There’s a lot more than what I’ll post here. May eventually make it into a novel (stand alone? Probably). The name for it, currently, is “Coward”. It was a strange dream, to say the least, but I worked with what I got. :3 (And no, I don’t much care if I made errors in this, or incorrect spacing. Because I’m cool. And it’s not even kinda finished.)

(Parts of this dream have been mixed with other ideas into a story I started for Creative Writing. You can see Chapter 1 and 2 here!)

A little known fact about me, is I’m a panther. But not a panther in the sort of term humans use, but a panther. With black fur, golden eyes, ears, the works. And here I was, running for my life as I knew it, in, you guessed it, a grocery store. Now you’re probably wondering, what exactly am I doing in a grocery store? Well, this place isn’t like the normal stores, it’s odd, just like the circumstances I’m running from. It sees my rare kind and normally calls this number where men in uniforms take animals such as myself to places of reservation, oh, and protection. Which was the first reason I was here, half hoping to be brought in with my own kind, instead of running around lost, scraping the floors with my claws as I ran from the monster which pursued me. Well, two monsters, if you count its God-forsaken mother, which appeared at every corner. Like its daughter wasn’t frightening enough. As I shifted my weight to make a turn down an alley of the massive store, the form caught me, grabbing at my neck with its freakishly strong arms and throwing me off balance, making me stumble and smack the ground with my right side. I’m immediately growling, trying to get the beast off my neck as it tried to choke me.

“Mommy, can I keep it?”

It? It’s like she’d never seen a female before. As I regained my composure, I stood, the creature still clinging to my neck in desperation. I put my paw against its rather fragile chest, and shoved, hoping to make it let go. Instead the thing gave me a blinding smile, “See? It wants to play!”

Okay, I know this looks bad. Me, a proud panther, being tackled by a seven year old girl. She caught me off guard, alright? And she had help, that demon-possessed mother of hers blocked every other alley. Rather unfair, if you ask me. My growl grew deeper into my chest and my lips curled back to show off my own blinding smile-or scowl, more like.

“Of course, darling. We’ll buy it on the way out.”

Woah, excuse me, I’m not some pet to be bought. I’ll bite off your hand before I’m stuck as a pet.  Violently, I whip my head to the side, throwing the small form of the girl off me. The pest of a blonde haired, blue-eyed, braided hair girl was finally off me and I turned away, only to see the wrath of the mother. So that’s what anger looked like on a human face. A weak, sheepish smile split my muzzle, and quickly I dash into the merchandise, hiding my black, massive form from the prying eyes of that demon. Heaving a sigh, I made my way through the store again, slipping through rows of merchandise, watching the other humans interact with one another. That was the second reason I was here. See, animals in this world all but died off. We had to find out how to create our own human forms in order to live. Some morons, who loved their ears, or tails too much, kept them in their human form, and were quickly found and either killed, or sent to a testing facility. Humans didn’t like the idea that animals were joining their ranks. However, as evident from my massive form sulking in the shadows of the store, I had no such form, nor did I have any idea how to achieve such a form. That’s why, with hope burning in my black chest, I was wondering the grounds, trying to see if being around humans would spark any humanistic flair in me. I didn’t even have their tongue, though I could understand it. Sighing once more, I walked down a main aisle, one that was strangely vacant. My golden eyes glanced to my right and fear chocked out what breath I had in my lungs’ grasp. Within the aisled was the woman I dubbed Violet, due to her dyed hair. She stood with a thin but lean form, black shirt with light jeans on, scanning the shelves form supplies with a metal cart before her.

I jumped into the aisle beside her, trying to still my breath. There was a man behind Violet, scanning the shelves as well, his cart moved in a way that it wouldn’t be easy for Violet to pass him. I hoped she hadn’t seen me. A small smile crossed Violet’s blood-red lips, and she placed cat food in the cart and turned, her eyes staring right through the small shelter of the items between us. My golden eyes returned her stare, my tail wrapping itself around my legs. I curled into myself, my ears back, gold eyes wide, but her brown eyes shifted away, moving her cart skillfully around the man and down the aisle, opposite of where I stood. I watched her form until the supplies blocked the way and there wasn’t any chance on earth I was going to wait for her to turn the corner at the end, and walk down to my paralyzed form. So, with fear biting, I turned and ran, climbing atop the racks of items, and leaping from one to the other, hoping that my heightened form would cause the store to call the men to bring me to my own, none-conformist kind. My ear twitched, causing me to glance down to my left at the sound of pursuing feet and the shaking rattle of the cart she shoved along. Golden eyes narrowed, my paws gripped the shelf and I leapt from it sharply, closing the gap between me and the other platform. My front legs touched it smoothly and I landed with a flick of my tail to show my pride and confidence. Violet hadn’t changed. I could still outrun the human any time I wanted.

Trotting along the tops of the shelves, I found a strange sense of comfort knowing that I had the upper paw-er, hand, as the humans would say. By chance, I glanced to my side and saw Violet reaching for my back leg, which remained dangerously close to the edge. Yelping, I staggered to the side and managed to throw myself off from my perch, and joined the humans on the cold-tiled ground. I heaved myself up, cunning eyes playing through the options laid before me. Without hesitation, I bolted again. Violet’s hand brushed the end of my tail and sent shivers running along my spine.

So you’re probably thinking, that’s what you get for wandering around in a store, right? How was I to know human villains run around shopping? Aren’t the evil-doers banned to some metal holding, or something?

“Look, mommy! It’s the kitty again!” Great. Just what I needed. Another pursuer. Then it hit me, and I skidded to a stop, walking over to the young girl as Violet rushed past me. Luckily mother and daughter were in another aisle, and Violet’s confusion was understood, if not mocked. Approaching the young girl in the white dress which was dotted with flowers, I scrounged up a purr, though the feeling was odd and uncomfortable, giving one to a human. The little pest giggled as I curled around her, my form engulfing hers easily. I licked her cheek, something I saw the domesticated dogs do, and tried not to gag. How they managed licking their owners was beyond me. I nuzzled her neck, my tail lightly flicking.

“Mommy, she came back!” Finally with the gender. The young human wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face into the fur upon my skull. I wittingly suppressed a growl, allowing the nagging purr to grow louder. Steps approached and the chilling feeling washed over me again. I didn’t look up, regardless of the little girl’s distraction by the new comer.

“That’s my pet,” Violet chimed smoothly. I closed my eyes against that voice, blocked away the memories.

“Not-uh! She came to me! Ain’t that right, Kitty?” Kitty? Seriously? Was that the best she could come up with? Grudgingly, I licked her cheek and managed a humanistic smile to wash my features. The beast laughed and scratched behind my ears, which was strangely comfortable. I closed my eyes in the pure ecstasy of it all.

“I’ll pay you for her.”

Yeah, right, like a girl would go for-

“How much?”

My eyes shot open and I glanced at the money Violet held out. I stood quickly and suddenly, jumping away from the horror of it all. How human hearts, even so young, were corrupted by greed. Violet’s lips curled into a smirk, her brown eyes resting on me. I turned on my heel and jolted away as I heard the young traitor shout excitedly, “Look how much I got, mommy!”

“That’s brilliant, sweetie! You didn’t need that old tiger anyways.”

Tiger!? Who are you calling “tiger,” you old hag?