Lost Change

Chapter 26

The medicine had died down to a light fuzzy feeling when I woke up. I could focus, and I was aware of the aches in my body, but they were still distant things. The drugged stupor wasn't overwhelming me.

The cloth had been removed at some point, and I could make out a soft glow beyond the blinds over the window, so I assumed I had slept through an entire night and that it was now morning.

I felt a little sad at that thought. It would have felt nice to greet the sun, even if I couldn't fly for it like this.

The room looked empty beyond the cage, so I waddled over to the food dish. The strange alien fruit had been swapped back out for dried mangos so I ate a few, still ignoring the chunks of fish that remained mixed in with the fruits, but the water still had that metallic scent to it. I was extremely thirsty - how long had it been since I had really had any water to drink? - and I seriously considered drinking the drugged water anyways.

I wasn't in pain at the moment, though. And... I wasn't that happy with the idea of ending up back in that state with her around.

I shook my head to put those thoughts out of my mind and instead went back to the business of waking up for the day. The tray of red dirt had been cleaned out at some point, presumably by her, so I buried a new mess in the dirt for her to deal with.

After that...

There wasn't really anything to do after that.

I walked a few aimless circles around the cage a few times just for the purpose of doing something, but the cast around my hind leg made it awkward to do too much walking with. There weren't any toys to play with - probably to keep me from hurting myself on them - and nothing was going on outside the cage. I tried chirping, "Hey Alexa, turn on the tv", but the screen across the room stayed dark. Either the Kymari had no equivalent of voice-activated digital assistants, or it didn't recognize the musical warbles of a dragonet as valid instructions.

I tugged the blanket closer to the heat lamp near the back of the cage and burrowed underneath it. I poked my nose out of one end so as to be able to breathe and to keep an eye on the room, and then I settled in to wait for something to happen.

The soft warmth from the blanket and the heat lamp was relaxing. I zoned out after a bit, forgetting my boredom and just enjoying the pleasant surroundings instead.

I heard a noise from one of the hallways, and I felt the blanket shift a little as my ear tufts rose to push against it. There were a few more noises, then the Kymari walked into the room.

I made a mental note that the hallway in question must lead to the bedroom. She was wearing a baggy shirt and a short pair of shorts, which seemed like it would make for a comfortable outfit to sleep in, but wasn't one I had ever seen a Kymari wear when I ran across one in the park. She also seemed to still be half asleep, like her alarm had gone off a bit too early, or as if she hadn't been able to sleep that well.

Since it looked like the sun was already up out past the blinds, I decided she must be having trouble sleeping.

Or maybe I just really hoped she was.

I hissed as she continued into the room. She paused and looked towards me, then frowned.

"Well. Good morning to you too. Not very thirsty, I take it?" She started walking again, but this time instead of heading towards the other hallway, she moved straight in my direction.

I hissed louder and pulled my head back underneath the blanket. I doubted that it helped much - even flattening myself as low as I could manage against the floor, the blanket was the only place in the cage I could possibly be, and the fact that the blanket was hissing and sputtering like water pouring over the hot rocks inside a sauna probably removed any other lingering confusion the Kymari might have had as to my location.