Leo Lupine Chapter 1; The Escape
Chapter 1
The Escape
"LEO!!! GET UP TO YOUR ROOM NOW!!!"
My blood freezes. Oh crap she knows about it. I have two options. Option one, I'll reason with her, offer to do some more work around the house. At the most I might a slap if I'm lucky or worse..... For my second option I could make a break for it. Escape. Go to the police were I should be safe. Though where would I live afterwards?
"ARE YOU DEAF?!? UP STAIRS NOW YOU LITTLE BASTERD!!!"
"I'm just coming mum" I call back meekly, placing the grimy china plate back into the sink. I exit the kitchen into the hall way and then make the rest of my daunting journey up the stairs.
"Apologise and offer to do more chores" I tell myself mentally.
On the carpet along the landing, I notice dirty shoe prints, thanks a lot to mum not taking her shoes off as usual. This kind of annoys me as I recently hooved this area.
"What took you so long?" mother demands, a scowl appears on her face as I enter my bedroom. Her eyes are red and watery and her dirty grey fur is matted. Her clothes are stained and smell of smoke.
"I was doing the washing up mum before you called me."
"Well wise guy doing work for me isn't going to get you in the clear" before she adds nastily "care to explain why you've pissed in your bed?"
She points her paw towards my bed in the corner of my room. To my dismay I notice a faded dark patch on the blue bed sheet.
"Proud of yourself? I could smell it from down the landing."
"I didn't meant to mum it was an accident" I explain my voice trembling slightly. "It happened while I was asleep."
"RUBBISH!!! YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!!!!" she screamed, causing an eerie silence.
"What are you? A baby? For God sakes Leo you've 12!!!
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to" I replied firmly.
"Oh, you're sorry? Well your apology isn't going to get you out of punishment."
Great I was going to be punished. What would it be? No meals for a week, a beating or something even worse.....
"You should be more grateful because if it wasn't for me you would even have been born." Great hear comes another one of her drunken rants. "Thanks to me you've got a roof over your head, clothes on your back and food on your plate" she rambles on "And in return you wet your bed like a baby."
"Well I do the cleaning around the house for you in return?"
Could a baby do that?
"You don't do a great job cleaning it as afterwards it's still messy. You're a disappointment Leo, just like your father."
"That's because you and your boyfriend are always leaving litter lying around, spilling drinks and not taking your shoes off!" I shot back. A sudden rush of anger was surging through me.
I swear to God I've had it with her.
"Don't you ever talk back to me in that tone of voice!" she snarled.
"Oh, and when was the last time your brought me any new clothes or anything made anything for dinner?" I replied ignoring her threat.
I then felt a sharp pain erupt through me as mother kicked me square in the stomach. I fall back on my bed groaning in pain. The infuriated she wolf loomed over me menacingly.
"You've brought this upon yourself young pup" she exclaims before I glance up to see her unbuckling her belt.
I need to get out of here now.
Jumping up from my bed, I race past her. As soon as my paw reaches the door handle, I suddenly feel an excruciating pain tear into my left shoulder blade as the jagged belt buckle makes contact with my skin.
Before I have time to react, the second blow gets me down my back causing me to yelp out in pain. I then feel mums paw clamp down on my bloody shoulder. Her claws dig into my shoulder like needles.
"Stay put or I'll make this much more painful" she growls into my ear. Her breath smells strong as though she has been drinking spirits. I feel warm blood ooze down my back and hot tears of pain in my eyes.
If I don't escape now then I could be seriously injured or worse.
Instinctively, I spin around and scratch her in the eye. This causes her to scream in pain and her grip on my shoulder to loosen. Breaking free of her grasp I'm able to slip out the door onto the landing. Ignoring the pain in my shoulder and back, I sprint along the landing in full pelt. Once I reach the stairs, I jump down three steps at time until I get to the hall. Now the rest of my escape should be manageable as all I had to do was exit out the front door which is using left unlocked due to the carelessness of mum. However, as my paw is reaching for the door handle, the door flies open nearly knocking me back, revealing a fierce looking Doberman.
Oh my Shit! It's mother's boyfriend Charlie!
He towers over me like a giant scowling down at me. He wears a black leather jacket covered with studs, ripped jeans and metal capped boots. His teeth are cracked and rotten in several places. Down the right side of his face he has a snake like scar.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry kid?" he demands.
His question gets me off guard as his paw shoots out grabbing me by the front of my T-shirt before lifting me from the ground.
"You better not be giving your mother any trouble again" he snarls in a gruff voice.
"Hold him still Charlie!" I hear mother yell angrily. I turn my head to see her standing at the top of the stairs. I notice that she holding a paw to her bloodied right eye while in the other paw she dangles the leather belt.
"What's the little bugger done this time Kate?" he snarls.
"He's pissed in his bed and he scratched me" she replies her voice burning with hatred. "I swear to God Charlie he's out of control! He needs disciplining!! NOW!!!"
"Leave it to me. I'll make sure he.... AAAHHHHH!" he yells as I sink my teeth into his chest. I taste his blood in my mouth though at the same time I feel his grip loosen on my shirt. I'm able to wriggle free and squeeze through the gap in the partially open door, narrowly avoiding the grasping paw of the enraged Doberman.
I take off at full pelt along the gritty pavement into the night's darkness. A glass bottle zooms past my head, missing me only by a few inches before it smashes on the ground.
"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE RUNT!!!! GET BACK NOW OR ILL KILL YOU!!!! YOU HEAR ME!!!"
The sound of her voice echo's through my skull as I spirt on along the deserted street not daring to look back. Soon my bare feet begin to ache as I've not got any shoes on.
I run for quite a long time, a laborious half an hour at the most. I don't stop running until I'm breathless. I then realize that I'm lost! I've not been paying attention to where I was going so I've ended up in part of town that I don't recognize. Apart from a few cars I've seen pass me on the road, I've seen no one around to ask for help, so I'm isolated. I reckon that's it's getting on for 11 so no wonder this place feels like a ghost town. I need to find shelter for the night.
Thankfully I notice a covered green bus shelter that's only couple of yards away. It's not much but it'll have do for now as I don't feel up for finding a house to ask for help. Hell at least it'll keep the wind off my back. Using the last of my energy I slowly jog over to the shelter with a stitch in my side. Once I'm there I crash down on the metal bench and position myself so; I'm lying on my side along the bench. Despite my back stings quite badly, I blank out the pain.
By now I bet many of you are wondering how I ended up with such an abusive mother aren't you. Well believe it or not mother had used to take loving care of me like all good parents do. I use to have a father who as far as I can remember was also quite caring. This all changed when I was only six years old as both my parent's had a major falling out and got divorced. I'm not too sure what actually happened though I later found out in one of mother's drunken rants that dad had been having an affair with another woman.
If only. If bloody only mum hadn't become an alcoholic, Grandma hadn't died, dad hadn't been sleeping around with other women and left home for good then maybe. Maybe I'd be in a far better position than the one I'm in now. Homeless, cold, starving and bleeding, I cannot go on. All thanks to a moment of madness I was able to escape. This was the first ever time I'd lashed out at mother and her boyfriend after countless times of unfair punishments and beatings.
There's no way in hell that I can go back home. Not in a million years! I'd probably end up paralyzed, dead or something even worse. As soon as it gets light and I've rested up, then I'm going straight to the police. They should hopefully put mother and Charlie behind bars, though what will happen to me? It's likely that I'll be sent to an orphanage as I doubt no one would want to adopt a runt of a wolf like me. Life at an orphanage may not be great though at least there shouldn't be any punishments involving a belt or starvation.
Rather than thinking about my daunting future I should try and get some rest as then I'll have a clear head for tomorrow. As I'm settling down on the bench, I suddenly hear the faint sound of footsteps. My fur began to stand on end; I'm ready to make a break for it. Then silence. Everything goes quite again.
Suddenly I'm dragged off the bench by a powerful force! I land on my back on the cold stone ground. Gasping in pain, I glance up to see the scared face of Charlie glaring down at me. Noticing the blood stain on his shirt, I brace myself for pain as the angry Doberman places his metal boot onto my chest, pinning me down.
"Your in very deep shit now, you little runt" he growls pressing his foot down harder on my chest, making it near impossible for me to breath.
"I've got blood stain on my favourite shirt thanks to you" he snarls accusingly. "Not mention that you could have blinded your poor mother!"
"It was self-defence" I explain weakly despite I known that deep down inside reasoning won't work. "I didn't want cause any trouble so I tried to get away from her....."
No sooner have I finished explaining, the Doberman lifts me of the ground by the scuff of my bloodied shirt and slaps me hard across my muzzle.
"You need discipline boy! It's for your own good!" Charlie growls "that's why I'm taking you back home so Katie and I can teach you a lesson you'll never forget!"
"NO!!!!!!" I cry.
In response I'm slapped in the face again causing my head to spin and the taste of blood to fill my mouth.
"YES!!!!" he roars "NOW SHUT UP OR I'LL SlAP YOU SILLY!!!!"
"HEY!!! PUT THAT KID DOWN NOW!!!" screams an angry voice.
I turn my head to see a tall lioness with a muscular build standing a few feet away from us. She has honey yellow fur with a cream coloured muzzle. She's wearing a black vest and jogging bottoms.
"I saw what you did to that poor boy" she growled at Charlie who was currently holding me. "I saw you hitting him. I'm absolutely disgusted! Let him go now and get out of here"
"Mind your own business pussy, can't you see that I'm disciplining my son here!" Charlie snaps back "He's run away from home and he's hit his mother!"
"Well if he has then I'm sure he's doing it for his safety" the feline snapped back. "Your way of disciple is child abuse. Let him go now or I'll teach you a lesson!"
The Doberman throws me to the ground where I land roughly on my back. Tears of pain blur my visions as my body embraces the hard impact of the ground.
"You've asked for it pussy!" the doberman barks as I watch him make a lunge at the lioness. Next something very unexpected happens. I watch in astonishment as the feline punches him clean in the muzzle knocking the canine to the ground. As he's on his hands and knees about get up she kick's him hard up the backside sending sprawling across the pavement.
"GO ON GET LOST" she screams "AND DON'T CALL ME PUSSY!!!"
With a paw claimed over his bloody muzzle, Charlie limps off into darkness.
Thank God for that or thank that lioness for saving me. Speaking of which, I notice her slowly approaching me. Once she's close to me, she kneels down to my level. To me she's a giant as she's at least over 6 foot, when I'm an average 4 foot. She looks as though she's in her early 30's and she also has hazel brown eyes (just like mine.)
"Don't worry little one, he's not going to hurt you anymore. No one is and I'm going to be making sure of that." Her voice tone sounds very calming and comforting.
"Thank you...." is all I manage to say before I break down. The pain from the beatings, the long run from home, the many nights without a decent night sleep and the lack of food all take effect. I start to sob letting my tears splash onto the ground. I feel like cannot go on.
Then something unexpected happens. The lioness lifts me into her lap and wraps her arms gently around my back, careful enough not to hurt my back wounds.
"Go on Sweet heart let it out" she whispers "I can tell that you've had rough time."
I wrap my arms around her back and sob into her chest. It's been a very long time since I've been comforted by anyone. After 10 min's of crying, I calm down a bit. After letting out a few small hiccups, I take my head away from her chest to find that my tears and mucus have left a wet patch on her vest.
"I'm sorry" I mutter with a feeling of guilt.
"What's there to be sorry for darling? Oh that?" she say's glancing down at wet spot on her vest.
"Never mind about that as I'm putting it in the wash later. Now most importantly he's hasn't hurt too bad, right? Maybe I should call you an ambulance."
"You don't need to call me an ambulance; I've suffered worse than this" I reply gulping back a sob.
"Worse?" she gasps with an expression of concern.
"Yep he's thumped me plenty of times before" I reply solemnly.
"Oh" she said weekly. She then took a clean tissue from her pocket and gently began to wipe the blood and mucus from my muzzle.
"There you go kid" say's the lioness cheerfully as she wipes the last of the blood off my muzzle area. "It's the least I can do for now as I don't have any plasters with me."
"That's ok" I reply "Though still thanks for helping me miss..." what was her name.
"Angel" the feline replies "Angel Savannah, though you can call me miss Angel, if you like."
What an awesome name I think to myself. Well it seems fair that I should introduce myself.
"My name is Leo. Leo Lupine."
"Aww, what a cute name" she says with a grin. "I've got a cousin in Africa called Leo."
Her comment makes me blush and smile a little which I'll feel is a good thing.
"Well tell you what Leo, I use to work as a nurse so how about I take you back to my place and get you patched up?" Angel says sympathetically. "It's only a couple a minutes away from here."
"Thanks' for offering, but I don't want to be any trouble."
"Please I insist. I don't mind helping you at all." She sounded a little stressed then. "You have wounds that need cleaning and there's no way leaving you here by yourself."
Despite I haven't spent much time with this lion woman, I feel as though she is trustworthy enough. Besides, there's no one else around to help me.
"Ok miss Angel, I'll go with you."
"Thank for you for agreeing me Leo" she says with a smile. "Sorry if I'm sounding strange or anything but I want to make sure you're safe."
Then something that I'm not expecting happens. Angel gets up and then gently pick's me up before positioning me so I'm cradled in her strong arms like an infant. She's careful not to put any pressure on my aching back. I begin to feel a strong sense of love and protection. A feeling I haven't felt for some time.
"Are you fine with me carrying you this way?"
"Not at all miss; it's been a long time since someone's well cared about me. I'm not use to this sort of treatment."
"Well as long as your with me, I'm going be taking good care of you" she says reassuringly "Ok honey?"
"Thank you Miss Angel" I say with a yawn, resting my head into her muscular arm. Maybe things will begin to get better.