literature

Mission Minor Complication Chapter 2

Deviation Actions

5UNNYR4Y3's avatar
By
Published:
1.2K Views

Literature Text

Chapter 2

Celeste raked her hands through her long, dark hair, watching both agent David Neilson, and Alex Addison. The differences between the two as they sat in their cages was astounding: while Alex seemed to have curled in upon himself in his loss of spirit, David Neilson looked ready to try something crazy in an attempt to get out and away from his barred prison. Celeste couldn't help but find herself wondering what would happen if either of them were left in the shop in place of the other. Alex…he looked like he was at his breaking point. And those bruises—just what had happened to him since he'd been brought to this planet? And what more might happen to him in the future? She knew for a fact that these giants weren't always kind to their human "pets."
Neilson, on the other hand, looked so full of fire that he just might cause trouble for himself. If he didn't act properly, what would they do to him? Put him down? She shuddered. Now that she thought about it, both David and Alex were too close to the borderline age for comfort. There were adoption centers, apparently, that took in and sold older humans to those who were interested, but honestly the market for anyone around 30 or older was dwindling. Unless a family had already adopted the human at a younger age and was to keep them as they grew older, most people weren't interested in an older companion. In fact, many brought the pets back in simply because they were "getting too old" or were "no longer useful".
Oh, and, of course, there was the tinniest issue about the fact that if she were to adopt Alex instead of Neilson, her superiors would be furious, the entire operation would go down the toilet, and all the money and research spent on those chemicals to cause a human to grow and shrink back again that sat in the vials within her briefcase would all be for nothing. Neilson was simply too big of a part of this operation to replace or move on without. He was too important to the agency, unlike herself. Indispensable.
But she couldn't simply leave an old friend—or even acquaintance, really—to be hauled off to an abusive family. If she couldn't take him with her, then at the very least he deserved a good, caring home until the full-scale rescue.
A good home….
Celeste's eyes began to scan the crowds inside and around the shop. If she could just find a good family to take Alex in, maybe that could clear her head enough to get Neilson, and get back home, where it was safe. Others had managed, and even been happy, in homes where they were treated well…
But the people inside the shop, with their greedy eyes and unpredictable reasons for wanting a companion made the young agent shudder. But still, she kept looking.
Suddenly, her eyes were drawn towards a bench near the shop window. A little girl was sitting on the bench, and she looked to be about 10 years old, but there was something about her that portrayed a kind of innocence. Her large, blue eyes stayed on the ground in front of her feet as she scuffed her toes against the sidewalk. She was one of those little girls who just hadn't reached her growth spurt yet, and she wore a light-blue hoodie that looked a size or two too big on her small frame. Shoulder-length, sandy blonde hair framed a heart-shaped face, and as the girl sat there, she plucked at a pair of worn jeans, her hands mostly obscured by the long sleeves of the sweater.
Celeste chewed on her lip nervously, but she knew she'd already made up her mind. I must be crazy, she thought to herself. Still, after just a moment's hesitation, she walked over to the little girl.
The child didn't seem to notice Celeste's presence, and so, after tugging at the hem of her mocha-colored long sleeved shirt, she carefully knelt down to the girl's eye-level. She smiled, and turned her head slightly to attempt to make eye contact.
"Hello?"
The girl jumped slightly, and turned to look at Celeste, her expression hesitant.
"I'm…not supposed to talk to strangers," she said quietly.
"Yes, I figured as much," Celeste replied. She turned her head so that she could see inside the store windows. "Why are you sitting outside the petshop? Are you looking for a pet."
The girl quickly shook her head, her hair flopping wildly about her shoulders. "No! no I…," her eyes dropped. "I think it's awful, what they do to them. I don't think the humans should be sold as pets…they'd make good friends, but they aren't pets…"  Her face flushed scarlet as her head snapped back up to look at Celeste again. "Oh! I mean…if you're looking to get one as a pet…" She looked embarrassed, maybe even upset, or nervous. The poor girl seemed to fear that she would get in trouble for speaking her mind like that. Celeste shook her own head, trying to reassure the girl.
"No, it's alright. Honestly, I don't like the idea of thinking of them as pets, either."
The girls face scrunched up a bit in confusion. "But, most adults…I've gotten in trouble before for saying stuff like that. Mom and Dad…they told me it wasn't… appropriate. They said that talking about silly things like that is crazy talk."
Celeste's eyes darted nervously about the girl's face, studying it. Had she just made a huge mistake by agreeing with the child? But the girl didn't seem suspicious….just curious. Agent Latiff dared to relax a little bit again.
"My name is Celeste," she told the girl with a little smile. "Can I ask you what your name is?"
The girl seemed to hesitate, but after a moment she seemed to gain confidence, and she turned her body more so that she was facing Celeste, instead of having to turn her head.
"Maddison," she said, her voice stronger than before. "But most people just call me Maddy."
"Maddy…you know about the rule to limit adoptions to new owners, right?"
Maddy nodded quickly. "Yeah, Daddy told me that they do that because of how humans interact with each other sometimes. He said that if an owner doesn't know what to do, one of the humans could get hurt really fast."
Celeste grimaced slightly, but nodded. "Yes, that's the one. See, Maddy, I already had…a human picked out to adopt today, but see that one with the dark hair in there? The one that's all hunched over?"
Maddy's eyes followed Celeste's, until they landed on Alex. "He looks…really sad," she murmured.
"Exactly. I don't think I can just leave him there…he looks so lonely and sad. He needs a good home, and a good friend. But I've never adopted before."
Maddy's eyes widened. "But—that means you can only take one, right? But then…what will happen to the sad one?"
Celeste let her gaze wander back to Alex, all huddled in the corner. Her eyes creased with worry.
"I don't know, Maddy, I really don't. If he's left there…he might not make it." She turned toward the little girl now, her eyes filled with hope. "Do you think, Maddy…do you think you could give him a home? He would be a good friend to you, I'm sure. Someone to talk to?" What am I doing?, Celeste thought to herself. She was putting way too much stock into the fact that this child would want Alex, let alone that she would treat him well. But she seemed sweet and harmless enough, and she was old enough to understand the responsibility, right? However, the girl seemed rather sad by the suggestion.
"I..I asked Mommy once, to see if she would let me get a human. I don't want one as a pet, but…I don't talk much in school. It gets really lonely. I just want a friend….but Mommy says their too much money, and she said that their messy and…." She shook her head, obviously not agreeing with this last statement. Celeste leaned forward and, after a pause, set her hand on top of Maddy's.
"Maddy…what if I gave you the money for him? So that you could go in and buy him?"
The child's eyes widened, making her look even sweeter than before. "But…Mom and Dad would never let me keep him! They'd make me get rid of him!"
Celeste closed her eyes for a moment. This would be a bit of a leap. What would the girl think of it? Taking a deep breath, she finally made her final pitch, one that she saw coming when the girl began describing her parents. It was the idea that she feared the most, because it could go very wrong, in so many ways.
"Maddy, what if after you bought him, I took him home? He'd be your friend first and foremost, of course! You could come visit him any time you want, and you wouldn't have to worry about feeding him or anything, or about your parents taking him back to the shop?"
The child stared at Celeste for a very long time, those big blue eyes trained on the IBA agent. Celeste felt strangely like the girl was sizing her up, just herself had done just moments ago. At the same time though, Maddy looked almost like she was studying herself, as well.
After a very long moment in which agent Latiff wondered if she'd held her breath the entire time, Maddy very slowly, nodded.
holy crap, 2nd chapter already--and its longer than the first one! o.o

I over analyzed their clothes and appearances waaay too much, here. >.> darn you, symbolism

well, the question as to how she got to her size has, technically, been answered, though it's sort of snuck in. meh, I kind of like it that way

chapter one: [link]
Chapter 2: here!
chapter 3: [link]
© 2012 - 2024 5UNNYR4Y3
Comments8
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Tuiteyfruity's avatar
finally getting around to reading this. looking good