The Ice Chest Thief: Chapter 2, The Intruder
I shook my head violently, sending my eye length, silver hair flying around in all directions. "What?!" I was now fully awake; it was like I had drunk seven cups of coffee in the 10 seconds it had taken her to inform me of the situation. "What do you mean you think that somebody broke into the house?! I shouted as I pushed her off of me and jumped out of the bed.
"You heard me! I was downstairs watching TV on the couch when I heard a huge 'BANG' come from the garage!" She waved her arms to put emphasis on the 'BANG'.
"Does mom know?!"
"I don't know, I think she's asleep!"
"Well go wake her up, and tell her what you told me. I'm going down to the garage to see what's up!" I rushed out into the hallway with Aquari right on my tail. "What are you following me for!? I said to go wake up mom!"
"Are you kidding me?! I'm not letting you, an unarmed teenager; rush into a possible lethal situation! Somebody could like, take you hostage or shoot you!" She reported with easily the most stupidly serious expression I had ever seen on her face.
"What? Do you think we have the Mona Lisa stored in the garage or something?"
I responded sarcastically.
She stomped her foot, I was pulling too many of her strings.
"Agh, fine! Do whatever you want!" I replied angrily as I basically jumped vertically down the staircase. When we rounded the corner at the end of the stairs into the kitchen, we could both hear the sound she had previously mentioned. It was like somebody was knocking cans and bottles off of the shelves for whatever reason.
We both approached the door leading to the garage at the far side of the kitchen. "Who, or what do you think it is?" Aquari suddenly asked.
"I have no idea. But there's only one way to find out..." With that, I twisted the knob just enough to open a crack in the door, then pushed with all of my force, making the door slam into the wall of the garage.
The sight that lay before us was definitely not a pretty one. It meant I was going to have cleaning to do...
The garage door was opened just enough for a large dog to fit under; the entire floor was covered in random canned foods, water bottles, sodas, and even a few ramen packages. I guess whoever had made this mess had high tailed it when they heard us approaching the door.
"WHAT THE FUCK, WHO WOULD WANT A BUNCH OF FOOD?" Aquari screamed; she was completely dumbfounded.
"No clue... But they couldn't have gotten far! Let's check the streets!" We both ran into the garage and used our combined strength to lift the garage door the remaining height. We then darted off into the snow. I immediately regretted not wearing any shoes, but we didn't have to travel very far outside the house before we came across our culprit.
A.K.A. I had less time to complain.
Laying face down in the snow about 50 yards down the street was the figure of a person. Directly next to it was what looked like a toppled over ice chest that was filled with food missing from our garage. I didn't hesitate before I burst into a mad sprint towards the bandit. For some reason, I didn't feel all too angry, but more along the lines of worried.
"Robin?! What do you think you're doing?" I heard Aquari shout from behind me as she attempted to catch up.
"I need to see what, or who we were dealing with! I don't really think we're in any danger!" I yelled in response.
It only took another few seconds before we closed the distance between us and the thief. We were able to get a clear view of it. Or her, apparently. The figure that was laying face down in the snow before us was a Zoroark. An extremely frail one at that. She had a blue, waterlogged scarf wrapped around her neck, but it wasn't doing its job of keeping her warm. Her fur was matted and wet, and it was obvious that she wasn't clean. But beyond all of these features was the fact that she was a slightly different colour compared to the other Zoroarks that I had seen. Instead of the usual red highlights that ran through their manes, hers were a deep blue. The same color of the scarf that she wore.
"It's a Zoroark!" Aquari stated the obvious.
"Well obviously! Now quick, help pick her up!" I announced as I slipped one arm under her torso and one under her knees in an attempted bridal carry.
"Wait what? What are we going to do with her?!"
"Isn't it obvious? We're going to take her back to the house!" I began to lift her out of the snow and found her surprisingly light. She must have been extremely underweight, because she was only 2 or 3 inches below my height, and I was 6 feet tall.
"Well it doesn't look to me like you need any help carrying her, but why are we taking her back to the place she robbed? That sounds like a recipe for disaster." Aquari gave me a look that suggested I was the biggest idiot she had ever seen.
"Let's be honest here! The only reason she broke in was to take food, she's obviously malnourished. And, if we leave her out here in this storm she will undoubtedly die of hypothermia. What I'm going to do is take her to the house, warm her up, try to get food in her, then we interrogate her. Sound logical enough?" I didn't wait for a response before I began trudging towards our house with the Zoroark in my arms.
"Ugh. Yeah, that's fine. I'll grab the ice chest and let mom know what happened." Aquari snatched the overflowing box from the ground and began full-on-sprinting to the house.
"Aquari, wait!" I shouted causing her to stop in her tracks and look back.
"I'm sorry." I sped up my pace just enough to catch up to her.
"You're sorry for what?.."
"I'm sorry for being such an ass.. I know I took it too far when I yelled at you like that this morning. I was just upset, and I didn't realize my actions until after it happened. Truth is, you're a great sister, and I love you. Even if you do piss me off sometimes." I finished with a light smile. Aquari simply nodded her head and smiled, then broke back into her sprint towards the house.
30 Minutes Later...
"Mom! How's the soup coming along?" I yelled from across the room.
"It's almost done! Is she awake yet?" My mother responded as she used her wooden spoon to gesture towards the unconscious Zoroark who lay on our couch, completely covered in blankets.
"No, but I think she's coming to. Her heart rate is back to a normal one and she's no longer an ice cube." I informed her.
"Good, just keep the fire going. Okay, Aquari?" She turned her attention towards to my sister who was throwing another log into the fireplace.
"Don't worry about it; I'll keep it-.." Aquari was cut off mid sentence by a loud sneeze.
"AH-ACHOO!" The Zoroark rubbed her nose. She was awake!
"Whoa! Aquari, Mom, she's waking up!" I shouted. I might have been a bit too excited for whatever reason.
"Ugh... Where, am I?.." The Zoroark asked weakly as she rubbed her eyes. When she completely opened them and took in the view around her, she instantly lashed out at me, doubling me over and out of the small chair that I was sitting in next to the couch.
"GAH! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" I shouted from the ground as I lifted my hand to my face where she had struck me. I felt a good amount of blood seeping from a small gash directly beside my ear. Those claws can really do a number on somebody.
"HOLY CRAP! ROBIN, ARE YOU OKAY?!" Aquari instantly ran over to me and helped me off of the ground. She glared at the Zoroark. "WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY? HE CARRIED YOU LIKE HALF A FOOTBALL FIELD INTO HIS OWN HOME TO HELP YOU, AND YOU SUCKER-PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE AS A THANK YOU?!" She was brimming with anger.
"Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't know who he was and he startled me! I'm so, so sorry!" The Zoroark instantly began apologizing to no end until I interrupted her.
"Look, don't worry about it! I'll be fine; I know that it was an accident." I winced when Aquari pressed a wet towel to the side of my face that my mother had handed her. "OUCH! BE GENTLE!"
She lightened the amount of pressure that she was using on my wound. "Eh, sorry... Anyways, just who are you? And why were you stealing from our pantry?" Aquari turned her attention back to the unidentified Zoroark.
"I-I, uhh..." She took a deep breath. "Well, my name is Violet, and after I had gotten stuck out in that storm, I realized that I wouldn't make it without some food... So I'm sorry if I made a mess out of your garage..."
"Violet? MORE LIKE VIOLENT!"
"AQUARI!" My mother and I shouted at the same time.
"HEY! WHAT ARE GETTING MAD AT ME FOR? SHE'S THE ONE WHO TRIED TO KILL YOU!" She retaliated.
"AND YOU HAVEN'T?" I shouted in response.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU TWO ARE ADULTS!" My mother added.
The three of us continued to argue for another good minute until we were cut off by a loud rumble directed from Violet. We all spun our heads to face her, and couldn't help but explode into laughter.
"What's so funny!? I'm really freaking hungry!" Violet shouted, a huge blush began to form across her cheeks.
"Oh. It's nothing. Eheheh... It's just-I-I can't help but laugh at how you stopped us from fighting." I announced; I was still trying to contain my laughter.
"We're sorry about that..." My mother apologized. "And Violet, I made some soup for you so you wouldn't starve. Let me go get you a bowl." She began walking towards the kitchen.
"As much as I want you to hurry up, what's your actual name? I would prefer not to thank you as mom." Violet suddenly exclaimed; this caused my mom to rapidly spin around in a circle like a dancer, then strike a silly pose with one hand on her hip, and one hand on the underside of her jaw in a fist shape.
"Rosa Wayland at your service!" My mother proclaimed. I can't believe that we're related...
Violent began to laugh. "I like you guys, I feel so shitty for acting the way I did. You're all great people. Thank you for doing this for me..."
"Of course. I mean, we couldn't just let you freeze to death out there. Even if you did trash our pantry." I commented.
"What he said. And as much as I would love to stay down here and listen to you all talk, it is like two o'clock in the morning. So if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep." Aquari announced. At that she began fast walked to the staircase and disappeared behind the wall.
"Night everybody! Don't attack my brother again Violet!" We all heard her holler from the stairs. It was only another few seconds before we heard the 'click' of her door closing.
"She's a real 'Act now, questions later' kind of person. Huh?" Said Violet as she turned her attention back towards me.
I sighed. "You pretty much hit the nail on the head."
Suddenly, my mom flew into the room with a bowl of obviously extremely hot soup, and quickly set it on the small coffee table beside the couch that Violet was resting on."Hot, hot, hot! Violet, here's your soup! If you want more, go ahead and help yourself. I'll be in my room doing what Aquari's doing!" She explained as she fanned and blew on her burned hands.
"Thank you, Mrs. Wayland." The Zoroark responded.
"Of course, but just call me Rosa. If you need anything else, ask Robin." She began retreating to the upper floor, but before she entered her room we heard her shout, "Watch out, the soup is really hot!" Followed by the click of her door closing.
"Like mother like daughter." I chimed in; we both laughed.
After Violet took a taste of her food, she instantly began wolfing it down; not even bothering with the fact that she was scalding her mouth. I guess she really was famished.
"So I'll take that you want seconds?" I snickered. Violet began rapidly nodding her head whilst she drank the remaining broth straight from the bowl. "Jeez... Just how old are you?"
She held out her empty bowl in my direction. "Well, in human years I'm seventeen. So 'technically', I'm still allowed to act like a child since I'm not an adult yet."
I laughed then took the bowl from her paws. "I don't think that's how things actually work. But whatever floats your boat I guess."
"Oh psshhh! Anyways, how old are you?"
I was already midway to the kitchen before l responded. "Just turned 18 last month."
"Oh, cool beans."
I poured another bowl of soup, and then began walking back towards the couch. "You're grammar is awfully domesticated for a wild Pokemon. If you are one, that is." I handed her the bowl which she accepted immediately.
"Well, considering I lived with people for the first 16 years of my life, I would hope that I sound sophisticated." She said as she began to spoon more of the soup into her mouth.
"So if you're a domestic Pokemon, why were you out in that snowstorm by yourself?" I must have hit a sour topic, because she instantly stopped eating, and her head drooped.
She let out a long sigh. "It's a long story..."
"Whoa! If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to by any means!"
She shook her head, then set the bowl of half empty soup on the small coffee table. "No, it's the least I can do after all that I've put you and your family through... So where do I start? Uhh, I guess I should just start from the beginning... I was born into captivity as a Zorua, and I lived with a really wealthy family. The youngest boy and I instantly hit it off. We were best friends within days of my birth. He was the sweetest person in the entire household, and I loved nothing more than spending every waking minute with him. I evolved on the day he turned 14, and that's when things started to get messy. To put it as nicely as I can, he was smart, wealthy, and talented. But he didn't really have a way with women. So most of the time, he was without a girlfriend, and on the rare occasions that he did get one, he always had his heart broken." She took a deep breath before continuing. "It was the night of his senior prom, one year ago... He had come home early after he caught his date cheating on him; I tried my best to comfort him, and to ease his pain, but he only got angry. He turned on me... I remember him pinning me to the bed, and he was going to... He was going to... To..." She broke into tears. "He tried to rape me... My best friend... I-I panicked, and closed my eyes, then I lashed out at him so he would stop... An-And I felt my claws hit flesh... I opened my eyes to see blood spurting from a gash on his neck... I had hit his jugular... He-He, started to choke on his blood, and within moments he collapsed on top of me. I-I killed him... I felt his blood draining all over my mid-section, and I screamed... The next thing I remember doing was jumping out of his window, and running... I ran for such a long time, never taking breaks. I kept running, because I was afraid of myself..."
I couldn't believe what had just heard. It was like my brain picked up what she had said, but took longer than it should have to process it. "You... I... I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have asked... I had no right to know something like that." I was barely able to mutter.
"I-I would understand if you don't want someone like me around you or your family... I'm... I'm a murderer!" She said in between sobs. At the moment, the best thing I could have done to alleviate the situation was to tell her that I understood, and to give her time to herself. But, being the sap that I was, the only thing I could find myself capable of doing was assaulting her with an understanding hug.
But hey, now that I look back on it; it was definitely the right thing to do.
At first, she recoiled from the sheer shock of my gesture, but after a moment she melted into the hug and buried her face into my shirt. I gently moved myself to the side and sat on the couch next to her to remove myself from the physically awkward position that I was originally in above her.
For the longest time, we just sat in each other's embrace as she cried into my chest. Speaking wasn't a necessity. My caring actions held all of the words that she had needed. After a good 10 minutes, I broke the silence.
"I want you to stay here with me and my family, Violet." I only needed to whisper because of the small distance between her ears and my face. It was almost like I had clogged a pipe in her system, her crying almost instantaneously died down into a low snivel.
She removed her arms from my sides, and pulled out of the embrace. She instantly locked her hazel eyes onto my own turquoise ones. "What?.." She barely let the word escape her lips.
"You heard me. I don't want you to have to go through more pain by staying out in the wild. You were born in captivity, and shit you deserve to stay there. So even if we aren't some rich family with a big ass mansion, you deserve more than being forced to steal to meet your own needs. So, will you stay?" In that moment, I witnessed the Violet display the biggest most honest smile that she had shown in the small amount of time that I had known her. I'm not a mind reader or anything, but I knew her answer before she had to say it.
"I-I would be honored... To stay with you... Thank you Robin, for everything..." I wasn't given a single second to react before she had tackled me down onto the couch and wrapped her arms around my torso. She was squeezing me so tightly that it was difficult to breathe.
"Violet... Air... Please..." Her grip loosed, but she still didn't move from her position on top of me. "You know. Normal people don't hug for this long." I breathed.
She placed her head on top of my chest and closed her eyes. "That's okay... I'm not normal anyways. Goodnight Robin."
"Wait. What?"
Hello guys, I apologize for how long it took me to upload this chapter, but over the last few days I've been having some trouble with our internet. It seems to be back to its old self finally, and in the time that I was unable to post I decided that I could just write another chapter. So today, I'm uploading a double-whammy! As always, let me know what your opinions were on the chapter, and PLEASE REVIEW! So with that, deuces!
