The room was quiet.
Too quiet.
Catnap sat up in bed, his breathing uneven. He was still trying to convince himself he was really awake. That the past two weeks—no, the nightmare—was finally over.
But something was wrong.
Dogday sat beside him, his fur ruffled with sleep, but his ears were perked, his nose twitching like he smelled something bad.
Then—
A sound.
A faint, slow drip.
Catnap's stomach dropped.
That sound.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
The same one from his nightmares.
His head snapped to the mirror across the room.
And his blood ran cold.
The mirror wasn't reflecting their room anymore.
It was showing something else.
Something impossible.
A dark, decayed version of their home, the walls rotting, thick black sludge dripping from the corners. And standing in the center—
Was him.
The Prototype.
It was no longer just a shadow. No longer just a hallucination.
It was here.
Its jagged, rusted claws tapped against the glass, its glowing red eyes locked onto Catnap.
And then—
It grinned.
"You should have stayed asleep."
The mirror shattered.
Glass exploded into the room, shards cutting through the air like knives. The Prototype lunged, its massive, mangled form crawling out from the broken reflection like a spider bursting from its web.
Dogday grabbed Catnap, yanking him off the bed just in time as the Prototype's claws sliced through the sheets where he'd been sitting.
"RUN!" Dogday shouted.
But Catnap couldn't move.
Because for the first time—
The Prototype was real.
And nothing was safe anymore.
YOU ARE READING
The Silent Paw and The Gentle Bark
RomanceIn the quiet corners of the whimsical Playtime Co. factory, Catnap, a sleek and mysterious cat, and Dogday, an energetic and loyal dog, share an unbreakable bond. Best friends for as long as they can remember, the two are inseparable-exploring, play...
