"I think it might be a bug."
"A bug?! And you put it on your bed?! Gross, Sabrina!"
"Or a bat! It could be a bat!"
"And you put it on your bed?!"
Sabrina winced, pulling the phone away from her ear for a second. "Well, I couldn't leave it outside," she said as she put the phone back.
Certainly not. Outside was...terrible.
Sabrina glanced out her bedroom window, where rain was coming down in sheets. She could barely see the city, not just because of the heavy rainfall but also because of the wave after wave of water that fell down her window. Thunder rumbled ominously, and the electricity in the air threatened lightning.
Sabrina and Chloé had been lucky to get home when they did; Sabrina being dropped off at her apartment complex first. She'd popped her umbrella open and urged Mister Chauffeur to get Chloé home ASAP, waving them goodbye. And in fact, she'd just been turning around to head through the door when she'd...
Heard it? Sensed it? She would never sure.
All she knew was that there was an odd tinkling sound, like chimes. And she hadn't even seemed to have heard it - it was more like she was imagining something, and imagined so hard it nearly became reality.
One thing she did hear, however, was a voice.
"...elp..."
Her head had turned automatically, and her eyes zero'd in on the poor creature clutching something. Compassion immediately took hold, and she'd run over to wrap it up in one of her gloves and take it inside.
"You should have left it there," Chloé was saying. "Who knows what it is - you just said it could be a bug or a bat! Those two look nothing alike!"
"It seemed sick!"
"You could have taken it to a vet! Who knows what diseases that thing might have - I repeat, you don't even know what it is!"
Chloé had a point, Sabrina thought, biting her lip as she looked back towards her bed. But still, the creature may have looked odd, but it didn't look dangerous. And with this weather, and her father still on the clock, she didn't know how long getting a vet would have taken - or if it was even safe to risk going out there. For either of them. She could have been hit by a car and the creature could get even worse.
It looked like it was getting a little better, though. She'd carefully taken some hot, fluffy hand towels and wrapped them lightly around it like a little nest. Figuring bugs and bats both liked sugar water, she'd taken the liberty of mixing some up in a saucer and placing it at its head, just in case it woke up. Or perhaps the smell would entice it to.
She'd tried to remove the thing it'd been clinging to, but oddly enough it seemed to not want to let go. It held on tight, just as much as if it were conscious. In the end, she'd left it in the thing's arms.
"I'll go when the weather clears up," she finally said out loud.
"No - you really need to get rid of that thing! You have no idea how many gross diseases it could have, or if it's dangerous-"
As Sabrina watched, the creature's face twitched, as if it were wiggling a nonexistent nose.
RRMBL
"-it could give you rabies-if it's even alive, of course, with this weather it might already be-"
"Don't say that!"
The thing stilled for a moment.
"-if it is dead, then it could be infecting your bedsheets right now-"
A tiny tongue darted out and lapped up the sugar-water.
"You're alive!" Sabrina gasped.
"What?!"
"I'll call you back!"
"What - Sabrina! Sabrina, no, don't you hang up on-!"
Sabrina hit the 'Call End' button without thinking, dropped the phone to her desk, and ran over to the edge of the bed. She knelt down, watching with wide eyes and bated breath as the creature seemed to sniff again and shuffle closer to the water. Once more it stuck out its tongue and lapped up the liquid, its tense face slowly relaxing.
"That's it, li'l guy..." Sabrina whispered. "Just drink up..."
It stopped drinking.
Rrmbl
And then it spoke.
"Muh...sess...?"
"Wh-what?" Sabrina stammered out once she got over her shock.
It talked. It freaking talked. It talked!
What was this thing?!
"Muh...sess..."
"Musses?" Sabrina frowned. Curiosity and concern were slowly winning over her shock.
"Mull...ses..."
"Mull...ses. Mullses...Molasses?" Sabrina tried.
The creature managed a tiny, weak nod. "Muh-sess...Need-"
"Oh! Uh, hang on!"
The thunder grew louder as Sabrina skidded into the darkened kitchen, throwing open a cupboard. Her mind was racing with thoughts of 'It can talk it talks it talks!' and 'What is this thing?' and 'Where do we keep the molasses?'
"I know we've got some," she muttered, frantically pushing aside jars and cans. "I know it, I know - oh! Here!" Sabrina snatched the bottle off the shelf, grabbed a spoon, and ran back to her room.
The creature had half-crawled out of the next of towels when she returned, and had already drained the sugar-water. It watched tiredly as Sabrina poured the goop into a teaspoon, then slowly made her way to the bed.
"Here," she said, setting the spoon in the saucer. "I hope-"
RRMBL
The creature leaped at the spoon, devouring the molasses in huge, greedy swallows. Sabrina backed up a few paces, mildly alarmed by the shift in demeanor. Had she made the right choice just now?
Evidently, she had. After licking the spoon clean, the creature sighed contentedly and floated a few inches into the air. "Thank you," it said softly. "I can't thank you enough, I-" It stopped, blinking its wide eyes at her. "Wait, how did you find me?"
"Y-You were outside. outside my apartment building," Sabrina managed to say. "I heard something - sparkling, I think? - and someone called for help - that was you?"
"That was me, but I didn't say anything. Not out loud..." The creature frowned, slowly tilting its head as it seemed to study her. "You heard my voice?"
rrmbl...
Sabrina nodded mutely.
"You heard me call for help...you brought me inside and..." It looked back down at her bed. "Gave me a nest made of clouds? And food? You-" Something seemed to spark behind its eyes, and it swiftly dove into the nest again. "Yes, yes, this might be perfect!"
"Uh - 'scuse me?" Sabrina ventured closer again, leaning over with her palms flat on her bedspread. "What are you talking about?"
(The shadows cast by the sheets of rain began to shift, and lighten. The sound of a downpour slowly began to quiet.)
"First, introductions." The creature sounded happy, for the first time since it started speaking.
"Er, okay...my name's Sabrina. Sabrina Raincomprix. What's yours?"
The creature reemerged from the nest and hovered at eye-level, a bright purple brooch in its arms.
(The sun broke through the clouds, turning the light drizzling rain into gold.)
"My name is Nooroo..."