Familiar

Chapter One

Dane slowly walked in front of me, following the small trail.

"Do you know where this leads?" He questioned. "Do you know where we're going?" His voice wavered slightly, and I watched as his fox form lowered his tail and pulled his ears back, clearly portraying his uncertainty.

"No," I replied quietly. I had no idea.

I never really understood how I met Dane. He just sort of - showed up. And then wouldn't leave. I read somewhere that they call them familiars, but I don't know why they chose that term. There wasn't anything familiar about having a fox follow you home one day. I was leaving work, a small little cafe that I worked in after class to try and help with the bills. But the afternoon had been quiet and so the manager, Emma, had let me go home early. And I didn't really mind, the weather was nice, and I had some things of my own I wanted to work on.

I left the store, taking my time walking home. In all honesty, I was actually running through a list of things I needed to do when I got home: Laundry, prepare a lunch for tomorrow since I'll be in class all day, try to resurrect my brother, and pay Tanya for this months rent. As I tried to remember what food we had left in the fridge, I heard him.

Although it was a warm day, it was still Autumn, and the leaves had started to become crisp on the ground. I turned at the sound of the leaves crumpling and saw a small fox coming out from the park I had just walked past. Its eyes met mine and froze. It had an orange and white coat, but it looked dirty and matted. We stared at each other for a moment, until I turned back around and kept walking. Wildlife wasn't strange here. This was a small city, there were forested areas within it. Animals were to be expected.

I got to the end of one street and turned right onto the one that held my apartment.

The good thing about the coffee shop is that it wasn't far from my house. Which gave me some spare time, even with school work, to deal with my more pressing matters.

"She sees things." I was reminded of those words and a flash of my brothers' face. I shook my head. I'd get him back, I assured myself. I'd find a way. Again, a leaf crunched behind me and I turned. The fox from before had followed me. Poor thing, I thought, and I knelt down, trying to think if I had any food left in my bag. Trying to move quietly I shifted my backpack off one arm and placed it beside me. Opening the zipper, the animal flinched at the sound, but still, he watched me intently. It took me a moment to find the container that held my lunch, but I managed to find some crackers that I hadn't eaten yet.

Did foxes eat crackers? I wondered but figured in his state it wouldn't hurt him. Holding one out to him, I watched his nose move. It took a few seconds, but then he sunk himself low and approached cautiously. Head down, but eyes still shifting between me and the food in my outstretched hand. As he got closer, I could tell that it was more than dirt covering his fur. It was caked with blood too, and his coat was missing hair in spots like he had been fighting.

Careful not to move, I watched as the fox took one cracker gently from between my fingers, and then backed up a few steps to quickly chew and swallow it. His eyes met mine again. I slowly picked up another cracker but dropped it as my name was called.

"Kara!" It was Tanya, my roommate. I could tell just by how loud she yelled. I turned to face her for a moment as she was jogging towards me, and as I turned back, the fox was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey." I greeted when she reached me, putting my leftovers back in my bag, and lifting it to my shoulder as I stood. "What's up?" I looked at her outfit briefly: tight running pants, a bright pink tank top and a light sweater that looked like it had most likely been purchased with the pants. And her hair was tied up in her usual ponytail. Tanya was always moving.