Missing by Jinggo78
#1 of Thursday Prompts
Missing
By Jinggo78 AKA Jason Morelli
Joseth struggled in his mother's arms like a caged animal.
"Lemme go!"
"Stop squirming and put your coat on." Cali Stinkrose demanded.
"But mama I just wanna stay home this time."
"You're still too young to stay home without a sitter." She yanked the coat sleeve over his black furred arm. He groaned from the terrible counter-grain feeling against his fur. Joseth twisted, lunged away from his mother and found temporary freedom. Cali leapt after her son and grabbed him by the wrist. She pulled him close to her again. His back pressed against her with the coat caught between. Joseth's bushy tail whipped his mom in the face when she tried to turn him around.
Cali spat out loose fur. "You are getting brushed when we get home, young Skunk."
"It's not even my appointment and you're making me go. It's not fair!" Cali slid the other sleeve on.
"It's not fair!" Kaitlin mocked in a whiney facsimile from her seated position on the stairs.
"Don't make fun of me like that." Joseth said.
"Stop it both of you." Cali scolded them both with a glare. "Joseth, honey, your sister has been ready for more than ten minutes and you aren't even dressed yet." Cali zipped his coat up for him. He was glad she didn't get any of his fur in the zipper.
He looked at his little sister. Could any combination of colors look so hideous? She looked like she was bundled in battle gear only it was plush, pink and yellow all over. His coat was blue and orange. Who made this crap? Kaitlin looked so much more comfortable than he did. He tried to adjust his snow pants.
"She's just a goody little brat that's why." Joseth said and stuck his tongue out at Kaitlin. His mother slapped him on the top of the muzzle. He rubbed it with both hands, eyes welling up from pain. It didn't hurt that much though. All her slaps had too much love in them to hurt, but Kaitlin beamed with a smug little smile. That hurt his pride more than anything else.
"Don't call names." His mother said. Kaitlin giggled. Joseth breathed deeply and bit his lower lip.
"Kaity you're not supposed to rub it in. Now go wait in the car. I need to talk to your brother alone." Cali pointed toward the garage. Kaitlin left.
"Joseth, you need to be a better example to your little sister. It makes me look bad and it makes you look worse. Can't you be good? For her? For me?" She kissed him on the cheek.
"I'll try mama." He felt his cheeks flush. Kaitlin giggled from the stairwell.
"I thought I told you to wait in the car. Now get! We're going to be late." Cali ushered her children out of the house.
When the car started the radio started playing the weather report. The weather man said everyone should stay inside unless it was necessary. Joseth looked at his mom to see if she would listen but she changed the channel. Their car's wheels spun in place at the bottom of the curb. That was a good sign, he thought. If they couldn't even leave then they'd have to stay home. His mood brightened in a schadenfreude kind of way. Cali did a weird trick with the gear shift and they began to move again.
Joseth sighed and watched out his window. The snow definitely began to worsen. C'mon snow! C'mon snow! He hoped they would turn around before they got too far. He had no such luck. The car had 4 wheel drive which never failed. Their last car didn't have it and he remembered one time when the three of them got stranded in a snow storm just like this one. He looked out the front window. The snow came in clumps, threatening to bury everyone that dared to come outside. The sky resembled a featureless gray blanket.
"Are you still sulking?" His mother asked. He knew she could see him from the rearview mirror. Stupid mirror. Why'd she have to spy on him?
"No mama."
"He's a sulk-baby. Lookit him sulk. All because I got the front and he didn't." Kaitlin's plush tail looked like a pillow against her back. She also had to have that really annoying smug look on her super cute face. At other times he could never hate that face. She could be such a brat though. He did hate that. He took a breath but his mother's words came to mind before he could retort. Instead of being angry he was confused. Was he supposed to stay quiet and let her call him names? That wasn't fair. He crossed his arms and returned his gaze to his fogged up window. In the silence he caught his scent; he was definitely angry even though he tried to hide it. Kaitlin laughed.
"Yup yup sulky and a baby. Right mom?" She looked to their mother but she didn't respond. Joseth blinked several times in a row. His eyes stung hot with tears he tried to fight away. It would be a billion times worse if he cried in front of her. Even if he had to save it all up and cry later he wouldn't cry. Maybe that's what grownups did. Joseth had never seen his dad cry even once. He tried to think of something else. Anything but Kaitlin with her chirpy attitude and mean words.
"Aren't we there yet?" Joseth got half his anger out in one breath. So what if they knew he was mad. Maybe they should know. The whole thing was stupid. This wasn't even his appointment! The weather was bad, his pride was hurt, and he was uncomfortable in his winter clothes. Joseth wanted to be home playing his favorite video game with a cup of hot cocoa in his lap to make him warm.
"Calm down. Kaity you need to stop teasing your brother. It's not nice." Cali said. Finally she said something. He felt a little better but not completely. Kaitlin started to imitate his breathing with exaggerated in and out breaths and flaring nostrils. He squinted his eyes at her. Even after mom told her to stop... It just wasn't fair.
"Mom.." Joseth began
"We're here. Now please let's just try to get along." Cali got out and then so did Kaitlin. Joseth's gloved paws fumbled uselessly against what seemed to be the most complicated buckle. His door opened and let in a nasty burst of winter worthy wind. He shivered. Cali reached over him and undid his buckle for him.
Kaitlin was ahead of them. Her small form could only be seen as a vague shape. Cali was also ahead of him and he felt like they were leaving him behind. He quickened his pace and nearly fell when he slid on a patch of hidden ice.
"Snow sucks." Joseth said.
"You can't say that word and I love snow." Kaitlin started to twirl around. She tried to catch the snowflakes in her mouth.
"Fine I like snow too, just stop doing that." Joseth said.
A car honked at Kaitlin. Cali grabbed her to get her out of the way.
"Kaitlin this is a parking lot. You need to be more careful." Her mother said.
"Yeah Kaity try not to get ran over." Joseth said and then slipped hitting his rear hard. He cried out in surprise. It also hurt. His mother was at his side in seconds.
"Oh Joseth, dear, are you okay?" She knelt down to help him up. He really didn't want his tail wet but now it was. Ice, slush, and snow, it couldn't get any worse. He was about to blame it on Kaitlin but as he looked around he couldn't see her anywhere. She wouldn't go in without them would she?
"Mama? Where's Kaity?" He asked. His mother's ears perked. Joseth thought he heard the sound too. Cali spun around to look. They called her name and there on the wind was a faint response. A desperate one. Kaity was in trouble.
"Mama where is she?" Joseth asked feeling shaky in the middle of his body. He felt compelled to do more than just stand there. The sensation was odd but he had an unnerving feeling that Kaitlin was not okay even though he couldn't see her. His breath quickened and noticed his scent change.
"Oh, honey don't be afraid. We'll find her." His mother said. So that's what fear smells like. She kneeled down and hugged him. He felt her racing heart against his own. He gulped down a lump in his throat and tried not to notice the slithery feeling in his gut.
"Mama." He said. At that moment he could only think about bad he'd been and all the mean things he said and thought about Kaitlin that day.
"I'm sorry. I won't be bad anymore. I won't do another bad thing if I can just have my sister back." He started to cry.
"My baby... please..." His mother held him. She petted the back of his head and even kissed him a few times.
The moment ended and brought them both to alertness when they heard a car horn in a constant depressed state. Cali sprinted in the direction of the car horn and Joseth did his best to follow. He managed not to fall and saw his mother find a car with a struggle inside. Joseth could smell the distinct odor of skunk spray. To a skunk that smell means only one thing: distress.
"Please be alright." He heard himself whisper. His mother opened the car door and pulled out a wolverine man by the scruff of his shirt. Kaitlin came out next, nude except for the remains of her shredded clothes. She saw Joseth and ran to him. She hugged him and started to cry. It was obviously her spray that he smelled. He hugged her back and watched what his mother did. Cali was a kick boxer in her spare time and nailed three heavy blows to the Wolverines head. He already had a good dose of spray and Joseth thought those kicks would certainly take down anyone. The Wolverine man staggered and might have retaliated. Her next move made Joseth wince as she kicked the bad man square in the groin. He heard his yell echo around the parking lot before he collapsed. Served him right.
"Kaity are you okay? What did he do?" Joseth asked.
"He was going to do something really bad. I don't even know what. It felt bad and he said a lot of dirty words to me. I was so scared." She said resting her head against him. I'm her big brother, I should have been there to protect her, he thought.
"I won't let anyone hurt you again, Kaity. I'm your big brother." He hugged her tighter and their mother came.
"I called the police. Is she okay?" Cali asked.
"I think so." Joseth looked at Kaity. There was a long moment where Cali looked at Kaitlin's body in different places, even embarrassing ones but everything seemed to be fine now.
"Joseth. She's going to need a lot of support from now on. This was a really bad thing and a hard thing for her to go through."
"Okay mama. I'll do anything for her."
"Good. I'm glad you see how important this is." Cali kissed her two children and it turned out that the doctor's was closed after all. Kaitlin had managed to fight off the Wolverine man enough for him not to do any real harm other than minor scratches. They were glad she was a skunk though. That had to be luck. Or maybe something else entirely.
The End.
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