It took everything in John not to whip around and punch Melissa as hard as he could, but he needed to know something from her first. Melissa’s face and posture no longer expressed the same happiness they did when John first arrived. She stood rigid and her face showed no discernible emotion, and in the same flat tone she repeated her question: “What do you think you are doing in there?..”
Rather than answer her, John asked his own question as his hands clenched so much that his fingernails began to leave indent marks in his palms. “Why?..”
“Why what?”
“WHY IS MY PET DEAD AND SHOWING SIGNS OF TORTURE IN YOUR GARAGE!”
John’s forceful demand for answers would have caused most people to at least flinch in surprise, but Melissa stayed still as a statue with the same lifeless stare.
“It’s because she was bad John. She was too loud, all she did everyday was make noise with those rats she called children. So I brought her here and taught her how to be quiet, and look at her now! She’s quiet and calm and all around better now, it’s only a shame I couldn’t teach her children. If anything you should be thanking me, she was flawed and I went out of my way to fix her-”
John punched her in the face as hard as he could. Every second she explained her actions a pit of hatred for this woman grew in his stomach. However what pushed him over the line was her twisted logic that he should be thankful for her kidnapping, torturing, and killing his pet. Melissa fell to the floor hard, it was likely that her nose was broken but she was still conscious and she let it be known, “YOU #@%$&#$! No wonder she turned out so awful with you as her owner!”
Without missing a beat John pulled out his phone and called the police, only to remember that fluffies weren’t under animal cruelty laws. He tried to think of any other solution, but when none presented itself he decided to try his luck and explained the situation to the dispatcher.
The night had been rough for the fluffies and they hadn’t gotten much sleep. As the morning sunlight slowly crept into the cardboard box’s opening the now wet fluffpile dispersed. The shivering brown filly made her feelings known to the group, “Babbeh nu wike nyu nestie, nestie nu pwotec fwuffies fwom sky-wawa!”
“Am otay sissie, smawty find bestest nyu nestie fo’ hewd!”
“Dat am wight! Fowwow smawty tu nyu nestie!”
The red smarty intended for the group to leave right away but was stopped when the fluffies began asking him for food.
“Siwwy fwuffies, nummies am in nummie piwe-”
That’s when he realized, they didn’t have a nummie pile anymore. The herd had been storing food for the coming winter but now it was all gone. The smarty began to worry, if they didn’t set up a new nest soon and start stockpiling food they wouldn’t have anything to eat this winter.
“-Smawty mean it am time fo’ nummie-findahs tu find nummies.”
“Nummies-findahs gon find wots of gud nummies!”
The tan mare and Tulip waddled their way to the exit, the brown filly trailed the two before being stopped by the smarty. “Babbeh stay with mummah.”
“Bu’ babbeh hab tummie-huwties!”
“Dat am otay babbeh, mummah stiww hab pwenty of miwkies fo’ yu.”
"Yay! Babbeh wuv miwkies!
As the brown filly bounded back to the side of her mother and started suckling, the smarty turned his attention to Spike and Berry.
“Toughie-babbeh pwotec hewd in nestie, smawty an’ smawty-babbeh gon wook fo’ nyu nestie.”
So the plan for the day was set: Tulip and the tan mare would look for food, Spike and the smarty would look for a new nest, while Berry would protect the black mare and brown filly in the box nest.
Things had turned out interesting after the police had arrived on the scene. While they didn’t recognize fluffies as animals legally, there were signs of other animals in the garage. Claw and bite marks were left in the wooden table that fluffies had no way of causing. Apparently Melissa had been regularly taking in loud stray animals and ‘reeducating them’ on how to be nice and quiet. Melissa was found to not be completely mentally stable and going forward it was still being discussed whether she should be sent to prison or a mental hospital. John was charged with assault and battery, but was very lucky to get off with only a hefty fine due to the nature of the recipient.
John expected to feel some sort of relief or fulfillment from figuring out what happened and punishing the culprit, but he didn’t. He had been holding on to a faint hope that Lemon, Spike, Tulip, and Berry were still alive somewhere but now he knew they weren’t. Even if Melissa didn’t kill the babies, the likelihood of any of them surviving without their mother was miniscule. John had found out the truth and with it his hope had shattered.
Author’s Note: Sorry if this one is kind of short just wanted to finish up with Melissa and John for a bit to focus more on the herd for a while