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A Love Separated by No Bounds

The midday sun shined down and cascaded through the branches of the upper canopy. Its warming rays beamed down through small openings and lit the leafy flooring below. But the heat of the sun faded almost as quickly as it arrived due to the continuous light breeze that blew through the timber. And at that moment, I realized that today was one of the rarest of days; a day you could consider being perfect.

The thing that made this day so perfect was not the weather, no, it was who I had the honor of spending this wonderful day with: my best friend Danyelle. Danyelle had been my friend for many years now… back since middle school and she had even gone to the same college as me. Now, she lived in the small apartment complex across the road from mine, which was something I definitely did not have a problem with. Her appearance was a sight to behold. Her dark, brown eyes could warm the coldest hearts and her silky, long, cocoa-colored hair always seemed to be perfect, and for as long as I have stared at it, I have never noticed a strand being out of place. The dark complexion of her skin that hid under her always beautiful clothes was so soft that the smoothest baby bottom would have been an insult to compare it too, and I loved every brief touch, brush, or stroke I could manage to obtain.

Danyelle was the inspiration that drove me to live and go another day. She was that one special girl that lit and warmed a cold, dark tunnel. She was the one who had a smile that could rival the sun's radiance. Her soul was the gentlest and most loved of anyone you could imagine, and I was that one guy, that one small dot in a huge world that had the one chance to be more than her close friend. But, as of now that was all we were, just friends, and nothing more. And this simple fact tore at me day by day and bit by bit as we hung out.

I had always truly meant what I thought about her, but I could never tell her how I felt. The love notes of how I felt always got crumpled and thrown into a wastebasket in the corner of the room because my embarrassment overwhelmed me. And what would she think? How would she react? What if she had that secret somebody else? I'd never know, and those questions were what always held me back. But I had planned for that to change today, hopefully, and that is why I had mustered up any courage that a simple nerdish man could come up with and ask her out. It was my time to shine; it was my one moment that I would not back down from; it was what I had always wanted.

What I hadn't expected was her to accept so cheerfully. But personally, I think she thought of it as one of those "hey buddy, what's up, wanna go hang out and do nothing" friend-dates. This thought made it even harder for me to go through with the ordeal, but I stuck with it and here we were, sitting on a roughed-up blanket, at least a mile away from anybody else in a small clearing in the woods, enjoying the weather, the food, and each other's company.

*-*-*

We spent what seemed like an entire day just telling each other stories of our childhood and laughing at each other's embarrassing moments, but it was good hearted laughs and we loved every minute of it. Then once another breeze came it ruffled her silky hair and I tensed. I had planned to tuck it behind her ear but I held back and sighed softly before I decided to lay down on my back to stare into the blue sky that glinted down, chopped up by the green leaves above us. I heard a shuffling next to me and, when I turned my head, I saw that Danyelle had already laid down next to me staring up into the sky as well. I stared at her and I had been so out of it I almost didn't realize she had said something to me.

“I miss this Spence, we used to do this all the time and now it seems like it's been a century since we've last been back here to hang out."

Catching myself before I spat out incoherent words as a result of my staring, I tossed out a simple “Yeah." After that, silence followed until I spoke up a few brief moments later. “Three years," I mumbled out as I made out the form of a white cloud from high above.

“What?" She spoke out confused and turning on her side, resting her head in her palm.

Not realizing I had said it aloud I quickly followed up. “Oh, uh, three years ago. That was the last time we spent a day back here in the woods."

“Oh," was the only response I got from her as she rolled back onto her back as silence followed for a while afterwards. Then she finally decided to speak up after what seemed like an eternity of leaves rustling in the gentle breeze. “Spence, why is it, that you have never asked me out?" I heard her mumble softly as she continued to face the sky.

The question felt like a blow to the head and all the blood was rushing to the inflicted spot. “W-what do y-you mean, I asked you out here today, didn't I?" I said fully knowing what she meant, but doing my best to play it off, which was nothing short of an epic fail.

“You know what I mean! Don't you like me? Is there something wrong with me?" She asked, her voice loud at first but growing softer and layered more with pain and contempt.

I sat still and I could hear the pounding of my heart in my ears. The situation had even made me nauseous in such an odd way. I hadn't planned for this to happen. I was at a loss for words, and I wasn't sure how to proceed with the topic. Hell, I could barely muster enough courage to ask my best friend to hang out let alone talk about how she felt. Guys and romantic feelings are just two things that don't mix well in a cauldron, or at least for me. But I had to say something, I couldn't just stay silent or she would think that's what I believed about her. So, I sighed, deciding to wing it.

“Danyelle…" I gulped hard. I could barely focus while staring into those beautiful, brown eyes of hers. But I tried to gather myself to continue. “…I like you, I always have, I just wasn't sure if…" I had to pause; my throat felt like it had some snake coiled around it as the words didn't want to come out. But her concerned look on her face with the faintest grin allowed me to spit out the next words. “…If…you liked me back." A feeling of relief flooded over me after the words came out and I glanced down towards the ground and the old blanket we both sat on sheepishly.

I then heard a laugh, which was followed by a hug, her warm body enveloping mine as she pulled me up closer to her. “You damn dolt, how could you not have known I liked you. Why else do you think I would have put up with you for so long?" She said her voice literally music to my ears as a soft punch landed on my shoulder jarring me from my stupor during the brief embrace.

“But, why so long Danyelle? Why didn't you ever say anything before? Or hint at anything? Or-“ I was cut off by a kiss, a brief one, but it was still a kiss nonetheless.

“Because I've been waiting for you to come around Spence. For years now, it's seemed like you've just danced around the edge of the fire and never really thought about getting close to it. There for a while, I even thought that you weren't interested in me." She spoke to me sweetly while taking my hand and caressing it softly. “And because of that, I pulled away to see if you would follow, and luckily you did." She leaned into me gripping my hand a bit more firmly. “And I am so glad you did."

My softer, white complexion pretty much would have looked sunburnt the entire time as I blushed madly from her words. “I…Well, I'm glad I followed too." I stuttered nervously. “But, um, I don't know what to really say now…" Looking up, I saw her smile and before I could even say anything else, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me into another kiss.

For the third kiss of my life, I was excited. This kiss was much longer than the last, it was full of passion and desire for each other. My lips tingled as hers pressed firmly against mine. Her hands danced across my neck and through my tussled, charcoal hair sending shivers across my body. My arms had found their way around the small of her back and I pulled her closer to share the intimate embrace, but all too soon, it ended. As she withdrew, her arms remained locked around my neck and she nuzzled the crook of my neck softly, catching her own breath.

Breathing a bit heavily myself, I could finally lose myself in her silken hair. Leaning against her head, I closed my eyes and could smell the faintest trace of vanilla from her shampoo. This was an embrace I could stay in for the rest of my life, but like everything else, it seemed to end all too suddenly as she pulled back. “Danyel…“ Again, I was cut off but this time, a single finger was pressed against my lips to silence me. With a single nod to show my obedience she grinned and retreated on the blanket a few inches. Curiously I watched her, and I went a bit wide-eyed when she removed her snugly fit t-shirt.

I will admit, in the past I had stared at her chest before. It was kind of hard not to when she wore those tight-fitting tees that always tended to show off her rounded whatever cups; they were somewhere in the range of being about the size of...coconuts…and now it seemed almost overwhelming to see them, even if they were hidden behind a lacy black bra. Realizing that it was impolite to stare, I turned away blushing deeply and the next thing I knew, her hand guided mine to rest on top of the bra. “Spence. It's alright. No need to be that little goody two shoes right now." She murmured with a soft laugh.

Nodding was all I could do; I was at a loss for words while feeling her bosom. I knew it was still behind a bra, but this was more than I had ever hoped for and I reluctantly pulled back as I watched her move to unclasp her bra. I waited in anticipation to see my reward, but I narrowed my eyes and glanced up when I noticed her visibly tense. “Danyelle. Is something wrong?"

Before she even answered, I heard the bushes on the other side of the clearing rustle. It caused the hair on my arms to bristle and even though we had spent many times out here through the years, there were no incidents. Danyelle was still staring at the bush, and I turned around to watch curiously, though a little worried at what might come out.

Suddenly, a high-pitched bark made both of us jump and moments later a gray blur sped through the underbrush, regarded us briefly and darted back off. I finally let out the breath I was holding when I saw the rabbit, but that didn't explain the bark, and as soon as I went to say something, a red furred creature burst through the bush into the small clearing. It was enough to make me jump, but a moment later, after it had stopped to stare at us, I recognized it to be a simple red fox. There were plenty of them around here, but it was odd to see them. Then something else scared me.

From just a few inches behind me a loud and drawn out “Awww…" escaped from Danyelle's mouth before she scrambled forward to the edge of the blanket.

“Danyelle…I'd, uh, I'd stay back." I managed a bit nervously knowing how she could get around animals.

“No, no…It's fine. He's just hungry." She whispered as the curious fox sniffed the air furiously and his muzzle kept turning towards our still untouched basket lunch. It kept looking after the direction that the rabbit had ran, but she still kept an eye on him and held his attention.

Thinking quickly, Danyelle grabbed for the picnic basket and fumbled through the wrapped up food and pulled out a piece of turkey that was hidden under the ice pack for our sandwiches. I didn't truly like to feed the wildlife, but I knew that I didn't really have a chance to stop her.

“But…“

“Shh! There will still be plenty left for you." She hissed out before I even had a chance to offer my feedback. I watched her with a slight twinge of fear in my gut. I knew she was good with animals but I still never liked it when she tried to interact with the wild ones. Though, I wasn't sure who was staring at her more carefully, me or the fox.

The little red ball of fur's ears perked up and forward but it still hunkered close to the ground, tail low to the ground. It's teeth were slightly bared but it still didn't run as my brave warrior edged closer. “Here!" She beamed cheerfully yet still quietly while holding the piece of lunch meat out for their unexpected guest.

The fox stared at the piece of meat captivated by the sight of it, but not wavering any to make a move forward to grab it. Then it all happened so suddenly. All she did was take another small crouched step forward, but It was apparently enough to agitate the fox. He pounced, she screamed, I was stunned. Next thing I knew, Danyelle was cowering halfway on the blanket, halfway on the grass and appearing to be holding her arm. The fox had grabbed the meat and already darted back off into the woods, and I was sitting there still trying to understand what had just transpired in a matter of seconds.

Snapping out of it after hearing a muffled curse and strange tone to her voice, I shuffled over to her side. “Danyelle?!" I said worried looking over her body, her tanned torso still exposed from the lack of shirt, but I didn't care about that at the moment. “What happened?" I questioned as she still was turned away from me.

She then rolled over, and I could instantly see her forearm and the hand covering it was stained red. “It bit me." She half spoke and half sobbed out. I could tell she was holding back the urge to cry out.

I was stunned beyond belief. The only real blood and injuries I had truly ever seen was in video games. “Holy shit…" I muttered out baffled as she sat up with tears in the corners of her eyes while still looking down at the wound. I followed her gaze and the wound was slightly dripping blood onto the blanket but I couldn't actually see the damage to her arm. So jarring myself from the stupor I was in, I reached for her shirt on the grass's edge and moved forward to her arm. “Here…Lets just wrap it up and head on back home. It…It doesn't look too bad" I said as I could see my arms starting to shake and my voice was wavering. The sight of blood was just never something I enjoyed.

“Spence…" She spoke ever so softly and I couldn't help but look up at her and she had the faintest of smiles on her face. “You're going to owe me a new shirt."

I stared blankly for a moment before I couldn't resist letting out a small laugh while finishing to tie the tee around her arm. As I did it though, the wound didn't look too terrible. I could see the puncture wounds around her arm and they all dripped blood. The good thing I thought was that it didn't bite and tear her arm or I think we would have had something more serious on our hands. “Is…Um, that better?" I asked softly leaning back as my fingers now had a soft red tint to them and it made me a bit nauseous at the sight and thought of it.

“Yeah…It is, still stings like hell though." She let out through gritted teeth while standing up.

I was concerned, scared even, at what might happen. Who knew what a wild fox could be carrying disease wise and it just bit her. “We. We should get going. You need to get to a doctor to make sure nothing is wrong." I was trying to look at her arm but she continued to pull it away from me in pure, stubborn defiance as I couldn't resist a childish pout. “Especially if you won't even let me look at it."

“Trust me. It's not bad. We'll just head back home and get it cleaned up and see how it looks from there." She said brushing away his concern due to her own confidence.

The only noise that filled the air now was the birds and the wind as we picked up our small picnic in silence. I was rather angry, more at myself for letting her do it. She had tried things like this in the past but nothing this insane with trying to feed a wild canine! I huffed taking her the blanket we had been sitting on and wrapped it firmly around her to help conceal herself some for when we made their way back out into the sight of public. “I still can't believe it Danyelle. What were you thinking! To get so close to it. You're lucky it just bit your arm. Why were you so reckless?!" I was actually amazed at how bitter I had been about it all. But to still see her tee stained with blood made me only reaffirm my scolding. Now, I had grabbed the basket and was ready to go, my anxiety starting to kick in wanting to get her back quickly. But what I really hadn't expected was for her to step close and press herself against me, almost throwing me off balance and back onto the ground.

“Spencer…I am so sorry. You're right. I should have never done that. I just wanted to try and pet him. He looked so adorable, and I just couldn't help myself. Please…I didn't mean to ruin everything." She spoke, and I could hear her holding back tears.

A deep sigh, before I gave in and gave her a heartfelt hug and a quick pat to her head. “Hey, don't worry about it. I shouldn't be so mad. I know how you are when it comes to anything that moves. You wanna do your damned best to hug it, even if it doesn't wanna hug back." I teased as she regained her own footing and slowly began to walk by my side.

“Well…At least I have you to hug now." She spoke softly, her arms intertwining around mine and hugging me close. It threw me off guard, and awkward silence ensued momentarily but before my mouth could break the silence something else did. A tremble seemed to almost shake the trees around us and moments later a squadron of military grade helicopters were flying over us. It was eerie honestly at how low they flew, and this was a state park, which made me begin to worry some more about something that wasn't even my problem. We both watched them fly over momentarily, before they began to disappear farther down into the park.

We paid no more attention to whatever that was all about, and found ourselves back in a small dirt parking lot with my old Ford Cavalier taking the job as our chariot, being the only vehicle parked. Not much longer, we were headed back to town enjoying the calming ride on the two-lane, county roads. “How does it look?" I asked refusing to steal a glance as she had unwrapped her shirt from around the wound on her arm. I knew to focus on the road less I crash from fainting at the sight of someone's blood. “Do you want me to take you to the emergency room?"

“No. It's not bad. Just some small teeth marks and a bit of dried blood. It looks like…It looks like almost as soon as he bit down, he let go and ran off." She touched one of the small puncture holes and winced. “We'll just need to put some peroxide on and disinfect it." She murmured softly, before wrapping it back up and leaning back in the seat.

I was silent to respond as I knew there was no changing her mind, so instead we drove quietly, listening to mostly terrible commercials on the classic rock station. But what I would never had guessed was for her to smack me with her good arm about ten minutes later. Honestly, I thought she had fallen asleep from how still she had grown. “Pull over."

“What?" I asked dazed, my foot coming off the gas.

“Now. Pull over. I think I'm going to be sick." She groaned out, as she clutched her belly.

Without a second thought, I came to a stop in the grass along the road and threw it in park. “Danyelle? You going to be alright? You're almost as pale as I am." I said, trying to lighten the mood, but she didn't even crack a smile. She was already out of the car and stumbling her way into the knee-high corn field. Smashing my flashers on, and shutting the car off, I scrambled from the driver's seat and followed her. I was impressed at how far she made into the field. When I finally caught up on her, she was on her hands and knees coughing and dry heaving. Pulling her hair out of her face, I watched in fear not knowing what was wrong. “Hey…Are you alright? Did I make you carsick?"

Instead of a response, all I got was a rather forceful shove back on my ass and something of a sick growl in my direction. Before I could recover, I heard a horrid wail. She cried out to the wind and I could hear the snapping and popping of bones, tendons, and muscles. She laid on her side now, still clutching her stomach, but she was convulsing, eyes rolled back in her head and total panic mode began to sink in. I reached for my phone, was sorely disappointed it was still in the car, and then scrambled back to her side.

“Danyelle!" I wept out placing a hand on her shoulder, but her body contorted and ripped away from my gasp as she cried out again. She tried to dart forward, but ultimately fell back to the ground a few steps later. As I approached her and got closer I could see things beginning to change. I was stunned and relatively grossed out to witness whatever was happening to her.

The first thing was the hair. It began to spread down her arms and even on her exposed lower legs. Again, I was startled by a yell…or more like a wail. It pierced the silence of the cornfield and sent me running back to the car for my cell phone. My mind raced. I had no idea what to do. I had no idea how far we were down the state road. No idea if anyone was close and all I could hear was the dinging from my car door and the yells of Danyelle in the field.

Fumbling for my phone as I realized I was shaking, I hurriedly dialed 911. As I did, everything suddenly went silent. I heard nothing from the field anymore. I clutched the phone to my ear waiting for an operator as I waded my way back through the path of corn we had trampled down. Coming back to the spot where I left Danyelle, I nearly dropped my phone as the operator finally picked up asking what my emergency was. Honestly, I wasn't quite sure. The only thing I was sure of was that she wasn't in the same spot anymore. She was gone.

“Y-Yes…My friend is…sick." I hoarsely called back over the phone more focused on her shoes that had been kicked off and strewn about through the small area she had flattened in her convulsions. There was also tatters of clothing strewn about here and there, as if ripped from her body. What in the hell just happened? was my primary thought. Looking around quickly, I noticed a fresh path that wound its way further into the small cornfield, though I couldn't see her in the waste high stalks.

“Sir! What is your location?" The voice called back urgently over the phone pulling my attention back to the operator.

“I…" I saw a bushel of corn stalks waver and was already moving towards it. “Outside of the Sumter Forest…" Again, I trailed off and was speechless at what I saw huddled up in a mass on the ground. “Oh god."

I had forgot about the operator, and dropped my phone in shock. I took a step back and stepped on a stalk, which resulted in whatever it was looking at me. Then and there I knew it was her. Her beautiful brown eyes were still the same except for that dark green tinge around the edges. The only other thing that appeared to be the same was her brown hair. The rest of her face was covered in fur. Her nose and mouth had…I didn't even know how to explain it. It was that of an animal, like a muzzle I suppose. Solid white up until it met her actual face which was covered in soft red-orange colored fur. Her hair still danced down her back but now atop her head stood two ears, though they were tilted back. These were the same color as her face. Her t-shirt had been torn and it looked like she had ripped at it in her throws, and beneath, more fur could be seen, as well as what covered her arms. Of what I could see, her chest and neck was white, as well as her hands and forearms but again, was accented with the same orange as her face and down her shoulders and upper arms.

“D-Danyelle?" I stuttered, still hesitant to approach.

“Spencer." Was all she said. It was all that I needed to hear. But it ripped my heart out. I had never heard someone speak with such fear. I had never heard such true distress in someone's voice before and I started to feel more bad than scared for whatever…no…for Danyelle that sat before me.

“Hey…Hey…It'll be alright." I said crouching down in the grass now. I finally realized I dropped my phone a few paces away. The call was most likely disconnected, and I idly wondered what would happen on the front. “Are you in pain?" I asked Danyelle cautiously turning my attention back to her, and still concerned for both of us as I had no idea what was going on.

She wiped her arm across her eyes to wipe away tears before a long sniffle. “No…Not anymore…" She almost sobbed out before looking down at her hands. I saw her reaction and it resulted in them being balled up and her ears flattening on her head. They were white with black pads like that of a dog and I couldn't help but stare at the claws before she tucked her…paws…away.

“Good…Here let's just sit down and take some deep breaths. Ok?" I asked leaning out to touch her shoulder, but she flinched away and I hesitated before withdrawing.

“Can…can we just go instead…please?" She nearly cried it out. I knew she wanted to break down but even with this I could tell she was going to be stubborn in the matter, but I didn't press her further.

“Yeah. Can you walk?" I asked curiously. By now I had seen her feet and how they had the same colors as her paws and the same eerily scary claws. Apparently, that aggravated her and she stood up on her own with some more than evident irritation and started to storm off. That's when I saw the tail for the first time. It swayed with each step and hung low as she tromped her way through the stalks back to the road. Red-orange and with a white tip. From a distance, she truly looked like a fox. I only gave it a moment's thought, but I couldn't help but think back to the fox in the forest.

“Oh! Hold up there fur ball! Don't get to ahead of yourself!" I hollered up at her realizing she was nearly in the car and upon catching up with her I received a glare that looked like I was about to have my throat ripped out. “Err. Sorry."

I started the car back up, with Danyelle sitting back in the passenger seat, tail curled into her lap, and continued down the road looking back in my mirror briefly. It appeared nobody else had passed or if anybody did, they didn't bother to stop and check on us. But, for such a local back road out in the country, it was very well possible we were the only ones around within miles of town.

I stole a glance over at Danyelle as she looked out the window watching the various landscapes pass by. “So, what now?" I asked softly. “Should I take you to the ER? Maybe your parent's house?" I waited for an answer, or some acknowledgement to my question, but nothing changed. Her gaze was glued to the world outside the car, and her fuzzy tail idly twitched in her lap. I decided it was best to not press the issue and continued in silence.

About fifteen minutes later, we came up on the outskirts of our small town, Lockhart, and that was when I heard the first sound out of her mouth since back at the cornfield.

“Take me home." She said softly.

“Huh? Real--" I was cut off by a stern glare.

“Yes. Just take me home. We'll figure it out from there. I don't want to see any doctors right now. And my parents…" She went quiet at the thought, probably not sure how they would handle seeing something like this; probably the same way I did. I was still nervous about her quite frankly, but I would never tell her that.

“Yeah, alright, we'll head to your place." I continued through town, down what could be called the main road, until we reached the other side. It was early in the afternoon and the town was about as active as it ever was, with a few people walking the sidewalks, and a few cars meandering to whatever destinations they had in mind. But, as we drove, I worried a bit that someone might see the animal in my passenger seat; and if that was the case, I wondered what would happen.

But, nothing did. Nobody screamed, nobody panicked, nobody even seemed to notice us as we pulled up to Pleasant Meadow's Apartment Complex. It was one of two complexes in the town. It was the nicer of the two, and I happened to live in the other one a mile or so down the street on the opposite side of the road. But the real concern I had once we parked was walking her to her apartment on the second floor. She seemed to have this mindset too.

“Spence. What's gonna happen to me?" She whimpered softly.

“Don't worry about that right now. Let's just get inside and we can figure something out." I said in hopes of trying to buy some time. I had absolutely no idea what would become of this. For the moment, though, I grabbed a spare and dingy shirt in my back seat and a crumpled baseball cap, and handed both to her, which resulted in a curling of her nose. “Wrap it around your waist. Try to keep your tail hidden and your face down. And the blanket, keep it pulled close. Ok?"

One hesitant nod and a cursing fox complaining about how the cap hurt her ears later and we were walking through the parking lot to the common room and up the stairs to the second floor. I kept her close by and she clung to my arm as we went, and in that moment I had realized how soft she truly was. I almost wanted to pet her like a dog. Then I quickly realized how sharp her claws were as they dug into my arm, but that was only because of the issue in front of us. Danyelle's old neighbor lady was leaning out against the railing puffing on one of those ungodly smelling Pall Mall's.

A bit worried myself, we pushed on as I moved to keep myself in between the two others, but, like we were a magnet the, old lady apparently wanted to strike up some conversation. “Spencer! Danyelle! So good to see--" I didn't have time to waste three hours of my life on this balcony and kept walking, cutting her off.

“Miss O'Leary. It's great to see you." I whispered. “Try to stay quiet though, please. Danyelle here appears to have gotten quite the hangover, and I just wanted to get her in bed." Without waiting for a reply, I continued on and, only until we were stepping through her door, did I glance back to see she apparently didn't care, understood the situation, or was angry we blew her off.

Either way I could finally relax a bit as we walked into her apartment and I closed the door. “Danyelle?" She already had the cap and shirt discarded on the floor just inside the door and was storming off to the bathroom. “Danyelle!" I spoke again walking after her, though it was too late; she was already locked in the bathroom before I had a chance to catch her. I looked at the door for a moment and went to say something before I was halted.

“Go find me a change of clothes in my room! Something to wear instead of this ripped up shirt!" She yelled through the door. I flinched but nodded to the door and moved down the hall.

Stepping into her room was when I realized what I was actually doing. At this very moment, I was standing in my childhood crush's room, who had turned into a fox lady of some sort, and was currently locked in her bathroom complaining about her clothing. So, it was my task to rummage through her belongings to come up with a new outfit to sate the angry beast that resided elsewhere in the apartment. And even with what had happened in the woods, I still felt nervous looking through her knick-knack filled room.

The dresser and closet were my two waypoints. I stepped around piles of discarded clothes, makeup and hair scrunchies in search of a new outfit. Finally, I managed to come up with something. With a t-shirt, a pair of sweatpants, a bra, and a fresh pair of underwear, which for the last two, I sorted through as quickly as I could, I made my way back to the bathroom. “Danyelle…" I said softly with a light knock. There was no answer, I could barely tell she was even in there with how quiet she was. With a heavy sigh, I sat the clothes at the base of the door, letting her know I found her some clothes, and made my way back out to the front room.

The silence was eerie, but I managed to fix that by turning on the TV. I needed something to distract myself for the moment, and the television was always a good avenue to drain away any meaningful thoughts from a brain. So, I watched as the plasma screen flickered to life. Lo and behold though the one thing I thought would calm me only worried me more.

The TV buzzed on the local news explaining how Sumter National Forest was being closed off by federal authorities and it pounded into my head that something about this had to deal with the fox lady currently barricaded in her bathroom.

I heard a slight creak of hinges and looked back to see a head peeking out into the room, gaze fixated on the news...

"Authorities and Federal personnel have began blocking off and quarantining the national park. They have not released any details as to the purpose but experts are leading to believe this is potentially in response to Gentech Labs scheduled environmental studies in the relating area. We have also been alerted that any campers are being prevented from leaving and those within the boundaries of the park are to be held under federal supervision. This story is just now developing and we will continue to br--" I switched the channel trying to hold my mouth shut from listening to the news woman going on about where we had just spent our day a few hours ago.

"Danyelle..." I spoke turning back around to see a full-bodied vixen slumped against the bathroom door. She was obviously distraught about the news, it bringing the situation more to light. She didn't even seem to care about the Shopping Channel displaying their new, hip, in-fashion, bedazzled designer hand bags.

I muted it, before moving over to the sulking vixen. "Danyelle... Everything will… It'll... It'll be alright." I heard a muffled whimper, her head was buried between her arms, propped up by her legs. "Here. Let's sit on the couch. We can talk about this." I suggested softly, resting a hand on her arm. Her fur began to bristle, startling me. I pulled away a bit too quickly as I had no idea what was, is, or could happen to her, or me for that matter.

That made her raise her head, ears pinned so far back that you could barely see her pointed burnt orange ears. " Spencer I'm so sorry..." She was holding back tears as it all started to come out, her scaring me pushing her over the edge. "W-What's going to happen to me... I don't want to die... I don't want to be this..." Her claws dug into the fake wood floors of the apartment. "I don't want to be some experiment..."

I was silent. My mind rattled at the thoughts of what to do. The internet had never prepared me for anything like this, and Animal Planet was becoming a joke these days...I reached out and took the paw that left a few marks in the flooring in mine and rubbed the soft fur gently. "Hey...You won't be some experiment. Here. Let's get off of the floor. We don't want to get that pretty fur of yours dirty now." He spoke smiling trying to lighten her up enough to at least get her into a presentable, mental state to talk about this which appeared to work as some ears flicked and he was rewarded with a small, dismissive head nod still full of disappointment.

She had finally sat down on the couch and was looking at her paws as I set down a glass of water for her, which she circled the rim of with a claw idly. Taking a moment, I had noticed she found a pair of shorts that let her tail spill out by her side, and a loose sports t-shirt showed off the white tuft of fur that started below her neck. Looking at her, a small part of me was sad to know that our time had been cut abruptly short in the woods, but that was the least of my worries.

Taking a seat at the other end of the couch, I took a deep sigh as she looked at me, dark brown and green eyes searching and pleading for answers, answers to questions I did not know. "We. We could call the police. Or take you to the hospital. I mean, they'd be---"

"No!" She nearly sobbed out, cutting me off instantly. "Who knows what they'll do..." She hugged her arms around herself and I couldn't even begin to imagine what she was going through. "The police may shoot me. The hospitals will quarantine me. They'll put me in some cage. Damn it Spence, I don't want that." She spoke demandingly, her tail bristling a bit at the blunt statement, which she realized and started to stroke the fur back into place. It looked as if it came so naturally to her already. "Maybe I'm being selfish, maybe I should turn myself in to figure out whatever is going on. But I'm scared and nothing hurts...I don't see why I should have to give myself up to most likely be hurt by whoever in a lab."

I'm kind of glad I didn't have ears as I know they would have been pinned back in defeat to her logic that her mind was coming up with. I already knew there were no amount of words I could say to convince her otherwise and at this point I was trying to think of what could be done next. "If that's the case...Then what? You can't just go out for a job, you can't go get groceries, you can't even walk down the road! Right? What would others think? I guarantee if O'Leary was outside and saw you she'd choke on one of those cigarettes and have a heart attack then and there." I sighed heavily. "This is something that nobody has seen, nobody knows about, other than maybe a few scientists in a research building a few miles down the road. I'm just saying I don't want to see you get hurt with whatever you happen to do." I spoke taking a drink of my water, nearly downing it, as I tried to sooth the itchy throat and help the headache my mind was creating from trying to decipher the situation.

"Then I stay inside...Maybe I'll go out at night. I can get a hoodie and some sweatpants..." She spoke trying to rationalize the idea of being this way. "I can get a job online. Hell, companies even deliver groceries to your apartment now. Right?" She asked almost hysterical, a whine emanating from her muzzle.

I rubbed my temple in thought. "I mean, Danyelle...If you really don't want to do anything about this then I can't force you, but we need to talk to--" Again I was cut off again, but this time it wasn't because of the fox lady before me.

Furious, quick, and repeated knocks came to the apartment door quickly silencing us both as our gaze fixated on the pathetic looking blockade between us and whoever. All we were glad for was that the door wasn't being busted down.