Authors note:
CHAOS REIGNS
You wake up next noon time, the horrors of yesterday creeping back into your memory. You had spent most of your time last night ruminating on everything you know about Fluffys before succumbing to sleep. It’s now known to you that a real Fluffy will shit in defiance at their owners, and that abuse is a good way to keep them in line. You are disappointed in the fact that these parts of Fluffy lore are accurate and you, for a moment, regret ever keeping the supernatural entity.
You should have expected it honestly, as you had never truly punished the Fluffy before. Besides denying it food outside of appropriate eating times and intimidations during its litter box training, the Fluffy had never experienced such harsh a response from you, and neither had it done something so heinous till yesterday.
You get up from your bed and set yourself down in your chair to think. Perhaps the cold shower and night in the dark bathroom alone imparted enough of a lesson in the Fluffy. You would just have to go in there and see how it would react, and depending on its further interactions with you, will determine if you still need to correct its behavior.
You honestly don’t have the stomach for tough love, let alone hard punitive action. Prince had always been the perfect pet, and took to his training spectacularly. You never had to raise a bad mannered pet, but now you had the equivalent of a perpetual child. You just don’t know what you’ll do if the thing continues this bratty attitude.
If only some higher power would have given you insight on how to deal with this situation that you could stomach, but alas, nothing answers your prayers. As you walk out of your room towards the bathroom, you feel a feeling of dread and despair. As your world is engrossed in
Chaos
You swing the door to the bathroom gently, the sunlight hallway illuminating the dark room.
*Huu Huuu Huuuu… *
You step inside the bathroom to be greeted by the sound of the Fluffys crying. You look around the small room but are unable to see the thing, and with the shower stall you had left open the previous night meant the Fluffy could be anywhere.
You flick the switch to the bathroom on.
*Gasp! * HUUUU! Mummah-Daddeeeh! *
You look down to the right to see the Fluffy had been hiding behind the toilet, a large puddle underneath must mean it had spent the rest of the night there.
It waddles out from under there with tears flowing down its face and it essentially prostrates itself to you.
*Huuuuuu!!! Mummah-Daddeh!!! Huuuuuu! Ba-…Fffwuffy am SUUU Sowwie! Am bigges sowwies eba!!! Neba eba du bad poopies on Mummah-Daddeh eba gain! Neba eba ask Mummah-Daddeh tu gu outsie pwetty nice sayf woom neba eba gain!!! Wiw be guud Fwuffy now!!! Fwuffy WUUUB Mummah-Daddeh foreba!!! HUUUUU!!! HUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! *
You’re stunned at the Fluffys kowtowing, the sudden repentance in stark contrast to only yesterday’s damnable behavior. You’re honestly quite grateful for this turn of events, as you weren’t sure if you could have handled any more tantrums. You were quite close to snapping yesterday, and were sure that it would only take a second bout of ‘bad poopies’ to push you over and murder the thing. But this is a welcomed relief, and perhaps your prayers were answered.
“…Do…Do you really mean it little buddy?..”
You blue Fluffy looks up to you, it begins sliding its rotund form towards your feet. The Fluffys eyes are dilated and have that uncanny sparkle to them as it comes closer to hold your foot with its front hooves.
*Yus Mummah-Daddeh! Fwuffy hab biiiiiigges finkie pwace fews, aaaw dawkie tyme. Finkie pwace fews fo suuu many fowebbas. *
*Fwuffy knu now, dat Fwuffy am bein wooowstest dummeh meanie, and gib Mummah-Daddeh biiigges heart huwties! *
The thing lets go of your foot and covers his head with his hooves, hiding under them as if in shame.
*Fwuffy am hab finkie pwace feews, bout awww da nicie fingys dat Mummah-Daddeh du fow Fwuffy. Suuu many fingys dat Mummah-Daddeh du fo Fwuffy, and Fwuffy onwy gib bad poopies! *
*Fwuffy now knu dat Fwuffy am bein baaaad Fwuffy! An Mummah-Daddeh onwy gib Fwuffy cowdie bad wawa for bein baaaad Fwuffy! Fwuffy knu now, dat am wut Fwuffy desewbe fo bein bad Fwuffy!!! *
The Fluffy starts to pick itself up, rising from its belly to sit on its rump. The soft Fluffy hooves attempt to wrap around your calf, and it embraces you with its chin pressed against your leg just below the knee.
*Mummah-Daddeh am beeestest Mummah-Daddeh! Fwuffy am suuu happie, am get yummy nummies, an wawm housie, an hab beeestest Mummah-Daddeh EBA!! *
*Wan be guud Fwuffy fo Mummah-Daddeh foreba an eba tiw Fwuffy hab foweba sweepies! *
Looking down at the thing pawing up your leg you see a brief flash of your old dog Prince, how he would try to get your attention the same way. You can feel a tear forming in your eye but hold yourself.
“…That’s great bud, I’m glad you understand why I had to do what I did…”
You reach down to pick up the Fluffy, his hooves stretching in ‘upsies’ to accept your embrace.
You cradle him like you had a month ago when he was just a small thing.
It starts purring in content.
*Cooo~… Cooo~… *
“I know you’ve been through a lot already with the shower and everything, but you also broke my laptop and that was really really bad still…”
You’re apprehensive about finishing your judgment, considering all the progress you seem to have made. The Fluffy looking up at you with worry on its face.
“Because of that…I’m going to have to punish you, and it’s going to be some real tough love…”
The Fluffys face scrunches a bit and it looks on the brink of crying, but it closes its eyes tightly for a second before breathing in deep.
*…Fwuffy undastan… Wan be guud Fwuffy fo Mummah-Daddeh… Fwuffy am knu toughie wub am wha Fwuffy nee… *
Grabbing a dry towel, uou make your way back to your room. With one hand you place the towel on one side of your desk and set the fluffy down on top of it. Its lips pucker and looks sad to have to leave your arms.
You look through your desk drawer and find a 12 inch metal ruler. It’s not very rigid and flops a bit but after swinging it a few times in the air you assure its solid construction. The Fluffy watches you with an uneasy expression, shrinking into himself as you turn to him and approach.
You reach your hand out to grab the Fluffy by the back of its neck, it’s instinct to run away being thwarted by your recent experience in catching Fluffies.
You pin the Fluffy down on the table with only as much force as necessary to keep it from struggling free. Lifting the ruler up you have it hovering above your head, you see the Fluffy look at you through the corner of its eyes. You try not to focus on his gaze and stare at your target, his rump.
“Remember this buddy… So you will learn a lesson…and not be a bad Fluffy anymore…”
THWACK
*SCREEEEEEEE! *
You remove the ruler off its backside and pause for a second. The thing is thrashing in your grasp. This is the first time you had ever struck the thing intentionally, not even a simple flick on the snout has this creature endured from you.
THWACK
*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! RE-REE SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! *
You start to feel something within you, that same white heat that warms you up and takes control. You breath heavily and feel goose bumps rising on your skin. You feel exhilarated.
THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK
Five strikes in quick succession.
*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeEEEEeeEEEeeeEEeeeeEeeeeeeeeee!!! *
You raise your arm for another swing when you stop suddenly for just a moment. This one moment being enough to disrupt the trance you were in and lower your arm. You drop the ruler and catch yourself breathing raggedly through your nostrils. As you calm yourself down you look towards the Fluffy still pinned by your hand. It’s hyperventilating.
You release your grip on the thing, it doesn’t make any move to get up or run. You place your hand on its back and stroke its fur for a while. The Fluffys breathing slows down steadily until you can see its body rise and shrink slowly with each calm breath. Without words you pick it up with both arms and sit down on your desk chair, letting it rest on your lap while still stroking it.
You break the silence.
“I don’t ever want to have to hurt you again…”
The hear sniffling as the Fluffy turns its head to look at you.
*Sniff * Wub Mummah-Daddeh…
You sit there petting the thing for a while longer, your morning already exhausting you both. You seem to drift off in your chair, your affectionate petting slowing down as you begin to fall asleep in this position.
You suddenly find yourself outside the house, standing in the driveway leading up to the front door. Everything looks bright and fuzzy, but you are certain that you are looking at your house. You look around to survey your home before looking down at yourself.
You look down to see yourself sporting some woefully out of fashion clothes, some sort of long dark coat opened at the front to reveal a dark colored vest sporting no less than 8 silvery buttons. Your normally sweatpants covered legs adorned with crisply pleated pants, complemented by two pointed-toed leather shoes that look worth more than your gaming laptop.
With your left hand you seem to reach into your coat and pull out a round silvery object. A heavily engraved pocket watch that you pop open. The cover opens to reveal a spinning gyroscope that certainly is too round to fit within the flat shape of the pocket watch.
It glows with blues and purples and you seemingly nod at it before tucking it back in your coat pocket.
You approach the front door of your house and stand on the porch. Looking down again you reveal a small red box tucked under your right arm, and with both hands hold up the package before bending down to gingerly place it in front of the door. You straighten up and clasp your hands together in delight at this feeling. This feeling leaves you giddy as you revel in this atmosphere of spontaneity, that aura which you can only describe as
Chaos
You see yourself reaching for the doorbell, but as you reach the button it seems to stretch further and further away and time seems to slow to a snail’s pace.
Right before you make contact with the doorbell your vision darkens and the image you see before you shrinks.
* hatchu…hatchu… *
DING DONG
Snort! “Wha?- What?”
You wake up with a start to find yourself still sitting in your chair with your Fluffy pony on your lap. You must have fallen asleep and been dreaming.
*Peep! H-hewwo Mummah-Daddeh, hab guud napsies?.. *
“Guh-… Yeah- I guess… Hey buddy did you hear something?”
*Swound wike pwetty outsie pwace noisy…Bing…Bing… *
“I-i guess it must be that new thing I ordered… Stay here buddy, I’ll be back…”
*Fwuffy am stay wight here…in sayf woom…wike aww fowebas…fo Mummah…Daddeh… *
“Good Fluffy, don’t worry I won’t take long”
You make your way down stairs to the front door, looking through the peephole to see no one waiting there. You reach for the doorknob before some feeling of apprehension stops you. You pull out your phone and open up the Ring app to see who was there. Nothing.
You quickly wrench the door open and see the bright summer day, nothing but the warm breeze and singing birds to greet you on the other side.
You stick your head out the door and check each side to see if anyone was there. Nothing.
Standing at the door in a cold sweat you now wonder what you had been afraid of. You start to close the door. You stop halfway and a thought dawns on you.
You look down.
A small red present with a white ribbon.
