Fireball: A Fox Tale

Part 6: Headache

As she lay there, the room masked in darkness, Mandy twirled a strand of hair around her finger and bit her lip until the salty taste of blood coated her tongue.

I must be the world's worst daughter, she thought to herself. To force my own mother to lose yet another one she loves. First it was my father, then Oreo, then the rest of the flock. And, in a way, I guess she's lost me, too.

Mandy pulled the covers closer towards her and listened to her husband's heavy breathing beside her. She wished she could fall asleep, too, but as usual, her brain prevented her from doing so.

Could Fireball actually survive in the wild now? After depending on a human for this long? Could he hunt? Establish his own territory? Maybe Mom should keep him. But I already made my position clear and...

Mandy paused for a moment and looked towards the bedroom door. She thought she had heard something. It sounded like claws raking down the length of the wooden surface. She heard it again. Louder this time. Quicker movements. And then she heard the faintest of yips.

"Fireball?"

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"Oh, I've got an awful headache, Fireball. It's just awful," Nora said as she stood by the bathroom sink with her toothbrush in her hand.

It's not like the fox had never seen her with a headache before. She had been sick a few times while he had been living with her. But this time...

Fireball watched as his human moaned and groaned. She paced around the tiny bathroom with her wrinkled hand pressed against her forehead. He worried she might slip on the puddle that had formed on the black tiled floor, but luckily, she never did.

Finally she stopped her pacing and mustered up the strength to clean her pearly whites, taking a few moments to groan after every time she spat out the minty green toothpaste. Once Nora completed this task, she rinsed her mouth out and examined herself in the bathroom mirror. Fireball could see the tiny beads of sweat dripping down her forehead as they glistened under the light of the bulbs adorning the mirror's frame.

She began to comb through her hair, but then thought better of it as her eyes locked onto her bed just a few feet away from her.

But as soon as she started to walk back into her bedroom, Fireball knew something was definitely off. She only had to take one step to get from the bathroom to the bedroom, but with that one step, it seemed as if she had entered into a whole new world - a world filled with demons and evil spirits who intended to tear Nora limb from limb. From the safety of the bed, Fireball watched as she struggled to keep her footing. Her body rocked from side to side, threatening to fall over at any given moment. She fumbled for something to grasp onto, but her hand only met with empty air.

He wanted to help her, but what could he do? His small body could never provide the support she needed. No! He could do something, but he would have to act quickly and hope the two other humans hadn't traveled too far into the land of dreams.

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Mandy tried to shake her husband awake.

"Honey?" she whispered into his ear. "Do you hear that?"

Zach just groaned and rolled away from her.

"Zach!" she said a little louder now. "Wake up! Fireball's at the door!"

"I don't smell any smoke. Just let me sleep."

Mandy rolled her eyes, but of course, no one saw her. She removed the covers from on top of her and slid down the side of the bed, her bare feet hitting the carpeted floor. She then opened the door just a crack and grabbed the flashlight resting on top of the dresser before slipping outside, hoping she hadn't disturbed Zach again.

"What's going o-"

Before Mandy could finish, Fireball dashed away towards Nora's room. She followed at a close distance, but hoped her movements wouldn't wake her husband.

But as soon as she saw her mother slumped on the floor, she didn't care who heard her.

"MOM?!"

Nora had made it about halfway to her bed before crumbling to the ground. A look of utter shock was plastered on her face as she attempted to register what had just happened to her. As soon as she saw her daughter kneeling before her, she tried to explain everything, but her words only came out in a slur.

"Mom, stop! Stop speaking! You need help."

As Mandy stood up again, she tried to comprehend what she had seen.

I don't understand. She was fine half an hour ago when I was talking with her.

But that didn't matter right now. Her mom needed her.

Mandy raced back into the guest room and flipped on the light switch. Zach blinked his eyes in confusion and looked up at his frantic wife.

"Mandy?"

"Zach, my mom needs medical attention. Like right now!"

"Then like call 911 right now!" Zach shouted.

Mandy looked into his piercing storm-grey eyes. A faint scar had developed just below the one on his left, but with his wavy shoulder-length black hair and his tanned skin, her husband reminded her of a certain villainous lion from her favorite animated movie of all time. After all, she always did fall for the bad boys. (Not that Zach was actually a bad boy. He only looked like one.)

"Yes, of course!" she said.

Mandy fumbled in her purse for her phone and tried to ignore the fact that she desperately needed to organize the inside of the bag. But after a few moments, her fingers wrapped around her iPhone 6.

"911. What's your emergency?"

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When Nora finally reached consciousness, she gazed around at her surroundings. But with the white-tiled ceiling above her and the plain white walls surrounding her, there really was not a lot to see. At the moment, the other beds on either side of her lacked occupants and the heart monitor by her own bed provided the only source of sound she could hear. She sunk her upper body further into the yellowing pillows and she let a sigh escape from her fragile body. Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to pour out like cascading waterfalls down her cheeks.

This wasn't supposed to happen, she thought. This isn't how my story was supposed to go.

To be continued...

A/N: Hi guys! Thanks so much for all of your support so far! Seriously, you guys are great.

Just as a reminder, if you liked Part 6, please don't forget to vote. And if you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them here. Also if you ever want to talk about anything at all, you can always message me. I'm totally here for you guys! (Also I kind of just want more friends on here.)

So what do you think about this sudden turn of events?

Do you think Mandy has officially changed her mind about releasing Fireball back into the wild?