This story is an original story that I wrote a while ago, back when I still had the pets this story's dedicated to. Now that they've been given away before we moved, and some had probably died since then
, this story holds something especially dear to me. Now, which pets you might ask? Well, for this story.....
IN DEDICATION TO:
Shoogy (who's the main character) and Gliga, the Sugar Gliders
Fudge, the Chinchilla
Fuz-Bal and Boba, the Gerbils
AND IN VAGUE FORM (Names, Species, and Personalities altered for story purposes) :
Spazz the ferret, who will appear in this story as a stoat
Terror the milksnake, who will appear as a rattlesnake
Marble the rat, who will appear as wild Norway rat
IN EXTRA SPECIAL MEMORY:
RIP Marble
2007-2010
A lovable rodent that will be missed by her cagemate and human friend!!
Now, without further ado, here's the summary and the Prologue
Summary:
A group of pets become seperated from their families and have to find a way back. And in order to survive long enough to return home, they have to figure out who's their friends and who's their enemies.
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Prologue
The door opened and Shoogy woke up from her day-time slumber. She looked over to the cage bars and saw her human friend come inside the room, carrying her heavy book bag. Stretching with a yawn, she was alert enough to get up and nudge her twin sister. They looked just about the same and the only way to tell them apart was Shoogy's tail. Unlike other sugar gliders, Shoogy had a white color at the very end of her long mostly-black appendage.
After much nudging and prompting, the other sugar glider stirred and drowsily licked Shoogy's muzzle.
"Another bad dream there, Shoogy?" she asked. Said glider shook her head eagerly.
"No. Terry's home early. Time to play."
Her sister, Gliga, glanced at the blinds with a yawn of her own. Dull sunlight seeped between them. Seeing that, she curled right back up.
"Still light out. Go without me. I was up late the other day." Gliga said. Shoogy was a bit disappointed, but decided that her sister deserved the rest. After all, she was only up 'late' in the day (by nocturnal standards) because the more timid marsupial had a bad dream and needed comforting.
Shoogy raced to the door of their multi-story cage as fast as she could and called out to her human. She knew they couldn't understand each other, their words were meaningless noise, right? But she learned Terry's name because all the other humans made that noise when near her. So the sounds weren't all meaningless.
"Play with me, mate! I'm ready for some fun!"
Terry looked at her with a smile and went right over. She opened the cage door and Shoogy immediately thought it was her duty to climb up her human's arm to her shoulder. There, she sniffed Terry's ear, mostly because it tickles her friend....and because it smells very interesting in there, though she didn't really like how sticky stuff occasionally got on her nose.
Terry placed Shoogy on the curtains of the window and Shoogy climbed to the very top. The human girl made a noise that Shoogy had learned; it meant that she wanted her to glide down. The tiny furball didn't want to disappoint, knowing this might end in the chance of a tasty treat. She measured the distance quickly and jumped, spreading the membrane between her arms and legs as far as she could get them.
She was aiming for Terry's shoulder, but instead latched onto her face. She corrected herself quickly, a bit embarrased at how she messed up such a simple trick, even though Terry thought the accident was pretty funny and awarded her anyway.
Terry gave her pet a grape and the little sugar glider grabbed it and ate it happily. She loves grapes. It's her favorite food, as it had been since the moment she could eat solid food.
Riding on her friend's head, quite comfortable on that spot, they went out the room downstairs. Terry was saying stuff to Shoogy, who listened carefully like a real friend should. Language made no difference. Shoogy knows that Terry loves her no matter what. And the sound and sweet tone of the voice was very much good enough for her.
Downstairs, Shoogy stared at the noisy and flashy black box. She tilted her head, wondering why it was showing the dark cloudy sky. Nothing interesting seemed to be happening. No matter, she was sure it wasn't important. Terry's father and mother were watching the box intently while Terry went to the kitchen for a snack. She talked to her parents while eating a banana, giving a piece to Shoogy. As the glider nibbled on the fruit, she looked out towards the glass door leading to the patio. It was dark, just like what they're showing on the box. She always finds it strange how that happens.
Shoogy was finished with her treat when Terry opened the glass door to take a small step outside. The young sugar glider sniffed the breeze and the scent caused shivers of cold down her spine, making her fur fluff a bit. Something was wrong. Very wrong. She didn't know what, but it scared her. Badly.
Weird thing is, Terry didn't seem to notice it. She just looked around, staring at the sky for a long moment. Then she went back in.
Shoogy was feeling uneasy since then. She was uneasy when she played, uneasy when nibbling on more snacks, and was even more uneasy as she was put back in her cage. Without hesitation, she made a beeline to her sister.
"Gliga. Wake up! I'm scared!" Upon hearing those words from her sister, Gliga shot up on instinct and groomed Shoogy gently and thoroughly.
"It's alright. What happened?" she asked when Shoogy calmed down enough. Shoogy shuddered.
"Something's wrong outside. Look."
Gliga looked through the blinds and noticed that the sun was no longer shining. The sky was really dark despite it being day time. Strange. She's never seen anything like this before, but she didn't want to alarm her sister more than she already was.
"Crikey....Maybe it's just another storm..." Gliga muttered in reassurance. Shoogy shook her head, face flooded with worry.
"No. It smells weird. It smells different. It smells...dangerous."
Silence. After a long moment, they shivered and cuddled tightly to each other.
"Don't wanna die, Gliga. I have my whole life ahead of me..."
Gliga nodded and tried to comfort Shoogy. "We have to get our mate, Terry. The sheila'll know what to do."
As if on cue, Terry raced in the room in a panicked manner, yanking the cage door open. Her father and mother raced after her and dragged her out of the room, away from the two sugar gliders. Terry was obviously upset about something, yelling as she was pulled out of the room. Shoogy and Gliga cautiously went out their cage, wondering what that was all about.
"What's goin' on?" Shoogy asked. Gliga sniffed intently, as if hoping that'll answer the question. Shoggy didn't know how, but she wasn't gonna question her twin's actions.
"We have to get out of here, Shoogy."
Following her sister, Shoogy glided down to the floor and ran out the room. And after gliding down the stairs, they paused and sniffed some more before heading for an open door. Any open door. It was unlikely that they'll find one, but they needed a way out. Luckily for them, the front door was wide open and the two sugar gliders made a break for it. Once outside, they noticed something.
A huge tornado was coming their way. Panicked, the sugar gliders ran away as fast as they could, trying to at least find a hole in the ground or locate their owner. Anything to get them away from this massive force of nature. A great wind came up from the funnel cloud, blowing against the tiny marsupials from behind. They took advantage of it to speed their retreat. It would be tricky, but by opening their membranes and angling them just right, they jumped high and glided into the wind.
Things seemed to go well with that, until a slipstream changed and began to suck Shoogy towards the demon cloud.
"Gliga!" Shoogy yelled in intense fear. She didn't know what was going to happen. Would the tornado eat her, like she ate that grape and banana? Gliga looked back at her sister and saw the trouble. Eyes widening and ears pinned, she followed the slipstream carrying Shoogy and roughly pushed her sibling out of the wind. Gentle was not an option here.
Without the wind to support her, Shoogy fell to the ground clumsily, startled and forgetting to glide. Shakily, she stood to her four paws and looked up hopefully. But her one hope was crushed. Gliga was gone, sucked into the storm, the twister changing direction and heading away from the remaining furball, as if it got what it wanted. Alone for the first time in her life, Shoogy whimpered and cried until she could cry no more.
But soon, she would be far from alone.
END OF PROLOGUE
