One-Shots of My O.C.'s Lives

Protection

Mitch was sick of being in a cage.

He was maltreated, abused, given little food and water, and was always blamed for his owner's problems; his owner was worse than a dirt bag, he was drunk half of the time, and the other half was spent hurting the poor bird borrower and abusing him, swearing at him, and other things that left the poor helpless creature sobbing in the corner of his confinement. He wasn't even happy enough to whistle, to make any songs out of sweet notes birds usually warbled. He had started considering just starving himself to death so he'd die, but before he could decide that, something had happened.

One late night, Mitch woke up to see that his owner was really addle-brained at the time, and was opening his cage. He was too weak to try to escape when he was snatched up in an iron-hard fist, and he whimpered when the cruel human tossed him on the floor, and he shrieked in pain.

"Sh'up!" His owner swayed, hiccuping. " 'ou p'sky b'rd, I should'a killed ya wh'n I firs' had'ya!" Mitch's blood froze in his veins, and he could hear his blood roaring in his ears. 'I'm gonna die I'm gonna die I'm gonna die...'

He shrieked when the drunkard stepped on him, flailing desperately to get out from under the painful pressure. The heartless human let out a cold hiccupy laugh, only slamming his hand over the injured creature. Mitch started blacking out, and his struggles slowly ceased, about to pass out when someone shouted, "TPD, put your hands behind your head!" He gasped when the force on him was finally wrenched away, and he struggled for breath as he heard sirens and footsteps. 'What's... what's going on?' He wondered weakly.

"You're under arrest for driving under the influence, and for abusing an animal!" Mitch felt himself be picked up, and his eyes rolled in the back of his head as he closed his eyes and passed out, not knowing what was going to happen to him.

***************

"... creature's responding... heart-rate's... little fast..."

"It's ok... Who called... police?"

"A young male, the neighbor; saw it happening through the window when he was washing his car. It's a BMW, pretty sweet ride."

"I don't care about the car, what about this... this thing? What is it?" Mitch strained open his eyes, his entire body aching. 'What's... what's happening? Where-where am I?' His eyes adjusted to the bright light, and he realized he was in a vet's office. He widened his eyes and looked around wildly, despite how dizzy he was.

"Hey, hey, take it easy little guy." He groaned and closed his eyes again, swallowing nervously. Were they going to hurt him? Put him down? He didn't do anything wrong did he?

"We need someone to take care of this poor thing." He heard gloves being taken off, and felt a small prick in his arm that made him flinch. "He's got a broken wing, bruises all over and he looks like he's been beaten to a pulp practically."

"Well there's been more than one abusing; it's apparently been going on for quite a few months, the male's a heavy drinker and evidently a harasser." Mitch weakly swallowed again, opening his eyes again, and his sight adjusted a little better.

"Well how about that neighbor? He can take care of him."

"I'll ask." Someone left the room while dialing on a cellphone, while Mitch let his eyes flutter shut, falling back into unconsciousness.

***************

"... you sure it's alright...? ... out for a while..."