~Part 7~
While following Raj down the block away from the park, you can’t help but think about Cliff and Roger. You thought all fluffies were just sweet creatures that simply wanted love and hugs. But what you just saw was anything but. It’s impossible to wrap your head around it, but looking down at the sobbing mess in your arms, you can’t help but feel like this is all your fault.
You trusted that Cliff bastard, which resulted in Coal getting hurt AGAIN. Now you’re following a stranger to his house, into a path you’ve never taken before. Man, considering your luck, his parents are probably assholes too. Maybe this isn’t a good idea.
Raj looks back at you since you’ve gone quiet, noticing the grim expression on your face.
“Hey, man. Everything’s going to be okay, I promise. We’re almost to my house.”
You don’t even reply, you’re too busy questioning the choices you’ve made today. The choices you’ve been forced to make, and the one’s you willingly made.
After an awkwardly quiet jog to Raj’s house, you arrive.
“Whoa… You live here?”
The house in front of you is so big, that if you didn’t know any better, you’d call it a mansion. It’s a two story building with a chimney and a beautiful garden in the front. It looks so out of place next to the neighbor’s houses that it honestly surprises you that you didn’t notice it at the distance.
“Yeah, my dad decided to move down here recently. He found an abandoned building for sale downtown and decided to open a veterinary office.”
You can’t help but wonder just how much money his dad has. But this only makes you even more weary of Raj’s intentions. Rich kids are usually assholes.
Raj then walks up to the door, takes a key out from under the mat and unlocks it.
“That doesn’t seem safe.”
You can’t help but question just how naive this guy is. Maybe it’s not even him being naive, maybe he’s testing you. The paranoia is really starting to set in at this point.
“Nah, my parents are home and there’s an alarm set at night or whenever they’re not around. Only my Dad can turn it on or off, so we’re pretty safe.”
As he walks into his house, you notice he takes off his shoes and places them next to the door.
“Take off your shoes before you come in.”
You don’t say a word and oblige, leaving your shoes next to his. Coal has been latched onto you the entire time, whimpering away while shaking. This is the worst state you’ve seen her in. She’s so miserable.
You pet her mane in an attempt to calm her down.
“It’s okay, girl… Daddy’s here.”
“(sniff) speciaw pwace huwties… huuhuu nu feew pwetty huuu…”
You bite your lip in frustration. This is all your fault…
“DAD I’M HOME. I BROUGHT A GUEST AND I NEED YOUR HELP!”
From the kitchen walks a tall man, he basically looks like Raj if he were in his thirties, wearing the same clothes too.
“Well, what do we have here. A boy and his fluffy. What’s your name?”
“U-uhm… I’m Edgar… I’m sorry to bother you sir, you must be busy. I’m sorry Raj, I’ll leave, I don’t want to interrupt anything.”
You immediately turn to start leaving, but a hand grabs your shoulder and stops you. You feel a chill run through your spine as you tense up, expecting the worst.
“Whoa, Edgar! Nice to meet you, my name is Kabir and you’re not going anywhere. Not until I look at that Fluffy in your hands. She looks so hurt, you can see clear as day that something’s wrong with her.”
You don’t know what to do, but he’s right. Coal is hurt and you don’t know how to help her.
“You’re not going to hurt her… are you…”
The man kneels down in front of you, sporting a warm smile, the warmest you’ve seen today.
“You can trust me, Edgar. I love animals. Please, hand her to me so I can check on her, it pains me so much to see an animal so distressed.”
You fidget for a moment, looking at the door, then at Raj, who looks on worriedly and sigh in defeat.
“Please… help her… she’s all I have.”
He reaches out to grab Coal, who is instantly brought to hysterics.
“SCREEE NU HUWT COAW PWEESE WAN DADDEH! DADDEH HEWP HUUUHUUU NU HUWT HUUUU”
You hug Coal in an attempt to calm her down, speaking on a low, reassuring voice.
“It’s okay, Coal. He’s here to help… please trust daddy, I love you so much. I only want what’s good for you. I promise.”
Coal sniffles but nods.
“Coaw wub daddeh… daddeh wub Coaw… Twust Daddeh most of aww…”
You hand off Coal to Kabir and he starts to pet her mane, which effectively calms her down.
He then turns to Raj.
“Rajesh, take Edgar to your mother. Get him something to eat. He has to be hungry.”
You can’t help but look down at the floor. You’re definitely hungry, but you don’t want to be a burden to the guy that’s helping Coal.
“Okay, Dad! Come on Edgar, let’s go see Mom! She’s the best cook ever!”
Raj makes a mad dash to the kitchen, but your eyes are fixed on Coal, who’s looking right at you.
“Coal will be in good hands. Now please, go eat. We were about to have dinner.”
Now you feel like shit. You interrupted someone’s dinner, gotta be careful not to screw up. Don’t want to get beat up in a stranger’s house.
Slowly walking toward’s the kitchen, you stop to meekly peek inside. The kitchen looks so damn BIG, there’s a table smackdab in the middle surrounded by appliances. You see Raj talking to his mom, she looks very friendly. Her blonde hair curls at the end and her smile looks just as warm as Kabir’s… For some reason, it makes you uncomfortable.
Raj notices you hiding behind the door to the kitchen and waves you in. His mother looks your way and speaks up.
“Well, howdy there! Raj here told me all 'bout yer troubles at the park. Come, sit at the table. I’ll make ya 'sum to eat.”
She has a bit of a southern accent. You don’t want to trouble her, so you sit down and speak up.
“S-sorry miss… But I’m not that hungry.”
She audibly gasps and you feel like you fucked up. She runs up to you, hands stretched out, causing you to close your eyes, expecting the worst. But… she simply grabs you by the cheeks and pulls your face up as she bends over so that you’re at eye level.
“NONSENSE! A growing boy NEEDS ta eat! In this here household we make sure guests are well fed! An’ please, call me Lily, honey. Now, try some of my homemade apple pie, I made it yesterday! Just gotta pop it into dis 'ere microwave and it’ll be as if it were made just now!”
Raj chimes in excitedly.
“AWWWW YEAH, DESSERT EARLY!”
Lily wags her finger scoldingly at Raj.
“Nu-uh, you know the rules suggah. You nee’ ta eat yer greens first! Edgar here gets it early just 'cuz”
Raj sighs in defeat and slumps down into his chair.
“Yes mom…”
The whole situation is uncomfortable, but you quietly sit until you hear the microwave beep, signaling that the food is ready.
Lily places a hot plate in front of you and pats your head.
“Eat up, hun! I’ll get ya a plate of food right afta if yer still hungry!”
She sets a plate of food for herself and Raj. It… looks absolutely amazing. It makes your mouth water just looking at it, and the smell of the pie in front of you doesn’t help any either. As you sit and watch them eat, Raj is happily talking to his mom as she listens intently at his stories about his day. Your stomach rumbles and you give in, grabbing the spoon and taking a small… quick… bite…
(Chomp)
“Edgar! I made your favorite pie!”
You see your mom coming from the kitchen, while you and dad sit at the table with silverware in hand.
A chorus erupts between the two of you.
“KEY LIME PIE! KEY LIME PIE! WE WANT MOMMAS KEY LIME PIE!”
Laughter erupts between all 3 of you as you dig in. The love baked into the pie seeping through every single bliss filled bite.
“Mom, you make the best pies! I love you so much, I could eat this forever!”
Your mom kisses your forehead as you happily eat.
“I love you, Edgar. I always will.”
You’re brought back to reality and look down at the plate in front of you. Tears hitting the table as you start to sob uncontrollably.
Raj and Lily turn to see you as they notice the commotion. Lily jumps to her feet and asks you in a low voice.
“Oh, honey… are you okay?”
“Y-yeah… i’m… this is really good. This is so good.”
You eat in between tears and sobs as you cry harder and harder. Lily simply embraces you and rubs your back as you cling to her and break down. Raj walks up and puts his hand on your shoulder in silence, giving you company as you let out years worth of pain and agony.
At the other side of the house, Kabir gently places Coal on an operating table and speaks to her in a low voice.
“Listen, Coal. I’m not going to lie to you. You’re going to feel a slight pinch in a second, but I’m going to make all the hurties go away. You won’t be going forever sleepies, I promise you from the bottom of my heart. Now, I need you to be brave. Be brave for daddy Edgar, okay? He loves you very much and I want to make sure he gets you healthy and happy. Do you understand?”
Coal is scared. Everything around her is cold and the metal surface she’s laying on feels weird on her hooves and fluff.
“Coaw… Coaw bwave fow D-daddeh…”
Kabir pets her as he sticks a needle through her scruff, eliciting a peep followed by complaints of huwties from Coal.
“You’re going to feel very numb, Coal. But we can chat while we carry on, okay? Now… tell me about Edgar.”
Coal instantly perks up and starts to go off about how Edgar is the bestest daddy evar. Typical for a fluffy, but then she starts to talk about how she’s known Edgar for only a “bwight time” that feels forever. Probably met this morning. Huh. It makes him think about what Edgar mentioned.
While rummaging around for his tools and supplies, he asks Coal before getting to work.
“Edgar said you were his everything, Coal. That’s a lot to say about a fluffy he just met. Why is this?”
Coal looks sullen in her expression.
“Daddeh hav wowstest big munstah Daddeh and Mummah… huwt Daddeh an giv wowstest huwties… big munstah huwt fwuffy mummah an bwuddas an sissies… miss dem aww so muchies. Daddeh am aww Coaw hav too…”
Kabir stops midway through checking Coal for injuries.
“Edgar is getting abused at home? That’s not good. That’s not good at all.”
The fluffy rape miraculously didn’t hurt her insides, and it seems like the rapist didn’t finish, which makes the man sigh in relief. He then checks her crudely bandaged and burned stump, looking sad.
“Did the big munstah do this?”
Coal simply nods.
“This won’t do. This won’t do at all. Give me a moment, Coal.”
Coal looks a little distressed, not being able to feel below the neck is really stressful for a fluffy. But she remembers what the nice mistah said and she calms down almost immediately.
“Coaw be bwave… fow daddeh…”
Kabir returns, holding something away from Coal’s view.
“What am nice mistah doin?”
He chuckles to himself as he brings out a scalpel, a needle and some thread.
“You know, Coal. One of the best parts of being a fluffy vet, is marveling at how easy it is to fix fluffies. Just a little (snip) here and a little (scrape) there…”
Coal starts to breath heavy in fear and closes her eyes.
“S-scawy…”
“It should start to kick in now, this dose usually takes a while, but it helps gather information. But thanks to you, Coal… I can determine that Edgar is a good daddy.”
Coal can’t seem to open her eyes, as they feel too heavy. But she’s happy to hear what the nice mistah just said.
“Daddeh… am… bestest… wuv…”
Coal falls into a peaceful slumber as Kabir pets her mane.
Enjoy your new leg, sweetheart.
After calming down, you managed to finish the slice of pie and the plate of food that came after.
“Thanks, Miss Lily… I’m sorry to intrude on your dinner unannounced.”
Lily simply flicks your forehead and huffs out.
“Nonsense, Honey. You’re welcomed to eat here any time.”
Raj seemed to find this hilarious and started to laugh from the other side of the kitchen.
“Hey, Edgar. We still have some daylight to burn, wanna get into the pool?”
Lily speaks up to scold Raj.
“Now, Raj. You KNOW you need to wait at least 30 minutes before getting into the pool after eating!”
Before Raj could protest, a voice is heard from behind you.
“Now, Lily… it’s okay. I think the boys can have a little bit of fun for now.”
You jump in surpise and look behind you. Kabir is standing at the door with Coal in his hands. She’s sleeping peacefully.
“Coal!”
You run up to grab her, but stop in surprise when you notice that…
“Her… her leg…”
Kabir chuckles and puts his hand on your shoulder.
“Coal here told me what a good kid you are, Ed… so I decided to give her a little present. Now, go play for a little while. She’s okay, but she needs her rest.”
Before you can even say anything, Raj runs up and pulls on your arm.
“Come on, you’re gonna love this!”
Without much of a choice in the matter, you’re dragged outside as you shoot at glance over at Kabir and Coal. Her peaceful sleep puts you at ease as you exit.
Kabir, on the other hand turns to Lily.
“We need to talk.”
Lily looks at her husband with a dead serious look and replies.
“We definitely do, love.”
While they discuss what happened, you’re left outside with Raj.
Without skipping a beat, he takes off his shirt and pants, jumping into the pool in his underwear, splashing you with water in the process.
“Come on in! The water’s great!”
You’ve never been in a pool before, so you’re a bit scared. You were at the beach once when you were younger, but that was ages ago.
“I… I don’t know how to swim.”
Raj simply steps out and runs to you.
“It’s easy, let me show you! But first, get out of that shirt, don’t want to get it too wet!”
He grabs a hold of your shirt, trying to pry it off of you.
“W-wait what are you doing! Stop that!”
Ignoring your protests to stop, he simply continues to wrestle the shirt off of you… until.
“Come on! It’s okay, it’s just a shirt, you… you… …”
Raj looks in horror at what’s in front of him. Fear overtakes him as he screams out calling out to his mom and dad.
His parents rush out, while Lily yells out.
“I TOLD YA TA WAIT THIR…ty mi… Oh my God…”
She grabs her son and rushes him inside.
Kabir is staring at you in horror.
“Edgar…”
You look down and… ah… yeah. The scars. That’s why you didn’t want to take off the damn shirt.
“I think I should leave…”
Today fucking sucks.
