Collar the Wild

Chapter 20 - Routine

The black wolf's eyelids flutter as he groans at the loss of his dream, expecting to see the same walls he'd seen hundreds of nights before. The broken, wooden walls with a musty smell he could never get out. The cracked windows; one that always whistled a dreary tune on stormy nights. The piles of clothes he had to hand wash in the lake because he couldn't afford a machine. The leftover foods in various foil trays and cardboard plates. The bin bag he forgot to take with him to dump in the skip at work on his last shift.

He refuses to open his eyes and witness his misery and rolls on his back, hoping the night will take him again. Here triggers a memory that he's so used to experiencing, a squeak from the damaged springs of his mattress like a cartoon sound effect; a sound that was absent when he moved. The room used to feel colder too. The air used to smell sooty and damp and the birds didn't used to sound like little clacks and thumps. He becomes slowly aware that he is in a place unfamiliar to him and dares to disprove the room he's sure his head designed. Everything is exactly as he imagined it, the windows on the adjacent walls spilling morning light all over the carpet floor.

His ears twist to follow the odd tapping sound and he lifts his head over the covers to see the naked body of a tall, attractive white wolf practicing on his piano. Headphones considerately connected so the music wouldn't wake his bed guest. He feels a tightness around his neck and touches it, feeling the collar from his dream. It depresses him somewhat, but then recollections of what he assumed was last night's invention, come back to him in a wave of emotion. He slumps back on the bed and lets his mind grope around in the memory banks of everything that happened, every word spoken and heard, every tear shed.

The clacking stops and he looks up again to see the wolf facing him, sat on his stool and wagging his tail.

"Morning." he says softly, in a buttery voice.

"H-hey ... Cal."

"Sorry if my practicing woke you. I hoped the headphones would be enough."

"No ... no you're alright," the wolf in bed says, looking back up at the ceiling. The other one stands up and plods over, sitting on the bed beside him.

"You alright, dear?" Cal rests his hand on the duvet over Ember's chest. He's met with a gentle nod, and a set of glossy amber eyes staring at him. He smiles and moves a tuft of black fur back into it's position above the eyebrow.

"You're ... real right?"

Cal laughs and jiggles the big wolf's body left and right on the bed until he laughs. "No dear, I'm an apparition of your deepest desires."

"Heh, you think very highly of yourself."

"Hey, you're the one that assumed I was imaginary. This must be peak male performance in that noggin of yours." He gestures to his body, leaning back and swishing his head seductively to the side as if he has long hair.

"Maybe I just have low standards," he teases with a wide grin.

"Ooooh you cheeky sod!" Cal picks up his pillow to smother the wolf in his bed. "Not letting you sleep with me again now."

Ember giggles through the pillow and reaches out over the duvet so he can start tickling the other wolf's sides. "Can't get rid of me that easily."

"Ah ha ha ha!" Cal drops the cushion and erupts in laughter, quickly escaping by shuffling away and toppling over the side of the bed and onto his bum. He quickly crawls back, regaining his composure and panting, kneeling and puts his hands on his hips. "That was unfair," he huffs.

"Cute though," Ember says and pulls the sheets away so he can sit up on the edge of the bed. However, he quickly realises how firm his morning wood is and quickly grabs the bedding to cover it back up.