A Fluffy Stranger

Knowing that I was in this city was making me nauseous. I didn’t want to stay any longer than I had to. It will surely be a bit brutal to refuse his offer, but I do hope he will understand it.

“Sorry, but-”

“It’s fine,” he cut me off, “you don’t have to explain yourself.”

I had a feeling he was slightly upset judging from tone of his voice, but... it is what it is.

We didn’t exchange a word until we were in place.

“Thanks Gil, how much do I owe you?”

“Huh? Nothing.”

“Uhh-”

“I was going to the city anyway, so don’t mind it.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

He normally wouldn’t have a problem with taking money for something like that. “I’ll have that in mind, if you’d ever need something. Enjoy your party.”

“Take care, Deb.”

“You too.”

I got out from car and headed to the building. According to the time on my phone I still had some time before closing.

Luckily, I was able to make it and finally got this cursed passport. Therefore, I could go back to Ildeford and enjoy my few days of stay.

Now, that I think of it, I kind of regret not going to this party. I honestly have nothing else to do. Well. Time to head to bus station. I was in city centre, so the closest one was just few minutes away.

Weirdly enough, it wasn’t that busy and crowded as I thought it may be. It was barely few days before Christmas, so it made this situation even weirder.

I reached the stop from which buses to Ildeford leave. There wasn’t any at the moment. According to the schedule, there will be two in next 20 minutes, first one in 5 minutes. I only hope that’s not the one who goes to every possible stop...

It was too cold to wait outside, so I’ll go for the first one. Aaaand, it had to be the one I hoped it won’t show up. I just went in, bought a ticket, took a seat and was thinking already about the warm home and awfully good cheesecake that waits for me.

Mmm... Cheesecake...

Apparently we got much earlier than I expected, or time passed way too fast.

The bus stop, on which I got off, was on the junction on industrial area. A bit further was residential area. It was closer to go from there to home than from other bus stop. Even for such place, it was well-lit and safe, definitely safer than certain part of town...

I was the only person that got off the bus. There was no single soul around and it was just before 6pm. Whole scenery – night, snowy, outside of town, only by myself – made it a bit creepy.

“Hey!” I’ve heard shout somewhere behind me, it actually creeped me out as there was no one there seconds ago.

Without further consideration I sped up.

“Hey, hey! Don’t run away!”

'Like I’ll listen to you!' I said to myself and sped up even more.

“Heyheyhey-! I need your help!”

I hesistated in that moment. What if this person really needed my help? You never know.

I turned around to see the source of the voice. I would never expect to see what I just saw.

That person, or anything else what they could be, could barely reached my hips. As they were getting closer, I saw more and more details.

'Why I can’t get off my mind that they look like a bloody master Shifu, but in the same time they don’t?' I asked myself. 'Are they a furry or what?'

He waddled to me and said, while gasping for air, “For the love of God, girl, you’ll kill me.”

'Maybe I should consider that.' such thought came to my mind.

“Anyway, I need your help!” they went fully dramatic. “Look! Just look over there!” it pointed with their tiny, fluffy finger. “You see that guy?! That one?!”

I barely could see anything, but, Shifu wasn’t lying, someone was approaching us. They still were quite the distance between us. I guess that was the guy they mentioned.

“I think so?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! Great! So you need to help me deal with him!”

“Huh?”