NaNoWriMo 2010 – Day 13

Sophie lay awake. She was back in her own bed. She’d made sure to stay at James’ long enough that her parents would be in bed when she got home. She loved them dearly, but they always wanted to talk about things. She didn’t need that right now. Explaining things to herself was hard enough right now, she couldn’t even begin to explain anything to other people.
James had insisted on walking her home. She’d tried to argue, but he was having none of it. She had tried to point out that she lived only a few streets away and their neighbourhood consisted almost entirely of old people, but she’d been ignored. As they’d walked home, she’d done her best to hide her amusement at the thought of James trying to fend off an attacker. Thankfully, the only living being they’d seen on their walk home had been her neighbour’s Yorkshire terrier who was too busy digging up some flowers to pay attention to either of them.
Sophie looked at the clock. It was nearing 2am. She turned over and buried her face in her pillow, attempting to will herself to sleep. It was fairly useless. Her head was far too busy bursting with possibilities about tomorrow. Some of them were fairly preposterous, but a few genuinely worried her.
What worried her the most was the simple fact that Bob was actually her father. She shared genes with him. She balked at what that might mean for her future. She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to sprout an impressively mad beard, but the madness was a worry. Was he really mad, or just out of his time?
But then, what time was his? He had said that him and Sophie’s mother (her real one, current whereabouts unknown) had “arrived” about 3 million years ago. Was that true? Were her parents really around at the dawn of human civilisation? Maybe they even created it! That seemed unlikely though. Bob had spoken about being unsure if humans were around when they arrived, so it must just have been a coincidence.
And then a bigger question dawned on Sophie, where did they come from? Space? The future? Another dimension?! And did that mean they weren’t human? Was she human? Sophie sat up in bed. The day before yesterday, she had discovered her parents weren’t really her parents. Tomorrow she might discover that they weren’t even the same species as her. She wouldn’t be the same species as James either. Well, at least that might stop his romantic advances. Probably not though.
Sophie flicked on her bedside light. She was fully awake now and there was no chance of her getting any sleep. She glanced at the book on her bedside table, but dismissed it. There was no chance she’d be able to concentrate on that. She decided to head downstairs and get herself some food instead.
There was a full moon outside and it was shining through various windows, so there was no need for her to turn on any lights. She padded quietly down the stairs and into the kitchen, doing her best not to wake her parents, as she knew they were light sleepers. She pulled open the fridge, momentarily blinded by the light that shone from it, before recovering enough to be able to peruse what it contained.
There was a fair amount on offer, her mother having done the shopping the day before. Sophie was crouched in front of the fridge, trying to decide between a peach and a cherry yoghurt, when the security light in the back garden flicked on. It illuminated a rather scruffy fox that was padding across the porch. The fox stopped momentarily when the light came on, darting its head about, seemingly trying to discern where a threat might be coming from. it stopped when its eyes fell on Sophie. It looked at her through the glass of the patio door, its eyes staring into hers.
Sophie stood up and slowly walked to the patio door. The fox was watching her every move. She slowly turned the key to unlock it. the fox sat down, still watching. She did her best to silently turn the handle and open the door. the fox still hadn’t moved and she stepped out onto the porch towards it. Step by step, she moved closer to the fox, until she was close enough to reach out and touch it. She crouched down and looked into its eyes.
“You’re a fox.” she said.
The fox just looked at her.
“I don’t know why I was expecting you to talk.” Sophie sighed and looked away, “I suppose I’m just expecting the world to keep getting weirder. I think things being normal would be surprising to me right now.”
The fox put its paw on Sophie’s knee. She looked down at it and smiled.
“Would you like some food, Mr Fox?” Sophie asked. “Or Mrs Fox, I don’t really know about differences between Fox genders.”
The fox looked at her, opened its mouth and let its tongue hang out a bit. Sophie took this as some sort of indication that it would like some food. She walked back into the kitchen and opened the fridge once more. She wasn’t quite what foxes ate, so she just grabbed a few random slices of meat and threw them on a plate.
The fox was waiting when she went back outside. She put the plate down on the ground and she watched as it devoured the meat she’d brought it. She watched its coarse tongue licking the plate and wondered what her mother would say if she knew a fox had been licking one of her precious plates. She decided it was definitely best if she didn’t know. The fox finished and looked up at her. She thought that it looked a little like it was smiling, so she smiled back at it.
“Goodbye then, Mr –or Mrs– Fox.” Sophie stood up. “Maybe I’ll see you again some time. Though don’t always expect a meal.” Sophie nodded curtly to the Fox and headed back into the house. She shut and locked the door and headed back out of the kitchen and upstairs, leaving her yoghurt plans behind.
She walked into her room and headed quickly to her window, which looked out onto the back garden. The fox was gone and the porch was empty as usual. Sophie sighed and got back into bed. The encounter with the fox had cleared her mind somewhat she found herself suddenly realising how late it was and how tired she felt. She turned off the light, lay down, and pulled her duvet over her shoulders. She was asleep within minutes, dreaming of foxes. The ones in her dreams could talk and told her stories. She wouldn’t remember any of them when she woke up.

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