Somewhere
His apartment wasn’t even a block away from the Wicked Bones Fest: a rare treat in which all the music icons from various generations play a few shows for their endearing fans. It was sheer excitement when the wolf left his home and ventured onto the pavilion center. Adrenaline rushed endlessly as he played his favorite songs over in his head, ones he had hoped to hear tonight. It was only five minutes into the walk, in front of an alleyway next to a local fruit and meat market, when he heard rough grunting sounds and faint whimpers. Venigsun quickly recognized them as pleas for help. In choked mumbled whispering echoes he could hear the victim, “Please stop!” after a few moments of wheezing. The wolf could hear the harsh throws of punches and kicks bruising the victim’s body. With no further thought Venigsun rushed into alleyway to give whatever assistance he could, coming upon three figures not easily seen from the crowded and narrow space. Two figures stopped him before he could do anything, forcing up against the graffiti-filled brick wall.
“Don’t act brave,” the third figure whispered into Venigsun’s ear before delivering a forceful jab to his stomach, bringing out a droning cough and wheeze from its victim. Falling to his knees while his attackers, the three there were, laughed altogether, one leader and the rest followers. The alleyway held a darkened gold hue, covering the starless sky above them. What is brevity? The wolf thought to himself. He pondered on it a bit more, feeling the small pocket knife in his front pocket push against him. Slowly, he moved his hand, while kneeling, blocking their sight, into his jean pocket and pulled out the knife.
While bent over, he forced out a few mumbles to catch their attention. The giver of the attack knelt down, and before letting a word escape the caverns of the mouth, Venigsun shoved his knife into his enemy’s left should, then forced it back out darting up and towards the next man. He ran low, hunched over, as he encountered his next target, delivering a small blow with the knife into the stomach, and shortly after tackling the last of the three unknown targets down onto broken glass scarring mostly the back of the neck. He walked back to the man with the stomach wound and grabbed his knife and said nothing.
Lying on the ground letting out soft whimpers lay the body of a fragile male cougar. His slim, dirtied brown fur ruffled as his body quaked, hiding his face from the scene of wounded men behind him. Shirt torn off and his pants hung low, he noticed the feline’s lighter tan colored belly with a couple of letters etched into his. Together they looked like initials, W.L. The cougar laid still for a moment, you could almost hear his tears, pregnant from the buildings around them, splatter onto the harsh cement. Venigsun knelt down, still feeling the pain from the given punch, and gently turned over the wounded figure who jumped at the slightest touch and spoke, “It’s alright…” but before the wolf could finish what he had to say the cougar jumped up and as if he had no other means of communication he voraciously hugged his savior within the small abysmal area. And in that same moment the cougar leaped up, lifting his pants in the process, and ran off. “Hey!” Venigsun yelled towards him, but the male feline was already out of sight, so alone the wolf carried out his plans of the night; never placing the cougar out of his mind for a moment.
The alarm blared through the wolf’s semi-lit bedroom. It was a flowing noise taking it’s time to reach every open corner, and making a mightier struggle to consume the open bathroom. The quick melodic beats forced Venigsun upright, grumbling in annoyance at the clock’s treacherous action. Even in sleep, the frail image of last night’s victim hung over him so heavily he posed questions as to where the feline might have gone, or even a simple name to place on him, but at that moment it wasn’t to be had. The wolf forced himself into the bathroom see the damage to his body, but there was very little. There was a small bruise at the center of his stomach, but no other distinguishing marks, except for the tattooed jester masque in devotion to his musical heroes In Flames—a proud marking in his own mind.
It was already going to be a little past noon, and the wolf needed to speed to the next city for a show with his band tonight. He dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans and left for his few hour venture. Windows rolled down in his four door sedan and only an hour away from with little to stop him. As he drove on into the afternoon he came across a figure, not a illusion of the sun, but a real person hitchhiking in the stretch of highway known as nowhere. And as he got closer, he began to recognize the person as the cougar he had saved hours ago. Slowing down and pulling to the side, he felt compelled to offer at least a driving service to fight off his curiosity to make this cougar a real entity and not a thought.
Quickly getting in the car, the feline realized who his strange ride was and presented indifference in his stature, not knowing how to really react seeing the one person who saved him, there to help him again. “Um…” He started out in a shyer voice, crackled a bit, but from the raspy nature Venigsun heard a smooth flowing sound from the cougar’s mouth, “My name is Jack. Thank you for your help last night, and for today.” There was a moment of silence as the wolf seized at the first question to come to mind. “Where are you headed?” the wolf asked calmingly, hoping to get across that he wasn’t there to hurt. The cougar looked out the window as they drove off and said, “Somewhere…”
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This was written for a contest, in which I was to create a mate for another artist’s character.
Very best of luck!