Stephanie sighed and fiddled with her pen, it has been a day since she has seen one of the borrowers that she found earlier. Now, she is bored of sitting around, doing nothing and writing chapters for a story, even though she wanted to start a new one, but, she could seem to find a good one. She fiddled the pen more to get an idea until she heard a squeak from the kitchen. Mice? Stephanie looked up from her journal and looked at her surroundings, wondering what was that noise. She closed her eyes and cupped her ears for the noise. Another squeak and this time, a yelp in fear. She got up from the chair that she was sitting on and started to walked towards the squeak until she heard a clatter and pacing feets. She heard the squeak again and turned around to the noise, in the kitchen. It was a borrower, wearing pebble glasses and a black frock coat with black shoes. He is bald and has brown eye color and he looked scared. In front of him is an enormous brown mouse, about his size and baring teeth. Stephanie winced and she quickly shape-shifted into a cat and pounced on the mouse, accidentally landing on a loose board, tossing him into the air as he screamed in terror and landed butt first on the table, unharmed and terrified.
When he landed on the table, he over his shoulder and Stephanie shook her head, killing the mouse, by snapping the neck. After it had died, she dropped the mouse in her paw and stood up on her hind legs and shapeshifted into herself. She glanced at the man for a moment, and he winced. She gave a soft smile and looked at the mouse. She walked over to the window and opened it and dropped the mouse out for the real cats. She closed the door and walked over to the kitchen sink and started to wash her hands. The man stood up from the table and backed up, slowly and carefully. After she had dried off her hands, she turned back around and he froze, in fear. She noticed the look on his face and softened her gaze. "Don't worry. You're safe," she said, trying to calm him down. She took a step forward, and he took a step back, accidentally going over the side. But was caught by something soft and springy.
He winced in fear. It's her hand. "Be careful. You almost fell over," she said, softly and calmly. She gently moved her finger close for support and raised her hand up, only 2 inches above the tale. She pulled her hand forward and gently set him on the table. She gently touched some spots around for any wounds, but there was none. She sighed and moved her hands away from him. "Sorry if the touching was awkward, but I was checking for any wounds from that mouse. Maybe I should put up some live traps for any of the mice, but the others...that's going to be hard..." she mumbled to herself. She stood up on her full height and tapped her chin with her first finger. While she was thinking, the man was shocked she saved him from harm. He took a step forward, and she looked at him. "Something wrong?" she asked.
He jolted a bit when she asked the question. "Oh, n-nothing!" he replied quickly, sounded nervous and afraid. He was sweating a bit, and she noticed the look. She gently reached over and he jolted. 'Uh-oh, she's reaching over!' he thought to himself. He held up his hands for defense, but nothing happened, but instead, he felt something scooped him up underneath and raised up. Her hand again. When he got to her face, she smiled brightly and held her hand over to her shoulder. "You can ride on me if you want. When I get to the place, you want to go hide in, give me a tug on my hair." She explained while waiting for him to climb on. He hesitated for a moment, until he climbed on and gently settled, near her ear and her neck. She removed her hand away from her shoulder and started to walk, carefully and slowly so that he won't fall off.
"Anyways, what were you guys doing outside? Don't you know it's cold outside?" Stephanie asked. He was quiet for a moment and she got confused. "We were all adventuring together ever since we were pen pals. My jefe and I were just together as something secret, but we all got lost in the forest and we were freezing. Ralph, Franky, and Heavy used their massive bodies to heat us up as I gave my coat to the little ones, but, the cold kept hitting us. So, we were like sitting ducks, until you came along." he explained. He glanced down at the ground and twiddled his thumbs. "I guess we are your prisoners," he said, sounded sad. Stephanie looked away and then back at the sad looking man. She noticed the same spot where the secret tunnel was and looked at her seat. She walked over to her chair and sat down. She reached over to him and gently wrapped her fingers around his waist.
He winced when he felt the fingers wrapped around his waist, gently for some reason. Then, she gently lifted him off her shoulders and cupped her hand together in front of her face. "No, you're not my prisoner. You're just a visitor. I welcome everyone that comes to me, but..." she sadly looked away. "No one ever comes to me. They always look at me with their judgmental eyes, and some of them chase me... I don't think anyone will come..." There was a moment of silence and he noticed the spot and she sighed and turned back around to the wall with the secret door and placed him on the ground. "Here, the entrance to the secret hallway is straightforward. If you want anything else, please come to me to talk about it," she explained while sounding sad. He nodded his head and slipped off of Stephanie's hand and landed feet first on the ground and he walked towards the entrance of the secret hallway and opened the door. After he had opened the door, he walked through the doorway, glanced over his shoulder to the busy writing Stephanie and back at the hallway, before disappearing into the hallway, closing the door behind his back.