Chapter 2: Best Day

We finally entered the city, I was excited and nervous at the same time. Honestly, it was a weird combination of feelings. “This is Central City.” Mother said as I stare out the window in awe. “It’s so big…” I responded, “I can’t believe this is happening.” Mother placed her hand on my shoulder, but I didn’t turn around. My gaze was too focused on the passing buildings, the passing cars, and the various people walking. “We’re about to get off.” Mother said, and I finally turned to look at her. “Really?” I asked. She nodded, and my smile grew even bigger. The car stopped and Mother unbuckled her seatbelt. “*sigh* Well, we’re here.” She helped me unbuckle mine and we both opened our doors and walked out. Once we got off, the car immediately sped off, leaving us on the sidewalk. I looked all around me, seeing the traffic lights, the cars passing us…everything. “So, I have a list pre-made of activities we’ll do.” Mother started, “So the first thing is…huh?” I had run off to see, smell, touch everything. “Ohhhh! Ahhhh!! Ouuuuuu!!!” Every little thing I saw astonished me. Then, my gaze locked on a person…a male like me. “OHHHH!!!!!” I ran and grabbed him by his face, “Hello! You’re a person! Do you wanna be my friend?” He seemed rather scared by my approach, and soon Mother came and separated me from the man. “Bad!” She yelled at me, then she turned to the man, “I’m sorry sir. He’s just a real people’s person.” The man scoffed and walked off. “Bye!” I waved. I turned to Mother who was looking at me with a stern expression. “You aren’t allowed to leave my side, you got that? You can get in trouble.” She was pretty mad at me. I looked down, “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” She sighed and patted me on my head. I looked up and she smiled at me, “It’s alright. I know this must be a lot for you, but let’s just do one thing at a time, okay?” I smiled and nodded, “Okay!”

Afterward, Mother took me to our first “sigh-t-seeing” place. A fast-food restaurant she called it. We went inside the building and the floor had black and white squares, spinning chairs with red tops, and people dressed in all white. Like the people at my home, but these people had something white on their heads, a hat I think it’s called. Mother asked one of the people in white to bring us something called a “ham-ber-gr.” Whatever that was. I looked around the building, entranced in the surroundings. After a while, the person Mother talked to came back with two plates and something on the plates. I tilted my head in confusion at what it was. It certainly smelled good, but I wasn’t allowed to eat anything with Mother’s permission. “What is this?” I asked poking at it. “It’s called a hamburger.” She replied, “It’s food, you eat it.” I looked up at her and saw her picking it up and taking a bite out of hers. “This isn’t stuff I wouldn’t normally eat,” She said covering her mouth, “But, today’s your day. So, I’ll bear it.” I looked back down at the “ham-ber-gr” then I picked it up with both my hands like Mother did, and then took a bite out of it. My eyes widened as this explosion of flavor went off in my mouth. I swallowed it, “OHHHH!!!!!” I got up and shouted, “SO GOOOOD!!!!” Peopled turned to look at us with confusion. Mother laughed, “I had a feeling you would like it. Now, sit back down so you can finish it.” I nodded and sat back down to continue eating this amazing food. Far better than just salted steak with water. Speaking of which, the person who brought our food had also brought this dark bubble-filled water. I took a drink of it and it fizzed in my mouth, the taste was so good, I finished it in one go. After that, she took me to a very large building with tinier buildings called a “mall.” Then, we headed to this place called a “park”. That was my favorite, I got to play with other animals that were there. Of course, the other people there looked at me, confused. Mother just simply smiled and laughed. THEN, we got this new food called “ice cream.” It was cold, and hurt my head, but it was really good. We finally decided to end the day by eating our ice cream sitting by the “beach.” I was very excited by that because that’s where the ocean was. We sat on the “sand” and look off at the ocean.

“Today was so amazing!” I told her, finishing my ice cream. “Yeah.” She responded, looking like she was only “half happy” as she calls that expression. “Mother, what’s wrong?” She looked down, “I’ve been forgetting to do this, but I’ve never given you a name.” She said. I looked at her confused, “I have a name. 9320.” Her face became sad, “That’s not your name. I mean a REAL name.” She replied. “Oh. Well…do you wanna give me one?” I asked, and she looked up at me. “Really?” She asked, and I nodded. She looked back down, “Well…how about…umm…Ferral?” I looked at her for a second, and smiled, “Yeah. I think it sounds cool. My new name is Ferral.” She looked at me in surprise for a second, but then it turned into her signature warm smile. “Well, “Ferral” I want you to know something. Something important.” She started. “Yes, mother?” “One day you’ll leave your home…that wretched facility. And when that time comes, I want you to live. Live to laugh, love, and be free…” I was confused on why she was saying this. What is “love?” What is “free?” She continued, “Everyone sees you as some monster, but I know that’s not the case. You’re kind, caring, and a fascinating human being. You are NOT a monster. One day, the organization will see that.” Her face became sad and her eyes started to make water drop from them. She took a deep breath and wiped the water from her eyes, then she got up. “Come on, it’s time to go back.” She said. “Okay!” I got up and started walking back to the city. As we were walking, Mother looked sad, but I did not know why. About halfway through our walk, I got distracted by a butterfly and tried to catch it. Mother, of course, was also distracted and continued walking. Once she made it to the area where the car was supposed to pick us up, she noticed that I was gone. “Ferral?” She called out, “Ferral!” As she tried to find me, a steel gray car pulled up in front of her…..and I could’ve saved her…..