My Pet Human {UNDER SERIOUS EDITING}

Chapter Five: 'Opposing Views'

"Would you like to meet my friend's pet human?" Ben asked, as he and Colton finished their apple crumble. Colton paused for a moment to wipe his face with the sleeve of his shirt before nodding. Truthfully, he didn't mind what his owner did to him, as long as he could have more 'real food' soon. The crumble was like a drug to him now, a magnet threatening to madden his already clueless mind. He shouldn't have given me that. He kept telling himself. I'm going to start seeing things.

"I'd like that." Colton managed a small smile up at his owner. Ben returned the grin, his eyes gleaming.

"First, I should introduce you to my parents." He said, more to himself than Colton. "Want to ride on my shoulder?"

Colton shot him a puzzled look as he calculated what this 'shoulder' was. It was embarrassing, having to physically sort through his own mind to find the information he was looking for. A part of him felt troubled though, as if he'd once known far more than just the basics. It was like a mental block separating him from one half of his brain. "I don't mind." He answered eventually, head bowed.

"OK then." Ben said. He reached out to Colton slowly and carefully. Colton himself knew what was coming and stood up to make the 'grabbing' easier for his owner. But instead of wrapping his fingers around Colton's thin waist, he scooped the human up in his cupped hand with gentle movements, which startled him. Why is he so... nice? Colton thought as he was lifted up only to be placed with the same gentleness onto the Laquanian's shoulder. He let his legs hand over the edge of the bigger boy's shoulder and gripped his owner's shirt collar with both hands.

This was a new experience, for Colton. The Institute masters had grabbed and squeezed him, sure, but never had they allowed him to ride on their shoulders, absurd a notion as that was. It was like he was seeing the world from the normal scale. The Laquanian scale.

Ben led him through another hallway and down a flight of stairs to a closed wooden door. He brought his fist to the wood and knocked softly. "Hey mum? David?" He called out. His amplified voice startled Colton and the human jolted a little from his seat on his owner's shoulder. The was a distinct sound of heels clicking against tiles and the door was pulled open to reveal the familiar face of the Laquanian woman from the pet shop... Ben's mum? She was accompanied by a broadly built man, probably Ben's father. Their eyes weren't trained on him just yet and were instead meeting their son's, but Colton knew they'd notice him soon. Everyone did.

"What is it honey? How's your... ohhh..." There they go. Colton thought dryly to himself as the giantess of his owner's mother inspected him for the second time that day.

"This is Colton." Ben said, beaming proudly as though Colton was a new toy in his collection. In an instant, the mood shifted in Ben's father, whose smile vanished. His eyes narrowed, focussed directly on the human like twin beams of opaque headlights.

"What is that doing in this house?" He snapped incredulously, turning to his wife. "You didn't tell me you were getting my son a human!" Colton bit his lip and found himself shaking despite the heat radiating off Ben's body that felt like a warm blanket beneath him. Ben's own smile had faded into a hard line and he was standing still as a statue, head down.

"David, Ben is fifteen soon. I told him he could choose his own pet as an early present so that they could get to know each other for when we go camping this weekend. You know he's always wanted a human." His mother replied, sternness creeping into her tone. David looked defeated at the statement, but Colton could feel his cold glare sending a chill down his spine.

"It's not allowed out of its cage while we're camping, Benjamin." He said icily to his son. Ben opened his mouth to protest but David shushed him with a wave of his hand. Ben's mother looked apologetic as she stood beside him. Colton managed a small smile as she turned to look at him again. But he was smiling through his teeth. Inside, the human was scared out of his mind, an emotion that he felt was once shunned by someone... His memories failed to produce a name to that person.