A Panther in Colac

Ch.2 Day One

I woke up the next morning, yawning and stretching in the typical cat way. I smacked my lips, content, and comfortable for the first time in a long time. There was a knock on my door; quiet, and timid. I lifted myself onto my elbows and frowned, I’d left the bedroom door open so I could see into the main room. So I glared at the door, wondering who would be knocking at -I checked the time- seven in the morning.

Rolling my eyes I pulled myself out of bed and walked over to the door, wrapping a white dressing gown that came with the room around me. As I opened the door I heard crying, small childish sobs, I looked down. Standing in front of my door was the cutest little girl, probably no more than four years old, crying her little eyes out.

“Hey Sweetie, what’s the matter?” she sniffled, and my heart broke for her. I had to admit, children were my weakness. She rubbed her face with her hands,

“I-I-I l-lost m-mummy!” a fresh batch of tears started to run down the poor girls face, and I bent down to her level. Wiping them away with my sleeve.

“Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay, do you want me to help you look for her?” She nodded with the most pitiful look on her face. “Okay.” I whispered, pulling the girl close to me in a hug, her tiny arms wrapped around me as far as they could and her shoulders shook. I comforted her as best I could. She was human, I could tell that much, but I wasn’t sure how to go about looking for her mum, or how she’d gotten lost in the first place.

“What’s your name, Sweetie?”

“C-Carly.” Her sweet young voice held back no emotion, and I could hear how frightened the poor thing was.

“Really? That’s a beautiful name, my name’s Dianne. Do you know what room Mum was staying in?” I could feel her start to calm down, her sobs quietened down until there were none, and she looked up at me, rubbing her eyes,

“You’re really nice lady.” She said to me, yawning. I smiled softly at that, humbled that the young girl thought so.

“Aw, thanks sweetie.” I lifted her up in my arms and looked left to right. I couldn’t pin-point in which direction the girls scent was coming from, and it occurred to me that she may have been walking up and down the corridor for a while before knocking. I could feel anger starting at the thought of the girl being left alone for long enough that she would have wandered up and down the long corridor, long enough to ignore ‘stranger danger’ and knock on my door. As soon as I found her parents, I was going to have a word with them. A very long one.

“C’mon, let’s find Mummy.” I made my voice cheerful, and headed left.

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After an hour of looking I still couldn’t find Carly’s parents. She’d fallen asleep in my arms, and was starting to weigh on them. Holding up a five year old for an hour was hard work. They get heavy after a while.

Finally I walked down to reception, and saw Casey at her desk,

“Hey Casey.” My voice was friendly, but I think she could sense the anger I was trying not to show,

“Hi Dianne.” Her gaze shifted between me and Carly, “I could’ve sworn you didn’t come in with a kid yesterday, who is she?” I sighed,

“I was hoping you could tell me, I’ve spent the last hour trying to find her parents. I haven’t found anyone.” Casey frowned, a pitiful look forming on her face for the child in my arms.

“Aw, poor dear. Tell you what I’ll do, I’ll look it up in the log book, see if anyone came in with a kid, and you could try them. Sound good?” I nodded,

“Sounds wonderful, thanks.” It took Casey all of five minutes to narrow the search down to two families. Residing in room thirty-one and room seventy-three. At opposite ends of the motel.

“Thankyou Casey.” I said, smiling gratefully. She waved me off, wishing me well. I walked off, a nameless tune running through my head, and Carly feeling a little lighter in my arms. I couldn’t wait to yell at her parents, the rooms were all so far from mine.

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I knocked on the door to room thirty-one, and only had to wait a minute or two for a string of profanities to come spewing out of a womans' mouth and the door to open revealing a middle aged, very tired woman. A young boy clinging tightly to her leg, and baby cream all over his hands.

“Hi, I was wondering if this little one,” I motioned to Carly, “belonged to you?” the woman glanced at Carly for a second –not even that- before telling me to rack off.

“I don’t need any more kids in my care missy; I have enough of my own so don’t you dare go dumping that one on me.” Though, she hadn’t said it in such nice words. A few profanities had been thrown into the sentence. Before I could reply the door was slammed in my face. I blinked, before mumbling,

“Rude bitch.” Though hardly loud enough to wake Carly up, I was surprised she’d slept through that woman’s rant.

I walked away from the door, making my way to room seventy-three. Carly woke up on the way, but stayed quiet. I could see she was upset but was grateful she wasn’t crying.

“You alright Carly? We’ll find your mummy don’t worry.” I ran my fingers through her blonde hair, trying to make her feel better, she only sniffed in response. When I finally made it to a door with the numbers seven and three on it, I knocked. I knocked again. And again. Finally after I’d been knocking for five minutes, the door opened. I blinked at the sight of a, very, young girl standing in the open doorway, looking at me with wide eyes.

“I can’t let you in. You must say the password.” I blinked,

“Um . . . password?” I frowned, and Carly moved in my arms, before whispering in my ear,

“Darling, sweetheart.” I looked at her,

“Darling, sweetheart?” the girl at the door made a noise, and I looked over at her, she was grinning, and turned around,

“MUM, SOMEONE'S AT THE DOOR!!! THEY KNOW THE PASSWORD!!” I winced at how loud, and screechy, her voice was as she yelled. The sound grated on my sensitive hearing. I heard footsteps coming closer, slow, but purposeful.

“Who is it hun?” A beautiful woman came up behind the girl and stood there. She was tall, blonde, and drop-dead gorgeous. I stuttered,

“Um, I-I’m Dianne. I was wondering if Carly was yours?” I rubbed Carlys back, as she turned her head to see who I was talking to,

“Mummy!” she wriggled, and I put her down, watching as she threw her arms around the womans leg. Her mother made no move to comfort the girl, only stared at me as if it was my fault Carly had turned up at my door.

“You took my child.” She stated. Glaring at me, her eyes shooting daggers. “You kidnapped my baby girl.” Her fingers twitched, and my eyes widened as I noticed her own turning a deep red. “You will pay.”

“N-no, I-I didn’t.” I tried to tell her, but she wasn’t having any of it. She narrowed her eyes further, her hand lifting to point at me. Instinctively I took a step back. Her hand began to shake, and her eyes shut, a glow started to form at her fingertips and I stared at them. Intrigued. The glow spread to her whole hand, before it erupted into a living flame. Instinct kicked in and I screeched as I stumbled back, away from the living light.

“You stole away my daughter.” The woman was crazy, her eyes showed her anger, and her fingers shook as the flames danced along them. She didn’t seem to be in any pain. How could the fire not hurt her?

“I didn’t” I repeated, my eyes never once leaving the fire. I barely noticed Carly crying, begging her mum to stop. To leave me alone. But I heard the slap.

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*unedited*

dedicated to skittleslover006 for being chapter ones first vote ^_^ and cause she's awesome