Besty was less than a day old, but he knew he had the most perfect life ever.
In his few short hours of existence, Besty had been lavished with hugs and lickie-cleans and milk, so much milk he could feel his little stomach bulging. Sure the weird, cold, hard ground wasn’t comfortable to lay down on, and there were a lot of strange noises echoing around him, but he had his mummah and she loved him and that was all he needed.
Mummah loved him so much that she had named him ‘Besty’, or something similar, Besty didn’t know what his name meant, but it made him feel so happy that he fluttered his wings in excitement every time mummah said it. Mummah really seemed to like it when he did that. Oddly she didn’t hold the same happiness towards her other babies and Besty couldn’t work out why; his brother ‘Silly’ sounded like so much fun but mummah kept telling him to ‘put his lickie-thing back into mouthie-place’, his sister ‘Pretty Monster’ was sometimes treated even better than he was and sometimes called such horrible things, and his second sister was given the horrible name of Poopie, Besty didn’t like that name, he wasn’t happy to hear that and he could tell Poopie liked it even less.
It was the day after their arrival to the world that Besty, while happily suckling from his mother’s full teats of sweet, creamy milkies, heard his daddeh sound not happy for the first time.
“Speciaw-fwiend hab aww da nummies?”
Mummah scoffed. “Bwossom need aww da nummies, make wots of miwkies fow babehs.”
“Speciaw-fwiend!” Daddeh whined out. “Bwu-ee wowk su hawd get aww dose nummies, dey wewe fow wong time, babbehs need miwkies ebewy bwite-time, nu jus wun.”
“Hmph, den dummeh speciaw-fwiend git mowe nummies.”
Daddy let out a long sigh but then his voice got upbeat and happy again. “It ok, Bwu-ee knyo whewe wots of nummies awe, bwing dem bak soon. Bysie speciaw-fwiend, bysie babbehs.”
Besty tried to wave goodbye to his father, but his stumbly little leg could only shoogle slightly. His mother didn’t say anything or move at all. Besty was a little upset by the whole conversation between his parents, mummah sounded so mean to daddeh, but then again, babbehs did need milkies and lots of it. It was so hard to know what to think.
But then another gulp of warm milkies slid down his throat and he forgot all about it.
Besty let go of his mother’s teat with a loud, happy belch and started shuffling away, Silly Brother and Poopie Sister hadn’t had anything to drink yet, so he wanted to make room for them. Only for Mummah to suddenly grab him and pull him back.
“Nu wun way Bestesh Babbeh, mummah hab wots of miwkies, keep dwinkin.”
‘Peep peep, chirp.’
Besty was confused, he didn’t want anymore milkies, he was full and he knew his siblings were hungry. But the much lager and stronger mare shoved his mouth back onto her teat, forcing a squirt of milk down his gullet, Besty hacked up a cough at the sudden blast but mummah kept his head there until he latched on again.
Oh well, this must be because she loved him so much.
Maybe she loved him too much as Besty wasn’t able to pull away from his mother, no matter how painful his stomach bulged, she still wouldn’t let him leave. He stated to panic, what if there was nothing for his siblings to drink? What if he drank so much milk he exploded? What if he drank so much he actually turned into milkies? What if…
“PWETTY MUNSTAH BABBEH GIT BAK!”
A suddenly cry from his mother saved him as she rushed off towards wherever his sister was going, Besty took the opportunity to shuffle himself away, sniffing out where the poopie place was to try and release the pain in his guts.
Across the way he heard his mummah chastising his sister. “Nu weave awway, dummeh munstah babbehs, dat am whewe metaw-munstahs an biggesh meanies am. Onwy big Fwuffies weave da awway. Munstah babbehs am wucky am su pwetty, ow mummah gib dummeh wowstesh hoofies.”
Pretty Monster Sister cried at her mother’s harsh tone, Besty hated to hear her cry, he wanted to badly to hug her but the pain in his guts was building, and building, until…
Pffth
“Bestesh babbehs make bestesh gud-poopies in poopie-howe. Mummah am su pwoud. Weww, if bestesh babbehs am biz-ee wiv gud-poopies, den mummah gib miwkies tu nu gud babbehs.”
Besty smiled, partly from the relief of the wet sludge firing out of his asshole, but mostly from his happiness that mummah STILL had milkies to give to his siblings.
Yep, life really was perfect.
“Dummeh speciaw-fwiend, whewe am yu?”
It was the next day, and daddeh still wasn’t home yet. Besty and his siblings were all horribly worried, but mummah just sounded angry.
“Bwossom nu wub dummeh Bwu-ee nu mowe, am wowstesh speciaw-fwiend.”
Had Blossom known that her mate was a mere 10 minute walk away from their den, currently being shovelled off of the road where a car had flattened his skull, maybe she would’ve been kinder to him. But she didn’t know that, all she knew was that he was gone and he was a bastard for leaving her.
‘Chirp? Peep peep?’
Besty tried to question his mother about his father’s whereabouts, why was she so angry with him, daddeh was a good daddeh and it hurt him to hear her complain about him.
“Nu hab miwkies yet Bestesh babbeh, need hab nummies fiwst and dummeh Bwu-ee nu bwing anee bak yet.”
‘PEEP! Chirp chirp, peep!’
No, why couldn’t mummah understand him, he didn’t want milkies, he wanted his daddeh, he wanted mummah to stop being so mean to him, why was this day so different to the perfect day yesterday?
“Mummah say nu hab miwkies babbeh, yu nu bein Bestesh Babbeh wight nyo.”
‘CHIRP?!”
Besty felt his heart break. Why was mummah being so mean, why was she saying such horrible thing? Where was the lovely, happy mummah from yesterday?
Suddenly the ground shook as mummah stomped on the ground.
“IF DUMMEH BESTEH NU SHUDDUP BOUT MIWKIES, DEN BWOSSOM GUN GIB BABBEHS WOWSTESH SOWWY HOOFIES AN…!”
“HEY SHUT UP!”
The human voice at the far end of the alleyway caught Blossom off-guard, she turned to face whoever was shouting and then everything went black.
For Besty, he heard a strange ‘thunking’ noise then everything went silent. He thought he heard another human voice say ‘Shit man, you domed her’ but he didn’t know what any of that meant. All he knew was that his mother had stopped shouting, and that was a good thing, right?
‘Chirp chirp peep?’
No reply, Besty shuffled forwards, his blind face sniffing out where he thought his mother was, he was caught by surprise when his nose bumped into her leg but she didn’t react, in fact she stayed quite still.
Besty smiled, mummah must’ve gotten so angry she tired herself out, Pretty Monster Sister did the same thing whenever mummah called her a ‘dummy monster’, she would get so mad that she’s waste all her energy and fall asleep. Silly mummah, she must be so worried about daddeh to get THAT angry.
Besty gave his mother’s leg a quick hug before shuffling away to wake up his brothers and sisters, they would be needing their morning milkies. The first sibling he found was Silly Brother, Besty nudged him awake with his nose, happily chirping good morning.
‘Peep peep!’
‘Chirb?’
Besty laughed, Silly Brother was so silly and funny, Besty had the biggest heart-happies whenever Silly Brother talked with his funny voice. He gently nudged his brother towards their mother and moved on to his sisters.
Poopie Sister was first, good thing too as Besty wasn’t sure when she had last been fed, he nudged her awake as well, gentle wishing her a good morning.
‘Peep peep!’
‘Chirp? Peep chirp chirp?’
‘Peep!’
Poopie Sister shuffled forward and gave her brother a thankful hug, Besty never understood why mummah called her Poopie, she was so nice and warm to cuddle with. Poopie Sister then waddled her way towards mummah, bumping into Silly Brother along the way and pulling him to the right direction. Besty turned his attention to his last sibling, Pretty Monster Sister, again he wasn’t sure what that meant, like how could a monster be pretty, but she was his sister so he chose to believe she really was pretty and mummah was just being silly.
Like everyone else, Besty nudged Pretty Monster Sister awake and wished her a good morning.
‘Peep peep!’
‘Peep? Chirp peep.’
‘Chirp chirp, peep peep peep.’
‘Peep chirp. Chirp pe……’
‘PEEEP!! PEEP PEEP CHIRP!’
The siblings morning greetings were suddenly interrupted by Poopie Sister’s cried of horror, Besty lumbered over as fast as his stubby legs could manage to try and work out what had happened.
‘Chirp peep chirp?’
‘Peep! Peep chirp peep!’
Besty was confused, what did Poopie Sister mean the milk tasted bad? With some trepidation, Besty inched forward and took a sniff of his mother’s teat, followed by a small suckle. Sure enough, something was wrong, he couldn’t tell what but there was something bad in mummah’s milkies that made them taste very not pretty.
As Besty spat out the bad milkies, Silly Brother continued to suckle from the other teat, blissfully unaware of what was going on around him.
Besty nudged his mother’s leg, chirping out a query as to why her milk wasn’t right. Mummah didn’t reply, she didn’t even move. Besty asked again, a little more desperation in his voice, wondering aloud if why mummah didn’t love her babies anymore. Mummah remained as still and as silent as ever.
Besty didn’t understand, what had he and his siblings done to deserve this, they were good babbehs weren’t they? Besty crawled into a hugpile with Poopie Sister and Pretty Monster Sister, each of them weeping as for the first time in their two days of life, they felt the pangs of hunger starting to sink in.
The day past slowly, with daddeh still not back and mummah refusing to speak to them, all the infant siblings had was each other, but that didn’t help their hunger. Besty tried to keep his siblings spirits up, peeps of huggies and trying to persuade them that mummah was just tired from worrying about daddeh sounded out for hours around their concrete home, but after a while it became clear that Besty was trying to convince himself more than his brother and sisters. In the end, he lay down beside mummah and tried half-heartedly to wake her so she could look after them again.
Every so often he would take a sniff of Mummah’s teats to see if the milk had gotten any better, if anything it just got worse as time went on, smelling more and more sour with each passing moment. For some reason though, Silly Brother didn’t seem to notice, and kept slowly suckling while Besty lay beside him.
Pretty Monster Sister took to moving herself around their home, trying desperately to find anything that even vaguely resemble milkies. But she was small and their alleyway home was large, and hours of dragging her sensitive belly across cold concrete wasted away energy she didn’t have to spare. At one point she thought about braving the world outside their alley-home, defying her mother’s order, but fear and blindness kept her inside the walled off area of their domicile.
Eventually Besty stood up and went to find Poopie Sister, she hadn’t had milkies in so long, she had to be so hungry now. He sniffed her out and found her over by the nummie pile, silly sister, those were nummies for big Fluffies, not little babbehs like them.
‘Peep peep? Chirp peep chirp.’
He called out to Poopie Sister as he approached the nummie pile, there was no answer but he could smell she was there. Besty inched closer until he found Poopie Sister, she was laying down on her side, Besty figured she had probably fallen asleep, he tried to wake her up by nudging his face against her.
As he did, he felt something hard and stale inside of Poopie Sister’s mouth, he pushed about at it with his nose until it dropped out. A quick sniff told him it was bread, human food that daddeh really liked, although Besty thought bread was usually soft and bouncy, this stuff was hard and awkward to eat, no wonder Poopie Sister had such a hard time eating it.
Besty giggled and gave his sleeping sister a quick cuddle, she was limp and heavy, with cold drool around her mouth, but he still loved her, even if she had been silly enough to try to eat Big Fluffy Nummies.
Besty left Poopie Sister to rest and returned to mummah to try one more time to wake her, still she didn’t move or acknowledge him in any way. Heartbroken, Besty lay down his head and tried to sleep away his hunger, all the while, Silly Brother kept suckling next to him.
‘Beeb?’
Besty woke, he wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep, his blind eyes and hunger frazzled mind made it impossible to know where or when he was anymore, but there was a definite chill in the air that signalled an approaching nighttime.
‘Chirb beeb?’
Besty turned towards Silly Brother, something about him sounded wrong, he sounded low and tired, like even just keeping his head up was an effort. Worried, Besty tried to give his brother huggies, they would sure to make him feel better, huggies made everything bet….
“BBBLLLLUUURRRRGGGGHHHH!!!”
With a near biblical force, Silly Brother made the worst sicky-wawas Besty had even smelt, a rotten stench of sour milk and blood stung his nostrils and made his sensitive eyes water, this was bad, really bad.
‘Peep! Chirp chirp chirp peep!’
‘Beeb chirb beeb. Beeb chirb chirb!”
‘Peep chirp. Chirp peep chirp.’
Besty took on the near impossible task of trying to console Silly Brother as his stomach gave him the worst tummeh-hurties while at the same time calling for Poopie Sister and Pretty Monster Sister to come and help him. He got no answer from Poopie Sister, and Pretty Monster Sister was somewhere else entirely.
‘Chirp pe… …irp peep?’
Pretty Monster Sister’s voice was so far away, gone all the way to the other side of the alleyway, towards where the metal monsters were. Besty was so confused, why was Pretty Monster Sister so close to danger, was she desperate, was she lost, was Poopie Sister with her. He tried to ask her, but the distance made speaking to each other difficult.
‘Peep chirp chirp peep? Peep peep peep?’
‘Ch… …ep, P… …rp peep.’
It was no use, Pretty Monster Sister was too far away and she sounded like she was getting further away, Besty tried to call after her but after a moment, he wasn’t able to hear her anymore, she had ventured too far down the alleyway and couldn’t work out her way back. Besty waited, but her voice never returned.
Pretty Monster Sister was gone, Poopie Sister wasn’t answering him, Daddeh still hadn’t returned, Mummah still wasn’t moving, all Besty had left was Silly Brother. Thankfully Silly Brother had stopped making sicky-wawas, but now he was laying face-down in the sicky-wawas, unmoving and soaked with warm vomit and cold sweats.
Besty was conceptually aware of what forever sleepies were, all Fluffies were, but his young mind couldn’t comprehend what it actually meant. For everyone else in his family, he had been able justify what was going on, whether they were sleeping or just being mean, for Silly Brother however, Besty knew his brother was dead, even if he didn’t really know what dead meant.
Confused and frightened, Besty lay down beside Silly Brother, and let out a long, overdue cry about how wrong their perfect life had gone.
Days, hours, weeks, Besty didn’t know how long he lay there, his last flickering of energy leaving him piece by piece. He hadn’t had the strength to use his legs in the longest time, effectively trapping him between the legs of his mother, her sour, deflating teats offending his nostrils with the promise of milkie salvation and rotten damnation. Beside him, Silly Brother’s sicky-wawas slowly seeped over the stony floor of their home and soak Besty’s wasting stomach, before turning cold and leaving him freezing and uncomfortable to go along with his feelings of embarrassment and shame from not feeling pretty anymore.
He was alone, he knew that now, even with his mother and brother beside him he knew he was alone, the starvation was killing him slowly but it was the heartache that was quickening his pace towards the end. Besty had watched his perfect life be stripped away for reasons he couldn’t understand, and in his infantile brain, he saw no way to return, and so he gave up trying to stop it.
He was old enough to open his eyes now, but had to energy to do so, he could barely more than squint them open, revealing a dark, blurry world he could not understand, even his mother’s body beside him was an unformed blob of colour, either pink or yellow or green, he couldn’t make out anything. With one heavy hoof, he shakily reached out in one final vain hope to rouse his mother from whatever sleep had taken her from him, his reach grazed against her leg, barely doing anything, but it was enough to shake something loose inside his throat, an unfamiliar feeling pushed its way up his gullet and into his mouth where they would be pushed out as the first shaky words Besty had ever spoken.
“Wa… wai mum…mah su co… cowd?”
Besty’s head dropped, and he would never speak again, his body would lay there between the cold corpses of his mother and brother for several more hours before he would eventually join them. No-one would find their bodies, the dead end put off the casual public and lack of amenities gave the council workers no reason to venture down this alleyway at all, whatever remained of Besty and his family would be slowly pecked away by birds over the next several weeks.
In his final moments of life, Besty would wonder what he did so wrong to have his perfect life ruined so badly. In truth, he did nothing wrong, he just fell victim to one of the biggest killers of feral and domestic Fluffies alike.
A hard case of bad luck.
