The last of us

Chapter 2

September, 2023

That was so long ago. When she found me. I'm 16 now and she's 36. She still cares for me. She doesn't seemed bothered by my ears and tail. That was another reason I never fit in. Instead of ears on the side they were fuzzy and on top of my head. I also had a tail, when no one else had one. It was exactly 8 years since I had been here. Since I couldn't remember when my birthday was, she felt bad, so she celebrated it on the day she found me. "Shadow, I'm back!" She had come back from shopping. I went out and helped her put the groceries away. "So, it's your birthday. What do you want to do?" I let out a silent sigh. I turned to her with a smile, "y'know, I was thinking maybe this year we could just not do anyting. You'd save your money for food and the bakery" her smile dropped. She put her hand on her hip, "what's wrong? Someone say something to you?" "No, it's just I'm older now so a birthday party isn't really exciting anymore" she put her hand down. She then smirked and continue to unpack the groceries. "Well, I was more thinking of a 'You go out and have yourself a nice time' kind of birthday and I stay inside and watch T.V. or something" she finished the sentence off with one of her trademark smiles. "R- really?!" She nodded her head and walked over to the coat hanger. "Just be safe and stay warm and don't let anything anyone says bring you down!" I smiled. "Thank you!" I kissed her on the cheek and grabbed my jacket and ran out thr door. Since the time she found me she never really let me go out. Which I understood so I didn't hate her over it. But I still wanted to go outside. She even homeschooled me. I ran outside and was met with the light of the sun. It wasn't much considering the sun was covered with clouds. I walked a few steps when I noticed, What am I gonna do? Where am I gonna go? I walked a little more. I then heard a bang. I stopped and turned around to look behind me. Then a couple of kids, my age, come out of an alleyway. They were laughing, "Hey, you!" I stood there. "H- huh?" "Yeah you" they came up to me. "Wanna come pop some of these around town?" "It's funny to see all the people look around frantikly" another one said while laughing. "Um, I think I'll pass" I put my hand up and began to walk away. One put his arm around me and stopped me from walking. "Come on man, what's wrong?" He cheekily smiled at me. "Woah dude, check out those things" one of them touched one my ears. I stepped back and bared my teeth. "Woah, calm down tiger" he chuckled. "Sorry, instinct" I scratched the back of my head. "Hey I know where you'd fit right in" he grabbed my hand and led me somewhere. I think he fought they were fake, becuase people don't react so calmly about it. He came to a hatch in the ground, he opened it and went down a ladder. They pushed me to go down. There was a door with a slot on it. It opened and I could a pair of eyes, "password?" He whispered something and he nodded and the thing closed. They all put on headbands with ears and put on masks. He handed me a red mask, "here, you'll need this" the door opened and I could hear the music already. It was a underground club, but it looked like it was just a 'Kid' thing. They all had fake ears and masks. "Show us what you got" I looked at him confused. "Can you dance or what?" Dance, that's that thing my mom showed me. "U- um, not really" "Come on!" He pushed me to tbe dance floor. They began to dance along with all the other people. I kind of started to move with the music, soon I was dancing and drinking 'Punch'. Later I stumbled upon the refreshment table. "Ugh, my head" "that'll happen when you drink too much alcohol" a guy with reddish hair with bangs that were white said. He had orange fox ears on his head and a white mask. "Alcohol?" "Yeah, the punch" he pointed to it. I groaned and threw my cup away. "Not much of a drunky?" "No, I don't much about alcohol. All I know is it makes you do things and makes you feel terrible" he laughed. "Yeah, I'm not much of a drinker myself. By the way, my name's Carson" he held out his hand for me to shake. I gladly took it, "Shadow" "Woah, sick name" he gave me a smile and a thumbs up. Later I returned back to the 'Surface'. I walked back home. I entered the door and the little bell rang. "How'd it go?" I quickly remembered the mask and quickly took it off before she came. "Great, nothing much happened, just a lot of walking and sight seeing" I walked to my room. She stopped me, "what's this?" She took the mask from my pocket. "Um, I found it" she stared at me. She motioned for me to come closer to her. I walked in front of her. She grabbed the front of my shirt, she let me go imediatly. "Why do you smell like alcohol?" She held her noise and swished the air in front of her. "I um.." she gasped, "were you drinkng!?" "Not intentionally! I mean, let me explain" I held the middle of my nose. "I was drinking punch someone offered and I later figured out it had alcohol in it. I imedialty stopped drinking it" she crossed her arms. "Well, I trust you becuase you don't seem to be like kind of kid. Your getting older though so I'm gonna become more suspicious of you" I laughed and headed off to my room. "What's so funny?"