Walking up the steps, I felt that stirring return deep in my gut, only it felt… different. It didn’t feel like a warning, but rather like a push. It was pushing me through the front door to something inside. At this point, my brain and body were so worn from the long day that I didn’t know what to make of it.
A petite man with long hair straightened behind the counter when I walked in. He wore elbow-length gloves paired with a simple V-neck tee. It was an unusual look, but not unappealing. He hurried around the counter to meet me, pulling off a glove to shake my hand.
I took it as he greeted me. “Hello. Welcome to Creature Comforts Inn. I am Maxime. My sincere apologies for not having an escort meet you at the dock. I was unaware we were expecting a guest arriving late this evening. I hope you didn’t have any trouble along the way.”
His hand held mine the entire time he spoke. The man had a hint of an accent I couldn’t quite place, though I was far more familiar with animal linguistics than human. The way he gripped my hand didn’t feel intimate; it wasn’t like a spark or anything. No, it was more…assessing. Even now, he looked at me with his head tilted, as if he were trying to read me. I pulledmy hand back and subtly tried to wipe it on my pants. There was something off about his eyes; maybe it was a trick of the light, but it seemed as if his dark irises had a ring of red around them.
“I didn’t expect to arrive either. It was a last-minute thing. But the path was fine.” I wasn't going to tell this small, strange man that I might have seen Bigfoot in hair bows in the woods. That wasn’t exactly a confidence-inspiring icebreaker.
“Ah. I see. Expected or not, we are happy to have you. While I check you in, please enjoy our complimentary infused water. You must be parched after a long journey.” Maxime pointed to a table with a glass water cooler. The water had a pinkish hue to it, likely from the strawberries mixed in. It looked ice cold and refreshing, and my mouth suddenly felt like sandpaper.
“Thank you.” I poured myself a cup of water, and the sweet, cool liquid hit my tongue, feeling like heaven as I swallowed it. There was a slight undertone beneath the berry flavor. Something almost coppery. But it wasn’t enough to keep me from pouring a second glass.
I felt like I could actually breathe for the first time since I’d left the duck pond. With my cup in hand, I followed Maxime back to the desk. He looked up at me once more, head tilted, reminding me of the way Cat had studied me.
“Huh,” he muttered to himself.
Thanks, such a reassuring response,I thought to myself. I stood taller, took another drink of the strawberry water, and tried to muster my poor people skills. “Sorry for not giving you any kind of notice.”
Maxime blinked, and a friendly smile replaced the puzzled look that had been there a moment before. “It is no bother, simply that we don’t typically get walk-ins.”
Adjusting my glasses, I said, “Please tell me you have a vacancy. I don’t really know where else to go, to be honest, and I've had a really long day. Maybe just for tonight, maybe two. I really don’t know.”
Please don’t turn me away.My eyes misted and burned with tears threatening to fill and let loose. Tired. I was just tired.
His hand landed on mine across the counter, and he met my gaze. I felt a wave of warmth come through the connection, and my eyes blinked clear. “You are welcome as long as you like.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.” The relief I felt practically made my knees give out, and I clung to the counter for support.
Maxime turned his attention to the computer in front of him. “Please tell me your name and if you have any special requirements or dietary restrictions.”
“My name is Bowen Thomas. I, uh, can’t really think of anything special I need. I’ll take anything with a bed at this point. Oh, for food…I’m a vegetarian.” I’dspent enough time talking with animals of all sorts; it was harder to think about eating them.
“Perfect, I’ll pass that along to our chef. We cater to a wide variety of nutritional needs. Let’s get you to that bed, why don’t we? If you should wake and need a midnight nosh, just give us a call from your room. There’s always someone in the kitchen. We at Creature Comforts understand that guests may have differing biological clocks. Now, let’s put you in room… ah, yes, room three-oh-one. That’s here in the main building, third floor. You'll have the entire floor to yourself for now. Would you like me to show you the way?”
Third floor; seemed easy enough, and my patience was wearing thin. “No, thanks. I'll be fine.”
“Okay, great. I hope you enjoy your stay. If you need anything, just ring the front desk. Oh, and keep in mind, this is an old building, so you may hear some creaks and moans as it settles at night. All is fine.”
Maxime handed me a key. An actual key and not a keycard. Something about the simplicity of it made me smile, or maybe it was the fact that I could end the interaction and go collapse into bed. Climbing two flights of stairs to the third floor, I was glad my room was the first one. As I entered the room, another wave of exhaustion hit me. I threw my bag on a chair and the key on a table.
After using the bathroom, I kicked my shoes off and stripped down to my boxer briefs, gratefulto be out of the clothes I’d worn for too long. Climbing under the covers, the exhaustion I hoped would drag me straight to sleep waned as my mind processed everything. Adding to the weird day was being in a strange bed in an unfamiliar room. It was a nice bed, a comfortable mix of soft and firm, but I never slept well in different beds.
Lying in the dark, I stared up at the ceiling, trying to figure out why I was here. Was this the place I’d been told about? The safe place for non-human, non-cat people like me? It was unusual, or maybe it just seemed so because it was filtered through the weirdness of the day. Something was different, though. The churning within me felt less unsettling; it was softer and stronger at the same time. It no longer made my chest tighten with dread, but I still felt the need to do something.
“Cut it out, Bowen. You just need to sleep,” I muttered to myself.
I breathed in for a count of three, held it for three, and released it for three. Repeat. Repeat. Trying to focus on the air moving in and out of my body to get out of my head, I continued a few more times. It was starting to help, and I felt my body sinking into the bed. The next slow breath was interrupted by a piercing howl cutting through the night air. The sound made the corners of my lips tug up. A wolf greeting the moon. While most humans found the sound unnerving, it was one I happened to love. Animal noises werefar more comforting to me than the sounds of a city. It came once more, and it relaxed me so deeply that I could feel sleep reaching for me, ready to draw me into her embrace.
With a sleepy smile, I mumbled, “Goodnight, moon, and goodnight, wolf.”
Throughout the night, my dreams were filled with unusual noises. Loud thumps, screeches, whorls, and whooshes. At times, I wasn’t sure if I was asleep or awake. It wasn’t enough to cause alarm; in fact, I heard words in some of the noises. Words spoken through the vocal sounds of different creatures, none of which were threatening. It was only when I saw a hand of shadows reaching out of the darkness to grab me that I jolted awake.
Bolting upright, sweat dripped down my forehead as I frantically looked around, trying to understand where I was. I gasped and flung myself backward at the sight of a figure looking back at me. My heart beat so hard, I thought it was going to launch out of my chest. After a moment of sheer dread, the realization that it was my reflection in a mirror I wasn’t used to seeing across from my bed had nervous laughter bursting out of me.
That was because itwasn’tmy bed. I was in a hotel. A hotel on a small island in the middle of nowhere. Why was I even here? My sleep-addled brain was having a hard time comprehending it, considering that in themorning I’d woken up and gone to work like it was any other day, and now I was here.
As my racing heart began to settle, I glanced toward the window. The curtains were pulled closed, but with the shadowed hand from my dream so vivid in my mind, I was suddenly not too fond of sitting alone in a dark room. I got up and pulled the curtain back to let in the ambient light. The moon’s light filtered through the mist, but it didn’t feel like enough to cast the shadows out. Turning the bathroom light on, I crawled back into bed.
