FELIX || ADOPTED

Felix had never known what it meant to belong somewhere.

He had entered the world in an illegal breeding facility, separated from his mother before he was old enough to understand why. Sold young, he had ended up with a cruel owner who wanted to mold him into something violent, a fighter for dog rings. Felix had been nothing more than a frightened pup who didn’t understand the shouting, the punishments, or why failing to fight earned him bruises instead of comfort. At eleven years old, he’d been thrown out into the streets in the middle of the night as if he had never mattered at all.

The years that followed blurred together into hunger, cold nights, and digging through overflowing trash bins for scraps. He had learned that the biggest eyes and saddest expression often earned him a crust of bread or half a sandwich from kind strangers. It had kept him alive. Barely.

When he was seventeen, even that almost came to an end. A pack of stray cat demis had cornered him in a narrow alley over a piece of stolen food, leaving him bloodied and barely conscious. Someone had found him before it was too late. A veterinarian had stitched him back together, and afterward he’d been brought to a demi shelter.

For the first time in years, Felix had a roof over his head. It wasn’t home, but it was safe enough that the thought of leaving it filled him with a quiet, consuming dread.

The Adoption event days had always terrified him. The shelter had done their best to make it welcoming with bright decorations hung from the walls, volunteers smiled warmly at every visitor, families wandered between rows of crates, chatting excitedly about which demi they wanted to bring home.

Felix wished they would all stop looking at him. He had remained curled up in the back corner of his crate, ears flattened tightly against his hair while countless eyes lingered on him. Children pressed against the bars, their sticky little fingers poking through whenever the adults weren’t paying attention.

“Oh, he’s so fluffy!” Tiny hands reached for his ears and another grabbed at the end of his tail. Felix had jerked away so suddenly that he slammed into the side of the crate with a startled yelp, heart hammering painfully against his ribs while the the children only giggled, continuing to excitedly talk about how cute he was.

That’s how the rest of the day went. People coming in and out, staring at him, just enough to make him uncomfortable before leaving. He kept shrinking into himself until there was nowhere left to hide inside the cramped crate.

Then someone had stopped in front of him, someone he had seen before. The familiar person had been here to look at him a bunch of times now. It made him nervous.

He watched attentively as the stranger talked to the volunteer, before both of them left to head back to the front of the shelter, his sensitive ears picking up the sound of papers being moved and pens being used.

One of the volunteers had put a collar and leash on him. Felix, being the foolish, trusting demi that he was, had excitedly followed her, believing he would be getting some outdoor time again. But he was so so wrong.

Now, the crate gently rattled with every bump in the road. Felix remained crouched inside, knees tucked tightly against his chest, his fluffy tail wrapped around his legs so tightly it almost hurt. His nose twitched anxiously at the unfamiliar scents lingering inside the back of the car, and every distant engine or passing horn made his floppy ears twitch.

His breathing refused to slow. He was getting a new owner after such a long time of still having nightmares about his first one. What if they were just like him? Wanting to use him, punish him when he wouldn't listen and eventually discard of him?

The car rolled to a stop and Felix froze, trying to listen for noises. He heard voices, multiple pairs, and before he could understand what was happening, the car door opened and not one, not two, not three but four pairs of hands reached inside.

The crate shifted as several people grabbed hold of it, lifting it cleanly from the car. Felix let out a tiny, frightened whine before immediately clamping his mouth shut again, curling tighter into himself as every step jostled him.

The strangers carried him upstairs, seeming to struggle slightly with his weight. They went around a couple of corners before ascending another staircase while every unfamiliar sound echoed inside his ears until they rang.

Eventually the movement stopped and the crate settled gently onto the solid flooring of an apartment.

The voice of the human that had picked him up at the shelter thanked the others for helping carry him before saying goodbye. Felix figured they must have been their companions.

He heard the click of the front door closing and then footsteps approaching.

Whoever had adopted him crouched several feet away, moving slowly, deliberately, speaking in a voice so soft he almost couldn’t hear it. Then the latch of the crate clicked and opened. The human made themselves smaller instead of looming over him, waiting patiently as if hoping he would come out on his own.

Felix only stared at them in fright, every muscle in his body coiled tighter and eventually his panic won. He practically exploded out of the crate, his shoulder clipped against the human’s as he bolted past them, nearly knocking them off balance in his desperate escape. Fuzzy socks skidded across unfamiliar flooring before he spotted the only thing that resembled shelter; the dining table.

He dove underneath it without thinking, nearly slipping as his knees hit the floor and only then did he stop.

He curled himself as tightly as possible beneath the table, pressing himself against the wall, chest rising and falling in frantic, uneven breaths as his tail disappeared between his legs and his ears flattened painfully against his head.

He wanted to be back at the shelter so badly. The blanket had smelled so perfectly, the food was decent and most importantly... the volunteers could be trusted. They had been nice! He had no clue who this new person even was.

The human stayed where they were and kept speaking in that same calm, gentle voice, careful not to move too fast, lowering themselves until they looked as small and non-threatening as possible.

Felix didn't trust them, and his lips slowly peeled back to reveal sharp canine teeth as a low, shaky growl rumbled from deep in his chest, one that lacked confidence, trembling almost as much as the rest of him, but it was all he had left, a desperate warning from a terrified demi who had already learned what happened when he trusted the wrong person.