No Matter What

1

My son has been begging me to take him to the zoo for the past three weeks.

"But why?" he would whine. "No work today!"

I don't blame him, though. Xiao—my son—is only 4 in age. He doesn't understand the concept of his father being unable to take him places due to the pain of a broken arm. Yes, I broke my left arm during a work incident. No, I'm not some sort of stunt man or in a very active job that could cause such injuries. I'm a funeral director. I broke my arm missing a step and tumbling down a flight of stairs. Yes, I know.

Now, I'm bed ridden. Well, I was for the first three weeks after the injury. I'm feeling a lot better now, so I decided I'd finally take Xiao to the zoo for the first time. He learned about zoos from the animal documentaries I would watch since I had plenty of time on my hands during recovery.

"Daddy, I wanna see amimams," he said. And I told him there was a way to do so, to which the begging started.

Now, I'm trying to keep up with a 4-year-old who's running from exhibit to exhibit like a coked-out rabbit—I stole that one from my assistant at the funeral home. Makes me laugh every time. It's how she describes Xiao whenever I bring him to work with me and he runs about the meeting hall.

But of course, the second I'm out trying to enjoy time with my son, my phone is going off something mad. I sigh as I read the message from my colleague, Hu Tao, telling me to answer for something urgent. I eye Xiao, who seems to be distracted by an exhibit of tigers. He has his face pressed against the glass, cooing in awe as they lay there unamused.

I take this chance to ring Hu Tao, turning away and placing my phone to my ear.

"What's so urgent, miss?" I say into the phone, shaking my head as she tells me she's misplaced specific files and that the family would be there any minute. I sigh. "Have you checked the cabinet in my office? The combination is 1231.... Yes, I know.... Try that first, I'm sure they're in there.... Is it the Yung's? Right okay, then it's definitely in there..... No, I—"

"Shit!!"

My head jerks toward the sound of a woman's scream, only to see a crowd has formed around the barrier of the tiger exhibit. I'm confused at first, until my brain clicks back to reality. My eyes widen as I practically drop my phone in a quick turn toward where I'd last seen my son, only to see he's no longer got his little face pressed against the screen.

"Xiao!?" I hang up on Hu Tao without a second thought, now rushing toward the barrier. My heart is in my stomach, silently praying that what I think may be true isn't. Please, don't let it be true.

But my prayers aren't answered, when I look down into the exhibit and see a small boy crawling on the ground toward a group of tigers that are now on their feet, staring at the boy.

"Xiao!" I scream again. My oblivious 4-year-old stares back at the tigers without fear—the complete opposite of what I feel right now. My phone rings in my hand, and I shove it in my pocket as I try to get Xiao's attention. "Xiao...be very still and quiet okay..." He finally turns and looks up at me, studying the horrifying expression I try terribly to mask. "Don't move, Nugget. Please just...don't move. Daddy's coming, just...hold on. Stay still..."

My voice is quivering, and even at his age, Xiao can tell something isn't right. He begins to cry, and that only makes me panic more, because now the tigers are starting to react. One of them starts to growl under its breath, slowly approaching my son, as the other follows suit. I grow increasingly anxious, wanting to jump in myself, but knowing I'd be of no use with my broken arm.

"God," I scream. "Help him, someone, please!" But everyone just stands there, looking just like me—like they want to jump in, only their fear is holding them back. And most of them are women with kids of their own.

My baby cries louder as the tigers approach, and in that moment, I lose all sense and lift a leg over the barrier to get him myself, knowing full well I have no plan and that I'm probably risking both our lives. But this is my son. I'll die peacefully knowing I did something to save his life.

But just as I'm about to sacrifice myself to the tigers to save my child, my body freezes.

I watch as a man comes from what seems like thin air and throws himself over the barrier and into the tiger den. This catches the animal's attention. They forget about Xiao and start focusing on the man. His landing wasn't very graceful, but he gets up immediately, staring the tigers in the face.

"Okay," he breathes, acting tough, though the fear is written all over his red face. A ginger. And he's wearing a white Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, and brown sandals, which makes me think he's also a father, and not from around here. This poor man is probably on vacation, and now he's sacrificing himself to a pit of tigers to save my son.

I watch him carefully, because even though I feel bad for him, I selfishly want this man to save my son, even if it costs him a finger, or perhaps a foot. He doesn't seem to have much of a plan either. Slowly, he starts around the exhibit, back against the wall and keeping his eyes trained on the tigers. My son's crying quiets and I see hope in his eyes as the ginger man grows closer to him. However, the tigers don't seem to want to let him.

The moment the man is closer, they start to approach him, much more aggressively than they had Xiao. I can tell the man is trying his best not to show fear, but by the time the tigers start toward him, all previous bravery has vanished. Instead, he sprints at Xiao, scooping him up and booking it up the wall with a kid under his arm.

"Here!" he shouts, landing right in front of me, and I basically have to catch my son like a beach ball as the tigers leap at him. I dash out the way as the man fumbles over the barrier and lands on the ground beside me in an ungraceful pile.

"Fuck!" he shouts, breathing heavily, and I can see blood pooling from his leg.

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Hello everyone! I am back with a new story. I'm very thankfully for the positive feedback on my last one! Hope you guys enjoy this one just as much. Thanks for reading lovelies!