“Good morning. Was that Viv?” Mom asks as she sees me.
“Good morning, Mom. Yes, it was. She got upset with me again and wanted to calm down outside.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to be out there while the cougar is hanging around. I’m going to get her.”
“What cougar? Was one spotted?” I stall her.
“The one we heard yesterday. And don’t you say it was a fox, we know the difference.” She gives me a side-eyed mom look.
“Well, it was.” I’m careful this time to let some emotion on my face. Mom raises her eyebrows.
“Either way, I still want you both to stay out of the forest.”
“OK. How about I go get her? Lillie’s sick and Tina will probably want you at the store.”
“Lillie’s sick? Is it the same symptoms you and Viv had?” I nod. “Fine. But you have until I’m ready to go or I am sending your dad out.”
I nod and run down the stairs and into the forest. I take my clothes off and store them in a nearby bush. Now to think about how I am going to shift. I try reversing the process of shifting to human and think about my tiger form. Luckily, it works and the shift starts.
It isn’t painful this time and seems to be going faster. I pause for a moment, trying to take in all the scents of the forest while remembering Viv’s particular smell. Unfortunately, I just end up overstimulated and frustrated.
Dang it, Viv. Why can’t you just tell me where you are? You just had to run out and Mom noticed. I was barely able to convince her not to come out, and Dad’s going to come out any second. This is why we should tell them. I imagine yelling at her.
I take a deep breath before trying again. This time, I try smelling the ground and shrubbery that she might have brushed up against. I find her clothes while doing so and refresh my memory of her scent with them before finally finding a direction. I follow the vanilla, paint, and musk smell until I hear an animal running towards me. I feel relieved when I recognize Viv's scent.
I look up just in time to see Viv lounging at me. My guard is down, so I am only able to move halfway out of the way. She slams into my flank with her chest, knocking my back half down. I use one of my legs to quickly stand up and turn around, ready this time. She lunges at me again, but I meet her halfway with a low growl of my own. We slam into each other, chest to chest and our paws pushing on shoulders and snapping at each other as we try to get the advantage. Finally, I grab her by the side of her neck before we tumble down, with me on top. I immediately move off to the side, but keep my guard up. I glance around as Viv gets up and realize we are too close to the house. However, I can’t move past Viv without engaging in a fight again to lure her away.
She shakes her head before glaring at me with her ears back, and I take the initiative. I swipe my paw at her face, keeping my claws retracted. I don’t actually want to hurt her, but I miss her anyway. She lifts her paw to swipe back, but I lunge at her lifted shoulder, pushing her to the ground again before jumping past her, this time going deeper into the forest. I turn and run before she can get up. She takes the bait and runs after me.
We only run for half a minute before we hear Dad.
“Vivitina! Ashka! Where are you?!” My heart skips as this is the first time I’ve heard him sound so panicky.
I hear Viv stop behind me, so I turn around. Seeing her standing there frozen, I sigh and pad over, bumping my head on her side. I crouch down and start to circle what I believe is Dad’s location, and Viv follows my lead.
“Girls! If you can hear me, come out! Now isn’t the time for hide and seek!” Dad inadvertently helps me keep track of his location as he keeps shouting, before mumbling to himself, “What has gotten into those girls?”
He continues slowly into the forest. I wait until he is out of sight of where we left our clothes before rushing over and shifting back. Once human, I get dressed.
Viv was only a moment behind me.
“Umm… did you yell at me to come back?” Viv asks as she finishes dressing.
“I imagined yelling it at you. We can talk about that later. We need to find Dad before he calls for a search party.”
“What do we tell him?” Viv asks. This is technically her mess, so she should be the one coming up with an excuse. If I’m honest, I’d much rather just tell him here and now, but I can’t say that.
“Why are you asking me? Come up with something while we look.” I answer. “Let’s see, I think he went back this way.” I start following the path I saw him take.
“What do you mean? We need to be on the same page if we want to trick him. Besides, we both know my excuses are never as good as yours.” Viv calls, running up behind me.
“Yes, and I’ve run out after yesterday. It’s your turn but I’ll try to buy you some extra time. You’ll probably have until we get back inside.” I irritably sigh before mentally adding, “You are so demanding.”
“How am I demanding? We are both in this together, so we both need to pitch in if we want to keep this a secret.” She retorts. I didn’t realize I had said that out loud.
“No, we both share the problem, but you’re the only one who wants to keep this a secret. I just want to tell him on our terms. I don’t want to clean up after you when you keep attracting too much attention!” I yell. I don’t hear anything else, so I put my focus on finding Dad. We must be close, and he definitely should have heard us arguing. I scan the woods, and see him. We lock eyes before a shocked and horrified expression slips across his face and the sound of cloth tearing rings out.
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