The Creature

“The Creature!”
It’s a late August night, and I’m awake. It’s bordering September, and it’s the usual sweltering heat here in the deep south. In this early morning hour, I’m looking at the clock, and it’s 3:05 am. I’m miserable. Why? The late summer morning’s mugginess is not the only reason for my restlessness. It seems I’m also unable to sleep because of thoughts. They’re thoughts that scream for attention. They’re words that need to be placed into a story’s format. Yes, I’m an author. I write novels and my mind won’t stop, and so, here I am. After minutes of trying to force myself to sleep, I rose from my bed.
A burst of anger coursed through my veins as I threw the thin sheet from my body, and once my feet hit the floor, I sat upright on the bed's edge. My head sank to rest in aging hands, and after a groan and a cough, I staggered to the bathroom.
I checked the air conditioner vent to see if it was on, and it’s doing its job. My flesh feels warm and sweaty for whatever reason. I knew without thinking the water from the shower was the relief I needed to give my mind a rest, and to cool my body.
It’s my guess maybe you are wondering where this is leading, but wonder no more. When I got out of the shower, I heard a strange noise. It was coming from outside the bedroom sliding glass doors! Those doors allow me to view my horses grazing in the pasture, and hearing the noise, I worried about them.
A curious and negative thought entered my head as I dropped my towel! After slipping back on my pjs bottoms, I headed for the nightstand next to my bed. The drawer held a small caliber pistol. I like to keep it within hand reach of my bed for emergencies. With caution, I opened the doors. When I stepped out onto the damp deck, I gazed about with only the light of a starlit sky. I find the air is crisp, and it feels nice on my damp bare chest. With a glance skyward, I noticed the moon is hiding, but the glittering sparkles high above me give off enough ample light for a clear view of my surroundings. I see nothing out of place, and all remains quiet as I inch along the deck that wraps around my house. With slow steps, I inspect each area of my property, following the wooden path beneath my feet.
Since coming outside, facing south, I look toward the pastures, and all is well. After turning toward the west, and overlooking the pond's still waters, nothing looks out of place. I rounded the corner to the north. There, the carport stands sentry guarding my vehicles, but still nothing that draws special attention. Puzzled, I turned to the east. The quiet country two lane road within eyesight from the front of my home is just that, quiet. I notice the grass is glowing from the dew. Solar lights along the fence and the security light next to the drive reflect the dampness, but again, all is well.
I’m ready to give up as a deep yawn broke my facial features, and returning to my starting point at the glass doors, I reached out for the handle, but just as my fingers touched the grip, I stopped short as a wave of shivers crossed my body. The strange noise came again, this time right behind me. As I gritted my teeth, I turned on the balls of my feet! I was ready to shoot or fight as I bravely stood to face whatever, only to see empty air space. I know I’m not imagining this, so moving to the railing, I placed my left hand on the top board as my eyes again searched out into the yard. As I held my weapon drawn and in the tight grip of my right hand, I waited to hear anything that shouldn’t be. In my mind I hoped a .22 would do the job, but who knows? Maybe I should have grabbed a larger caliber or rifle.
Minutes slipped by and nothing. Just as I was about to think I had gone nuts and was imagining everything, something touched my hand, A soft touch, an odd feeling, and my eyes rolled within their sockets downward pulling my head toward the touch, the railing, and my left hand which gripped the railing even tighter. I was ready to shoot or to die, whichever came about, but I wasn’t ready for what I was now staring at. A whimper and then another soft touch as this hairy beast stood on its hind legs resting its padded paw against my hand. At first I thought it was a large dog, but no, something else. In my mind, much worse! I had never seen an animal like this anywhere nearby and I could tell it had a serious injury by the blood on its fur and by the way It kept the other paw tightly guarded against its body. At this point I was really worried, you know what they say about a wounded animal!
As it returned my gaze, I could tell by its eyes that it meant me no harm. It was very weak from blood loss, and It seemed to plead quietly for my help. I stood motionless with no effort to comfort it, and watched the animal sink slowly back to the ground, hugging the side of the deck's foundation. I wondered what to do. My heart cried out for it, causing my mind to go into overdrive, and suddenly thoughts of another kind speared the beating muscle inside my chest, screaming out that it was a bad idea to aid this creature. Maybe it would go away, but maybe not!
That's when the love of God's creations joined in on the battle, followed by me giving in to my heart, and ignoring my mind. Walking down the deck steps, soon I was kneeling slowly beside this new arrival to my life. It watched me in its weakened condition, knowingly, with trusting large brown eyes. After studying it for a few minutes, my hands slid slowly under its body, gently picking it up into my arms. It was heavier than it looked, but not too bad. As it lay against me, I could feel its heart beating rapidly as its tongue hung to the side of its mouth, and as its head rested upon my shoulder. It was very child-like, and not much larger.
Carefully carrying this creature onto the deck and to the doors, my foot slid open the glass slider wide enough for me to enter with no further injury or discomfort toward my burden. Seconds into the room, after laying this animal upon my bed, and with the aid of the overhead light, I examined its leg and foot. “Oh, good Lord! Broken!” A passing vehicle must have struck him, and I couldn’t see any other visible injuries, but the bleeding had stopped. That was a good sign. I didn’t think it would suffer much more than it had. Having it inside my house may not have been the brightest idea I’ve ever had, but that’s hindsight. I decided later and at a decent hour, I would take it to a vet to let them deal with it. Another yawn struck me as I placed my bed sheet over it as though it was the child it resembled. Why? I just did. It seemed to welcome the comfort of the bed and closed its eyes. I guess it was going to sleep. I hoped it would live. My night was over, and so grabbing my jeans and a shirt, turning off the overhead light, I closed the bedroom door, went to the kitchen, and made coffee.

The coffee brewed as I dressed, and afterward I settled into my recliner to wait for daylight. In the meantime, I planned to write with no thought of anything else… well, except the steaming cup full of the alluring, wonderful smelling brew that sat on the table beside me. I yawned, my eyes closed, and I found rest as dreams of the bear cub filled my night.

A short fictional story. The End.