{"sf1_id":607523,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Run to Busch Gardens","author":"assilsasta","words":3463,"posted_at":"2013-10-28T05:13:00.000Z","tags":["Busch gardens","Kangaroo Mouse","Liger","panic attack","road trip"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/607523-run-to-busch-gardens","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/607523","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=607523\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nCecily huddled in the corner, tail wrapped around her,\nholding her ears flat to her head. He was outside the door again, yelling.\nMaybe he was drunk, maybe he was just mad, but these days he always seemed to\nyell. Pounding on the door, \"Open up you\nlittle bitch, and get out here. You need another lesson.\" She was glad that she\ngot the dresser in front of the door in time, but what if he got through it?\nCecily was only five, the foster mother was nice, but she was in the hospital\nagain. When she was not there, he always came after her. Tears rolling down her cheeks, she heard the\ndoor crack and give way as the large equine man rammed his way through... she\nfelt a warm embrace. It was not him. It was soft and gentle. Comforting, not\nlike the woman when they hid from him together. Everything was calm and\npeaceful. Then the humming started, she could not place the song, but the voice\nwas sweet with a low purr in it. She felt coarse, wet pressure moving from her\nneck to the top of her head, something she had never felt before. It was\nsomething, like the humming.\n \n---\n \n (June 9, 05:45)\n \nCecily blinked, opening her eyes, she found herself in the\ntent wrapped in a sleeping bag. There was more than that, there was a weight\nacross her midsection and a constant rumbling vibration coursing through her\nfrom behind. Then came the rough wet feeling on the back of her head. She\njumped, moving to the far side of the tent quickly.\n \nLilly was jerked from her sleep as something was jerked from\nher grasp. She roared loudly, extending her claws. Suddenly brought back to\nreality by the sound of the air mattress popping beneath her, Lilly saw the\nlittle kangaroo mouse holding her ears to her head cowering across the tent\nfrom her. The wide eyed look of fear on Cecily's face snapped her even further\nfrom her dream world.\n \n\"Oh my God! What the fuck did I do?\" She said while trying\nto assess the situation. \"Shit, Shit,\nShit. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you. What happened? Are you O.K.?\"\n \nThe air hissed out of the mattress while Cecily sat there,\nnot knowing what to do. The look on Lilliana's face when she roared was the\nmost frightening thing she had ever seen. But now that look was gone, replaced\nwith the same look of fear and concern. Slowly lowering her paws from her head,\nshe looked at Lilly, her heart was\nracing a million miles an hour. She just\ncontinued to sit in silence.\n \n\"Sisy, what did I do? Did I hurt you?\" Reaching out to her,\n\"Come here. Where did I get you? Shit, I don't even remember what I was\ndreaming. Did I attack you?\"\n \nThe softest \"no.\" Lilliana had ever heard from the girl\nbroke through the hissing sound of the mattress. \"You... you licked me.\"\n \nLilly's expression of fear melted to utter confusion, \"I did\nwhat?\"\n \nTail wrapped around her, knees up to her chest, \"You were\nlicking my head in your sleep... and purring.\"\n \n\"Wait a second... I licked you?'\n \n\"It woke me up. I did not know what it was. Then when you\ndid it again... it scared me... so I jumped... I'm sorry.\"\n \nRolling to a sitting position, Lilliana closed her eyes and\nstarted to rub her temples. \"I have got to be losing my mind.\" She crossed her\nlegs on the almost deflated mattress and looked over at Cecily. \"Look, never\napologize to me if I did something to scare you. That is never your fault. I\nguess somehow I registered you as a kitten or something in my dream. When I\nfelt you pulled away from me, I reacted the only way I know how. Hell my\nreaction just cost us a good mattress.\" Poking at a pocket of air trapped in\nthe hollow of her legs, \"Well, if I had to kill something I am glad it was this\nthing. Maybe we should by another tent so you have your own space.\"\n \nFidgeting with the puff of fur at the end of here tail,\nCecily said, \"No, please don't. I'm sorry I woke you up. I had a bad dream.\"\n \n\"What kind of dream, Sisy?\"\n \n\"I don't want to talk about it.\"\n \n\"O.K. then. I can respect that.\" Lilliana reached over and\nsnatched her watch off the duffle bag and flipped it open. As she snapped it\nshut again, \"No time like the present for breakfast and clean up. Grab the\nshower kit we made for you and a change of clothes and we'll hit the shower.\"\n \n---\n \n(06:30)\n \nThe showers were separate little stalls, each with a\nseparate changing area. The place was\nempty this early in the morning. They took stalls next to each other, Lilliana\nstarting the water to let it warm up while she stripped off her clothes. Cecily\nsat on the little bench looking at the small bag of hygiene supplies. I don't get all this. What is wrong this\nwoman? She is totally crazy. Setting the bag down on the bench, she\ndecided to finally start up the shower, listening to the Liger hum to herself\nin the next stall. Stepping into the next stall, Cecily turned on the water,\nand yelped at the sudden rush of Ice cold that hit her.\n \n\"You OK over there, Squeaky?\" Lilliana asked.\n \n\"Yeah, I'm fine.\" She replied, slumping against the wall as\nthe water warmed to a reasonable temperature. She pulled her knees back up to\nher chest, letting the water just roll over her body. The past two days were so\nconfusing. First the coyotes taking her to that club, most of that night is\njust a blur after that. Whatever they gave her she just took it. They seemed to\nbe having fun around her, she just wanted to have fun too. Then she woke up in\na bathtub with this crazy liger sitting over her. She seems nice also, but\neveryone does at first. Why would this\nperson want to keep me around when no one else did? She doesn't even know\nme. She looked up, listening to the Liger continue to hum next to her.\nFirst she buys me all this new stuff,\nand then tells me that she wants to adopt me. She has to be loony. God, she was\nlicking me in her sleep. She picked up her tail and started fidgeting\nwith the fur puff at the end,  And\nthat look in her eyes when she woke up. That was worse than anyone, ever. I\nwould hate to see what would happen if she was really mad at me.  She\nshivered as she thought about the horse.\n \nThe shower cut off on the other side of the narrow divider,\n\"You close to done over there?\"\n \nJumping for the shampoo bottle, Cecily Squeaked out \"Just a\nmoment.\"\n \n\"Take your time, we have a few hours before the park even\nopens. I'll just wait for you out here.\"\n \nCecily thought to herself, If i do stay with her, will it\nreally be any worse than before? At least I will know where the food is coming\nfrom for a while... until she leaves me too.\n \n---\n \nListening to the shower running behind her, Lilliana made\nher way over to the bank of sinks. On the wall behind them was a long polished\npiece of metal for a mirror. She pulled\nout her toothbrush and looked at her reflection. Showing all the teeth she could,\nI must be the scariest thing that poor\ngirl has seen in her life. I wouldn't blame her if she just wanted to get away. Who would want to stay with a loud mouthed\nasshole like me? She squeezed out some paste onto the brush and went to\ncleaning the chompers that must have scared the poor little mouse senseless\nearlier.\n \nA short time later, Lilliana heard the shower cut off and\nthe rustling of the mouse getting dressed. \"Thank God. I was about to call the\nrescue squad, I thought you might have washed down the drain.\" Lilliana said when the small kangaroo mouse\ncame through the curtain. \"Come brush that grill of yours, and then we can pack\nup the camp and look for food. I am thinking Steak and eggs today. What about\nyou?\"\n \nWalking up to the sinks, Cecily stood barely tall enough to\nsee herself in the mirror. Tossing the bag up on the countertop, she pulled out\nher own toothbrush and stretched to turn on the water.\n \n\"Shit. Let me get you a stool to stand on there.\" Lilliana\nsaid as she walked over to the corner and grabbed a discarded soap crate. \"They\nneed to make these things with shorter people in mind. Not everyone is a tower\nlike me.\" Then she went back to preening herself in the mirror, \"So what's on\nyour menu this morning?\"\n \nWith a mouth full of toothpaste suds, Cecily squeaked out\nsome muffled words, before spitting them\nout of her mouth and trying again, \"Pancakes will be fine.\"\n \n\"Pancakes my ass. We need to get some meat on those bones.\nIf you were any smaller you would blow\naway with the next breeze.\" Cecily mumbled something too low to hear, \"What's that, Sisy?\" Looking down at the mouse, \"Are you OK? Look,\nabout this morning, I am really sorry if I scared you. I have no idea what\nhappened. And, um... I am sorry for licking you; I have no clue what I was\nthinking.\"\n \nJust above a whisper Cecily said, \"You're treating me like a\nchild. I am almost sixteen. But, it doesn't matter. Whatever you want for\nbreakfast is ok. I am just along for the ride anyway.\"\n \n\"Well then, looks like you have made a decision. So... When do\nyou want to call and let them know you're ok?\"\n \nLooking down at the floor while packing her shower kit up,\n\"I don't want to go back there. I want to stay with you. But, how long will you\nwant me to stay?\"\n \n\"Shit, Squeaky, what the hell do you mean? I would not be\nasking to adopt you if I was going to get sick of you. I am more worried about\nyou getting sick of me. Everyone gets tired of this personality after a\nfashion. I have a bad habit of making people feel stupid, or just telling them\nthey are.\" Putting her hands on Cecily's shoulders and turning her to look face to face, \"If you can put up with this\ncrazy, mouse licking liger, I will do my best to not scare you off,\" Looking\naway for a second, \"You know what? I think you're growing on me. I like you\nSqueaky. Hell, I have already done one stupid thing for you; maybe we can\nfigure it all out together. The first one was my stupidity, Let's make the next\nmistake together. What do you say?\"\n \nLooking Lilliana in the eyes, \"You realize you just called\nadopting me a mistake?\"\n \n\"One that I am willing to make, but only if you're going to\nmake it with me. I can guarantee you one thing for sure, it will be exciting.\"\nshe said to the mouse.\n \nLooking down at the floor again, Cecily whispered, \"Ok.\"\n \nPulling her into a powerful hug, Lilliana squeezed a loud\nsqueak out of her, \"Awesome. We can make some calls this afternoon. Till then,\nlet's go pack up and get ready for the Busch Gardens. I hear the Landscape Life\nTour is beautiful.\" Thinking for a moment, \"Shit. I forgot to get a camera.\nGuess that's one more stop we need to make.\"\n \nTogether they left the showers and made their way back to\nthe campsite to pack things up and be on their way.\n \n---\n \n(09:00)\n \nHeaded down I-95 to Richmond, Lillyana noticed the little\nkangaroo mouse fidgeting in the passenger seat. Looking over at her, \"Are you\nOK, Sisy?\"\n \nSuddenly Cecily shouts, \"STOP THE CAR!\" with that Lilliana\npulled off to the shoulder. As soon as the Camaro came to a full stop, Cecily\nswung the door open and bolted from the car, shot over the guardrail, bounded\ninto the woods, and out of sight.\n \n\"Shit!\" Liliana said as she killed the engine to try and\nfollow her. \"What the fuck did I do now?\" She jumped over the rail and ran into\nthe woods. Stopping for a moment to switch gears, she closed her eyes and took\na deep breath. Talking aloud to herself,\n\"Ok, don't shout for her, you're a liger and she's a mouse, it will just make\nher run again. Think, think, think, what should I do?\" Looking around she saw a\nclear path of bent and broken branches. \"Ok, she is not trying to hide. She is\njust running. Stay calm, you can't help if you're panicking too.\" Listening\ncarefully, she followed the trail into the woods, a\nhundred yards or so in, she heard panting. \"Cecily? Are you there?\"\nafter getting no response she moved slowly toward the sound. Huddled against a\ntree, curled into a ball with her tail wrapped around her, Cecily sat\nmotionless. \"Hey there girl, what's going on?\" She asked slumping against the\ntree next to her.\n \nSitting there in silence, Lilliana waited for Cecily to make\nthe first move. After several minutes she slowly moved her head to look up at\nthe liger. \"I'm sorry.\" She said in her quiet voice.\n \n\"What are you sorry for?\"\n \n\"I made you stop and come looking for me.\"\n \n\"Shit, I just want to know what I did wrong. Do you not want\nto go to Busch Gardens? We can think of something else to do.\"\n \n\"But, I just broke one of the rules, don't run.\"\n \n\"Fuck, I didn't even think about that.\" Looking at her own\npaws, \"You know what? Fuck the rules, it's just us. If you want to run... run. I\nwill chase you to the ends of the earth if I have to. At least tell me why you\nran.\"\n \n\"I don't know. Sometimes I just have to get away. I don't\nknow why.\"\n \nReaching her arm over her shoulder, Lilliana pulled Cecily\ncloser. \"Look Sisy, you have been through a lot that I don't understand. But, I\nam here to help you. You can talk to me about anything. If you want to run, for\nwhatever reason, shit, for no reason, just tell me and we can run till you\ndrop. I will be there to pick you up, I promise.\"\n \n\"You don't want me. No one wants me. I'm not worth it. I'll\njust be a burden on you.\"\n \n\"You know something. I have never tried to do things the\neasy way. It's so much more rewarding if you do them the right way. I have made\nup my mind, Sisy, no matter how hard things are we will figure them out, and if\nwe can't do it ourselves, we'll just have to ask for help.\" Rewarded with a weak smile from the mouse,\nLilly smiled back. \"If it's Ok with you, I think it's time to go get some ice\ncream.\"\n \nWith a weak smile Cecily replies \"OK,\"\n \nTogether they made their way back to the interstate hand in\nhand, where they foundd a state trooper looking into the Camaro. \"Can I help\nyou officer?\" Lilliana asked climbing over the guardrail.\n \n\"Is this your car, ma'am?\" He asked as she approached.\n \n\"Yes it is. Registration and insurance are in the glovebox,\nLicense is in my purse on the floor.\"\n \n\"Can I ask why you are stopped here?\"\n \n\"We had a little... Woman's issue. Something we had to take\ncare of quickly if you know what I mean. We will be on our way now, unless you\nhave something else, officer.\"\n \n\"Just please be careful when pulling off the interstate like\nthis. Bad things could happen to a couple of ladies like yourselves.\"\n \nGetting back into the car, Lilliana said, \"Thank you for\nyour concern, Officer, We will keep that in mind if it comes up again.\"\n \nDriving away from the location, Cecily looked over at her,\n\"You just lied to that Police officer.\"\n \n\"No I didn't. I just didn't give him the information he did\nnot need to know.\" She said with a smile on her face. \"It was a woman's issue,\nunless we're not women, and it needed to be taken care of quickly, which we\ndid. The fact that it was a panic attack and you bolted was not that important.\"\n \n\"A panic attack?\"\n \n\"Look, I know what it is, I have been dealing with them for\nyears, I know what PTSD looks like, I was diagnosed with it after Iraq, so I\nreally know what it feels like to need to run like that.\" Liliana said with a\nsmile on her lips.\n \n---\n \n(10:45)\n \nSitting in the parking lot of the Busch Gardens theme park,\nCecily watched Lilliana while she sat with the bluetooth earpiece waiting for\nan answer. \"Hey Susan, it's Lilly... yes I am still alive... Shit, it's only been a\nmonth. How is Hank?.... That's too bad. Look, I have an ulterior motive to\ncalling you. I need to ask a favor... Are you still working at the courthouse?...\nOk, here's the deal. I picked up a runaway that happened to come from your neck\nof the woods.... D.C. .. You're telling me... Yes, I am... No, that's not my plan...\nWhat would it take to get custody of her? ... You can look that up from home? You\nare awesome... Cecily... Shit,\" Looking over at her, \"What's your last name?\"\n \n\"Silvana\"\n \n\"Cecily Silvana... You're shitting me... Ok, well I do have her\nright here with me... Ok, what do I need to do?... You can kiss my ass... It's a\nfucking waste of money... That's not my problem... Can you fax it to me...\nNotarized,? That is some of the burocratic bull shit... References? Fuck me\nsideways. How the hell am I going to pull those out of my ass?... OK, OK just\nfax me the shit so I can fill it out. I guess I need to make another phone\ncall... Yeah, Yeah, Yeah... I can FedEx the\nshit back in the morning if I have to....\nOk, thanks a lot. Yeah, I owe you one... Fuck no... I am on vacation... Yes, I\ndid... What the fuck, you guys got a betting pool on me... Who told you?... The\nbitch... What's the pot up to?... and the buy-in?... Put me down for longer than\nyou fuckers think... The old man can kiss my ass too... Yeah, he's who I am going\nto call... Can I count on you too?... I love you... NO... Slut... You buyin'?... We\nwill be there by the end of the month... NO, I am going to take my sweet ass\ntime... See you when we get there... Yeah I will keep in contact... TTFN\"\n \nLooking over at Cecily, who had a confused look on her face\nfrom trying to follow the one sided conversation, \"Apparently you're still\nliving with you foster parents. Or at least they're still collecting for you.\"\nA look of terror crossed Cecily's face. \"Don't worry about that shit, Susan has\nit covered, it's just going to cost me in the end.\" Cecily managed another weak\nsmile. \"Ok then. We ready to get this day rolling? Nice calm walk in the\nflowers. You got the camera?\" She lifted the small disposable in one hand.\n\"Let's go.\"\n \nThe next few hours were spent walking through the landscape\nand wildlife tours. Lilly watched as Cecily snapped her way through the roll on\nthe disposable camera and through three more from the gift shop. The mouse\nseemed to be oblivious to the world around her, eagerly looking at every\ndisplay, and reading every plaque. The look on her face as she bounced her way\nthrough the theme park warmed Lilly's heart. \"How about a ride, Sisy?\"\n \nLooking back at her from the Birds of Prey display, Cecily\nclearly said \"No, thank you.\"\n \nThe day rolled on with the happy mouse jumping around giddy\nas a schoolgirl. Lilliana contemplated all the things Susan had told her on the\nphone. She dreaded receiving the file Susan promised to send her with the\ntemporary custody paperwork. What have\nI gotten myself into? Flopping down on a bench while Cecily read more\nplant data sheets, Stop questioning\nyourself. You promised her. Besides you\nneed her too. She thought to herself before saying aloud, \"You're\nlosing your fucking mind Lilly.\"\n \n---\n \n "}