Tiny Little Horses as Small as Your Hand
Chapter 2: This one has fake mouses
Previous Chapter Next ChapterProbably the worst thing to do when you had two hits to your head already that day is to faint on the floor. Head first.
I was faintly aware of something cool on my skin. It felt like I was being caressed on the face by a living being of water.
“I think he’s waking up!”
Took a couple moments for me to regain control of my eyelids, but once I did, and once I got used to the blinding light of my dim kitchen ceiling, I found Millie bending over me with a wet rag we use for cleaning dishes.
Oh God, couldn’t you have used a paper towel?! That rag probably has, like, several thousand germs or such.
“Millie?” was the first thing out of my mouth. I knew it was Millie already, but I didn’t exactly realize it either. Memories were not coming to my head, and I felt so disoriented that I almost slipped out of someone else’s grasp.
“Whoa there, Collin, relax. You fell down and hit your head on the floor. Here, let’s get you on the chair, nice and easy,” I heard a voice from behind me. I turned to see who it was, and I almost fainted again.
Right. I knew who Katie’s mom was. She was an ex.
A ten-years-older-than-me ex.
“Bridgette?” I coughed out. I’m not exactly in the right mind to have any surprises.
Why was I on the floor?
“What happened?” I asked to no one in particular.
“We found you on the floor unconscious, and the phone says you were out for 3 hours. Why were you calling yourself?” A girl Millie’s age suddenly popped up in my face, and I flinched back in fear.
Hey, you try waking up from fainting hard on the floor.
Why was I on the floor?
“I, um, tch… I was listening to, uh, Millie’s message. Said she wanted to, uh, go to a sleepover?”
“Yes. My daughter asked her, and she said sure, asking if we could leave that message for you. Did something happen at your work today?” Bridgette asked.
“Bleh, many things. Why are you here at the apartments?”
“Well, when you had not come to drop off Millie’s sleepover items, we decided to call again, wondering if you maybe forgot. After three times which the phone in use tone picked up, I knew something was wrong and we came here,” Bridgette leaned in, “Millie was horrified when she saw you. I saw you were still breathing, and I told her to grab a cloth and wet it before patting your face, hoping that could wake you up.”
“What…what time is it?”
“9:00 now. I don’t think Millie would like it if you told her she can’t stay over…”
“It’s night? Feh. She can go, but will you be able to take them to school tomorrow?”
“It’s a Saturday tomorrow, Collin. Are you sure you’re okay?”
I sighed. “I’ll be fine. Millie’s room is on the right in the hallway. Make sure she brushes her teeth now, she’s at that age where she’ll ‘forget’ to do things.”
“Don’t worry, Cole. You’re not the only one who’s taking care of a 10 year old,” Bridgette giggled.
Cole? Great, she’s using that name now. This is going to get awkward fast if I don’t do something.
“Uh, Millie?” I yelled a little. “Come here for a second.”
“Yeah, Collin?” Millie’s head popped out of the doorway for the kitchen. She walked into the room. “Are you hurt?”
“Nah, I’ll be fine. C’mere,” I gestured to Millie towards me. I gave her a hug, “You be a good girl now, okay? I don’t want to hear you were up to funny business from Miss Coulter here.”
“I promise I won’t try to burn anything again!” she whined.
“Wait, ‘again’?”
“That’s my sister,” I smiled. “Now have fun, and make sure you get sleep.”
“Thanks Collin!” Millie rushed out of the kitchen, eager to get ready for the night.
The room was silent for a few moments, save for the far-away rummaging of Millie’s room. Bridgette tried to end the silence. “Cole…”
“Just make sure you order pizza tonight,” I replied nonchalantly, finally standing up (whoa, a bit of whiplash there, gotta take it easy tonight) and heading out the kitchen. This day was just full of bad happenings, and I just wanted to go to sleep. Also, again, why was I on the floor of the kitchen?...
But then, my stomach rumbled. Shit, now I gotta go back to the kitchen, where she is…
“Big men like you are always going to be hungry, huh?” Bridgette walked up behind me from the kitchen. We were now in the TV room, and I sat myself down on the couch in front of the most expensive item in our apartment. A nice, 70 inch, plasma screen TV. With Netflix.
Always love saying that.
Bridgette sat down next to me on the couch. Some memories flashed into my mind, and I scooted myself away hoping to end those sudden memory flashes. I’m done with that part of my life, and she should be too.
“That’s… a really nice TV,” was all Bridgette could say. I can tell the tension was getting to her too, but she’s the one who started calling me Cole, I would have thought by now that-
“What was that?” Bridgette pointed to the spot between my shoes.
“What? Did you see something?” I asked.
“Looked like something white popped out before going back under the couch.”
Wait, what?
“Under the couch?” I asked as I stood up and then got down on my knees to look underneath the furniture.
Underneath the couch was what one could expect to find things hastily stashed away. Looks like Millie found one of those magazines that people buy to look at what’s happening in the celebrity world. Guess she didn’t want me to see that and WHAT THE HELL IS THAT.
“What in the…?” I mumbled out loud as I tried to lean closer to the ground. Something small and, in the dark shade, something affably white was hiding right near one of the couch legs. It looked like it was shivering, and I’m pretty sure no one was actively trying to make a small earthquake.
“Okay, something alive is hiding underneath the couch,” I explained. “It’s probably a mouse. Uh, why don’t you check up on Katie and Millie and I’ll see if I can get the little guy outta there.”
“Oh… ooookay then,” Bridgette replied, getting up from the couch and moving to the hallway. I heard the left door’s lock being rattled.
“Door on the right.”
“I just remembered that.” The right door’s knob twisted, and I looked down again.
It was gone.
“Shit…” I mumbled. Great, now I have a mouse or maybe even a rat in the apartment. Not the first time it’s happened, but one once bit Millie, and she has a hard time with small animals now. The last thing she needs to see or know is that there’s another mouse here.
“Then we can play!... Uh, some racing game that I just got from the store,” I heard Katie hesitate before I turned to face her. “Hey, what are you doing on the floor again?”
“I dropped the control and it went underneath the couch. What’s this racing game you’re talking about?”
“Uh… Mario Kart?” she replied with an uneasy tone. I showed my suspicious look to Bridgette, who rolled her eyes me before mouthing that it’ll be okay.
They’re both ten year olds, but it’s easy nowadays for ten year olds to get some really bad games for themselves. Far be it from me to say I never tried to get some rated M games for my systems, but far be those games from Millie too.
“Millie, remember to drift on the turns, and conserve your boosts,” I winked to her.
Millie giggled, while Katie chuckled uneasily and Bridgette rolled her eyes again. After a quick shooing, the three left the apartment and I locked the door behind them. I went back into the TV room, and put my hands on my hips in a determined fashion.
“Alright, where is the little bastard…” I spoke out loud. I didn't want to go to sleep with a mouse somewhere waiting to bite my nose. I started to walk back to the couch to check again when I heard a little scuffle behind me.
I turned around to face the "mouse".
My memory suddenly returned as to why I was on the ground. The little horse toy that I got for Millie was suddenly alive on the table, and it shocked me so much that I fainted.
Before, she looked at me with a smile. Now, she looked at me with abject terror. It was clear she was very afraid of me, which explains why she acted like a scared mouse when she was under the couch.
“…Hi?” I asked. Seeing a toy suddenly being alive wasn’t making me think critically at the moment to try and wonder how to express a greeting to a different and possibly sapient creature.
“Hel-hello. Greetings,” it, or rather, she spoke. “I must admit, when I first saw you, I thought you would be of a relative height to me, not a… giant as you are.”
“Well, it’s not every day some little thing starts talking to you. Unless you’re Pinocchio or Sid from Toy Story.”
Preeeeetty sure I’m now feeling what that kid felt when Woody the toy cowboy started talking to him.
“What’s your name?” I asked. We can at least get introductions out of the way.
“My name?… My name is Princess Celestia of Equestria…”
Next Chapter: This one has the truth revealed (mostly) Estimated time remaining: 41 MinutesAuthor's Notes:
I procrastinated from tonight's homework to bring you this sudden chapter.
Now excuse me while I go pull an all-nighter.
...
Does anyone know a good way to keep yourself awake at night?