Hey there dear readers! Here, for your reading (hopefully) pleasure, is chapter 15! As a heads up, this chapter feels, at least to me it does, a little darker than my previous chapters. As always, feel free to leave me a review! Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Door (Chapter 15)

by

Elite Shade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I have been observing the first human that appeared, Eli, as he calls himself, for the past two weeks. In that time, I haven't been able to learn much more about him than what was already written in the report released by those who first examined him." Dr. Shellison sighed to himself as he removed his glasses and massaged his temples.

"I cannot help but feel that I could have gained more information if I could have simply spoken to him. So far, I have been able to learn that his legal guardian, Officer Judy Hopps, appears to be overly protective of the strange mammal. When I approached her at her residence today to ask her permission to question him, she seemed rather reluctant. And when I mentioned the possibility of collecting some skin tissue and blood samples, she became quite agitated," he said into the mic.

"As of yet, I have still been unable to interview any of the other humans that have appeared, including the adult female who has recently awoken. But that is not even the most frustrating aspect which I have had to deal with!" Dr. Shellison replaced his glasses and slammed his fist on the work desk in front of him. "Considering that all of my data and equipment has been commandeered to assist the ZPD in detecting any more possible human appearances! Granted, all of that was technically the property of Zootopia General Electric, and it was they who volunteered it all, but it was still MY discovery and MY work! I can just see it now, some lazy cop with a donut half hanging out of their mouth as they stare dully at all of the different screens and readouts, not comprehending any of it! And do I at least get to be the one to sift through all of that raw data to make sense of it? NO! ZGE has decided that Samson would be better suited for the job! SAMSON!" Edwin snarled as he tried to flip his desk in pure rage. However, due to his lack of physical strength, he soon found himself on his armored back, struggling for several minutes to get back onto his feet. Once he had righted himself, and straightened his tie and lab coat, he sat back down in his chair at his desk.

"And when I voiced my concerns, upper-management felt that it would be best if I took some time off to collect myself, claiming that I was reaching a point of obsession. Thankfully, I thought to copy all of the data I had collected so far, so at least I didn't lose everything. While I may not be able to access computers with the processing power of the ones at ZGE here at my residence, I can and will simply just make do. Surely this information combined with my observation of the human boy will yield further insight that will be valuable to understanding this riddle... if not... then more... drastic measures may need to be implemented."

 

Judy's House...

 

"He claimed to be working with Zootopia General Electric! Yes!" Judy said exasperatedly to the bored sounding mammal on the other end of her phone call, her foot rapidly tapping in annoyance.

"At first, he claimed that all he wanted was just to talk to my child, and that he was sent from the hospital. I briefly considered it, despite his... let's say enthusiasm. But then he started going on and on about the importance of collecting skin and blood samples, and let it slip that he was working for your company, so I said no! That's when he practically lost his mind, snarling and screaming about how I was singlepawedly standing in the way of scientific discovery. I swear, I almost thought that I was going to have to tranq him!" Judy listened as what she had just said seemed to finally garner a non-disinterested response from the mammal she was speaking with.

"... Well, yes, he was an armadillo. So I take it that he's one of your company's employees then? Oh... really? So you did not specifically send him then? I see..." Judy said as she was being explained to that the mammal in question was currently on 'administrative leave'.

"Yes, I do want to file a complaint!"

"Yes, thank you." Judy sighed as she finally hung up the phone.

Eli hadn't been around for the strange animal who had showed up and upset Judy so much, but he was now listening at the top of the stairs. Once more, Eli found himself feeling confused about his emotions. Hearing about the mammal who had showed up wanting to take samples from him, left Eli feeling nervous. Then, Judy had just referred to him as her child. Now, Eli was torn between feeling a warmth in his chest coming from knowing that someone... actually cared for him, and his fear that now, just like before, someone else was going to try and take that all away.

"Sweetie?"

Eli looked up from where he was sitting to see Judy's bright purple eyes anxiously looking him over.

"Would you like to talk about it?" she asked.

"Uh... no... it's stupid, Judy," he said, trying to look away. He was a little surprised to feel Judy's paws gently touch his cheeks, and pull his gaze back down to look her right in the eye.

"I promise, Eli, if you have anything that you ever need or want to talk about, that I'm here."

Eli's eyes watered, and he tried to blink them away.

"I..." he croaked, "I don't want to leave." A tear rolled down his cheek. Judy smiled and wiped it away, before kissing him on the cheek and pulling him into a hug.

"You're not going anywhere, sweetie. I'm not letting you go."

"Promise?" Eli's voice was more of a hoarse whisper at this point. Judy pulled back a little and looked Eli in the eye again.

"I promise," Judy said, a smile on her face. Eli smiled back, before looking down, unsure of what to do next. "Now, how about some breakfast?"

Eli sniffed and nodded. Judy gave him one last hug before making her way back downstairs. Eli took a few moments to compose himself before heading downstairs as well. When he entered the kitchen, Eli found that Judy was making them both a fruit salad for breakfast.

"So, Eli, Mrs. Amur has told me that you are doing pretty well with the material you two have covered so far," Judy, and to some extent Nick, had searched through dozens of profiles of different private tutors, until she found one that she felt was the best for Eli. Oddly enough, the best personal tutor was highly recommended... by Mr. Big himself, who even offered to take care of her fee, at the behest of Fru Fru. Eli had clearly had some reservations about the mature-looking, fourteen foot tall siberian tiger, but her surprisingly sunny disposition seemed to have easily won him over quickly during their first lesson.

"She feels that you'll soon be all caught up enough to start attending school in the upcoming semester. How do you feel about that idea sweetie?"

"Uh... well... I guess that would be alright," Eli said, feeling a sense of nervousness at the prospect of going to school with a bunch of different animals. Judy smiled warmly to Eli as she walked over to set his bowl on the table, reaching up to hug him around his middle. She giggled at his blushing face.

"I understand what it's like to be nervous, sweetie. But I promise you that everything is going to be just fine." Judy gave Eli's hand a squeeze before retrieving her own bowl from the counter top, using her stepping stool in the process. Eli smiled as he started in on his bowl of fruit. While keeping true to her promise that she would happily let Eli continue to eat an omnivorous diet, she did still seem to push fruits and veggies on him quite often. This was due to her reading the report made by several of the doctors who had examined Eli. She had paid special attention to the fact that when he was brought in, Eli was more than a little malnourished. Not nearly as much as the older homeless human, Baily, but still something she felt quite concerned about.

They both ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. In the time that Eli has stayed with her, Judy had noticed him opening up a little more. He still seemed a little skittish at times, especially when meeting new people, but overall she felt that Eli was definitely coming out of his shell.

"So, Eli, earlier today, I received a call from work. It's northing major, but my boss would like to have a word with me today. I know that this seems a little last minute, so Nick is going to be showing up in just a little while. He agreed to watch you while I'm away. I made sure to inform him about your scheduled lessons with Mrs. Amur today, which I'm telling you now so that he doesn't have an excuse to try and get you to play hooky with some story about me saying there was a rescheduled appointment." The rabbit smiled. Nick had been a big, and very much, welcomed help in the past couple of weeks.

Nick is still Nick though, Judy thought to herself.

"Nick said that having a word with someone was the chief's way of saying that he was going to start yelling at them," Eli said.

Yeah... Nick is definitely still Nick...  Judy thought as she sighed.

 

Meanwhile...

 

"And that, Baily, is the last of the breathing tests," Robbie said happily after Doctor Williams was finished. "Not much longer now, and soon you'll be all ready to be discharged! I'd say that I was sorry to see you leave, but when you think about it, that's actually pretty messed up to say in a hospital."

Baily smiled down to the beaver as the panda doctor left.

"To be honest, I feel more than just a little bit nervous about leaving. Arnie's told me a lot of good things about this housing that I'll be going into... I guess I'm just a little worried that it's going to already be taken when I finally get there, or something."

Robbie wanted to say something to put Baily's mind at ease, but was jarred out of his thoughts before thinking of anything by a certain nurse lioness, now wearing jeans and a light blue blouse, walking in carrying a green cloth shopping bag.

"Hey there Baily," Sophia said with a gentle smile, before looking down and greeting Robbie. "Guess what I've go," she said playfully to the human.

"An environmentally friendly shopping bag?" Baily joked.

"Kinda walked into that one right there," Robbie chimed in. Sophia just rolled her eyes.

"Seriously though, I got you something, Baily," she said, holding out the bag to him.

"Oh, uh thanks, Sophia." he said as he took it from her and laid it down on his bed. Looking inside, he found a stack of hardback books. "What are all these?"

"A few weeks ago, I was cleaning out my old apartment, 'cause I was moving into a much nicer one, and I found all of these old books. Some were fantasy stories, and others were books on fortune telling and horoscopes and that kinda stuff. I never bought them, so I assumed that they had belonged to the previous tenant. Either way, I can't bring myself to just throw books away, so I held onto them. As I was cleaning my new place, I stumbled onto them again, and I just figured that maybe you would want them," Sophia said, blushing at the smirk Robbie was flashing her.

"It seems that you figured right, Sophia, thanks," Baily said. Sophia smiled as Robbie chuckled, until the alarm on his watch went off, making the beaver sigh.

"A male nurse's job is never finished. Catch you two later," he called over his shoulder as he jogged out of the room and down the hall, nearly making a certain rhino almost trip over him. "Woah! 'Scuse me, Arnie!"

"Huh, he seems to be off in a hurry," Arnie, currently in plain clothes, said as he walked into the room. "I just spoke with the doctor, and he said that you'll be ready to be discharged soon. You excited about finally getting to leave this place?"

"Yeah... I mean, I am a little nervous... but yes," Baily said truthfully.

"That's great. Packer's on his way with his van... my car's in the shop," Arnie explained, rubbing the back of his neck, looking anxious.

"Is something wrong Arnie?" Baily asked.

"Uh... no... not necessarily... it's just that... well... we're receiving some pressure from various news sources... and... well... they really want to get an interview with at least one of the humans... "

"... So... does this mean that I have to give an interview?"

"No, you don't have to, I just thought that I would ask. See, your species is still pretty mysterious to the whole of Zootopia, and the rest of the world for that matter. An interview to show them that you're all just regular mammals would be a big help."

"... Can I think about it?"

"Of course!"

"... So, what's the new place Baily's going to be staying at like, Arnie?" Sophia asked in an effort to break the awkward tension that was forming. Arnie smiled to her in thanks.

"Well, it's special housing built by this charity organization, Fresh Start. It has a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. It's already furnished, donations mostly. Each housing that is not occupied is cleaned once a week, so it'll be spotless. And each and every one was built to the exact health and safety standards, inspected by the city. The main focus of Fresh Start is to help mammals who are homeless find a home as well as employment."

"... That does sound really nice, Arnie... thanks," Baily said, unsure of what to say.

"It's no problem, Baily, really."

 

 

Back at the hospital...

 

 

"Thank you for stopping by again, Mr. Manchas," Lily said. A few days after slipping into her coma, the mysterious human had finally awoken. At first, when she saw that she was surrounded by various animals that could speak, she thought that she was dreaming. After a while, she had come to accept that she was indeed awake and in a new world. The doctors were a little surprised at how calmly she seemed to take the news.

"I'm just glad that you're alright, Miss Blackthorne. And please, call me Renato," Renato said, smiling. Renato himself had been surprised to find that the human female was very easy to talk too. She seemed to be perfectly at ease around him, something the jaguar was not used to.

 

"Well then, Renato, please call me Lily." Renato smiled a little wider at that.

"So, how are you liking Zootopia so far, Lily?"

"Well, I haven't really been out and about. I'm still having all sorts of tests done, and the doctors feel that I should be taking it easy," she said, gazing out the window at the city itself. "I must say though, it does look quite beautiful. It reminds me a bit like a city back on my world, called New York."

"So were you from this New York?"

"Oh no. Originally I was from a small town named Arlesey, until my father moved us to a city in another country, named Boulder, right around when I was nine." Lily had a contemplative look as she reminisced. "It was always my dream to move to New York though. Of course... my husband had his objections..."

"Oh... so then you are married?" Renato asked, frowning slightly.

"No... I was but, as of now... Edward and I are... separated..."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be... he was the one who tied me to the cinderblock and threw me in the reservoir," Lily said simply.

"What?!" Renato was taken aback by this revelation. He stared at Lily as she closed her eyes took a deep breath to compose herself.

"I... Edward and I, we met in High School. We started going out and not long after we both graduated, I was getting ready to go to college. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I figured that I would just find out. Edward insisted that go to the same school, because he said that long distance relationships never work out... he actually insisted on a lot of different things... a lot of things that I wanted, but he didn't agree with."

Renato listened, enraptured. "Eventually, he insisted that we move in together, and that's when he started hitting me. The first time... I was out with my friends. Edward had always insisted that whenever I was going to be out late, that I give him a call, and that night I completely forgot. So when I entered our apartment, I hadn't taken three steps from the door before I found myself on the floor. It took me a few moments to piece together what had happened, my right eye felt sore as Edward stood there, standing over me, his face twisted into a look of pure anger... so I left." Renato didn't know what to say or do, and just stood there, continuing to listen, very much dumbstruck.

"I stayed at my brother, Fred's house that night, and he wanted to go and beat up Ed himself. I asked him not to, and that very next day, I Edward showed up just after Fred drove to work. He started to apologize, saying that he had no idea what had come over him, and broke down crying right there on the front porch. I... I forgave him." Lily looked away, ashamed.

"You went back?"

"... Yes..." Lily's voice was almost a whisper as she wiped at her eyes. "Fred was livid. He told my father, who was also angry, and the two repeatedly tried to get me to leave him. But I just didn't want to hear it... I told myself that it was only a one time thing, just a random little outburst because I made him worry so much, without even calling."

"That is no reason for him to put his hands on you," Renato said, his paws balled into fists.

"I know. But at the time... I don't really know why I stayed with him."

"What about your friends?"

"Well, after they tried to tell me that I should just leave Ed, he ended up insisting that I didn't need to keep hanging out with them," Lily said, leaning forward.

"So I eventually cut ties with them and agreed to marry Ed. It wasn't until after we were married that he started hitting me again. My dad and my brother both became suspicious, and would often call or come over for a visit to check up on me. Edward didn't like that... but Fred and my Dad were not going to give him much choice. Anyway, to make a long story short, I finally got up the nerve to talk to an attorney, and started the process of divorce. Ed found out, and knocked me unconscious. When I came to, I was bound with some rope as Ed had driven up to the reservoir. It was the middle of the night, at least according to what the car's clock said then, and we were all alone. No one was around to hear my screams for help. He had a wild look in his eyes as he alternated between sobbing and screaming. I struggled as he carried me to this little boat, which had a cinderblock in it. I think that you can figure out the rest Renato... sorry about that... I guess that that's just something I needed to get off of my chest."

Renato just sat there in the chair, staring out at the city.

"T-that's okay, Lily. I'm so sorry that you went through that... do you," the jaguar looked conflicted about what he was going to ask, "do you think that he may try to harm you family back on your world? I mean they're probably going to come looking for you, and I would imagine that he's going to be the first person that they'll look to for questioning." Lily shook her head.

"No... he tied himself to me, screaming about how we were going to be together no matter what, and threw the cinderblock that was tied to the two of us overboard. His was a big man, and he leaned over the side of the boat holding tight onto the rope with one hand... and pulled out a gun with the other, with me struggling and screaming at the top of my lungs the entire time... and he... shot himself. The next thing that I knew, I was being dragged under by the block as well as Ed's b-body. I thought that I saw a flash of light in the water, and then Ed's body was gone. As I struggled... that's when I remembered seeing... well... you, Renato, swimming towards me."

"Lily... I'm... I," he was at a loss for words.

"It's okay, Renato, really... because in the end, I'm free of him. And so far, everyone here has treated me wonderfully," Lily said, with a smile on her face that didn't quite reach her eyes, which still bore a deep sadness that Renato could sense. Just then, they both jumped a little at the sound of someone clearing their throat. Looking down, the two spotted an armadillo in a lab coat, with a very bushy moustache.

"Excuse me, sir, but I'm afraid that visiting hours are over."

"Oh, alright then, Doctor... uhm... Lily?" he asked, looking nervous.

"Yes?"

"Would it be alright if I visited you again?"

Lily smiled, this time it reached her eyes. "I think that I would like that very much Renato. Of course."

Renato smiled himself as he said good-bye, and left the room.

"Alright then, Miss Blackthorne, I'll just be needing some samples."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hehehe, so sorry about the cliff-hanger. I hope that you all enjoyed the new chapter!