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Fire in the Hearth

written by:

Mr. Mouse

Part One

The Guest

Our world is one of relative perceptions. What we perceive as normal is that there is but one species of intellect and sentience, as we know it, and they are known as humankind. We perceive this as normal, relative to our surroundings, but in another world things are quite different.

In the world that this story takes place, there are no humans and the people of that world perceive it as normal. Instead there are a variety of animals that have the same manner of intellect and sentience as humans have in our world. They are anthropomorphic, meaning that they are humanoid in shape. They stand erect as humans do. Their bodies, while adorned with the heads and tails of their respective species, not to mention being coated in the fur they'd have in our world, are very similar to that of humans in having all the fingers, toes, and relative heights that a human may have.

This was a world where magic was not yet dead and technology, as we know it, would have taken an alternate path because of that. One might take a look at the world and recognize familiar things such as chairs, houses, radios, and clocks. However, things like cars and telephones would seem quite different as they would be powered by magic rather than gasoline and electricity. Every day items such as cellular phones and television sets would seem alien to the people of this world. That being said three mice were driving down a country road in one of the aforementioned magic-powered cars.

The car itself was a slick black roadster that hummed down the road. The car was made to go fast and was both small and sleek. The passengers within were a bit cramped but being that they were mice, they were on the smaller passenger side as it was already.

A brown and white female mouse sat in the front passenger seat next to a black furred mouse. Both wore casual clothes as though they were about to go on vacation. The male mouse kept one hand on hers while his other stayed on the wheel. The mouse in back was one of champagne colored fur dressed in a short sleeve casual shirt with khaki shorts. He sat a bit uncomfortably in the back while the pair in front engaged in a spot of conversation as they drove down the path into the deep dark woods. The woods were so thick that, even though it was still daylight out, they needed to turn on their headlights to find their way though.

"Vance, I've never liked these woods," said the female mouse, "We used to play near them as kids back in Windstrom. Grandmother always warned us they were dangerous but no one ever really said why."

"Old superstition is why, Ingred." said the mouse in the drivers seat, "It's only a half hour drive through Velnias Woods and then we'll be at happy sunny Cregyn Beach."

Ingred withdrew her hand, adjusted her yellow sundress, and then looked out the window at the woods outside. After enough corners the light from the entrance was entirely gone so the only light came from the headlights and that of the dashboard.

They went a ways deeper into the woods. It was hard to tell how long they were driving before she shuddered and felt an overwhelming need to talk again, if only just to break the creeping silence, "I do so love that beach. Can't wait till we get through here."

The road was a little bumpy so Vance had to slow down. There was no road maintenance at all. Just twin dirt paths side by side that had only maintained their shape by the tires of the occasional car flattening out any sprouting grass sprigs.

Vance caught something flash by in his rear view mirror in the dimly lit back seat. He heard a commotion from behind him but couldn't make out what was happening till he looked back and saw the rear passenger on his back, untying his sand shoe.

"Osric? What the hell are you doing?"

"What?" asked Osric from his back, as though he had been caught in the middle of something promiscuous, "Oh. I think I have a rock in my shoe it's been bugging the crap out of me for the whole drive out here."

The back seat passenger finally got his shoe off and then started to shake it out. Vance sighed, "Why are you rolling around on the back seat? Put your seat belt back on!"

"You guys have the seats scooted all the way back and there was no room. I couldn't reach down to get my shoe off," said Osric. Shortly afterwards he started to peel down his knee high sock with his foot awkwardly in the air.

"What are you doing now?" asked Vance.

Osric fed his hand into the sock and started to feel around "Nothing came out of the shoe. Whatever it was has to be in the sock."

"Would you please sit up? You're making me nervous and I keep seeing body parts waving past the rear view mirror. It's very distracting."

As distracting as Osric was being, there was no amount of paying attention to the road that would have prevented the crash. It came from the side, whatever it was. Something from the dark. None of them got a good look at it. They only felt the aftermath as it sideswiped them off the road and into a tree.

The glass from all the windows shattered on impact. Ingred and Vance were belted in and stayed in the cab while Osric was thrown out the window and landed a good twenty feet away. He was conscious all the way on his journey through the air and would later recall that it felt like a dream.

Osric's dream-like passage was interrupted by a sudden impact with the ground at high speed. It was in that moment, he was thrown from one dream into another, as he was knocked out with a wallop. He didn't know how long he was out but he was awakened with the sound of tearing metal.

He sat up with a start but slowed down right after when he felt a jabbing pain in his shoulder. There wasn't much light in the deep dark woods. They only illumination came from the headlights of the wrecked car. He saw the lights bounce up and down as the car was being moved. It made strange shadows bounce off the trees into the woods a ways. Osric heard the sound of metal ripping again as though something were tearing from the car.

He heard Ingred scream but the scream was cut short with a sickening squelch that was followed by a crunching noise. Osric got to his feet and almost immediately stepped on a thick shard of glass with his one bare foot. As if he weren't sore enough already, he only managed to add to it. He didn't mean to, but let out a small cry, more from shock than agony, at the twinge of pain at the bottom of his bare foot.

That cry was all it took to draw the attention of something terrible. Osric saw shadows, big shadows, pass in front of the headlights. There was a resounding thud followed by another as whatever hit their car thrashed closer in the darkness. He heard a roar and spun on his heels to run the opposite direction, deeper in the woods.

Osric was able to tread just fine on his still shoed foot but his bare foot forced him to limp while standing on his toes as he went as fast as he could. He hobbled as fast as he could with panicked breaths. The mouse bumbled his way through bushes, bristles, and bounced off trees in the darkness while whatever was chasing him seemed to have no such trouble.

Osric's large ears twitched as the mouse heard the creature get closer and closer. That's when he saw it. A faint light in the distance. The orange glow of light through a window. There was no way he could make it.

He knew there was no way he could get to that light before the thudding footfalls of the creature behind overtook his own. Osric was so focused on the sounds from behind him that he didn't notice the sound of fast foot steps from in front of him until he heard someone yell, "Duck!"

The mouse fell to his knees just before he heard someone grunt as they heaved something heavy through the air. He heard something whirl overhead before there was a thwack of impact just behind him. The thing that had been chasing him let out a pain-ridden howl.

Whoever told him to duck seemed to be quite strong as they came upon him fast. He was swept off his feet and carried back to the cabin, held aloft by strong arms. Osric felt the excitement of it all overwhelm him... that and the concussion. He closed his eyes and heard the door of the cabin close behind him.

The last thing he remembered thinking before he passed out was just how warm it was inside that cabin.