Believe - Chapter 8: Warm rest

Something brush against the back of Imya and she slowly woke up. It was warm around her. She heard some branches cracking but she was still too sleepy to open her eyes. The warm touch in her back shuffled a bit again. The floor under her felt strange, like she never felt it before. It was warm, dry and soft. Like dry fresh moos. The leg and head of Imya hurt. Slowly the memory of what happened returned to her. She had been caught by a strange animal with a string bite. Where was she now? In the den of this creature read to be eaten?

There was something tight around her leg but the pain seemed to not come from this. She brushed against her leg with her left paw and if felt very like the soft thing beneath her. It was strange that it was so warm. Just like in summer, when she was born. Maybe she died? A low purr came from behind her. Imya never heard such a noise but it seemed to come from an animal. She slowly opened her eyes. The place where she was seemed strange to her. There was something warm and bright a few steps in front of her. Not as bright as the sun, more like the light she had seen in the house of the man where she got her last food. She lay on something that she never had seen. It was white like snow but it was warm and soft. Her leg seemed to be wrapped into something of the same but thinner. She carefully sniffed at it and it smelled horrible and stung in her nose. She sneezed and tried to rip this thing off with her teeth.

"I would not do that if I were you." A voice came from behind her and Imya yipped surprised and jumped on her feet and then she whimpered from the pain that shot through her leg. "And I would not jump around either." The other animal was a small lynx. She only had seen one when she was three from the distance but this seemed much smaller. "Where am I?" she asked with pain still beating in her leg and head. The lynx smiled: "In the house of my master. You can be happy that he found you." The lynx stretched and pushed her flank against Imya's while she purred. "Are you hungry little one?" Imya nodded. She still was shy and a bit afraid of her surroundings but the lynx seemed to be no thread. It was the same size than Imya and was nice to her. Something was different about her though. She was all black, not like the lynx Imya had seen in the past.

"Are you a lynx?" she openly asked while the creature moved towards some bowls a few steps away. "No dear. I am a cat. You could say that our ancestors were also the ancestors of the lynx." The cat chuckled. "My name is Mimi." Her brown eyes looked at Imya with patience. "Come here girl. You slept all day. I am sure you are dying from hunger." Imya heard her stomach growl and limped to the cat. She tried to not put much weight on her injured leg.

"What is this? What happened?" Imya asked and pointed at the white stuff around her leg. "Why should I not pull it off?" The cat pointed at the content of the bowls. One was filled with water and the other with meat. "You eat, I explain." She said with a smile and Imya followed her command. She was very hungry and this was even more than the dinner she had found a few days ago. "The white thing around your leg is called a bandage. This is what humans put on your when you are injured?" - "Humans?" Imya looked at the cat with shock. "Are here humans? Then I must leave. They are evil. My mother told me about them. They will kill me." The cat hushed her with a paw. "You eat! Don't worry. The human here will not hurt you." She lay down and watched Imya continue to eat. "Your mother is not completely wrong though. Most humans would kill a wolf. Well maybe not a pup." She smiled. "But the human here is called a preserver. He cares for the animals in the woods and keeps it safe from hunters." She looked at the leg of Imya. "It seems you got caught in a trap of a hunter. Most of the time they lay traps for foxes for their pelt or because they kill their chicken." Imya just finished her meal. Even if something was still left she was too full to continue. She raised her head and looked into the brown eyes of the cat.

"What is a chicken?" she asked and the cat chuckled. "You would say a bird, but really fat and tasty. I would not try to catch one if I were you. The humans don't like it if you steal from them." Imya drank a few gulps and then lay down. "Thank you for the food." she just remembered how her mother always wanted her to thank for the food and she did not want to be rude to this nice cat. "It is not from me my dear. What was your name?" - "Imya" - "Oh, Imya. A nice name. But back to the food. It was not me who put it here. It was the human. He found you and brought you back here. Then he bandaged your leg. You can be happy that it is only slightly injured. I have seen worst." - "Did you see other wolfs that were injured like me from this... what was it called?" - "A trap! And no, you are the first wolf. But the human brings a lot of animals home. Nearly every week the human brings one of them here. Mostly they are badgers, foxes or rabbits."

Imya looked around. She did not smell any other animal but the air here smelled strange anyways. "Where are they?" The cat smiled again. She seemed amused by the little pup. "He set them free after they were cured. You did not think he ate them, right?" Imya lowered her head. "No... I mean... not really." And then she stayed silent. "You should now rest a bit more to get well soon." The cat told her. "Lay down next to the fire. It is comfortable and warm." - "What is a fire?" the question was out before Imya could stop it. "That warm bright thing there. Do not go too close or you will burn yourself or set the whole house on fire. Always stay a few steps away, okay?" Imya promised to be careful and then limped back to the white sheet that she had woken up a couple of minutes ago. When she laid down the cat brushed her back against Imya's back again and then lay next to her so that their backs touched. Imya noticed that this had been the warm touch she felt when she woke up. Her head felt a bit lighter now that she had something to eat and to drink. She felt that the pain in her stomach at least was gone and it gurgled strongly from digestion. She still looked around in this strange place called house. There were big rocks but they did not smell like rocks and seemed to be covered in the same soft thing that was under her. She had forgotten to ask the cat about it but before she could catch up with the question and voice it her eyes fell shut and she fell asleep again. This time she dreamed a happy dream about her mother and her on a warm summer day. She smiled in her dream and sighed happily.