The girl trembled as screams echoed through the tunnel, muffled by the lengths they had to travel to reach the room. Elyza crouched to her knees, struggling as the cat made of ink tried furiously to escape her arms, wanting to make its way to the girl, whose gaze was still glued to the stone floor. Biting into her shirt made no difference, only resulting in an annoyed meow by the feline when she instead focused on approaching the corner without startling the youngster.
"Hello," She spoke, forcing her ears to fall so they wouldn't stick out like the antennas of a bug, trying to curve her mouth into a slight smile. Using the voice she reserved only for her bees, she extended a shoulder to the girl with her words, "Could you tell me your name?"
As she offered her hand to the girl, she recoiled from it, shoving her body into the jagged walls, still not taking her eyes off of the rock beneath her. Elyza couldn't imagine what had been done to her, but as the girl crawled backwards, her hair shifted and out popped two ears, almost the same as the cat she held in her arm, except the child's were coloured a sandy brown like her hair. There was a pause as she wondered whether her partner had noticed the connection or it was plain dumb luck, before a bang shook the earth around them, no doubt Alex's doing.
The booming sound lingered, its aftershocks still bouncing off the rocks, causing the girl to quiver as more tears streamed down her face. She could not see any other way to connect with the child, at least not while her mind had severed itself from reality. Realising so, Elyza gently placed the cat down to the floor, its legs of darkness stretching to welcome the ground, purring as a thanks to her restrainer. The sound strummed her heart, as comforting as her mother's voice, and it reached the girl as well.
Her eyes were no longer fixed to the rocks, shut tightly instead, her breathing rapidly increasing with shallower and shallower breaths. Elyza could sense the ongoing turmoil within her, whether to return to existence and be hurt once again, or, as the girl turned her head into the wall, refrain and hope to survive within her mind forever.
Its paws made no noise, instead leaving wisps of ink that dissipated as they rose into the air, the black cat hurriedly striding towards the child. Meowing for attention, it received none, so it nudged the girl's arm with its head, rubbing her hand with her ears. The child's hand quivered, opening a bit as it felt the strands of fur, before immediately clenching into a fist to stop herself. The cat let out a trill of annoyance, pawing at the girl to pay it her undying attention, and when refused, it nibbled on her finger to elicit a response.
Failing to get one, the feline burrowed under the girl, crawling behind her back, purring as it rubbed against her skin. It climbed up the wall as it nuzzled the girl's face, shoving its eyes in front of hers, pawing at her cheek as the cat licked the dried tears off of it. The girl finally reacted, her hands rising slowly, wrapping around the cat's shadowy coat, but instead of pushing it away, she buried her face into its fur.
Her quiet and muffled sobs were hidden by the cat's deep purrs of approval, who continued cleaning her with its tongue. There was a silence as the girl shifted her body to curl up around the animal; Elyza would've been worried about suffocation if she didn't know the true nature of the cat. She let the girl cry, to rid herself of whatever was plaguing her mind, to let it settle back on reality, to be healed enough to listen and possibly help.
"Hello," Elyza began again, sitting with crossed legs as her mind raced to think of a name for the fluffy ball of ink that the girl was wrapping around her head. "I know this may be a lot to ask of you, but me and... Squid," She stopped a sigh at her own creativity from escaping her lips as she continued, "We need to find the rest, the other prisoners, and we will be able to help them faster if we had someone to guide us through the tunnels."
YOU ARE READING
NEMO: Into The Depths
Fantasy"After you achieved your revenge, after that brief moment of ecstasy at finally doing it, killing the person who caused you so much harm, you felt empty inside. It's as if all the actions you took, all the sacrifices you made, all the people you cut...
