Chapter 7
I abruptly opened my eyes in fear as my mind pulled itself away from the horrible vision that had just transpired in my mind. Or was it a memory? At this point in time I couldn't give a shit as I immediately began to try and control my shattered nerves whilst I panted heavily to try and calm myself down. I placed a paw on my forehead as my breathing and nerves began to get more controlled and calm. "Well." I murmured before letting out long and exhausted sigh of relief. "That was a wonderful and fun mind trip." I said lacing a sarcastic tone to my voice before I noticed that I was once again lying against a wall. I chuckled slightly at the familiar situation before I gradually began to stand up, swaying a bit as I did so. After gaining my balance I began to check out my surroundings, only to realize that I hadn't really moved that much from the spot where I began to have the horrible vision. I could also see Finnick's van as well as the police car that had pulled up behind it. Both vehicles hadn't moved an inch, although another thing could be said about their owners as they were nowhere to be seen. "Well it seems I'm all alone." I said out loud as animals passing by gave me odd looks at my outburst. 'What am I complaining about?' I thought in my mind as a sly grin began to creep across my auburn face. 'Now I can go without any problems from those officers….what where their names again.' My thoughts where suddenly cut off as I heard an o so familiar deep and gravelly sounding voice which made itself heard from behind my back.
"Hey. Nick and Judy come quick." I immediately turned to face the voice and came into view of the small light brown furred fennec fox that was steadily making his way over to me, whilst smiling slyly in my direction. "Ben's awake." I looked at Finnick with a raised brow as he chuckled before pointing behind his back with a paw. My ears began to slowly fold against my head as I spotted to familiar officers walking briskly behind Finnick, the both of them looking dead serious. I gulped in fear before I slowly began to swivel around so that I was facing the opposite direction to which Finnick, Nick and Judy where coming, as my brain finally registered the names of the officers once again. Just as I was about to make my swift exit I heard the voice of Nick yell from behind my back. "Don't you even think about it Ben." My ears twitched as I slowly began to turn back around to face Finnick, Nick and Judy who were all looking at me with what seemed to be frustration…except for Finnick who I guessed by the appearance on his face was just about holding in his laughter at the distraught look that must have been present on mine at the time. "Nick, Judy…..how lovely to see you two officers again…." I said as I slowly began to back away as the two officers kept advancing on me. "Lovely?" Nick growled in anger as he looked at me as he removed the aviators from his face revealing a pair of leaf green eyes similar to my own. "Ok….lets calm down a minute here…" I said as I kept backing away only for my back to come into contact with one of the numerous buildings which stretched along the sides of the busy road.
"Calm down. You want me to calm down. Is that all you have to say after eight years?" Nick yelled in anger as I just stayed glued to the wall in fear. My mind was having a complete meltdown as Nick stopped two feet in front of me growling continuously as he waited for me to answer his question the anger evident in his emerald green eyes. "Nick. That's enough." I heard the calm and friendly voice of Judy say as I watched her come up from behind Nick before grasping his left arm. This brought Nicks attention off me and instead brought his attention to Judy who was looking at him with her gleaming purple eyes which showed pure passion and care towards the steadily calming fox. Nicks expression began to turn from one of anger to a look of sadness as he gazed sadly at his partner with his emerald green eyes. As this was happening my mind was on the verge of breaking in half as I tried to assess the situation but in all honesty I imagined my brain with cartoon hands holding a cap gun to its head before firing. I held my paws up to my head as I tried to get a hold of myself. "Hey. Ben this is for you." I heard the deep gravelly voice of Finnick say as I looked up to see the small fennec fox holding out a steaming cup of coffee with the cup being made out of Styrofoam. "Thanks Finnick." I said trying my best to smile at him as a sign of gratitude but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I wrapped my paws around the white steaming Styrofoam cup before bringing it towards my auburn muzzle.
I took a big sniff of the coffee reveling in the smell of one of my favorite drinks before I began to sip at the brown hot liquid. "Good coffee isn't it?" Finnick asked as I looked up once more to see the small fox smiling sly at me as I nodded at his question before returning to my cup of coffee. I must have been standing against that building for a good couple of minutes as I began to listen in to the conversation Nick and Judy were having. I could hear parts of the conversation but I really wasn't trying to pay too much attention to them. Finnick on the other hand had placed some large black tinted earphones on his big white and light brown ears before making his way over to the back of his van and jumping inn. The time waiting for the two officers did give me some of my own time to calm myself down and try to think about why Nick had acted so aggressive towards me. My head started to pound in pain once again as I put a paw to my head, letting a pained sigh escape my muzzle. It seemed each time I tried to remember my own family back on Earth my head began to hurt before new memories began to play in my head. Memories of a younger fox version of me running around an apartment with a tie held in my right paw as I ran from an adult aged looking dark auburn furred vixen that was failing to capture me. A smile always present on her face. I growled in anger as dropped my hand down from my forehead and back down to my side before looking up towards the sky. 'These memories shouldn't be mine.' I thought as I looked down from the sky before bringing my attention back to Nick and Judy who seemed to have finished their conversation as they turned around to face me.
"Ben…..look…I'm…sorry..." Nick said as he looked at the ground hiding his emotions from view as Judy patted him on the back. "Go on Nick…..." I heard Judy whisper to Nick as she looked at him with reassurance and a friendly smile. "Thanks Carrots." Nick said as he looked up from the floor and faced me as I stared back at hum with a blank expression on my face. "Ben…I'm sorry I got angry…..it's just…I was so surprised to see you after eight years…..and I got angry…I mean…you just disappeared. You didn't even tell your parents where you were going." Nick said as his features began to show anger once again before quelling in a matter of seconds. "I thought you said that you would call every once in a while when you went back to your parents. But you didn't." Nick said as he kept his gaze focused on me whilst I stared back with my leaf green eyes listening to his every word. "You were like a younger brother to me Ben. Even my mom called you her son sometimes without even realizing it." Nick said as he let a long sigh escape from his muzzle. "Just tell me Ben. What happened?" I just looked at Nick blankly as he finished speaking before he began to wait patiently for my response. I was both confused out of my mind and feeling extremely guilty as I looked at the light auburn furred fox who was standing in front of me whilst Judy stood just to the side watching the whole conversation unfold. The thing that I did next shocked me as well as Nick and Judy, but the thing is I couldn't even stop myself from doing it as I began to have another vision session. "It was my parents Nick." I said sounding dark and angry as Nick and Judy both looked at me with surprise and raised eyebrows, Nick's expression looking more concerned than surprised. "What about your parents?" Nick asked as the concerning expression stayed present on his light auburn furred face as I continued to speak.
"She died Nick. She didn't get better. Each day I visited with my dad she got worse and worse. The doctors said that she didn't have long as well as saying that the next visit we made would probably be the last." I said as Nick looked at me with his emerald green eyes showing guilt of his own as I sighed sadly. "After that I couldn't take it so I tried to run away from home. But I never got very far with my attempts. Each time I tried to leave my farther would stop me before saying that I had been bad and needed to be punished." Judy's expression was now one of horror as I guessed she understood what I was going to say. "He beat and clawed me almost every day no matter what I did he would always say that I had done something bad and needed to be punished." I just looked tiredly at Nick and Judy as they both showed their own concerns and sadness for me. "It got worse when my farther invited his friend from the police force around to help him out when I did something bad. He would always grab me against my will when he thought I was trying to escape before bringing me to my farther to punish me." I looked down at my black paws before examining my claws as the vision began to ease away slowly. "So one day in the middle of the night I left and I never looked back." I said as the vision finally ended resulting in me placing a black paw on my forehead in an attempt to quell the pain from the vision. "So after that I guess you were on your own." I heard Judy say softly as I nodded whilst still holding a paw to my forehead. Nick let out a long sigh before patting me on the shoulder as I looked up to see the sincere expression that was present on his face. "I'm sorry Ben. I shouldn't have been so aggressive, I just thought that you left without no reason but I should have known better." I looked at Nick briefly before moving his paw of my shoulder as I smiled sadly at him. "It's all in the past now Nick. You couldn't have done anything." I said as my mind was now completely clear of the vision as if it had never happened. Nick smiled lightly before moving back next to Judy whilst giving me a nod with his head.
"What happened." I heard the loud and gruff voice of Finnick say as I looked towards his van as he clambered out of the vans rear door. His earphones now positioned around his neck as he looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Not much Finnick. Just catching up and sharing memories with one of my favorite family members." I said smiling widely before looking at Nick, prompting him to do the same as I was. "Yep, me and Ben here where just sharing some happy times and memories with Judy." Nick said as he nudged Judy slightly with his paw. "Isn't that right carrots." Judy on her part looked at Nick with a confused expression on her face before she finally began to realize what myself and Nick where doing. "Yep, Nick and Ben where telling me all sorts of funny and happy stories from their childhood." Judy said smiling as Finnick huffed before making his way to the front of his van. "OK then." Finnick said as he hopped into the driver's seat of the van before starting the vans engine. "I'll let you and Nick catch up with each other." Finnick said through his window as I gave the small light brown furred fox a nod in reply. "Well it's been nice working with you Ben. Ciao" Finnick said slipping on some black tinted aviators on his head as he pulled out onto the road before flooring the vans engine. "Well." I sighed in frustration as Finnick's van sped out of sight. "There goes my only form of transport." "Well." I heard Nick say as I turned my attention back to him and Judy. "Do you have anywhere to go Ben?" I smiled slyly at the Nick as I brought my paw up and examined it as if I hadn't a care in the world. "Yes. In fact I do." I said to which Nick and to my surprise Judy glared at me with questioning glares. "What?" I said as Nick looked at me expectantly whilst Judy tapped her foot on the ground repeatedly. "Fine. I don't have anywhere to stay. Are you happy now" I practically yelled as both Nick and Judy smiled at my failed attempt to lie. "Well then." Judy said as she looked at Nick the smile seeming to stay firmly on her face. "Do you want me to take him in or would you like to?" I looked at the pair as Nick put a paw to his head in mock thought. "I don't know carrots. He is family and I doubt he would like to stay with a hopping mad bunny like you." Nick said chuckling before being punched in the arm by an annoyed Judy.
"Ow carrots, that hurt." Nick said I mock pain before looking at me. "So Ben, why don't we actually catch up with each other? It's not every day you get offered a free place to stay in." Nick said as he and Judy began to make their way to the police car before getting inn. I on the other hand was having a battle in my mind as I thought about the conversation I had with Nick and Judy about my vision. I was worried. If Nick said he knew me and was actually a family member. Then the visions were real. It had me scared and made me worry about my parent and family who were on earth as each passing second I felt like I was losing memories of them. "Are you just going to stand their Ben or are you coming." I heard Nick say as he snapped me out of my thoughts as I looked at him and Judy waiting in the car patiently for me. "Oh sorry, I'm coming." I said as I began to make my way over to the car, my recent thoughts being whisked away to the back of my mind as I hoped in to the police car. I felt the car lurch forward as Judy turned onto the road before she began to head to what I suspected would be the place where Nick was living as I sat back in the police cars rear seat and let my body relax.
