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[lil BIG dwarf]

Chapter 6

By lil BIG dwarf

 

Since I'm posting this a few days early, I decided to make it super long!

EDIT-This felt longer in a google doc...

 

 “Oh Butterbean. How am I gonna survive the week?”

I had been working on taming her since Wednesday. Today was Friday, and We got her last Saturday, so she was pretty far along the taming train. She was sleeping in my hand, while I pet her softly.

Tomorrow my Mother and Step Sister come. I’m sorry to say this, but I…. strongly dislike them. My sister was bringing her pet rat, Moo. She often grabbed her by the back of her neck or tip of her tail. She complained about her pooping-which was stupid.  Moo was a lone rat, in the tiniest cage imaginable. She couldn’t even stretch out her tail in that prison! I hated seeing her look so cramped and scared, I knew quite a bit about rats, and this was wrong. I tried to convince them to get her some friends and a Critter Nation, but they said that she had ‘enough’. Ugh. I just…. Cant.

 

My Mother decided on a whim to buy some fish. There are at least 200, no kidding. In a one gallon, algae encrusted tank, with no enrichment or anything in there. Just a glass bowl. Full of fish. Nothing else. Never cleaned, rarely fed, and the bowl was often knocked over.

 

I’ll stop ranting, but you get the point. They impulse buy, ruin animals lives, don't support adopting, and most of all, can’t respect that I’m a different person.

 

But enough of that.

 

My Dad knocked on my bedroom door, and Butterbean leaped  out of my hand, and scurried around. My room had been hamster proofed, so I just watched her with a smile on my face. Then, the door was knocked on again, much louder.

 

“Sorry Dad. You can come in.”

He opened the door in a huff. His shirt was ruffled, hair in tangles, and eyes half shut. I think I saw tears dripping down his face.

“Change of plans”, he whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear. “We're going to Europe to visit Alice (my mom) and Stefani (My sister). We leave on Monday.”

 

I should have gone after him. Made him change his mind. Fought back. But I just stood there, jaw dropping, confused, and most of all, angered. How was I supposed to find a pet sitter in only 3 days?! Who would take care of Butterbean and our betta Chloe?!

 

I ran after him-”WAIT! What about Chloe and Butterbean? And who’s gonna go out searching for Mulch? Maybe I should stay here, with the pets. And how long would we be staying? School starts soon.”

 

“I got Chloe and automatic fish feeder. It's not ideal, but hey, we do what we gotta do. We're taking Butterbean with us. We're staying for as long as we need to. You’re to young to stay home alone. Also, school starts in 2 months. That's a very interesting ‘soon’.”

 

“But how are we going to pack the Detolf? How will we get her there without Customs quarantining and testing her? WHY do we need to go all the way ACROSS THE POND to ENGLAND to visit them. Why can't they come here? Or better yet, we never see them again!?”

 

I was enraged. My blood was boiling. My Dad's face turned hard as stone as he said, “Alice is in a Coma.”

 

It only took those 5 words. My face went white. My blood ran cold. My heart skipped a beat. My brain… flaked out on my. It was like the world was frozen in place due to fear, anger, hatred, and pain. I ran to my room and shut the door, Butterbean jumping, then cuddling on to my hand. 

I started sobbing. Water rushed out of my eyes like Angel Falls. 

Should I feel angry? Angry that I wasn't told sooner? Upset? Upset that I had been so mad at my family? Hatred? Directed at… me? Them? Did I even want to go to England? They had lived in Washington D.C for a while, till it got to ‘boring’. They move every 6 months to 2 years to ‘spice things up a little’.

 

I slowly packed my large backpack with as many clothes as I could fit. I also stuffed in bag of higgins sunburst and a bag of purebites dog treats. Quietly, silently, I started to turn our spare 200qt sterilite bin into a bin cage. My dad trusted me with tools, so I had all the needed supplies in my room. 2 hours later, Butterbean was sound asleep in her diy cow hide, and I had made a 700 sq inch bin cage.

The whole time I worked I thought. About my parents and my older sister. About the divorce.

 

It was late at night. Mom and Dad were arguing, like always. Stefani was in her room, trying to get Moo to run on her 4 inch wheel. I was in my room, texting my best friend. Then it happened. It was a loud crash, louder than life and scarier then midnight. I jumped and ran out of my room, about to scream. My mom and dad were staring at each other. A broken vase of daffodils sat smothered on the kitchen floor. In my dad's eyes I could see pain and betrayal. When my mother turned around, hate and anger was written all over her face. Without a word she called Stefani and told her to go in the car. Then she left. She just hit the road, leaving me and Dad alone. A month later they came back for Moo and their things. When they came, no words were exchanged. Just pained looks and glares. Then they left for California. Then they went to Texas. They New York. Then Georgia. Then Washington D.C. Now, England. Bloody England.

 

I was still deep in thought when I checked the time. It was 8 PM. My stomach gave me an angry growl, convincing me to go get some dinner-or dessert. I walked slowly into the kitchen, and the memories flooded back into my head painfully.

 

“Maybe we should take a break.” My Dad said. “Take a break?! Are you kicking me out?!” My Mother screamed. Calmly, my Dad explained “Of course not Alice. It's just… all this arguing isn’t good for the kids. Maybe we just need some time to cool off.” Then my Mother lashed her arms out-an angry gesture- and knocked down the vase. 

 

I could remember everything. And for once, I didn’t want to. I didn't want to remember the arguments, the words they passed back and forth, and most of all, the looks. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. A look on someone's face is worth a million.

 

I kept walking over to the fridge. We had a few things there, so I pulled out some shrimp, spices, teriyaki sauce, and a few other ingredients to make my favorite- (cooked) shrimp sushi. When I was turning the shrimp around on the pan, watching it turn pink while my onions caramelized, my dad came down stairs.

 

“I… I’m sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, and I'm sorry that you have to get through this.”

 

I heard his words and gave him a long hug. Then I smelt burning.

“MY SHRIMP!”

I quickly turned off the burner and scraped off the burned pieces. Me and my dad shared a great, slightly burnt meal of shrimp sushi, laughing the whole time.

 

After we washed the dishes, I went on amazon to get some more supplies for our flight to England. As I rolled into bed and turned off the light, all I thought was ‘Thank you next day Amazon Prime”.

 

______________________________________________________________________________

l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l-l_l

(Mulch’s POV)

 

“Aspenstar!?” Evergreen yelled out as we passed into the camp-it was an underground… burrow didn’t do it justice. It was a cavern. It was huge-the main area was almost as large as the pet store itself! There were burrows going off in every direction. A medicine den, multiple other dens, and a giant food hoard.

A light brown, aspen colored dwarf came running out of the largest den. Her eyes were bright and she rushed towards me. Her voice choked up, he said “Is it really you Nettle?!” Then she gave me a big hug. She was huge compared to me, but a lot older. Her scent told me that she was at least 2 years old, but he looked as young as Dots is!

I pulled away from his hug. The other warriors stared at me and Aspenstar, until she stared them, a silent message saying “Go on with your day, Warriors. Im handling this.”

 

“Do you… remember me Nettle?” She asked, tears spilling out of her face.

“My name isn’t Nettle.” I sighed. “My name is Mulch. I’m from a petstore, and I just want to get back to my best friend.”

“So…. you don't remember me, your mother?”

“M..M. Mother?” I was shaking uncontrollably. How could she be my mother? I was from Eurupe!

“A Mother never forgets the scent of her son. Your father is from England. I love you Nettle, Mulch, Whatever you want to be called. I have always loved you, even when the humans stole you from me.”

 

I think I fainted. The world went black. I couldn't process this all. It was just… too much.

The last words I heard was my supposed mother saying “Evergreen, bring your step-brother to the Medicine Den.”

(TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 7 BY ~BLUMENKRONE~)

 

 

Dont forget to sign up to write here- http://hamsterhideout.com/forum/topic/158353-group-story-sign-up/ 

Edited by lil BIG dwarf, 13 September 2020 - 02:27 AM.

[lilhams~uwu]

 

 

Oooooooo! Super cool! I'm excited to see where this is heading!

Just a question; is Stefani her original sister and Gabrielle April and Stefani's step-sister?

Anyways, great chapter! Good on you, thanks for the wonderful story.

[lil BIG dwarf]

Oooooooo! Super cool! I'm excited to see where this is heading!

Just a question; is Stefani her original sister and Gabrielle April and Stefani's step-sister?

Anyways, great chapter! Good on you, thanks for the wonderful story.

Wha??? Your confusing me.

Who's Gabrielle???????

[lilhams~uwu]

“Positive,” he gave me a thumbs-up. “Uhm… next week, your mother and sister will be visiting. They’ll be having dinner with us.” My heart froze. I stared at the floor. I bit my lip. Hard. I felt blood on my dry lips.

 

“My stepsister. Not my sister.” I corrected him. It still felt wrong to call her my stepsister. I wanted nothing to do with her. I didn’t even want a relationship status with her.

 

Gabrielle Greens. Her name wanted me to throw up. Disgusting.

 

“Fine, stepsister. Be nice to them, please,” Dad urged me. 

 

Why should I be nice to THEM? If they don’t treat me with respect, then I won't treat them with respect! 

 

The thoughts went through my head, each one making me want to slam my head with a pillow. I swallowed the rock in my throat.

 

 As you can see, I don’t like my stepsister. Or my mother either. Who leaves their own child like that just because their financial funds are going down? 

 

A gold digger. A dirty little gold digger and a spoiled brat were coming to my house to eat our food. I didn’t respond. He sighed. I didn’t get how he didn’t feel the same way as me. 

 

Did he still love her? I wondered. I know love makes you do silly things, but this?! This was downright outrageous. Out of everyone here, I expected my Dad to feel the same hatred I did. They ruined our lives.

 

I included Gabrielle in Chapter 5, she's April's stepsister.

[lil BIG dwarf]

I included Gabrielle in Chapter 5, she's April's stepsister.

So... Stefani is her middle name and she dosent like being called Gabriella? Im making a charecter list now.

Edited by lil BIG dwarf, 13 September 2020 - 02:25 AM.

[lilhams~uwu]

So... Stefani is her middle name and she dosent like being called Gabriella? Im making a charecter list now.

 

Ah okay! That makes sense; it'll help the group story writers and the readers to track any new characters.

[lil BIG dwarf]

Since there are quite a few people following this thread, I just wanted to remind everyone that WE NEED MORE WRITERS. This story will go NO WHERE if people stop writing.

ANYONE can sign up multiple times, as long that its not in a row.

At this point, the next chapters are mainly lilhams~uwu and me writing. Please, if anyone wants to sign up, do it. You can even take one of my weeks.

 

If for any reason you'll need more than a week to write, or have some other special circumstance, please PM me asap. 

 

And if you do decide to write a chapter, please sign up here- Group Story Sign Up

 

Thank you!

[lilhams~uwu]

Wait, did you ever name that character list lol? Anyone can have Chapter 8 if needed/wanted.

Can't wait to see Blumenkrone's chapter!

[Bearthehammy~]

Here it is everyone! The (Very) Long awaited chapter 7! Sorry Its late so I decide to make it interesting. 

 

I was settling in, pleased with my surroundings. The monster I found out was actually pretty ok. She gave me snacks and I like to crawl into her hand, then I get mad when she does anything else. Pretty spooky! She walked into her house, stranger than usual. . . she looked, distressed? She sat on the ground and grabbed a slightly smaller home and began to, I'm not too sure. But it was loud. I’ll tell you that, and hey! She's taken my stuff! Why is she doing that? How rude! She’s putting it into the small house! How mean! I don’t like sharing. Um, I’m back in my stupid small people place. Goodmorning, it's WAY past my bedtime.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I’m so mad at everyone, the way it turned out I should say. I finally get a hamster to love, cherish and enjoy and BAM, the Mom I cared nothing about and ruined.. Well not ruined but ya know, didn’t improve is in a coma and we have to go visit them. I don’t even want to think about how stressed butter bean is, poor girl or boy? I’m not too sure :/ at least the cute cactus lights I ordered off amazon came, but I only get to enjoy them for 3 days until we get back who knows when. I need to get butter beans semi permanent travel bin ready. I turned on Munchie’s place’s new video for background noise, not my favorite but she will do. I would listen to Tori’s new video but she canceled her video this week. I got it, but it was a little disappointing. I grabbed his wheel, favorite hideout and a few toys, 700 sq inches feels so small coming from 900. First world problems? I guess. Silly Butterbean, they are not happy that I’m taking his stuff. I’ll scoop him and put him in once I'm done.

Well, right after I finished Dad called me up for dinner. He told me we’re most likely coming back next month. I sat there until that moment  “What?!?!” I exclaimed, fuming. “I know April, I know! Your Mom’s in a coma?! Could you please have any sympathy!” He said it in his dad way, it got the point across but it wasn’t yelling. “ That woman is NOT my mother!” I was shocked at the sudden power I had, but I continued. “ We will NOT refer to her as my mom, she is ALICE and that is it.” He looked at me, and quietly said, “Go get your ipad, now.” I could tell this was a mixture of stress and irritation. He sat there, hands in a ball with his head leaning against them as I scurried to my room and grabbed my phone, and this is embarrassing but. . . kissed it goodbye as I walked upstairs. I placed it on the table and sat silently awaiting my punishment. He said “It’s mine for the night, go clean your room please Spring.” He calls me Spring, because April is a spring season I guess. I sluggishly waddled to my room ashamed, only to realize that Butterbean was twitching and walking around the cage in circles. I screamed and my dad came running.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up, with a feeling of pain through my body with the inability to control anything. My eyes were blurry and I was cold. My head was the worst, it was tilted to the side. I heard 

my monster walk in, and let out a horrible noise. Just then I smacked the floor and went into a deep sleep. As I fell asleep I heard scrambling and panic noises. 

That's it! Sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger >

 

Chapter 8 will be done by.... Lilhamsuwu! Hope you enjoyed and Im going to take a nap

[lilhams~uwu]

 

 

WHAAA I LOVE THE FACT THAT YOU DECIDED TO INCLUDE YOUTUBERS LMAOOOO 

AJWROEJROEJORJE BUTTERBEAN AAA CLIFFHANGER GO BRR BRRR

I can't wait to do Chapter 8! It's going to get wacky, muahahahahaa.

[Bearthehammy~]

WHAAA I LOVE THE FACT THAT YOU DECIDED TO INCLUDE YOUTUBERS LMAOOOO
AJWROEJROEJORJE BUTTERBEAN AAA CLIFFHANGER GO BRR BRRR
I can't wait to do Chapter 8! It's going to get wacky, muahahahahaa.

Lil hams uwu go brrrrr >:c

[~Mintyhams47~]

Here it is everyone! The (Very) Long awaited chapter 7!.

Oh my Gush this is sooooo good! That Cliffhanger! Ahhhh! I just want moooooore!

 

I love the mention of the YouTubers too!

Edited by Hamsterlover47, 30 September 2020 - 09:29 AM.

[~Mintyhams47~]

 

I can't wait to do Chapter 8! It's going to get wacky, muahahahahaa.

I can’t wait to see what you do!

This reply has not been added as it has been posted too quickly

Arghh!  

[lilhams~uwu]

Lil hams uwu go brrrrr >:c

 

wait why- 

 

I can’t wait to see what you do!

This reply has not been added as it has been posted too quickly

Arghh!  

 

I was going to type, "Me too!" LMAO, but then I realized, "That isn't... lilhams, w h a t?"

Thank you though! Also, RIP (posting it too early) that always happens to me!

Edited by lilhams~uwu, 30 September 2020 - 09:54 AM.

[lilhams~uwu]

Okay, so apparently based on the group story sign-up topic, I'm late, lol. It's pretty long, but it's good (i hope-)! Here is Chapter 8.

 

CHAPTER 8

 

I jolted awake to see myself in a small underground cavern. It was filled with a bunch of holes in the ground as well as a small pile of moss and leaves near a corner. In fact, I was lying on one! I sniffed the strange room and detected a large amount of smells in the room.

 

I covered my nose. Welp, I guess I’m not going to smell for days. I sat up and stepped one of the leaves to get up. It let out a little ‘crunch’ and I started to hear footsteps coming right from the tunnel! I instantly rose up to defend myself as a small familiar black hamster walked out of the opening. Her eyes widened while I realized where I was and what happened. The dwarf was Evergreen peeking in. She was checking on me since I fainted. 

 

Apparently she was my stepsister as well. “You’re awake!” Her eyes lit up.  “Do you want me to get Cherry? She’s our healer. She’s getting some more herbs but I figure I could cut her trip short,” she explained.

 

I winced. “No, no. I’m fine. Just a splitting headache, that’s all. What happened to me anyways?”

 

She paused for a moment, thinking.

“I’m not completely sure. We had just finished our patrol, we didn’t find any prey but we found you, and then you fainted in the middle of our camp.” She blinked. 

 

“Did Mother bother you? She said that you were her son.” She looked like she was in deep thinking. The room went silent.

 

Finally, I spoke. “I’m from Europe, okay? I know for a fact that we’re absolutely nowhere near there, I was imported all the way to the US. I’m pretty sure that monster didn’t drive all the way to another continent in thirty minutes,” I scoffed. She frowned.

 

“I don’t know, I was just thinking. Sorry if I offended you.” I was able to apologize for my attitude but she continued talking. “You know… she called you Nettle, remember?”

 

I noticed she looked nervous. “Yeah. To be honest, I’ve never even heard the word ‘nettle’ until now,” I admitted. “Why’d you ask?”

 

“Nettle was my big stepbrother,” she confessed. “I looked up to him for a while. But when I turned five weeks old, he vanished.” My eyes widened.

 

“We took our best patrols to find him but no luck. You look just like him so I was hoping it was you… but I guess not. Mother is old, so I can see why she did mistaken you for her son. I’m sorry about that.” Her eyes were now sad.

 

“No, no, it’s not your fault,” I told her. “I don’t blame your Mom either.. what’s her name?”

 

She responded with, “Aspenstar. She’s our leader!” Right, right. How could I have forgotten? I thought to myself.

“Aspenstar..okay,” I sniffed.  “I don’t blame her,” I continued, “but I don’t know how to tell a grieving mother that I’m not her son. It would be so disappointing and awkward. I couldn’t break her heart.” She blinked.*

 

“We don’t have to tell her if you don't want to,” she slowly said. I narrowed my eyes.

“You want to…” I echoed, “lie to your own mother?” I shook my head. “She’ll have to find out eventually,” I retorted, “she needs to get over his death. I didn’t suggest that I would act out as her dead son, I just wanted you to tell her!” I exclaimed. She scowled. 

 

“You wouldn’t understand,” she spat. Suddenly Evergreen, the kind and friendly hamster I met in the forest, had done a whole 180. “It’s hard to get over grief. It’s not like you would know,” she added. 

 

I sniffled. I opened my mouth to defend myself but she hushed me. “Mother is in her last days,” she gently whispered. “She will be reaching the rainbow bridge soon and I don’t want her final moments to be filled with sorrow. Please? For me and Aspenstar,” she explained softly. 

 

I sighed. Evergreen was back. “Fine,” I huffed, “but if this doesn’t work out, I’m blaming you.”

 

She laughed. “I don’t think so,” she responded. “Mother’s very stubborn, she’ll likely argue if somebody disagrees with her. She usually wins, so it’d be a waste of time to tell her that you aren’t Nettle. You know what they say, ‘if you can’t beat them, then join them!’” She joked. 

 

Just then, a tiny white and gray dwarf stumbled in with a mouthful of berries and flowers in her mouth.

 

“I see my patient has awoken,” she chimed in. “How are you doing?” She placed the herbs one-by-one into the many holes in the den. Ohhh! So that’s why there’s a bunch of them. I just thought some misbehaving pups were messing around in here. They’re for storage, I thought to myself.

 

“I’m fine,” I answered. She must be the healer, Cherry. Awfully small though, I would have guessed she was an apprentice if I didn’t know better! Not that being short is bad.  “I had a slight headache but I feel better now.” I told her. She nodded.

 

“That’s good,” she glanced at Evergreen. “Thanks for checking up on him while I was on a hunt for herbs. Dismissed,” the black hamster nodded and left the cavern. Cherry placed her eyes on me. “You’re sure that the headache is gone? She asked.

 

“I’m fine,” I assured her. “I’m up and ready for the day,” I got up, but before I knew it, she quickly pulled me back into the leaves.

“Oh no, you don’t,” she scolded me. “You shouldn’t work yourself too much today. Say, has Aspenstar agreed to you staying here?”

 

I shrugged. “She didn’t say no or anything negative to my arrival. I have a feeling I’m going to stay,” I murmured to myself. Apparently wild hamsters have really good hearing.

 

“I’ve heard the rumours,” she quietly said. “You’re Nettle? Aspenstar’s son?”

I shook my head and itched my side. “Not exactly,” I told her nervously. “Evergreen says we can’t possibly convince her that I’m not Nettle. She’s apparently stubborn,” I explained.

 

She laughed. “She’s not wrong. I used to be an apprentice to train to become a warrior and I worked alongside her. Let’s just say she was used to getting her way.” Before I could reply, she continued with a more serious tone. 

 

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” She asked me. “I don’t want you to be dragged into their family history. This is like putting fire to fire. Grief is a horrible thing, let me tell you. Did Evergreen tell you about what happened to Nettle?”

 

“He disappeared. Nobody could find him.”

“After many patrols, we found a hint to where he could have gone. It was from the humans,” she went to a pile of dirt and started to dig at it with her paws. Dirt flew everywhere yet she didn’t seem to notice or care. Finally, she reached to grab a thick and long string. It was a tiny rope. 

 

“We assumed that the humans had captured him while he was doing his warrior assessment. This would have been a part of a net they used and perhaps he tried biting his way out to escape. Either it was unsuccessful or too late. The warriors only told Aspenstar, the deputy, and me.” She placed the rope back into the ditch and placed back the pile of dirt onto it. I didn’t have the words to tell her anything.

 

“I’m… sorry for your loss,” I croaked out. She nodded.

“Nettle wasn’t the only one. Later, a family of winter white rogues were captured. When we went to check our borders one morning, their burrow was empty. Nothing. What a shame,” she sighed. 

 

Silence filled the air before Cherry spoke up. “Why don’t I get you some food?” She changed the subject. “You must be starving.”

 

I nodded, even though my hunger had died down before. I guess heartbreaking news can do that to you. She signaled her tail and I followed her out the medicine den. “Come with me, Nettle,” she called out. I nodded, about to correct that my name was Mulch, not Nettle.

 

This was going to be extremely difficult, wasn’t it? 

 

________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

I woke up in a huge white room on a sleek wooden table. There was a blanket on top of the table and a bunch of tools surrounding me. I shivered, right before I was pinned down by giant hands! I squeaked in agony and pain. The humans didn’t notice, or care, about my shrieks and screams. They merely poked around on my head while I growled.

 

“Butterbean!” April, my owner, rushed into the room and eagerly went to the table. I shut my mouth up as soon as I saw her arrival. I calmed down seeing her familiar face, and her father’s face as he awkwardly followed her in. “What happened to him?” She let out a soft whisper. It was so quiet that even I, a hamster with far greater hearing than humans, barely even noticed it!

 

One of the masked humans answered. “Unfortunately, we found that there is growth on her brain. A tumour, a lump, whatever you call it. We did an ultrasound scan on her and it was just as I feared.” The girl trembled behind the table. I wanted to comfort her but I was stuck here. Why is she so scared? Am I going to die?! I started to squeak and struggled under the man’s fingers.

 

“It’s okay, Butterbean, you’ll be alright,” she promised me, but she didn’t sound so sure. She turned to the masked human who was speaking to her. “How should we treat the tumour?” April asked him. Another woman with goggles spoke.

 

“It’d be easy to just do surgery if the tumour was growing on the outside of her body, but that’s not the case here,” she explained. “It is much harder to treat her though. We’re not sure whether or not she’ll survive the anesthesia and the surgery. She’ll lose a lot of blood and she might not make it.” My human started to tear up. It’s okay, April! I wanted to tell her, I’ll be okay, just like you said, I reassured her. Just like how I was reassuring myself I was going to be okay.

 

She wiped her tears off and faced the woman. “No matter how risky it is, I’m sure that Butterbean can take it. She’s been through a lot! She was in a car crash for god’s sake.” April sniffed, her voice cracking. They raised their eyebrows when she said, ‘car crash,’ but said nothing more.

 

Finally, her father, a friendly man with brown and green eyes, replied. 

“Do we have any other options? How much will surgery be?” He asked.

 

“About 300 dollars, but we’re not sure if we should risk it,” she told him. “Surgery is dangerous for small furry creatures. There are so many pros and cons to the procedure.” She patted April on the shoulder. “She’s young though. And for other options, if surgery doesn’t work out, then euthanization might be the solution.”

 

“No!” April blurted out, then put her hand to her mouth. “I mean… I can’t put down my hamster. I’ve only had her for two weeks!” She stammered. “Argh…” She sighed. “It’s just not the most humane option. I’ve been such an irresponsible hamster owner. I lost my other dwarf, then suddenly she grows a tumour out of nowhere?! I just…” She let out a wail and pressed her face into her dad’s shirt. I couldn’t bear to see her like this. 

 

Her father, with trembling hands, tucked a loose hair into her ear. He gave her a tight hug before he faced the vets. They were both giving him and April a sympathetic look. “Losing a pet is always hard,” he murmured. “Especially when you’ve lost another already.” He patted her on the back. A few moments later and she moved away from his shirt, which had wet spots from her tears. Embarrassed, she wiped her eyes and faced the woman.

 

“I’m so sorry this happened,” the woman comforted April as she sniffled. “We can’t decide whether or not you do the surgery. As her owner, it’s your choice.” She placed her gloved hands on her shoulder.

 

“But what if I’m not capable of making this decision?” She burst out. “I’m not a good hamster owner! Somebody more experienced and responsible and better should help out. Someone not me,” she stared at the floor. The man pinning me down on the table had loosed his grip on me.

 

“Oh sweetie,” she sighed. “I think you’re the only capable person to even do. You may be young,” she assured her, “but you’ve researched a ton about hamsters. You even brought her to the vet. Some experienced owners would refuse to do that even if their own pet, basically their child, was in pain.” She gave April a hug. She smiled.

 

“I’ll think about it,” she replied. “What should we do when we get home? Any medicine? And what about our.. trip,” I noticed she bit her lip, “to England? You know, the trip I didn’t want to go to because I’m forced to see Alice?” She muttered under her breath. I had good hearing but apparently, as much as advanced as humans are, they didn’t. Well, then again, they think we’re toys and are perfectly fine in CritterJails** I mean Crittertrails, so I don’t have high expectations from them.

 

“I’ll diagnose some medication for her to take. If she has any more seizures and no control of her body whatsoever, please contact me immediately. Email is fine, but go into detail. My office is available whenever, so don’t worry,” she answered. “For the vacation you’ll be having,” the vet continued, “I don’t think that’d be a good idea. In the condition Butterbean is in, she may not even make the whole trip there. I’m sorry about that.” April looked like she was going to cheer, but then her eyes glanced back to me and she stopped. She frowned, her eyes drooped, still red, and her face dropped.

 

No, no, stop that! I wanted to plead to her. Celebrate. I’m fine. I’ll be alright. You don’t have to go to England now, just like you said you didn’t want to! At least, I think you didn’t want to. You were so upset and sad when the news came out. The other vet holding me had a gap between his fingers. I could escape. Was I going to die? Were they going to kill me? I froze.

 

April wouldn’t do that. She loves me. But what if I’m too sick? What if I die tomorrow from the seizures? The pain was horrible last time. I couldn’t control myself. It was frightening. Could I even survive one more hit? I had to. I was from the wild. I was a wild hamster. Wild hamsters are strong. Even if I don’t remember my past, I still will always be strong.

 

I leaped out of his fingers. And I ran.

 

Chapter 9 will be by Hammie Nuggets! (I think-)

Please read when you have finished Chapter 8! Thank you.

Spoiler

*Hamsters don’t blink like humans do. They wink instead. FYI, lol. 

**Also, uh, shoutout to mrdinkyandliv, aka Liv, for giving me the idea of "CritterJail." Please don't copyright-claim me LOL.

Also, I have to go eat lunch, but I researched hamster illnesses for this chapter, lol. First stargazers, then I realized, ‘nah’ so I did a brain tumour instead. I worked hard for this! And I’m writing this on Google Docs and have placed this with all my other chapters (Chapter 3 and 5) and it’s legitimately at 20 pages, wow!)

Edited by lilhams~uwu, 08 October 2020 - 07:08 AM.