For The Greater Good-World 1: A Corrupted Cove || World//Zero ||

24. Blocked

The sound of windchimes swinging in the trees and the muffled talking of people outside stirred Alec out of his sleep. He blinked when he met the bright sunlight coming through his window, stinging his eyes. Yawning, he stretched on the floor before rubbing his face. As he gradually regained consciousness, he started questioning himself. 'Why am I on the floor and not in my bed?' was one of them. Then he realized, and shot up. Immediately he darted his eyes to his bed, expecting to see the egg still sitting there, untouched and unhatched. But instead all he saw was were broken egg shells all scattered around his blankets. 

Alec exclaimed in surprise and joy. His egg finally hatched. Then the disappointment hit; he wished that he was awake to see it. That didn't last long, though, as fear suddenly went through him. Where was his pet?! And what even was it? What if it was a boarwolf? 

Worried that there was a wild baby boarwolf running around in his dorm room, Alec started searching for it immediately, calling out to it in a weak but urgent voice. He looked under his bed, in his covers, under his pillow, under shelfs, under pots and boxes, under clothes, in chests, in drawers, anywhere he could think of! But there was no sign of anything, not even a single feather or a patch of fur. 

"Gah! Where are you?" Alec said, frustrated. When he turned around almost everything, he finally sat down, defeated. He felt so bad. He was so excited for his first pet, and it wasn't even there. In fact, it seemed as if the pet ran away. Maybe he wasn't prepared for one after all. 

Sulking, Alec sat against the wall, hiding his face in his arms. The noise from outside was the only thing filling the silent. For a moment. As moments later, another sound was heard, one that made Alec raise his head. It was a squeak. It was quiet, but he definitely heard it. The boy waited to see if it would come again, and it did. He listened for where it was coming from, and after a few seconds, he followed the sound, hoping to find it. He soon crouched down on all fours and looked under his bed again, where the sound was loudest. Though it got quieter, and that only told Alec that he was close. There was still his suitcase under his bed, and it wasn't unlocked. In fact, it looked to be slightly open. Alec decided to take that as a sign, and reached his hand under his bed, grabbed the handle, and slowly pulled it out from under the bed. He then opened it all the way, and he gasped at what he saw. 

A bundle of bright orange and yellow fur was staring back up at him with beady black eyes. It's head was big, as were its ears. But that was no match to its tail, which practically was the size of its entire body and took up most of the space in the suitcase. It looked so soft, and it was tiny! It couldn't have been bigger than a kitten. 

Twitching its black nose, it stared up at the boy before squeaking again. Alec couldn't contain his excitement, but tried his best as to not scare the little fox kit. Instead, he held out his hand to it. The fox leaned its head toward him and sniffed his hand. Then bit it. 

"Ow!" Alec cried, retrieving his hand. The fox backed away further into the suitcase, startled. Just then there was a knock on the door. It was a type of knock pattern that told Alec instantly who it was. While sucking on the bite on his hand, he stood up and went to the door. Sean was there as he expected, holding his big hat in his hand. He looked weird without it, but Alec quickly brushed that off as he pulled his friend into his room. 

"Woah, what's all this?" Sean asked, concerned. 

"Shh!" Alec pushed his finger to his mouth and then pointed to his suitcase on the ground. "My pet hatched last night," he whispered. 

Sean's face lit up, his eyes turning into stars. "HUH! It DID?!" 

"SHHHH!" Alec repeated harshly. "It's in there, but please be quiet. I don't want it to run away."