Unnamed

The Communication Attempt

   What have I done? He had froze as soon as he said that, horrified at what he had happened. Mentally berating himself, he had not yet noticed that the creature had not reacted to him. He glanced over at it, and saw it hadn't moved. He paused, wondering what it was doing. As he studied it, he saw that it was clearly alive as he could see its body move as it breathed.

   He thought back to how it had seemed to not have ears hidden beneath the fur/hair, and wondered if the creature actually had any. He had been full-out sobbing a few minutes ago, and the creature had not shown any signs of having heard him or of knowing he was there. It was also unclear if it had heard the door slamming when the house was teasing him. If it truly could not hear, it might have heard the vibrations of the door opening and shutting, and may have thought that the house was teasing it instead of him. Everything seemed to be pointing to one conclusion. The creature was deaf.

   Of course, he had to know if that was actually the case. The creature could have heard all of what happened and just decided to ignore him, but it seemed a bit unlikely. It also seemed rude to assume the creature was deaf without actually knowing, but he really had no other ideas. Wanting to try and figure out what the case was, he decided to perform a couple tests to see if it would react to the noises. All else failing, he would stand in front of the creature so it would not be startled by him.

   Ha. I'm going to try to not startle this thing, and I'm the one who was startled by it first! Oh, the irony. Figuring he might as well get started, he tried talking to it again.

   "Hello? Can you hear me? I'm sorry for coming in here, but I didn't really have a choice. Please don't eat me." He closed his eyes, shrinking back a bit, scared that he was about to be attacked. Hearing no movement, he slowly peeled one eye open, worried at what he might see. As soon as he realized that the creature had not moved, he breathed a sigh of relief, happy that he wasn't about to be eaten. But then the thought occurred to him that the creature might actually be deaf.

   If that was the case, there was still a possibility that he could be eaten. It had not noticed him this whole time, but it could still be a vicious animal willing to tear him apart. At this point, he realized that this whole situation was quite ridiculous. He was stuck in a seemingly-sentient house with a strange creature who may or may not be deaf, and who may or may not want to eat him. Laughing a bit, he figured he might as well get this over and done with as soon as possible.

   Inching his way out of the entryway as slowly as possible, he took slow, deep breaths. He had to stay calm. Freaking out was not something that should happen right now. He could freak out later as soon as he knew whether he was going to be food for the creature or not.

   Eventually, he made it to the front of the creature. From this angle he could see how the fur/hair around its eyes was damp, as if the creature had also been crying. Its head was down, turned away from him, and its eyes were closed. From the front, the creature looked much more wolf-like, even having a similar shaped face. It had what looked to be a snout, and he could see that there were fangs jutting out of it. It had still not noticed him.

   Deciding that his smartest option would be to appear as non-threatening as possible, he kneeled down on the floor in front of the creature, and hunched down slightly so as to appear smaller than he actually was. Hopefully he wouldn't look like food to the creature. Deciding to go ahead and get it over with, he reached his arm out towards the creature.

   He tapped on the floor near it four times in quick succession. Drawing his arm back, he looked the creature over again, noticing it had still not moved. Huffing a sigh of frustration, he realized the only way he would be noticed is to actually touch it. He shuddered a bit, scared at the thought of touching it, but he had to brave through it.

   Hesitantly, he reached out towards the creature's arm. Its arm was currently wrapped around itself, and it seemed to be the safest option. When his hand was almost within reach of touching it, he drew back slightly. He realized that whatever happened next would change his life forever, for better or worse. Finally, his crossed the final distance and touched the creatures arm. He drew his hand back and watched as the creature finally moved. It lifted its head, and he saw that it was somehow less frightening than before. It looked around the room, eyes scanning for what had tapped it. Its gaze finally looked down towards him, and then, they locked eyes.