Gideon walked outside in order to get some fresh air. He was worrying about a few things, and his fort just seemed to be suffocating him. He looked out over the flat land of the farms that surrounded his fort, half hoping that he’d see something…anything to take his mind off of the things bothering.

“MASTER!” someone screamed. It sounded like Kaipo! Gideon turned in the direction of the scream, and saw Kaipo running towards him, arms outstretched, tears streaming down his face, his beautiful black hair and tail streaming out behind him. Gideon smiled, and walked a few short steps before Kaipo flung himself into his arms.

“Master!” Kaipo cried, burying his face in Gideon’s chest. “Master, I was so scared!”

Gideon petted Kaipo reassuringly. “It’s alright, My Pet.,” he said softly. “It’s alright, you’re safe now.”

Suddenly, Kaipo pulled away. “But I’m not!” he screamed.

“What do you mean? You’re with me again; you’ll be safe!”

Kaipo looked down at the ground. “No…I’m not…I’m fading!” He cried out suddenly, looking up at Gideon. Fear showed in his eyes, and Gideon looked down at Kaipo’s feet. He was. He was fading, and Gideon felt fear grip his heart.

He tried to move…do something…anything to keep Kaipo from disappearing out of his life forever. But he couldn’t move, and all he could do was stand there and watch as Kaipo faded away. One tear fell down Kaipo’s face and landed on Gideon’s hand. “I’m sorry, Master!” he cried as he disappeared.

*****

Gideon awoke with a start, his heart pounding in his ears and drenched in a cold sweat. He sat there a moment, trying to catch his breath as the last remnants of the dream faded. He had lost Kaipo, and that bugged him. He’d had Kaipo since he was 10. Yes…10. Kaipo had been a gift from Gideon’s father. Kaipo had been so cute back then, just a little kitten at the age of 3. Gideon had loved watching him play, and had given him all sorts of toys; yarn, little mice made out of burlap with catnip in them. Gideon still remembered how cute Kaipo had been when he’d first gotten a hold of the mouse. The catnip inside had gotten to him, and he’d sneezed. He wriggled his nose and then sneezed again. Gideon couldn’t help but laugh at that. Kaipo had shook his head, and then walked over to Gideon, laying in his lap. Kaipo was Gideon’s best friend growing up, besides his younger brother of course. Gideon did not want to lose Kaipo forever, but he had this sinking feeling deep in his heart that he already had. It saddened him greatly to feel this way and he brought his hands to his face and wept.

*****

I don’t know what time it was, but I had awoken to find it dark outside. A candle burned on the night table and Tamerius sat there in the chair, still sewing.

He noticed I was awake and smiled at me. “Ah, good. You’re awake, and I’m almost done. Then we can go.”

“Go?” I asked, forgetting that we weren’t staying there.

“Yeah, we’re leaving, remember?”

I nodded. I remembered. I wished I could go back home. I said as much. “I want to go back home.” My voice was quiet and I was worried that he hadn’t heard me, but he had.

“No.” he said. “I’m not letting you go back to that monster.”

I didn’t understand it. How could he call Master a monster? He wasn’t a monster! He couldn’t be! Could he?

“How is he a monster?” I asked.

Tamerius looked at me as if I had grown a second head. “He’s a monster because of how he treats others; because of things he does to you…to his other pets…what he did to me while I was there.” He shook his head. “He should have known better than to try to keep one of my kind. We always escape when we’re somewhere we don’t want to be.”

I still didn’t quite understand. What was so wrong in how Master treated me? I didn’t understand!

“Come on.” He suddenly said, standing up and tossing me the pants he’d fixed. “Put them on, and this shirt,” he tossed a shirt at me. “And we’ll go.”

“What? Now? In the dark?” I asked, looking at the darkened window behind him.

“Are you afraid of the dark?” He asked, again looking at me like I had grown a second head.

“Stop looking at me like that! I’m not a freak, I swear!” I was near tears. This was too much. I had been taken away from my master. Torn away from the only thing I had ever known!

He chuckled. “Don’t worry, we’ll be riding.”

I blushed. I wasn’t sure what he meant, and I only knew one kind of riding.

“A horse.” He added.

He reached for me, and led me through the house to the front door. I took a deep breath and let him lead me outside to the horse that we would be riding. It didn’t take us long to climb on and start off down the road. He had already put everything on the horse, so all we had to do was climb on, and go. I rode in front, with Tamerius’ arms around me. As we headed off in the dark to who knows where, I had this sinking feeling that the rest of my life was going to be spent in the dark, never knowing where I was headed, or why.