Chapter #4A Knock On The Door by: Juac   This story is a tribute to one of my favorites here that I believe was taken off writing.com. If not excuse me for writing this but I have not been able to find it. I don’t know the name but I do know the story.
It was a cold winter’s night in Canada; you weren’t sure what city the resort you were staying in was a part of. Tomorrow is your parent’s anniversary and they were down in town enjoying themselves at a party for the night. You live with your older brother while going to college, this semester you’d taken off for the winter vacation. He is a hard worker at a good paying job. You got loan money when extra came in as well as getting small bits here and there from favors and short jobs.
You didn’t want to go to the party and stayed at the resort cabin, a nice two floor building fit for a group of people; although it was only you two. There was no reason for you not to go. No ill blood between you and your parents besides general family problems. You just didn’t feel like going and thought that since you’d see them the rest of your time here there was no reason to go.
The TV was off, not like you watched it very much. You preferred to read, which you were now, in front of a nice warm fire. A blizzard fell heavily outside making the windows rattle loudly. It knocked at your attention, especially when the wind blew hard making them rattle louder. The last time they did you snapped your book shut and grieved out a sigh as you slid up from the quarter circular couch. You went to the back into the kitchen where you left the pot on for boiling water. You made yourself some hot chocolate and sat back down to try and read again.
You got through 27 pages of the book when you heard another loud rattle on the window. It hadn’t done so that loudly in a while which made you look up to it shaking. And when you went to look at them and see if the latch was coming off the wind died down, and a quiet tap came from the front door. You thought it was your brother and stated, “Did you lose the key?”
There was no answer. And after a long pause of confusing silence another low tap on the door, with long pauses between each until it ended at a fourth tap. You were a bit worried, thankfully it was a lodge so the area had patrollers to deal with trouble. Maybe it was your parents and they didn’t hear you. Either way you walked towards the door and opened it.
Outside it was pouring snow, freezing too, your eyesight was filled with white and yellow coming from the street light and the end of the path yet no one there. You were about to close the door until you noticed through the thick white a red trail followed by fresh tracks in the snow leading up to the door. You gasped as you looked down to the source.
Someone had collapsed on the porch and was bleeding terribly. It was a person in shape but, it was also animal. It was a large white animal in the shape of a person. You almost mistook it for just an animal if it weren’t for how large it was. You almost left it there until you looked down to its wounds. They were round, definitely gunshot wounds. You didn’t just want to leave it there, so you carefully tried to lift it into your home. But it was very heavy so you had to lift it by it’s head then feet before managing to get it inside.
You realized that the loud rattling from earlier was probably the gunshots. Which was why the window didn’t move, so after you got the creature inside you stepped out. You examined the prints and the red in the snow. The prints were already covered up, but the red trail leading into the woods was still noticeable but short. You quickly cover them in more snow then ran back inside, closing and locking the door. “The blizzard should get rid of those tracks quickly. Phew…” you slid down from the door as your back was against it.
The you looked down and stood back up, examining the creature you left inside. It was unconscious and probably collapsed after knocking on your door. You slid it to your couch and managed to lift it up onto your couch after getting a towel to put under it. Then you ran upstairs and got a med kit, it was heavy duty in case of extreme emergency like the phones being down or the snow being too high. Looking at it closer, it was definitely male; and it looked like a snow fox.
There were three gunshot wounds in all; two on his back and one in the back of his leg. Only one still had a bullet left in it, the others must have dropped out, thankfully they weren’t that deep. And none had punctured an organ. If they had he would need surgery that you couldn’t provide. “This is going to hurt a lot, sorry. But bare with me. And stay alive.” You removed the bullet and cleaned the wounds making him quietly yowl even while unconscious. After cleaning them you padded them with cotton and then dressed them. The leg shot was very close to the bone, even if it hadn’t though he’d still have trouble walking.
You turned him over with as much care as you could. You were a bit afraid before and your heart was racing. But you thought for a while as you treated him. He wasn’t a scary creature coming to kill you. He had managed to clamber up to your doorstep. And with the last of his strength, knock. There was a human side to him, maybe not all, but some.
You took a good look at him now in the light to see how he looked. His face was just like a snow foxes, with long hair around his fluffy ears trailing down to his bushy tail. You carefully opened one eye, it was twitching wildly so he was definitely sleeping. And probably having a very bad nightmare you wish you could comfort him from. He had bright turquoise eyes. You shut his eye and looked at his hands, they were just like human hands except with black pads. Then you looked at his legs, they were just like foxes legs except larger and with more muscle. His body wasn’t muscular; in fact you could feel his bone through his fur. Wherever he was he wasn’t fed well.
“Who would create something like this? It’s like some science fiction cliché.” You felt his fur; he cringed at your touch and whined in his sleep. You always wanted some strange thing to happen in your life. This was a good amount of strangeness at that. You just hoped that when he woke up it would still be to your liking…no…no matter the state he’s in, violent or otherwise, you’d still care for him. You did let him in.
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