Noda

“Weekends are fun. We wake up really early, then me and Noda go for a walk..”

“Who’s Noda?” I asked him.

I rarely visited this corner of the country, where my grandparents’ house is. But since I was here now, our neighbour’s son had very kindly agreed to give me a tour of the place. We had stopped for coffee, and now we couldn’t stop talking.

“He’s my pet. We love each other very much.”

“Oh that’s sweet! I would love to see him.”

“You would?”

“Yeah, why not. I love animals. Hey, why don’t you take me to your house? I don’t have anything much to do here anyway.”

“Um, he doesn’t live in my house. I keep him.. somewhere else.”

“Why’s that?”

“My parents… they’re not very fond of him. In fact, no one around here really likes him.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I guess they are scared of him.”

“Oh, I see. Is he too big?”

“Yes, very much.”

“Hmm, maybe that’s the reason. But anyway, I’d love to meet him!”

“Are you sure? What if he scares you?”

“Not a chance.”

It was a long walk and a little hike. We stopped at a huge wooden shelter at the isolated outskirts.

“This place is too big,” I said.

“Yeah, he’s a bit claustrophobic.”

He threw open the door and I peeked inside. Funny. It was empty.

“He’s escaped!” he shrieked suddenly.

“Whoa.. where.. wait!” I called as he sprinted back towards the town.

I struggled to keep up with his pace. We had barely reached the main road when we started hearing shrieks and screams from the other side.

We rushed to the square and before I could catch someone to ask what the commotion was all about, I caught a glimpse of the scene in front of me, and froze.

“Wh-what’s that?” I whispered.

“Noda.”

Written for Sadje’s WDYS prompt.