Right Here Waiting – #AtoZChallenge #BlogchatterA2Z

These catacombs beneath the city had been our home for generations.

Photo prompt courtesy Sue Vincent

Away from the eyes of the world, we took birth here, lived here, and died here. There were miles and miles of tunnels, so there was plenty of space for us to exercise our muscles, and there were places, though few admittedly, from where the sun managed to occasionally peep through. Not that we needed the sun too much, we were creatures of the dark, for the dark allowed us to hunt.

Unlike the world above, food was difficult to find, always had been, even in our glorious past. But our bodies were now conditioned to survive for a long time without eating, though not indefinitely. We were dependent upon anyone who entered the tunnel by chance, and get lost in the labyrinth…only for us to find them, hunt them down ruthlessly, and then eat them. We always shared any food that any of us got, we are not brutes, you know.

Which brings me to today, here, now.

The boy had been peeping into the tunnel for days now, but never actually dared to get in. We kept hiding in the shadows while he did that, and waited for him to either go away, or come in. Still, despite all our efforts, I had a feeling that he had managed to see us once or twice. Which could be very bad, or very good, depending upon which way the cookie crumbled.

It was his usual time now, and I had hidden myself completely in the dark. He came just as the sunlight had started to recede as usual, peeped into the hole as usual, and then, did something extremely unusual…he jumped into the tunnel.

I could smell it now, the fresh meat.

When he had walked sufficiently away from the hole, I finally came out of the shadows.

The boy saw me, and his eyes widened in shock and fear for a minute, but then, instead of turning around and running away as he should have done, he started walking towards me.

Closer and closer he came, his steps faltering but never stopping, and then, when he was just a couple of feet away from me, he finally came to a halt, and extended his hand.

I saw my chance then, and taking a step back, with my mouth wide open, I launched myself towards the boy’s hand, and as my mouth closed and my sharp teeth cut through the meat, the boy cried out, “Don’t get so excited, you cute little rattie, I’ll get you some more mutton when my mommy makes it next.”

*************************************************************************************Written as a part of the #writephoto challenge hosted at Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo. The objective is to write a story or a poem inspired by one of Sue’s own photos that he puts up every week as a prompt. There is no word limit of any kind.

This is also my entry for the #AtoZChallenge, as well as #BlogchatterA2Z. Today’s letter was R, which, in my story, stands for Rats, as well as Right Here Waiting 🙂

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