Most of the other girls would have screamed when they saw it. No, probably not just most, all the girls would have done it. All except Lola, because Lola wasn't like the other nine-year-old girls, even Jeremy, her older brother, ran out when he saw him.
Lola thought it was interesting, she wasn't going to fool herself saying it was beautiful, it wasn't, not a little. The creature looked like a mutant frog tied with some kind of reptile. But who was Lola to question nature? She's only nine years old, maybe wrapping the sticky creature in her sweater and taking it home wasn't the best idea, but hey, it's done.
Lola knew her parents well, so the reaction they had when seeing it as an interesting animal didn't surprise her. Her mother's hysteria, however, was more exaggerated than she expected. She climbed onto the couch and yelled over and over again that they would take that thing out of the house.
"It isn't a thing, it's my friend." A very slobbering friend needed to add, felt that at any moment it would slip out of her hands. Better not mention that out loud.
Her father's reaction was more disgusting and that was enough to understand that her sticky friend would not stay with her.
"Take it outside." Said her father.
"As far as possible from the house." She added her mother still standing on the sofa.
Lola reluctantly obeyed, she no doubt wanted to keep the creature sticky, since her lizard Aron died two months ago she had refused to replace him. This animal wasn't a lizard, but if you remove the sticky, it would undoubtedly be a good pet.
Her little friend was more docile than she expected, it didn't writhe or make any sound, if it was that some kind of animal generated. Lola was two blocks from her house and she wasn't ready to do what she was supposed to do.
"I don't want to abandon you." She fixed her gaze on the green, watery eyes of the animal. This would be the most difficult thing that Lola has done throughout her nine years.
When she left the animal on the sidewalk she felt like a monster. The creature just stood there looking at it without moving. Lola took a couple of steps towards her house and when she turned around it was still in the same position.
Lola was in a dilemma, she knew her parents would not let her keep it, but she wanted to do it. She really wanted to.
More than a whim, it was a feeling of belonging, as if that creature already belonged to her and it was her responsibility to take care of it and make sure that he had a long and pleasant life. The tightness in her small chest didn't stop bothering her and the urge to cry was inevitable.
When she heard the characteristic sound of thunder, Lola made her decision. She couldn't leave her new friend alone, in an unknown place and in the rain. It would only be for that night, the next day she would leave it where she found it.
Putting it inside the house again wasn't a problem, her parents trusted her. For a second she felt bad for tricking her parents, but when she put her new pet in the old empty fish tank where she had Aron, that feeling of guilt disappeared.
The next day also rained, and the next to that, and the other also. If it wasn`t raining, time indicated that it could do it. If there was a bright sun, Lola said that because of global warming nothing is completely safe. Without realizing it, or perhaps being fully aware of that, two weeks had already passed.
The animal was no longer a friend, it was Ernie and already Lola was convinced that Ernie would stay with her for life. Her parents hadn't even realized that Ernie lived in that house, she could keep things that way for life.
Or so she thought, until one day Ernie ran away and Mr. Pitterson's cat disappeared.
When Ernie returned Lola understood her mother's phrase of being with her heart in her mouth. She thought there was a pet kidnapper or something like that, an advantage that Ernie was safe. Maybe it was innocence or deliberate ignorance, but in addition to the sticky substance that characterized Ernie, there was also a reddish brown liquid very similar to blood.
Mr. Pitterson's cat never appeared again.
The world was still spinning and Lola only had eyes for Ernie, it was her little responsibility and she would see to it that it had a long and happy life.
Two weeks later, Mr. Thompson's little Chihuahua mysteriously disappeared.
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Hello, here my strange story for the 24hours contest, I hope you like it <3