Reflected Scars

the bottom of this chapter is called "Dream ½ of 2 " but the top is "Dream ½ of 2" hmm never noticed that..

Warning Dream sequence.

Ch 10 Dream 2 ½

Step, step, step, step turn.

Step, step, step, step turn.

Step, step, step, step turn.

Step, step, step, step turn… and so on and so on. There was nothing else to do anyway. His red eyes peered out of the bars of his small cage at the far wall. The smell of blood and rotting flesh hung heavy in the air.

He tried again, but to no avail to bite through the steel bars of his prison. His teeth already worn down horribly due to the amount of time he had spent trying to escape. After a few minutes he gave up and returned to his pacing.

He would give anything to be out of that cursed cage and out in the forest again. It had been so long since he had been captured and brought here that his memory had begun to fade about the outside world from where he had come. All he knew was that it was better then here.

The door at the end of the building opened suddenly, and three figures walked in. They moved down the walkway between the cages, looking at the other animals. The fox backed into the farthest corner in an attempt to stay out of sight. They moved closer and the voices became clear.

“No offence Frank, but they look a little scrawnier than last year’s.” A woman’s voice sounded, loud and clear, through the building. The woman who spoke wore a long fur coat that almost reached the floor. The smell of death hung around her like a bad aura, not that her own was much nicer. Her chocolate hair was twisted into curls lay softly on her shoulders. From her stature and attitude she thought quite highly of herself. Her heels made a click, click sound as she walked across the cement floor.

The other man didn’t seem to even want to be there. His hands in his pockets he simply followed the other two. His ghostly white eyes scanning the cages and surroundings; his face showing no signs of emotion.

The three moved closer to his cage. A low hiss began to escape from his throat. The furred woman turned and stood in front of his cage. He hissed louder in an effort to scare her off, but it didn’t work.

“Is this one new?” she asked, “I don’t believe it was here last year.”

“Yes it is madam. We caught it last year and keep it in solitude to make sure it didn’t have anything that could contaminate the rest of the stock. We just moved it here two months ago.” It was the man she had referred to as Frank who answered. He was taller then both the man and woman, and his face was unreadable. Not that he showed no expression, it was that it always seemed to be hidden by the shadows even when standing in the light.

“Its coat is beautiful!” the woman pulled a fan from under the layers of dead fox skins and shoved it through the bars at the fox. He jumped and dodged the fan as best he could in the confined space. She laughed at his pathetic attempt and poked him in the side painfully. He hissed and closed his jaws on the fan and ripped it from her grasp, pulling it inside the cage out of her reach and proceeded to rip it to pieces.

“AHH! My fan! That stupid little bastard!” She made the mistake of grasping on of the bars of his cage and shaking it. The fox took advantage of having her fingers within easy reach and made a snap for them, but the man had seen him move before he could finish the action. The man kicked the cage stand hard, throwing off the little fox’s footing and his jaws closed on air. He jumped up as fast as he could and threw himself at the bars. His claw reaching out through the steal bars, but the woman was now out of his reach.

“That damn thing! You should have shot it when you first got your hands on it Frank!” The stuck-up woman smoothed out her coat, cursing the fox who ripped up her fan. Then she smiled and looked up at the tall man. “Your furs aren’t as good as they were last year, so I won’t be buying a new coat from you. But I will take a hat.” The three of them walked back out the way they came into the orange field of fall weather.


~*~


Step, step, step, step turn.

Step, step, step, step turn.

Step, step, step, step turn, and so on, and so on… the fox passed the cage again. The remains of the paper fan in tiny pieces under his feet. It had been three days since the incident with the furred woman and he could not shake this ominous feeling that something was wrong. The man had entered the barn earlier that morning and taken one of the large knives from the wall and was now sitting on a wooden stump just outside the open door.

A grinding sound could be heard every couple of seconds, as a sharpening stone was moved over the blade. Maybe that was why he was so anxious today. Whenever the man would do this action, foxes would be taken from their cages and never seen again. He finally stopped pacing and laid down. No point in worrying, he could do nothing about it. After a few minutes he drifted off into a restless sleep.

He was jolted awake as a firm hand gripped the back of his neck and lifted him into the air. He hissed and snapped at his handler, only to be shaken into submission. He watched helplessly as he was taken out of his cage, brought down the hall passed the other caged foxes, and out the door into the October sun. He winced, not accustomed to the light after so long of being in a cage. He was taken to another building a few yards away where his heart stopped with horror.

The smell of blood and death overwhelmed him. He struggled frantically to get away despite the strong gloved hand that held him fast. The cement floor was stained with dried blood and clumps of fur drifted around in the breeze before the door was shut. Tools and instruments covered the walls and shelves around the room. The fox had no idea what they were used for, but he had a horrible feeling he was somehow going to find out.

Fox skins hung nailed to the walls like some sick holiday decorations. Skin stretched beyond normal lengths morphing the features of the creatures’ faces, making the eye holes long and thin; snouts flat and wide. Only by the reddish coloration of the fur could they be identified as fox pelts. An assortment of heads lined one of the shelves on the wall, displaying different ways to properly skin, stuff and mount the small heads. Flies drifted slowly up and down the window panes in a futile effort to escape. Their fallen comrade’s bodies dotted the window ledge, dried and hallow.

He swung his body up and twisted round as far as he could reach and managed to dig his back claws into the man’s arm. A loud curse slipped threw his lips. The grip loosened enough and the fox wrenched himself free, landed on all fours and bolted for the farthest corner of the room. He glanced around for an exit from this house of horrors, but there was no way out.

“You’re more trouble then you’re worth!” exclaimed the man, examining his arm and reaching for a small net on the wall to toss over the creature.


~*~


The fox dangled upside down, helpless. His hind legs tied to a chain that was lowered from the ceiling. His front legs were bound and strong tape around his snout kept him from biting. But it didn’t mean he couldn’t still growl, which he did as he watched the man re-enter the room after leaving to bandage his arm.

He approached as the fox struggled helplessly. A swift flash of steel, and in one motion the knife was brought up to its exposed stomach where it punctured the flesh, slit him open from belly button to the edge of the tape on his snout. Blood splattered and dripped onto the stained floor below.

“You’re more trouble then you’re worth.” said the man as he proceeded to skin the helpless fox alive.

~*~

Naruto lay there frozen in a cold sweat. He didn’t want to move, he feared the pain might increase if he moved. He lay motionless in bed; his whole body tingled as if it had been dunked in scalding hot water.

The alarm clock suddenly came to life next to his bed with a loud screech. His heart leaped up into his throat, but still he refused to move. Letting it ring till it finally stopped ten minutes later. The room around him slowly became lighter and the day began outside his apartment.

Finally he summoned up enough courage to try and get out of bed. Naruto placed his trembling legs on the floor, stumbled into his bathroom and got into the shower. The water was came out ice cold, in an effort to stop the burning sensation as he tried to start his morning routine. He picked up the washcloth from the bottom of the tub and held it as he stood under the cold spray. His hands trembling slightly, the simple stained cloth was too heavy to do much else with. After a minute or two he let it slip from his fingers and it fell back to its original location on the tub floor.

He kept his eyes closed, refusing to look at his burning skin. He didn’t want to know what he looked like. The memory of the pain from his leg still lingered fresh in his memory. Finally he gave up and called himself clean. Exiting from the shower, he came face to face with his misty features in the bathroom mirror. He stared at it for a moment, the blond and peach blob looked back at him; then he reached up and made a quick swipe with his fingers. His blue eyes stared back at him through the misted glass. He breathed a sigh of relief and whipped off the rest of the mirror. Naruto smiled.

“I’m ok.” he sighed and immediately took back the words. The mirror reflected a dark red, vertical line on his chest. It looked like a pen line but it was deeper and it reached from his belly button to the underside of his chin...

Now he decided he needed to talk to someone.

End Dream ½ of 2