Weird Little Girl

With their experience on the day of Samuel's birth, Bernard and Vivian had anticipated severe challenges with raising him.

Contrary to expectations, raising Samuel had not been as challenging as they initially imagined.

Setting aside the relatively usual challenges in raising toddlers, they only had to deal with a flying hyper toddler as well as the occasional shedding of feathers in the house.

They found solace in a strong tether used to leash large and powerful dogs like Tibetan Mastiffs and Great Danes; recommended to them by Dr. Hathaway.

By hooking him up to a five hundred pound block of metal, they could sit and relax as their toddler spun himself into a frenzy near the higher-than-normal ceiling.

They were glad they had thought of increasing the height of their ceiling to a higher height than normal during the construction of the house.

An outside observer would have accused them of child abuse or endangerment, but seeing the child up close, one would realize that he was having a kick out of his situation.

Having these touch and go moments, Bernard and Vivian had a relatively splendid time raising their son.

...

It has been seven years since Samuel was born and he had already begun to experience boredom like no other.

There were no kids his age and even so, he was forbidden from making contact with anyone passing through for fear of exposure, panic or misconception.

His life was centered wholly around his family. He was being home-schooled and even with his high comprehension ability, he, just like any other child craved social contact.

By adopting the same schedule and curriculum used by internationally acclaimed private schools, Bernard and Vivian were able to keep Samuel busy with school work that was usually mind numbing for regular children his age.

Although his IQ was off the charts, he still had no other option than to go through the whole process like any other child. Being extremely smart was no substitute for acquiring actual knowledge and Samuel himself understood that the most.

He had almost blown up his house once already in an unsupervised science experiment he tried on a whim.

During the scheduled summer holiday, Samuel sat at the peak of the mountain closest to his house, staring at the clouds and contemplating his boredom repeatedly.

Suddenly, his sharp pointed ears twitched as the sound of a running engine caught his attention.

"It's been a while since a car came through here", he said as he immediately stood up and took to the sky, flying high into the clouds and scrutinizing the entire landscape.

He noticed some sort of vehicle a few miles away entering the mountain zone from the flatlands that led to the city.

As he strained his eyes, trying to identify the source of the sound, he unlocked some sort of super hyperopic vision.

His reptilian pupils suddenly spiralled and shrunk, turning into slits like those of a cat in the dark. 

His eye sight was enhanced so much that, he could see the vehicle as clear as day, almost as if he was only a few feet away from it.

He panicked, and his eyes reverted back to their normal circular shape.

"What the heck just happened", he asked himself in shock, causing his eyes to return to their default modes. "Well, stranger things have happened", he said to himself with a smile as he tried to repeat the action.

After a few tries, he managed to enhance his eyesight once again.

"There we go.... now let's see who is coming into the mountains", he said as he turned his gaze to the vehicle speeding up the road some distance away.

"It's a camper van. A family is coming camping, this is amazing. I will probably get to meet kids my age", he said to himself, feeling excited. "Wait..." he paused.

"Mom and Dad explicitly instructed me not to make contact with anyone. If I do, I will be disobeying them".

He flew back down to the lake by his house and dove into it. For over thirty minutes he just floated on the surface, thinking. Using his large and long tail, he slowly pushed himself scaring the fish swimming near the surface.

'Damn, I really want to meet them, but I also don't want to disobey Mom and Dad. What do I do?'.

He swum there for several more minutes and finally got an answer.

"That's right, I can just observe them from a distance. No harm done to anyone. And besides, it's not against the rules if they happen to get into contact with me first".

He walked back to the house whistling a tune, happy with his compromise and trying to cover up his guilty demeanor.

Late that night, he flew high into the sky, and with the full moon behind him, searched for the camp grounds of the visitors.

After a few minutes, he managed to discover the van hidden underneath a cluster of tall Acacia trees.

He observed the camp set up; made up of one large-sized tent and two mid-sized tents, for a few minutes.

He flew closer and listened in, trying to discover if anyone was still awake.

"Tch! They are already asleep. How tired are they?" Samuel asked himself disappointedly after observing no movements at the camp grounds for close to thirty minutes.

"Hmmm! I guess I'll come back tomorrow", he sighed as turned and flew away.

Early the next morning, Samuel flew over to the mystery visitors' campsite once again.

When he got closer, he hid in one of the towering trees covering the mountain scape and stayed as quiet as he possibly could. 

He hooked his tail around a large branch and hung himself upside down like a bat; a position he'd discovered to be his favourite since he was a child, as he observed the morning sky and the entire camp area and waited.

He didn't have to wait long as just a few minutes later, there was sudden movement in one of the mid-sized tents and he heard unzipping of the tent's door.

A little girl came out dressed for the outdoors and clutching a large kite. she appeared to be his age and appeared to be just as adventurous as he was.

She reclosed her tent and stretched her little body as she took in the fresh air.

In the split second after Samuel laid eyes on her, his eyes glazed over, his heartbeat spiked and his body temperature rose sharply as he felt a primal urge to approach her.

He plunged his claws into the bark of the tree, almost crushing it as he forced himself to calm down.

"What was that feeling just now? I've never felt it before. It almost caused me to expose myself", he said as he placed his hand over his chest, taking in deep breaths as he felt his racing heartbeat starting to slow down.

After returning to his usual state of being, he turned his attention back to the girl.

She tiptoed to the larger tent and took a look inside. After slightly opening the zipped door and ensuring that the inhabitants were still asleep, she pulled back her head and closed it.

She then took another deep breath and quietly snuck off into the woods.

"Well now, what a weird little girl? Did she seriously just enter a dangerous forest like this without a second thought?" Samuel asked himself with a perplexed look on his face.

"Interesting", he said with a smile as he unhooked his tail and flipped into the air, slowly following her from up in the air above the canopy of trees.