FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

“Hello? Are you still here? Christy?” June's heart sank in the silence from inside the shed as she opened the door. She strained to see as her eyes adjusted from the sunlight and she closed the door behind her. A soft shuffle caught her attention and she quickly dropped to all fours to look under the cluttered shelves. She noticed black furred paws and breathed a sigh of relief as she pushed a box aside and found her fox morph friend. “There you are! Why are you hiding under there?”

Christy tried to stop herself from shaking, still trying to be as small as possible. “It's safe.”

“Nobody's gonna find you out here. Come on out.” She grabbed a furry elbow and tried to pull her friend out of her hiding spot, but the fox wouldn't move, so she sat down on the floor and slid closer. “You're naked? Where are your clothes?”

Christy hugged her knees tighter and wrapped her tail around her feet. “Animals don't wear clothes.”

“You’re not an animal, you're a morph.” She scoffed in frustration and disappointment that her friend was believing those words again, then pulled her backpack around. “Here, I brought you some of my clothes and lots of food. I'm so sorry I didn't come back. My dad was worried because I stayed out late and you didn't go home. He drilled me with questions, then your parents drilled me, and the Guard, too. I didn't tell them where you are, but they wouldn't leave me alone, so I couldn't come see you.” She opened a box of crackers and offered them to her friend.

The fox slowly uncurled and leaned forward to take one, then lay back down to suck on it.

June sighed and set the box on the floor, then pulled a water bottle from her bag. “We should at least let your parents know you're okay. Missing is one thing, but they shouldn't have to think you're dead.”

She stared at the water bottle her friend put in front of her and tried to find something good to say, but she didn't have the strength. “It's better if they do. I feel dead.”

June pushed her bag aside and leaned under the shelf to put her hand on her friend’s arm. “You're not dead, because I'm not dead and I'm talking to you. Don't let them keep hurting you. Come on out here.” She pulled on the fox’s arm again.

Christy gave in and crawled out from under the shelf to lay in her friend’s lap.

“Well, that's better.” She ran her fingers through the red fur, hoping it was comforting and realizing they had never been this close before. “Maybe you should talk to a doctor about what happened.”

“No. I don't want to talk to anybody.” Her voice was muffled against her friend’s shirt.

“I'm glad you're talking to me.”

“I shouldn't have told you. I shouldn't have come out here. I just want it to be like it never happened. I wish it never happened, but now it's too late and everybody will want to know why and they'll all be looking at me, but nobody will believe me.”

“They'll have to believe you, 'cause I'll make them.”

She grabbed June's shirt and looked up at her with tears in her eyes, “I don't care if they believe me; I don't want to tell them!”

“You have to tell them, because what Jake and those boys did was wrong.”

“Don't you understand?!” Christy sprang up, knocking her human friend on her back and snarled down at her, “They'll kill me! Are you trying to get me killed?” She quickly noticed the look of terror on her friend’s face and scrambled back against the wall to hug her knees.

June found her breath and tried to forget the image of the fox's sharp teeth and angry eyes, then pushed herself up on her elbows to see the same fox cowering against the wall. She sat up and slid closer to put her hand on her friend's paw. “I never want to hurt you. We're friends forever. And you’d never hurt me, right?”

“Of course not! I'm so sorry. I'm just… I'm just an animal; like they said.” She buried her face against her knees and cried.

June started to object, but smiled instead, “Then so am I.”

Christy peeked over her knees.

“Well, I'm not a vegetable, like those potato heads.”

The fox gave a laugh and sniffled.

“Or maybe they're bacteria or fungus.”

“I thought you liked mushrooms.”

“Bacteria it is. Single cell brains. Work together and still don't come up with a good thought.”

“They don't like soap.”

“Right?” June laughed and rubbed Christy’s arm encouragingly. “They wish they were animals like us!”

Christy smiled, then looked at her feet.

“I wish I had beautiful fur all over my body like yours, then I wouldn't mind being naked either.”

Christy looked at the bag, “Did you bring any pants?”

“Of course.” June smiled excitedly as she grabbed the bag and opened another section. She pulled out a dress, a shirt, and two pairs of undies and laid them on a box, then pulled out a pair of pants and got up on her knees to hold them up on display.

Christy looked at the box, “I don't want to wear a dress ever again.” She stretched out her legs and leaned forward to take the pants, then slipped her feet into them.

“I thought you always looked great in them.”

“I used to like them, but it made it easy for them to…” she grunted and pulled at the pants, turning and wiggling trying to pull them past her thighs.

“I'm sorry. Do you need help? You're smaller than me, so I thought they'd fit.”

She tugged at the knees and shoved her paws down the top as she pulled. “They're pushing my fur backwards and getting tight, but I'll fit.”

June watched her friend struggle as she thought about what she said, then jumped up, “Wait, wait. Try these instead.” She kicked off her shoes as she unbuttoned her shorts and pushed them down her legs to step out of them, then offered them to the fox as she squatted down in front of her.

Christy pushed the pants off her legs and reached up for the shorts. “What will you wear?”

“I can wear the pants or the dress. Go on, let's see if they fit. Oh wait, put these on first.” She grabbed a pair of undies from to the box and handed them to her friend.

“Are these fox tails?”

June leaned closer, “I thought they were moons, but they could be fox tails. Do you want something different? These have stars and these have,” she got up on her knees to look at what she was wearing, “zig zags, I think?”

“These are perfect.” She smiled, then put her feet through the holes and pulled them up her legs.

“Stand up.”

Christy stood up and pulled the undies up to her tail, then stuffed her paws inside to push down her fur.

June brushed down the fur on her friend's legs, then held out the shorts.

“This feels weird.” Christy rubbed over the undies holding down her fur, then stepped into the shorts.

June pulled the shorts up her friend’s legs and tried to button them, but they didn't make it.

“I think my tail is in the way.”

“I can fix that.” June jumped up and found some clippers, then grabbed the fox’s tail.

“What are you doing?!” Christy tried to move away, but her grip was too strong.

June quickly snipped the waistband below the base of the fox’s tail, then grabbed the shorts before they fell and pulled them up. She dropped the clippers on a shelf and buttoned the shorts, then found some twine and started feeding it through the belt loops. She tied it above her friend’s tail and cut it free, then stepped back to admire her work.

“You cut your shorts.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to cut your tail off. Besides, they're yours now and they needed to fit.”

“Um, thank you.”

“How do they feel?”

“A little weird, but not bad. Definitely worth it.”

“We should go shopping together and get you more shorts. Oh, wait,” she pulled off her shirt and helped Christy put it on. “There. Now you look like me. Nobody will ever know the difference. And here,” She grabbed the dress from the box and pulled it over her head. “I'll be you.”

Christy picked up the pants and offered them to June, “You should be safe.”

June took the pants and hugged her friend, holding on as she tried not to cry. Her distractions didn't change anything. “I'll never forgive Jake for hurting you.”

“I want to go home.”

June leaned back and smiled. “That's great, let's go!” She excitedly started putting things back in her bag.

“But I don't want to go back.”

June stopped and looked at her friend. “What?”

“I want everything to be normal, finish our project, take the math test, just like it's supposed to be.”

“I can help you study for the next math test, but I presented our project yesterday.”

Christy turned and stared at a shelf.

“We got a perfect score, even though I got mad and started yelling about how stupid hate groups are. I miss having you there. Please come back.” She put her arms around her friend.

“It won't be the same anymore.”

“How long can you live in this shed? I'll come visit you and bring you things, but what about school and growing up?”

“I wish I already was.”

June laughed, “So do I, but we'll get there together. I'll protect you.”

“You can't protect me all the time.”

“Sure I can. We’ll go to school together, we’ll go home together. No chance for anybody to do anything to you.”

Christy worried about her friend getting hurt because of her and hugged June back.

“So, I'll walk you home and your parents will be happy to see you and then everything will go back to normal.” She leaned back to look at her friend, then brushed tears out of her furry cheeks. “But you're right; it won't be the same, because we're gonna make it better. Best friends forever.” She hugged the fox again, then picked up her pants. “Wow, you left a lot of fur in here. It's okay, 'cause we're friends.” She stepped into the pants and pulled them up, tugging them into place to button them. “They are a little tight on me. Guess we both need new clothes.”

“Can I wait until tomorrow? I want to think about it some more.”

“I… guess. What do you need to think about?”

“What I'm going to tell my parents after you go home and they ask me why I left.”

“Oh. Yeah. They’ll probably drill you like they did me. They really miss you, too.”

“I miss them, but I'm scared.”

“They'd never hurt you.”

“Not on purpose, but if they made me tell them about Jake, they probably wouldn't let me see you again and the other boys would find a way to kill me.”

“They're not going to kill you.” She wiped more tears from her friend’s fur. “If I have to be a ninja in the bushes, I'm going to protect you.”

Christy chuckled and hugged June.

“So, I'll go home and come back tomorrow, then we'll go see your parents. We'll do it together.” She dismissed another tear, then checked her own face. She stepped back and pulled up her dress to adjust her pants, “You’re right, tight pants and fur is uncomfortable.” She sniffled and pointed at her bag. “There's food and water in the big part. You can eat it all, 'cause I bet tomorrow you can have whatever you want.” She hugged Christy again. “I'm so glad you're coming home tomorrow. Maybe they'll let me sleep over.”

Christy hugged June tight, “Maybe.”

“Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. There's another shirt and undies in the bag, so you be ready when I get here.” She squeezed the fox again, then stepped back and moved to the door. “I… I'll see you tomorrow.” She opened the door and stepped out, keeping her eyes on her friend as long as she could.

Christy sat down on a box, but jumped up as it started to crumple. She sat on the floor and hugged her knees as her mind started playing through how her parents might react to seeing her again. Some were happy; some were angry; one was just all crying. She couldn't decide what they would really do, but she knew they would eventually want to know why she disappeared and the truth would get her killed or worse, get June killed. She thought about what would have happened if June was with her when they came out of the bushes and grabbed her. She felt Jake pushing into her again as she was bent over the arm of the sofa, but this time she saw June in front of her, bent over the other arm as the big one raped her. It was horrible, but got worse. When she felt Jake stop, so did the big one, then he killed June. He just tore her apart in front of her while the other boys laughed and she cried. She sobbed into her knees, trying to banish the sickening image. She knew it wasn't real, but it could be. June wanted to protect her, but there was nothing she could do against a dozen boys. They would kill her. She couldn't let that happen to her friend.

June climbed over the decorative fence at the edge of the woods and headed home. She was still worried about Christy. What if she talked herself out of going home? That shed wasn’t a real secret, but what if someone bad found her first. She couldn't stay out there with her to protect her. Christy needed to come home whether she wanted to or not. She noticed a Home Guard down the street and stopped. She didn't want to betray her friend, but this could be the best way to protect her.

Christy finished the bottle of water as her mind churned. Going back could be more dangerous even than staying where she was. She needed to protect herself, her friends, and her family. To do that, she needed to shed her old life and find a new one. She needed to do that before June came back to take her home.

“She’s in that shed.” June kept looking back to make sure the uniformed dog morph was keeping up. She ran to the door and pulled it open. “Christy? … Hello? … Are you still here?” June's heart sank in the silence from inside the shed. As the Guard stepped in behind her, she realized that her bag and her friend were gone.