for food would never stop. It would always cloud his ability to make rational decisions.
I gave up and started laughing at this entire situation. What else could I have done?
Here I was, determined to make the best of everything. I swore to myself that I would leave this prison masked as a home and go live outside. Have some fun, make the best of the life that I have left, since most of it was taken by staying "safe" and being "protected".
Here I was being selfish, but something said no Burrow, be nice. Be selfless. Help your brother through this, help him become something so that you and your brothers can venture out together. And when I finally accomplished that, the damned, cursed species of feline showed up, and now my plans were pushed back even further.
I should've left this shit hole when I had the chance.
"I'm gonna grow old and die, missing my entire life because I wanted to be selfless. What a scam.." I grouched, breathing into my hand cupped over my mouth. Becoming frazzled, my eyes lazed over to the couch at the empty spot where the cat had been sleeping previously.
Not fully interpreting what I had seen I peeped back down to Cheesy, lightly moving from side to side to keep awake from the oncoming drowsiness. Babysitting him was so draining.
Then my eyes popped open.
The cat. Where was he?? He was right on the couch a few seconds ago.
My neck whirled to the wall that separated the Kitchen from the living room.
The cat was up.
The Feline was right around the corner of the kitchen bend, having obviously heard something stirring in the Kitchen, his eyes focused on what was ahead of him, the orange cat dipping his head and crouching down.
It was only a few more steps until he busted the corner, he would have clear view of Cheesy, struggling on top of the bin.
My vision circulated back to Cheesy.
The idiot was still trying to push his fingers under the space to lift the bin, completely ignorant to the oncoming danger.
I kneeled down, hanging over the edge of the counter.
"Cheesy!!! Cheesy!! The Cat!! He's coming to you!! Cheesey!!" I whispered shouted from above him, waving my arms in the air and shouting some more.
He didn't hear or see me. He was too focused on the lid still, continuing to push his fingers through the space. I reared my head back out.
The Cat's ear peeked out from around the corner, the white toes of his paws coming out as he stepped through.
"Shit!!!!" He was right on the ball. There was no time left. Had Cheesy just freaking listened to me for once!!
I didn't know what to do.
I could see the cat's head bobbing out as he strolled past the corner. He was about to turn his head and get a clear visual of Cheesy on top of the bin.
"Drats!! What the hell am I gonna do now??!!" I was on my feet now, shaking my hands desperately by my sides, head veering from side to side for ideas.
I had to think fast.
My eyes zigagged to the right, past the container filled with garlic and herbs. Nothing there.
Then to the left, past the containers filled with sugar.
Still nothing.
I turned to two forks and a knife that were behind me.
Too heavy. Still nothing.
The cat's other foot came out behind the other. One more step and it was over for him.
"Dammit!! Something God!! Give me something!! Anything!!!' I pleaded in my mind.
At that moment, a tiny voice in my head told me to look far right. I did.
Low and behold there was a bowl filled with miniature marbles that I had never noticed before. I scrambled forward, my feet slipping as I hustled to get to the bowl; running past jars, containers, dishes everything that was there I passed.
I got to the bowl and took one of the marbles in my hand. It was very small, almost the size of a bead, so I did what any rodent would've done at the last resort-
Create a distraction.
Putting my arms back as far to the back of my head as I could, I took all my strength and pitched the marble into the distance.
It flew and bounced off of a jar top, springing over the wall that boarded the two rooms and landing on the floor with a series of tractable clinks and clanks across the living room floor, stopping until it rolled away in some mysterious corner under the couch.
Right away the sounds grabbed the cat's attention; its eyes followed its head to where the noise was coming from, he spiraled around and with a whip of his tail, he headed for the living room.
"Yes!!" I threw my fists in the air, quietly screaming in my mind's eye, glad that I had averted yet another narrow escape.
Wasting no time I ran back to the edge of the counter, climbing down the cupboard wall and landing on the bin, bracing forward and grabbing Cheesy by the neck.
"You dim witted fool! Didn't you hear me calling you?? We have to go now!" I warned, still keeping my voice low so the cat couldn't hear us. Without saying a word his bulgy, imaginative eyes were brightened with fear. Instantly he followed me, both of us hopping off the garbage top, hooking into the wall and climbing down.
....................................
We were right in front of the garbage bin and I was dragging Cheesy's hand as we rustled out of the passageway between hidden corners and crevices. The Cat could only truly be distracted for a second before he remembered, so time was off the urgency. Cheesy was fighting my hand, wriggling my grip off of his wrist and standing in one place.
"Brother but-"
"Brother but nothing! Let's go now. We don't have time for this" I snarled, grabbing his hand again.
He threw it off.
"No Brother Burrow. Why is it that every time we go out and I want to do something different it's always no? Why must everything be your way all the time?? I could have gotten that Chicken out of there-"
"How???? Just how the hell would you have gotten the Chicken out of there!!????" I snapped, my voice thundering above his.
"Your oblivious to everything you scatter brained dunce! I am not trying to control you. I'm trying to save you!!" This was it. This was my final straw with Cheesy. I've had enough, and it was at the worst time possible. I could feel the heat expelling in my chest, over my face, travelling through my body. I was inflamed.
"Every damn time we get out you manage to mess shit up! Every time. You either get us in trouble, you almost die, or I almost die all because you don't listen to me!! At all!!!" I was screaming at the top of my voice now, flailing my arms about in the air. If I was a violent person I could've knocked Cheesy upside his damn head right there and then.
"You make stupid decisions because you're hungry all the time and then you put both of us in trouble!!! I could've died hitting my head against the couch from dragging you off of that trap. Do you remember that?????" I asked sarcastically.
He opened his mouth to say something, raising his finger to make a point but I didn't want any of it. I've heard enough from him.
"No!! It's my time to talk now. We've trained you Cheesy. Through blood, sweat and tears we've bore troubles with you, climbed with you, straightened up your diet, grew with you!!! And yet still, it's like you're the same rodent. Never changing, never growing!!" my voice boomed over everything, shouting so loud that my tonsils vibrated as I spoke.
To hell with it all. I've been patient enough with Cheesy and he still won't take head for his own good. If he wanted to jump in a horrible situation and die, he was more than free to do so.
"You know Cheesy?? from now on you can do whatever the drats you want to do."
"Um brother Burrow please if you would-"
"No! No. I don't want to hear it. From now on I won't go out with you to the Kitchen. This is the last of it, if you want to come out here by yourself and have the cat gobble you up your free to"
"Brother- please there's some-"
"Shut it, I won't hear it now. Here I am trying to get you out of here so that you won't become Cat food. I should've just watched him eat you ali-"
"Burrow!!!!!" Cheesy managed to yelp over me to get my attention. I was speaking so fast and so loud that I wasn't giving him the chance to finish.
"What!!??" I yelled back, finally acknowledging him. The pupils in his eyes broadened as he stared out into space.
"Be-be - be" he was stammering, his eyes widened in the distance. Typical. Stammer and act scared, make me be the bad guy. I gave him the chance to say what he had to say, and now he was stuttering, trying to make me out to be the problem. He rose his finger, jutting it back and forth into the air above my head, like he was pointing to something.
"Be-. Beehiiinnn-" he continued stammering. Cheesy was really riding my last nerve.
"What ??What is it???Just spit it out already!"
"Behind you!! The Cat!! He's behind you!!" I swerved around to see a towering, furred figure racing towards us; In that moment time slew down. A rock stone twice the size of me may as well have sunk into the pits of my stomach. My feet turned into loose, feathery strings underneath the weight of my body, everything in me wanting to sink into a hole and hide, forever.
"Ruuuuuunnnnn!!!!" I shrieked, grabbing Cheesy's arm and rolling out of the way.
Just as we moved the cat pounced on the spot we were in, coming down so fast that he mis landed and bumped into the garbage bin at the side, knocking it over.
"Shit!!" 'Cheesy and I darted out of the sandwiched space of the counters, zooming across the Kitchen floor, heading down to the hallway that led back to our holdings and the bathroom.
The Cat recovered quickly, digging off of the garbage bin. He jumped towards us, dashing off and chasing behind us, sticking to our tails.
At every moment he ran in close proximity behind us; I was running so hard and fast that I couldn't feel the bottom of my feet touch the ground, trying desperately to draw in shortened gasps of air to keep my lungs from exploding.
Everything was happening fast and it was all so scary, my heart was pumping, the adrenaline pumped through my veins...
But I had to stay focused, for both our sakes.
I needed to figure out a plan, and quick.
We were coming close to home. It would be best if we just zipped straight into the peephole.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the right move. If we did that it would only reveal where we resided to our enemy. I didn't need him knowing so that he could sit and wait for us outside.
We had to hide somewhere else. Even if it's just temporarily.
"Cheesy the bathroom!!! Head for the bathroom!!!" I ordered.
Coming close to the wall there was a hole the exact size of us right underneath the doorframe.
I squirmed my body through the hole and shot through into the bathroom, Cheesy wriggled through it and was right behind me. We squeezed ourselves into the bathroom, digging into a nearby cupboard where the sink was over.
..................................
A FEW MOMENTS LATER
Droplets of water trickled down onto the wooden floorboard, making a splash in a small body of water that formed. Cheesy and I were sitting in a cupboard in the bathroom, right below the sink where the pipes were connected. We planned to stick in here until we could wait the cat out, which would be forever considering how determined he was.
For now, all I could do was watch. There was a hole sizable enough for me to see through it on the wall of the inner cupboard. I heisted on my legs and peeped through it.
The Feline was still patrolling the bathroom hallway, stubbornly pacing back and forth. He had been doing this for a couple minutes now, going in circles as he sought for us. There was a bathing area over on the other side of the room, right across from the cupboard we were under, shrouded with a blue shower curtain that had drawings of birds all over it. Seven or eight feet away from that was a strange, white thing that the Giant sat on for hours; Afterwards a strange, smelly scent emitted from it, and he would press down on a silver handle to which sounds of water slushing about would come up. Going further down the room there was quite a bit of space until it reached the wall, where a few more cupboards were aligned.
First place he looked was over the shower, dipping his head over the space and scouting. Then he strolled down to the weird seat, switching his head back and forth as he examined behind it, huffing as he moved away from finding nothing. He continued down the path to the wall, getting on his hind legs and leaning on the wall to sniff the covers of the cupboards up above.
The cat was definitely not please. A deep, growling snarl emanated from its throat to show its displeasure.
I was just glad that Cheesy and I got away in time to evade his capture. Had he landed on any of us in time, it would have been instant Death.
Once again it was Cheesey who dropped us right in the middle of a lethal situation where our lives were at stake, leaving the responsibility of saving us both in my hands. Utterly disgusted with his entire existence, I turned around to see him sitting underneath the curvature of a metal pipe in some corner. He gazed up at me cautiously, being able to energetically tell that I was over this whole scenario with him. Instantly, he looked down and started playing with his fingers sheepishly, not being able to look me in the eye.
Refocusing on surveilling the cat I let out a quiet sigh, wondering why God had cursed me with the rodent form of a walking, living, breathing nuisance. After a while my body decided that I needed to take a breather, so I found a comfortable corner away from Cheesy and laid on the floor, closing my eyes to rest for a bit. I also needed to contemplate.
Why me? Why did I have to be born as a rodent? I asked God. Of all the animals in this world that I could be, you've chosen to degrade me to the lowest, weakest form possible.
A rodent. Of all things.
I could have been a soaring bird that ruled the skies. One of those umm..Owls of the night, with their heads that could turn backwards. Or those Eagles whose brute strength knew no bounds. A fox that was quick and agile, alert. A dog.
I'd even want to be a flesh eating, rodent devouring Cat if it meant not having to live like this.
Wasn't it better to be the hunter than to be hunted?? I thought bitterly to myself as I laid there, rolling over to my side in the dimly lighted cupboard. Had it not been for the streams of light from under the cupboard door and above it that came shone through the Kitchen, we would be in complete darkness.
"Brother??"
Sigh. What did he want now?
I could hear Cheesy shifting where he was, footsteps moving towards me.
"Cheesey just don't- stay right where you are please. I'm going to sleep for a bit I need a break. So, stay right where you are" I repeated, raising my hand up and warning him to stop. He halted, nodding his head quietly and sitting back where he was.
A long pause went out after that as both of us sat in the dark, quietly.
"Burrow?" He asked softly.
"Yeah?" I answered.
" How long do you think we're going to be in here?" he inquired further.
I laid back, resting in silence and ignoring his question. Not that it wasn't a good question, actually it was the most sensible thing he's asked me all day. Like all the other situations that were going on in my life right now, I had no answer to that query.
I inhaled a deep breath of cold, crisp air, laying flat on my back with my arms and legs extended, all the worries and cares flew out of my mind, and I started to get comfortable.
"I have no idea Cheesey. Absolutely no idea"
................................................................................