The Jackal's Song: Chapter 11

After about a week, most of them were back to normal. Karrek was nearly fully healed, although he was still tired mentally. Silver still made him stay in bed. Karrek didn't want to have to stay in bed anymore; he had done so for a week. Tala walked in, Karrek was laying down reading a magazine. Tala pulled the magazine from him and dropped a fuzzy black object on Karrek's chest. It was Prinnen, the rabbit. Tala walked to the other side of the room, silently, sitting backwards in a chair. Karrek sat up slightly, picking up the creature and gently petting it. He looked over at Tala, who just sat there watching, holding a can of soda in one hand. "Silver says you can get up if you want, now,"Tala said, taking a sip from the can of soda. "Finally," Karrek mumbled, getting up out of bed, still holding the rabbit.

Tala walked over to him, snatching the rabbit. "Get dressed," Tala said, walking out of the room and bringing the rabbit back outside. Karrek watched him walk out, and got dressed. He walked into the library, walking to the stairs to go down to the family room, and paused, seeing Silver and Kai there. They were talking and laughing, almost seeming to be flirting, and he'd seen them like this many times before. Karrek walked downstairs, thinking to himself for a moment.

He walked into the kitchen, where Tala was. He sat at the table. Tala sat down at the other end, still holding the can of soda in his hand. "You got something on your mind?" Tala asked. "Yeah..." Karrek said. Tala looked at Karrek expectantly. "This may sound like an odd question, but..."Karrek said, sitting back in his chair more, thinking, "Are Silver and your dad, like, going out or something?" "I thought it was kinda obvious, but, yeah," Tala said, laughing a bit, "You just figuring that out now? You've been here for more than a month." Karrek, laughed, along with Tala, although it seemed a bit fake.

"I gotta go feed the animals. Why don't you get outside and tag along, you don't have to do anything, but you could use some fresh air," Tala said, standing up and finishing his soda. He headed out to the sanctuary, Karrek following behind him. Tala walked toward a large barn. Inside were glass tanks and cages filled with reptiles and birds and small animals with no other place to be put in the area. Karrek hadn't been in there before, so he seemed a bit awed by the animals there. He sat down in front of a large cage with at least a dozen parakeets in it. A crashing noise was heard, "Crap!" Tala's voice came from the back of the barn. "Karrek, don't let them get out!" Karrek turned to see several chickens racing toward the door to the barn; Karrek dove at them, catching a few of them before closing the door. One of the chickens squirmed its way out of his arms, the other decided to peck at his hand and Karrek dropped it. Tala tried to fix the wire fencing that lined the area where the chickens were supposed to be. Then, he tried to catch the chickens and put them back in. Karrek picked one up, and dropped it in the chicken area. Tala picked up two more and dropped them in. They both managed to return a few more, but the rooster got away. Tala ended up chasing it into a corner, but it charged at him, jumping at his face with its claws. Tala backed up quickly, but fell over and the rooster jumped over him and onto a bale of hay. Karrek snuck up behind it and picked it up. The creature squirmed and attempted to turn around and peck Karrek's face but he dropped the creature before it could do any damage to him. Tala saw the creature as it ran from Karrek as the boy chased after him. Karrek leapt to catch the creature. Tala dove to the creature, tipping over a bucket of water and getting his face wet. He was blinded but he had also gotten the rooster wet. Karrek dove toward the rooster, landing on Tala's back, but holding tightly to the rooster as it struggled to escape.

Kai then enered, staring at them and smirking. "What's going on in here?" Kai asked as the rooster broke out of Karrek's grip and ran over to Kai. Kai picked up the creature. It seemed to calm down slowly, huddling up to Kai's chest and breathing heavily.  Karrek got off of Tala and scrambled to his feet. Tala got up slowly, his hair dripping wet. Kai laughed stroking the rooster, then placing it in the fenced in chicken area. The creature looked as if it had just lost part of its pride and huddled up in a corner. Kai walked back into the house. Tala shook his head, laughing. "Come on, let's go inside," Tala said. The two of them walked back in the house.