One morning, Mia Procyon woke up to the sound of thundering clouds outside. She looked at her clock that was right next to her bed and saw that it was 7am. She know that she had to leave for in about two houses. When she tried to get out of bed, he struggled to sit up straight or even get out of bed. She notice that her cloths fell off because they were too big on her, but her necklace with her name remained on her neck.
"Mia, time to wake up, your going to be late for work." Mia's mother said as she knocked on the door.
Mia worked in a fashion model agency because her mother was the head boss before she retired, and the job title was given directly to Mia, her daughter.
Mia than decided that she had to do everything that she could to get up, because she had a certain bus that she had to take to get to work, and it only came every two hours. She wiggled from side to side and finally was able to fall out of bed.
Oww, she thought. That hurt my back
As Mia finally got up, she walk toward the mirror to see how bad she looked and how much work she needed to fix herself before she left. As she came up to the mirror, she saw a raccoon. She jumped out of view with a scream. She shook her head and knew that it was only a dream. She walked back to the mirror only so see the same image. Knock, Knock, the sound came from the door and Mia quickly ran to her bed to hide under the covers.
"Mia, are you ok? I heard a scream" Mia's mother said as she came into Mia's room with a worried facial expression. She looked around the room to see where Mia was She spotted a lump on the bed and know that Mia was there.
No answer came from Mia, and her mother began to get annoyed. "Mia, get up right now young lady!" She went up to the bed and threw the covers onto the floor, only to see a large raccoon under the bed. She screamed and ran to the door. "Mia, is this a practical joke?" Mia's mother didn't wait for an answer, she just ran out of the room as fast as she could.
Mia's mother forgot to close the door to Mia's bedroom so Mia got up as best as she could so that she could get out of the room and confront her mother. She tried to walk on her two legs, but found her self have to walk on her hands and leg like an animal. She was scared and wanted answer about why she transformed. She could walk well because she didn't get the hang of walking on four legs. She struggled to walk out the door and two the living room, but when she got there, she saw her mother crying on the couch and her older brother talking to her about what she saw in Mia's room exactly.
Mia's tried to saw a word to her mother, but the only sound that came out was something like a purr. Immediately Mia's mother and brother look straight at her, Mia could she the tears running down her mother's face, and she could see the anger and hated in her brother's eyes.
"Get back!" Mia's brother, Ben yelled at her.
Mia tried to step back, but she tripped over what seemed to be her tail. She yelled out in pain because by stepping on her tail, she felt a throbbing pain.
Mia's brother now had gone to the bowl of beach glass that her mother collected from the beach or the store, and he started throwing them violently at Mia. The first three missed, and before Ben could throw another one, her mother grabbed Bens hand and ordered him to stop. He did so, but didn't dare put the bowl of glass down unless he needed it again.
"Mia?" her mother said as she looked straight into Mia's eyes. Mia look straight into her mothers eyes as well, and saw sadness, curiosity, and hurt. Why would her mother feel hurt, Mia wondered to her self.
"Mom, that is not Mia." Ben said in a repulsive voice.
"Yes, it is Ben, she has the necklace that I gave her on."
"Mom don't be crazy," Ben said as he readied himself to begin throwing glass again at Mia.
Mia finally was about to get up onto her four paws and run as fast as she could toward the door to get out of the house, but when she got close, she didn't know how to open it with her paws.
"No, Ben don't!" Mia's mother yelled.
Mia turn her head only to see her brother running at her with the beach glass in he hands. "Go back to your room!" He yelled with fire and hatred in his eyes.
Mia started to run back to her room, but she stumbled because she still wasn't fully able to us her legs correctly yet. She heard the glass hit the floor, barely missing her. She tried to run faster, but she tripped again. As she was quickly getting up to run again, she felt a percing pain in her back, her brother had thrown glass that had an edge and it landed deep into her skin. She fell again and got up again to get back to her room. She was struggling and limping now to her room.
"Oh, crap!" her brother yelled. Mia knew that he had no more glass in the bowl she he threw the bowl at Mia instead, it barely missed, and hit the bedroom door. She was walking slower and slower toward the door, and when she was finally close to it, her brother kicked her forcefully into the room. She landed straight onto her face. She heard her bedroom door shut closed and locked from the outside. She could also hear her mother yelling at her brother about doing what he did. She didn't care right now, all she cared about was the sharp shooting pain that was in her back and her feet from stepping on the glass.
Mia cried out in pain because she was unable to keep herself from going into agony. She than heard a bang on the door that sound like the thunder outside.
"Ben, let me go help Mia right now!" he mother yell. Mia had never yelled before, it was always her dad or her brother yelling at her, but her dad died and her brother never liked her.
"No, mom, I can't let you do that," Ben said in a serious voice, "You don't know what that thing will do to you."
"THING?" Mia's mother yelled louder, "That THING is your sister."
Mia hurt all over. Her legs her from running and all the falling that she did, her back hurt with the glass still in it, her feet hurt from the glass also in them, and her head hurt from between the thunder outside, and the yelling from her mother and brother.
She could her Ben dragging her mother away from the door and to the living room or the kitchen. "Ben, stop!" her other yelled between sobs.
Mia also cried to her mom, because she did need help getting the glass out, and she need someone to help her understand her transformation. Mia cried for her mother for a couple of minutes, but than she stopped because her throat started to hurt her. She just lied on her stomach, as still as she could be to stop the pain, and because she had nothing else to do. Mia fell asleep after all the stress that she just had.
When Mia woke up the next morning, she felt as if the day before was only a dream. Mia's got up easily this time, and walked over to the mirror as usual. She still saw a raccoon, so she mad a gasp and ran to the doo. She couldn't open It because it was locked, and when she looked in the key hole, she only saw the wall that laid across from her room.
Mia was stuck in her room day and night for about a week. She was hungry and bored. Mia went to lie on her back, but she felt a sharp object digging into her back, then she remembered the glass and now felt the pain increase. Once again Mia fell asleep, but this time, when she woke up it was night, and she spotted food on the floor in her room. She figured that her mother gave it to her because her brother wanted to starve her. Quickly and quietly she ran to the food and began eating. "WOW!" Mia thought as she looked at the food, "Scrambled eggs, bacon, potato, chicken, pork, rice, pasta, and ice cream." Mia was happy because it's been about a week since she last ate. As she ate, she could here her brother and mother talking about her. She quickly ran to the door and put her head at it so that she could hear what they where saying.
"We cannot keep that thing in the house any more." Mia her Ben say to her mother in an angry voice, "It's taking up space, we're losing money because Mia isn't here to make money, and it's eating the last bit of the food that we have. I don't even know how it got out of the room to get our food?"
Mia could tell that Ben was furious, and he might have gotten to the point of shooting her if her mother hadn't calmed him down.
"Ben, first of all I gave Mia the food and second, I can work to get money for our family."
"Mom, Mia left us. She's not coming back, so don't keep trying to tell yourself that that thing in Mia's room is her, that thing is what caused her to leave. That thing is the reason we own money to a lot of people. We have been borrowing money to get food to support ourselves and that thing."
Mia's mother ignored her brother and continued feeding Mia day and night for about a month. One day when Mia was still sleeping and her mother came into give her food, she pulled out the glass that was all over Mia as she slept, Mia's mother took the glass and threw it away, After, her mother cleaned her cuts, but it was hard since Mia kept on moving and yelping. During that time, Mia got depressed from the time Ben dismissed her as his sister, so she didn't eat at all. At the same time, she noticed that her mother had taken out the glass, and she was thankful for that, but it didn't change her mood. She felt as if she was holding her mothers love by a strand, because every time her mother came to feed her, she would hide under the bed, and watch her mother's face become less and less happy and every time she came, there was less and less amounts of food.
Finally, one day, Mia's mother went to Ben to express her regret and to move on.
"Ben, I'm sorry I didn't believe you about that thing. I refuse to feed it or even look at it, because now it won't eat a thing, and I had given up and lost hope."
"This is the right thing to do mom," Ben said as he patted his mother's back as she began to cry, "This is the only thing that we can do. We are broke and we are going to be homeless soon."
After Mia heard her mother call her a thing, she just wanted to die. She felt terrible and she felt as if the world has come to an end. She continued to stop eating for a few more weeks. The pain was excruciating and she felt as if she was going made. In the other rooms, Mia could still hear her brother look through the newspaper for a new job everyday, and she could always hear her mother cook or pacing down and up the hall way that passed Mia's door.
Finally Mia couldn't take the huge amount of depression coming from her family, she couldn't take the starvation that she had, and most of all, she couldn't take her mother's crying day after day. Mia decided to take off. She was able open the door, with her claws, so she slowly and quietly made her way to the door to leave the house. As she opened the door she hear a noise, so she ran out the door at a quick pace. She walked until she got near the river. Mia, tried to walk some more after a while, but she couldn't. She had no more energy in her. Therefore, her legs started to give way and she fell. As time passed, her whole body felt numb, and she couldn't do anything. Al she could her were people passing and hear them say "What is that thing" or "That's a big stuffed animal" or "Honey call the cops." No cops came, though, and no one even touched her. Soon, she began to be sleepy and tried to force her eyes open and not let the darkness over come her, but her eyes finally were closed after an hour of struggling and fighting to keep them open. He body became limp, and her heart slowly stopped.
At home, as her brother was reading the newspaper, he read on the cover page, "Found Dead Raccoon by the River, That seem to have died from starvation." Ben thought to himself "It died?" Ben ran to his mother to tell her the news. They quickly ran to the river and saw the raccoons body. They saw cops wrap the body in a plastic bag, to bring to the hospital for observation. Ben watched with no expression, while the mother shed a couple of tears. After all of the riot ended, and everyone went home. Ben and his mother went home as well.
As they sat at home without a word since they left, his mother said, "Let's go have a big dinner and a couple of wines to treat ourselves to. I saved enough money for a special occasion like today."
Ben agreed without a though, and they put on their best outfits and went out for a nice time after so long.
"Cheers to no more regret." Ben's mother said after they bough a couple of shots. They both drink one cup.
"Cheers to guilt free." Ben said as he laughed with joy. They drank another one with a delight in both of their eyes
"Finally, cheers to the loss of a pest and a gain of freedom." Mia's mother said last. They drank away and never looked back once, at there daughter. They forgot her name and even her existence. The mother took down picture of Mia, and put up picture of Ben and her self more. Mia was erased from their memories, and from their lives.