The Following Day

In the City of Zootopia; the day started like any other. The streets filled with bustling movement, taxi cabs drove around looking for that extra fare, stockbrokers and office workers rushed to meet their deadlines. Yes, the day was just like any other in this 'Utopian' city. Yet, something different would happen today, something unexpected.

Nicole's Point of View

I stumbled out of my room, balancing myself on the walls. Even though I had gotten changed for work, I was still drowsy from being forced to wake up so early; After all, it's no secret that Foxes are children of the night.

My entire body was heavy and unresponsive, and even when I did manage to move, it took me a couple of seconds to even realise it. 'Even Mom didn't have it this rough; then again, she didn't have to do honest work. Lucky vixen' I grumbled to myself.

Although I wanted to crawl back into the soft covers of my bed, fluff out my fur and sleep the day away. I knew with my life, I couldn't afford to be lazy. 'One of the many 'perks' of being a single mother' I thought to myself.

I stopped outside Nathan's room, taking a deep breath, feeling the cold air enter my lungs. I let off a loud yawn in an attempt to shake myself out of the drowsiness.

Giving the door a gentle push, I poked my head into his room, spying the blurred mound of blankets on the bed.

"Nathan sweetie, get up, it's time for school" I mumbled. Nothing, not even a groan. "Nathan" I repeated louder, the mound of blankets began to move slightly. I sighed as I realised, he must be still asleep.

I tried to open the door further, only to hear it collide with a 'thud'. Confused, I tried pushing again, no luck. I poked my head back into his room, peering around the side, only to find one of the living room chairs propped up against it 'Ohhh, that little…'

I stretched my paw around the side, trying to dislodge the chair from the doorknob, only to discover that it was firmly wedged. No matter how hard I tried, the chair remained where it was, stuck.

I pulled my paw back, pushing the door one last time, hoping to dislodge it with sheer force, before finally, abandoning my hopeless attempts. I poked my head back into his room.

"Nathan, open this door right now" I demanded, annoyed at his little trick.

"No, I don't want to, it's cold outside" he replied, from his bed.

"Nathan" I pleaded, feeling my frustration grow.

"No!" he repeated, underneath his small mound of blankets.

"NATHAN WHITE! YOU OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!" I screamed, feeling the pent-up frustration exploding out of my mouth. Mouth left open, I was panting for breath afterwards. For a moment, there was silence, a brief silence until it was broken by a certain troublemaker.

"NO! COME MAKE ME!" he shouted.

Slamming myself against the door, I pushed with all my might, feeling every muscle in my body tighten, as I tried to force the door open. It was like pushing against a particularly lazy elephant: tiring, slow, and pointless. My arms started to ache; my body quickly grew exhausted.

After another series of pushes, with little success, I gave up and slumped down on the floor. I curled my fluffy white tail around myself, trying to find a bit of comfort to calm down.

Leaning against the wall, I took a deep breath 'why, oh why is he doing this again?' I whined to myself.

The last time Nathan wasn't behaving himself. He was only five back then, but he was already a troublesome little kit, maybe if he had gotten a sibling or two he would've behaved more like a big brother, but the thought of raising two kits by myself was frightening. 'I've had enough of one Wilde in my life, let alone two more, uuuuuuurgh' I muttered to myself. As I sat there with nothing do to, I thought back to the last time Nathan was misbehaving...

Two years ago.

'Where on earth is that damn key' I mumbled to myself, as I searched through drawers after drawers, 'at this rate, I'm going to be super late, WHERE IS IT!?'

I've searched everywhere, and I still couldn't find it, some idiot deadlocked the front door, and now I can't leave for work, which I was already late for. I turned to Nathan, who was sitting on the couch.

"Nathan honey, have you seen the key?" I asked politely. He didn't reply, he just sat there 'that's strange...it looks like something's bothering him...I wonder if...' I then realised what had happened, or what I thought had happened. I walked towards him.

"Nathan, give me the key sweetie" I ordered, holding my paw out, with my muzzle scrunched up in a scowl.

"No" he replied, in a whisper like tone.

"Nathan, you have ten seconds, to gi-"

"At night, when you come home, I hear you crying, and I hate it" he muttered.

I was taken aback by his behaviour, I didn't expect him to know, or to care so much about it... I knelt down "Nathan, you have to...understand...you see"

"NO! NO NO NO!" he yelled, as he ran off to his room.

I let out a sigh, I had no idea where he had hidden the key, and I couldn't force him to tell me either. The only thing left to do was to call my brother for his spare, and so...I did.

Present Day

I felt my ears droop, as I slowly remembered what had...or almost had happened afterwards. Back then, I was working in a less respectable part of the city as a waitress. The patrons there were touchier than anywhere else I had worked, but that wasn't even the worst part of it.

I was filled with a sickening feeling in my gut, as I remembered the Coyote that I had worked for, and what he… he almost did to me. The teardrops started forming, as I tried to calm down, but that didn't help at all.

I could still feel his damn paws creeping around my hips, his claws digging into my pelt, I could still smell his disgusting stench of cigarettes and alcohol, and I could feel it choking me.

'Nothing happened, nothing happened, I got lucky, nothing happened' I repeated to myself, only to have a stream of tears flow down my cheeks. My body shook with fear, trembling at the horrible memories, the sickening memories.

I huddled up against the wall, burying my face in my paws, my eyes burning from the tears. I curled up even tighter, wrapping my tail tightly around myself, trying to find comfort or shelter from the memories.

As I sat on the floor trying to stop the tears, I heard something move; I looked up and saw him standing there, a shocked look on his face. He must have heard me crying.

"Mom!" he yelled, as he quickly rushed towards me, hugging me "Please don't cry, I'm sorry"

I hugged him tightly "Nathan, promise me, promise me to never do that again" I begged.

"I promise Mom, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." he whispered.

As I hugged my son, I felt his heartbeat next to mine, his familiar scent giving me comfort. This is all that I need, the feeling of home, this was all I needed.

A few moments passed before I could muster up the strength to stand up, as I wiped my face dry, I realised Nathan was still hugging me."Nathan honey, please let go of my leg" I asked, managing to muster a smile at him.

He looked up, staring at me with those blue orbs of his "Are you sure you're okay mom?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm fine my little pumpkin " I smiled at his contagious sweetness "Come on, let's get you ready for school hmmm?" I replied, wiping my muzzle dry with my paw.

LATER

Every day to get somewhere, we had to walk. A daily reminder that we couldn't, and probably never could afford a car. We could take the bus, but having a herd of Rhinos and Elephants stampeding on and off wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, not to mention it would be so cramped that it'd be impossible to even leave.

After a quick and tiring walk, we arrived at the school entrance. There I saw parents waving goodbyes to their children as they sent them off to school, with their carefree and happy looks they bore on their muzzles. I was a bit jealous of how easy their lives were...well, easy compared to mine anyways.

Being a single mother was hard enough as it is, but being a fox as well, that was an extra burden. I would never forget the day Nathan came home with bruises, those pieces of prey filth that called themselves teachers, blamed him for everything that happened. Oh how they hurt my precious baby, even though I had no real way to fight back, I sure gave them a piece of my mind. They wouldn't forget me soon...of course; I am now banned from going near their school.

Now though, he attends a more fox friendly school, one that didn't discriminate as much. I hugged Nathan once more, I was going to need it for the berating I was going to receive from my boss for being so late "Alright sweetie, take care now" I whispered.

"I will mom" he whispered.

I let him go, and off he went, disappearing into the crowd of various kits and cubs. After saying my goodbye to him, I ran, I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. Hopefully, the whole day goes without a hitch because I needed this job.

The Red Velvet Bar

I arrived at the bar's doorstep, panting and gasping for air; my lungs were burning with pain as I rested myself against the wall. 'I need to start working out, cut down on the eggs and eat more berries' I mumbled to myself.

As soon as I got my breath back, I peered into the bar through the black tinted windows. Straining my eyes, I tried to catch a glimpse inside, wondering if my boss was in. But it was difficult to see anything when the insides were dark and I was standing in a practically sunny day. Instead, I focused my attention to my ears, trying to listen carefully if I could hear a voice, a sound, anything at all. But I couldn't hear anything as well 'old carcass breath doesn't seem to be around' I thought to myself.

Feeling confident, I opened the door and stepped inside, scanning the room, my heart stopped for a second, as I saw an elderly lion asleep on the barstool, it was my boss.

I froze on the spot, expecting him to turn around, but he didn't "H-hello?" I asked quietly, waiting for a reply...nothing, I let out a sigh of relief.

As I crept forward, towards the back room, I took a final glance at my boss 'Huh, I didn't know Lions slept with their eyes open' I thought to myself.

"So, you finally came?" he spoke. I stumbled back in surprise, tripping on my tail as I bumped into a nearby table, falling to the dirty bar ground.

I heard him sigh, as he began to sit up. "You were supposed to be here 30 minutes ago" he growled.

In a panic, I quickly got up, accidentally knocking over another chair "Eeep...uhhh sorry Sir, I was caught up in.."

"No, I'll have none of that lip, when you work for me I expect you to be here on time" he interrupted, "Must I repeat myself again?" he continued.

"No sir" I replied, as my shoulders and ears sagged in defeat.

"Good, and to make sure this doesn't occur again..." he paused, with a paw on his chin, as if in thought." I think it's quite fair to dock your pay, for today's slip up, how's that?" he continued.

My jaw dropped, as I heard him say those words "Y-y-you can't do that!" I replied, shocked at his response.

"Oh? Can't I? let me remind you, that you begged me to take you in" he reminded.

Silence overcame me; I remembered how I got the job. He was right, I did beg him for it, I had no right to complain...

"Now, I was thinking of taking half of what you earn till the next week, any objections?" he asked, a smirk on his face.

'Yeah, how about you half the workload too. Useless den-warmer' I thought to myself. Letting out a sigh in defeat, I shook my head slowly in reply; my ears still drooped behind my head.

"Good, get back to work" he ordered. As he got up and walked towards the back, I heard him mutter under his breath 'Bad enough that I had to hire a vixen as the Bartender, that's some trouble just waiting to happen'.

I was stunned, working at this dump he barely pays me enough to cover Nathan's school fees, if it hadn't been for Paul who chipped in, we would've been evicted from our apartment long ago. But I couldn't complain, this was the only job within Downtown that'll accept me, and my lack of qualifications, no matter how horrible conditions were, I just had to grin and bear it.

I changed into my Bartending uniform and got to work, I wasn't really qualified to run a bar, but there are barely any patrons during the day shift in this lousy place.

'Bartending, more like bar-watching' I mumbled under my breath, as I spent the majority of my shift wiping the counter, the glasses, and generally just staring outside.

Time passes and it's now noon, still no patrons, nothing. I was getting ready to call it in for the day and go clean the restroom, which was until I received a phone call, "Hello?" I asked, wondering who would be calling.

"Hi, I'm Carly from Zootopia Elementary. Is this Nicole White, Nathan's mother?"

Why would the school be calling, my heart froze, the school would only call if Nathan was in trouble or something serious had happened, "It's Nathan isn't it? What happened? Did he get in trouble? Is he alright?" I blathered.

The whole world seemed to slow down; I was waiting, waiting for an answer. Instead of an answer, I was met with a question.

"I'm going to presume he's not with you?" questioned Carly.

At this point I was confused; why would Nathan be here? shouldn't he be at school? I decided not to dwell on it any longer, I needed answers "What happened?" I spoke slowly to hide the panic in my voice. The voice on the phone was reluctant to answer.

"Well... Miss White, I'm afraid your son Nathan...is missing"

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