I looked up to find the huge rat giving me that glare. That glare that clearly stated that you can do whatever you want to me, but you can't break me. That glare that wild horses and rusty cowboys give on TV. I gulped. This was not going to be easy. The rat tried to stand, but was clearly in pain. I had to force him to ease down. Wow. I never thought I'd say that. "Stay down. You're weak. You need to get well, before you can stand." Surprisingly, the rat seemed to understand me. He didn't try to get up again. After making sure he was alright for the moment, I realized I had to do a blood test. And give him the medicine needle. Most animals that are new freak out when they see it. But this rat, didn't even flinch. Quit rare, that is. After leaving the rat, I decided to name him Alezondo.

I went to the blood lab. My friend, Jackson, was there. He was always there, working on something. "Hey," I said. "Hey. Heard you got the ideal job." I nodded. That's when I saw something odd in the blood. Human blood cells. "What?" I mumbled . "What?" "Oh, nothing," I said, shaking it off. The next morning, though, it wouldn't be so easy to. Night shifts are fast and quick. Soon I was in Mr. Lineate's office. Mr. Lineate looked up from his paperwork. "Yes Benson?" I walked in and put Alezondo's clipboard of files. "I found this in his blood samples," I said, pointing to human blood cells. "He seems oddly human." Mr. Lineate chuckled. "Oh, Richard. If only more were like you. A rat-human. Hilarious!" he laughed as I walked out.

When I got home , the kids were getting ready for school. Odeny walked over to me and gave me a kiss. "I heard someone has to go to work tomorrow at 10:00?" "Yea. Oddly, Mr. Lineate doesn't appreciate my kind of humor."

I walked into the cage the next morning to find Alezondo still asleep from last night. I didn't blame him. I would too. I walked over to wall across from him and slid down.

Time: 10:45 am

Hands: (That's an odd question I had thought.) Deformed, probably.

Weight: Haven't done that yet.

Awake: No

"What are you doing?" a voice beside me asked. Without looking up, I said," Oh just working on some animal files. How 'bout you?" I looked up only to see Alezondo sitting beside me. Not having the slightest inkly of what was to come, I said," Oh hey Alezondo." I looked around, but not finding anyone. I was now getting kinda scared. "That's not my name." I looked at Alezondo. "Oh, whoa."

"I have so, so, so many questions to ask you!" I said. "Yes, you must. But first, I require some answers." "But how can you talk?" I asked, clear to him that I wasn't paying attention. "How?" The rat sighed. "I'm not going to get any answers until I tell, won't I?" I shook my head. "Fine." He sighed again and began a long( but quite good) story of how he was once human. I nodded at the end, totally blown away. "What's your-" "No. Now you answer my question." I nodded, mildly cross. "It's fair." "Am I the only one here?" "What do you mean?" " Are my sons here?" "Oh. No. Well, not that I know of, my turn. What's your name?" The rat sighed. Clearly, he did not care for this. "Splinter." He stood up. "Now, it was nice to meet you, but I must be going. I would have left yesterday, but I couldn't."