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It is late into the night. Carmilla is sitting on the couch, watching tv while consciously playing with Laura’s hair whose head rests on Carmilla’s lap. Laura’s attention is engrossed in one of Carmilla’s tattered paperbacks that she doesn’t notice a tiny figure approaching her and tugging on the hem of her shirt.
“Momma” the tiny figure says sleepily.
Laura looks up immediately at the small voice and sees a small girl looking at her. She is wearing a shirt that is too big for her tiny body, one hand clutching a beige teddy bear while the other is rubbing her sleep induced eyes. Her long hair curly and messy framing her small face.
“Riley, baby. What are you doing up?” Laura asks as she sets the book down
“I can’t sleep.” Riley says in a tired, raspy voice
“Is it the monster in your closet again?” Laura reaches toward her and cups her head, softly stroking her hair. Riley nods and Carmilla silently huffs. Laura grins without looking up at Carmilla.
“I want pookie. I can’t find her.” Riley cries
Laura then shifts slightly to look up at Carmlla. They lock eyes for a few seconds, having a conversation with just the way they were staring at each other. Carmilla then sighs and rolls her eyes. But her eyes quickly fall back on Laura. She gives a half-smile and nods. Laura loved that about the special bond she has with Carmilla. They would just look at each other and no words were needed to be said for them to understand what the other was asking. Laura sits up and looks Riley in the eyes.
“Why don’t I help you find her?”
Riley nods. Laura gets up and starts to lead her away from the living room. They go to the kitchen and start opening cupboards. Riley helps by poking her head in the lower shelves of the cupboards. Laura keeps Riley in her peripheral to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself. She sneaks a full glance and sees Riley standing on her tippy toes, holding the bear at arms lengths to look into the top shelve above her head. Laura can’t help but stifle a laugh. A few more minutes later, Laura and Riley finished searching each cabinet in the kitchen. Riley stands around idly, hugging the teddy bear while Laura starts closing the remaining open cabinets.
“Where do you think Pookie can be hiding?” Laura asks cheerfully
Riley points at something on the counter. Laura looks toward the direction her finger is pointing at and sees a jar with the words “Cookies” labled in big red letters. Laura instantly knew but decided to play along. She grabs the jar, kneels in front of Riley and pulls the top off.
“You think Pookie is hiding in here?” Laura closes one eye and looks into the jar, while making silly faces as she stares at the contents inside.
Riley softly laughs at Laura’s attempts to look for Pookie in the jar. Laura suddenly says, “Hey, wait a minute.” Laura looks up at Riley and her mouth is obscurred by the teddy bear. Her eyes are bright with joy as her soft rosy cheeks causes her eyes to squint at Laura. She can hear a giggle coming from the bear.
“You just want a cookie don’t you?” Laura smiles at her
“And Pookie!” Riley speaks up while lowering the teddy bear only to return it to its original position of covering half her face.
“You can’t have sweets this late at night, sweetie.” Laura says sternly.
Riley’s face slightly falls. The light slowly dying in her eyes. It breaks Laura’s heart. She reaches in the jar and grabs a cookie. She breaks it in half and hands one half to her.
“One for you, one for me okay?” Laura smiles at her
“Yay!” Riley cheers
Riley becomes too busy nibbling on her cookie to notice something nudging her from behind. A giant black panther is towering over Riley. Its piercing eyes staring at the small child. Laura smiles and speaks softly to Riley to get her attention.
“Ah! Look who found us!” Laura says playfully
Riley turns around and smiles. She throws her arms around the pather’s neck, the top of her head barely touching the panther’s chin. “Pookie! We were looking for you!” She says joyfully with a mouth full of cookie. The panther purrs in response to Riley’s hug. Riley releases and takes a few steps back to look up at the panther. She takes the last bit of her cookie and extends her arm to the panther. The panther lowers its head and opens its mouth. Its big, pointy white teeth and its long wet toungue protrudes out infront of Riley’s face. She places the cookie on the panther’s tounge then pets its head as it closes its mouth to munch on the cookie.
“Alright. Now that we found Pookie, it is time for bed.” Laura says as she starts to get up with the jar and putting it back on the counter.
Riley brings the teddy bear to the panther’s mouth which the panther instinctively bites down on it. It then lays down on its stomach so that it is lower than Riley. The small girl rushes to the side of the panther and starts to climb it. Laura always thought the way Riley climbs onto Carmilla’s cat form was ridiculously cute. She would plant her forehead on the panther’s back and uses her head as support to climb the giant. Grabbing onto the fur and using a knee to help swing one leg over then to pull the rest of herself up. She crawls up the length of the beast’s back until she is settled on the neck of the giant panther.
Riley loves riding on Carmilla’s back while she is in her catform even if it would scare Laura to death for fear of Riley falling off and hurting herself. But Carmilla reasurred her one night saying, “Cupcake, she is not gonna fall off. If it’ll make you feel better, tell her next time that she needs to grab onto my fur as hard as she can. It won’t hurt me, I promise. If anything, I’d be surprise with her puny strength and all.”
The panther starts to stand while Riley is gripping onto the panther’s fur and a big smile on her tiny face. Laura can’t help but smile at what she is seeing. A giant ferocious, terrifying black panther with a small child on its back and a teddy bear in its mouth. The panther turns and starts to head to Riley’s bedroom. Laura follows as she continues to smile to herself.
Laura turns on the light of Riley’s bedroom as the panther comes trotting in with the child bouncing on its back. Laura leans against the door frame and watches. The panther lowers itself so Riley can climb down its back. Riley slides off the panther’s back with ease and walks to the face of the panther. As she grabs the teddy bear from its mouth, the panther releases it.
“Good kitty.” She softly pets the panther then places a kiss on its nose
Laura continues to stand there silently and smiles at the two living creatures infront of her. Riley then points to her slightly adjacent door that is her closet and cries, “Monster” while hiding behind the teddy bear. The panther gets up and walks towards the closet. It uses its nose to open the door more. Riley then runs to where Laura is to hide behind her, one hand clutching the teddy bear and the other clutching to Laura’s sweatpants. The panther pokes its head in the dark closet and growls. A few things are heard being knocked down followed by another growl. The panther then retreats from the closet and walks towards where Riley and Laura are. It then sits before them as Laura and Riley start to laugh. The panther makes a noise that closely resembles a “murph?” while slightly turning its head to the side. One of Riley’s tiny purple socks managed to find its way onto the panther’s giant head. Riley runs up to the panther to hug its head.
“Silly kitty.” She laughs before pulling away “You got one of my socks on your head!”
The panther shakes its head and the socks comes tumbling to the ground. Riley continues to giggle.
“Alright, alright. Come on baby, time for bed.” Laura walks up and starts moving Riley toward her bed
“Can Pookie sleep with me tonight?” Riley looks up at Laura
Before Laura could answer, the panther hops onto Riley’s small bed and lays down while taking most of the bed for itself, leaving a small space for Riley. It’s paws, hind legs and tail draped over the edge. Riley then climbs in and snuggles against the giant panther, her back against the curve of the panther’s side while the teddy bear is clutched to her chest. Laura leans down to cover Riley with her blanket.
“Pookie isn’t scared of the monster in the closet!” Riley says through a yawn
“The monster in your closet should be scared of Pookie.” Laura laughs softly while tucking her in.
“Mhm!” Riley says as her eyelids start to droop.
Laura leans down and plants a kiss onto Riley’s forehead. She lightly strokes her cheek with one of her knuckles while softly saying, “Goodnight baby.” Riley falls asleep quickly before she can respond. Laura then looks to the panther who has its eyes set on her. She leans towards the panther’s face and plants a kiss between the piercing eyes known to scare even dust bunnies.
“Stay as long as you want. I won’t wait up.” She whispers quietly while scratching underneath the panther’s chin
The panther then licks Laura, causing her to smile. She then heads towards the door, turns off the light switch and before leaving, she pauses to take in the view.
The giant panther’s body laying on the tiny bed with Riley snugged against the center of its body. The panther moved its head to rest on its paws that’s crossed and dangled over the edge of the bed. Its eyes closed. Laura can’t help but smile and feel her heart about to burst with how much love she has for the small family she created with Carmilla.