Chapter Nine

WARNING

Gruesome scenes ahead.

3rd Person's Point Of View

Running. Running.

And running.

All in the dark.

Elisa felt as if she had been running for hours.

The others were all taken from her. She has to get to them before the others do.

She has to.

Running. Running.

And falling.

Elisa let out a startled sound as she fell to the stone floor. Her elbow burned as it scraped against the ground.

She looked up with wide eyes. But she saw nothing but darkness.

Then everything was illuminated around Elisa.

Six different spotlights. On six different people.

Elisa's eyes widened with fear when she took the scenes in.

"Nalla! Nalla!" Elisa wailed from the ground.

There, in one of the spotlights, was Nalla in her human form, impaled by several spikes.

Elisa gasped for breath.

Horrible, horrible images of the others surrounded Elisa in pure mockery.

Jameson, torn apart limb by limb.

Sammi, her remains burning on the floor.

Nick, chained to the bottom of a tank, floating lifelessly as the water took away his last breath.

Ben, hundreds of cut wounds decorated all of his body. Hundreds of razors surrounding the ground around him.

Peter, hanging from the ceiling by a rope.

A wooden sign hung from around his neck.

'You did this. You failed.'

"No!" Elisa screamed, pounding the floor with her fist. "No!"

A man, dressed in all black, stood in front of her with a giant axe.

Elisa looked up, tears falling endlessly onto the ground. "Please, please." Elisa begged lifelessly.

The man raised his axe and swung it down

Elisa's scream was silenced.

-

"Elisa. Elisa!"

Elisa jumped to her feet, not realizing that she was crying and wailing only seconds earlier.

Her fur was damp with tears she unknowingly shed. Elisa looked up.

Lyla looked down at Elisa with concerned eyes. She held her in her arms securely. "Come here Baby." Lyla hugged Elisa against herself.

"I'm sorry." Elisa mumbled, ashamed about waking up her owner on the first night.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Lyla asked softly.

"Yeah." Elisa replied, keeping her head low.

But Lyla only heard a meow. "It's alright." Lyla reassured.

Then silence erupted everywhere.

The fan, it broke.

Lyla looked over at it.

Still holding Elisa, Lyla reached an arm and whacked the fan, trying to get it to start again. "Darn it." Lyla frowned.

Elisa meowed.

"Ah, sorry Lis." Lyla hugged Elisa again. "I'm sorry you had a bad dream. It's all alright now. Promise." Lyla soothed, yawning in the middle of her sentence.

Lyla grabbed Elisa's fish and laid back down with Elisa still in her arms. She laid on her side and hugged Elisa like a stuffed animal. "Let's go back to sleep now." Lyla mumbled tiredly.

"I, I can't." Elisa squirmed around.

Lyla sighed, hearing Taehyung's meows. Then an idea popped into her head. Lyla cleared her throat. "I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go. When all those shadows almost killed your light. I remember you said 'don't leave me here alone' Now all that's dead and gone and passed, tonight. Just close your eyes. The sun is going down. You'll be alright. No one can hurt you now. Come morning light you and I'll be safe, and

sound." Lyla sang in a slightly broken voice.

(The song is called Safe and Sound btw.)

During the lullaby, Elisa had drifted back to sleep.

Lyla was going to continue the song, but she heard Elisa's soft purrs. Lyla smiled and stopped singing. And she didn't fall asleep in silence. She fell asleep to Elisa's steady purrs.

5am

Beep

Beep

Beep

Lyla groaned reached for her phone.

She pouted and shut off the alarm.

Lyla slowly rolled out of bed, subconsciously holding a sleeping Elisa.

Lyla smiled, her eyes half open as she stroked her dogs' heads.

She scratched behind Sammi's ears softly, letting Lyla hear him purr for the first time.

Her fingers slid across the table of the pets' cages as she watched them with love in her eyes.

Lyla sighed and looked down at Elisa as she stretched in her arms. "Why, are we up so early?" Elisa yawned.

But Lyla didn't respond. All she heard was a tired meow.

Lyla slowly and quietly made her way down the stairs.

She went to the coffee machine immediately and started making herself a cup of coffee.

While that brewed, she went into the family room and turned on the tv, making sure the volume was on low.

Lyla walked back over to the coffee machine and added creamer to her coffee.

Finally, she sat down on the couch with Elisa. She sat her down in her lap and she curled up against her, enjoying the peaceful vibe.

Lyla wrapped both of her hands around the warm cup and smelled the sweet smell.

She sighed in satisfaction with a smile.

Lyla and Elisa watched the news, Lyla occasionally sipping her coffee.

Lyla switched the tv off after finishing her coffee and sighed, absorbing the silence.

She scratched behind Elisa's ear and she purred, loving the gesture.

Lyla started humming the tune from last night.

Elisa's tail swayed back and forth to the beat. "I like this Lyla." Elisa sighed lovingly. "Can we do this every morning?" Elisa asked. She quickly added, "I don't care how early it is."

Lyla laughed softly at the multiple meows from her cat. "Talkative already Lis?" Lyla teased.

She looked over at the clock next to the tv.

5:26 am

Lyla sighed and picked up Elisa and started to clean up the coffee.

After everything was clean and put away, Lyla made her way upstairs again with Elisa.

Lyla sat Elisa down on her bed, leaving her to stare at her in confusion.

"Nicky, Bensweetie. Time to wake up." Lyla sang in a soft voice, shaking the two dogs gently.

"What? What's wrong? Where's the dang-ow!" Nick jumped up from his laying position and he and Lyla whacked their heads.

Lyla hissed slightly and laughed.

"I'm so sorry!" Nick panicked as he saw Lyla rubbing her forehead with a smile.

"Aww. It's alright Nick." Lyla sighed and rubbed Nick's head after she heard him whine.

"Come on boys." Lyla walked over to her dresser and picked out a pair of athletic clothes. "We're going on a walk."