The sun was high in the sky, they had traveled all morning until noon.
"We're here!" Indiana said in an excited breath. The two stood on the very edge of the backyard, where the grass met the back patio. It was nothing but concrete for what seemed like miles. And looming overhead was the human's house. lit up brightly inside, clearly seen through the glass door.
"So is concrete what you were looking for?" Marina asked sarcastically.
"No, but what I am looking for should be here somewhere." Indiana replied, barely noticing Marina's sarcastic tone. He looked around for a few moments, suddenly gasping in awe.
"There it is!" he exclaimed rushing onto the patio, heading straight for a large (to them at least) brown bag. Marina chased after him. Beside the bag, a sea green sphere with a wave-like pattern in the middle sat. Indiana stopped and marveled at it.
"Look! That's it! The crystal orb!" he nearly shouted in excitement. Marina stared at the orb, it was pretty, sure, but it didn't look valuable in the least.
"Why is this the thing you've been looking for?" she asked.
"Because...well just look at it! It's beautiful!" Indiana retorted.
"But what are you going to do with it?" Marina questioned.
"The mice at the nest all laughed at me when I said I wanted to be an explorer. This'll prove them wrong!" Indiana slowly crept forward, getting ready to carefully pick up the orb. A chillingly familiar scent caught Marina's nose. She pricked her ears to listen, the faintest steps could be heard creeping behind them. Marina looked behind her, her ears drew back and her eyes widened in horror.
"Indie! Indie run!" she whispered pushing Indiana trying to get him to move.
"but I almost have the orb! What are we-" Indiana gasped, he had turned to look at Marina but caught a glimpse of what was behind her. He snatched up the orb, completely forgetting about being careful. He grabbed marina's paw and the two took off running. A growl sounded, and a large cat sprang from the grass chasing the mice in pursuit. The two dodged and weaved, but the cat was quick. It snatched Indiana in its paws and lifted him off the ground. Marina's grip on his paw failed and she fell to the earth, the orb coming with her. She watched helplessly as the cat played with her brother. Tossing him in the air like a toy. The noise of angry and scared shouts came closer, as several human children came rushing towards the cat. One took the cat by the scruff making it drop Indiana. Indiana fled as fast as his legs could go, but he smacked face-first into something. He looked up to find that a glass cylinder had been placed over him, trapping him inside.
"Marina!" he called looking around frantically. He sighed in relief to find her safely hidden in the grass. "Marina HELP ME!" he pleaded. But before either of them could make another move a piece of cardboard was sliding under the glass and under Indiana's feet. The trap was quickly lifted off the ground, then came to a sudden stop. Indiana was surrounded by big curious eyes, as the children watched him, chatting and shouting in excitement.
"Look! It's wearing a hat!" one child exclaimed. The kid's curiosity and chatter grew. Indiana's mind raced as he tried to think of an escape. There were no holes or gaps to squeeze thru in his trap. He could chew the cardboard underneath him, but that would cause him to fall to the ground, and gain severe injuries. He peered at the ground, Marina was still sitting in the same spot, frozen with terror. She stared wide-eyed at Indiana, clearly not knowing what to do. She couldn't help anyway one mouse against many humans. Why that'd be either certain death or imprisonment like him. His heart sped up as he became more frantic. Was there really no way out? What would happen to him? His mind whirled, but every plan he could think of would end in disaster. He felt like his head could burst when a booming voice called,
"what are you kids up too?" A tall, blond, obviously adult woman stood by the back door.
"Mom! Look we caught a mouse!" the boy holding the trap called back. The woman walked over and peered into the glass at Indiana.
"You shouldn't be playing with wild animals!" she scolded, "it could be filled with diseases!"
"but look it's wearing clothes!" a small girl in a pink dress, squeaked. The mother looked at him again.
"Oh it is!" she gasped.
"Do you think it belonged to someone?" the boy with the trap asked.
"Maybe.." the mother said, a finger to her chin as she thought, "here, let's take it inside so we can figure out what to do with it," she said, gesturing to the door. Indiana wobbled and stumbled as the kids started taking him inside.
"Indie!!" Marina screamed. Indiana whipped around, he could just barely see Marina standing in the grass staring at him in dismay. She had finally snapped out of her frozen terror, but much too late. He stumbled again as the boy carrying him set him on a counter. The children continued to stare at him for a few moments, then eventually walked off, following their mother into a different room. This was his chance! Indiana pushed and banged on the glass, trying to get it to tip over. He nearly had it when one of the kids returned. he walked up to Indiana and placed his hand on top of the glass. At first, Indiana didn't know why he had done that, but he soon realized it was to stop him from tipping the glass over. He sighed in frustration and sat, leaning against the glass, having no choice but to wait for something to happen. As he sat the child keeping him prisoner talked gently to him, asking him questions like "why are you wearing a hat? Where did you get it? Where did you come from?" Indiana just ignored him, he wouldn't understand him anyway so why bother answering. Eventually, the mother came back into the room,
"I called some of the neighbors but nobody owned a mouse, or even knew where it came from. But I thought if it's dressed up like this someone had to have done it. So I called Mrs. Jones and she said she'll be happy to take it." she announced.
"Can't we keep it? It's so cute!" the child protested.
"No, we can't. If we do the cat will eat it. Plus mice are loud and annoying. I want you to go bring it to Mrs. Jones right away." the mother ordered.
"Ok." the child mumbled, carefully picking up the glass, making sure the cardboard was secured underneath. He steadily carried Indiana thru the living room and out the front door. He walked several houses down, then turned and walked up to the door of one house, knocking on it. An elderly woman answered the door.
"Oh hello John!" is that the mouse your mother was telling me about on the phone?" she asked.
"Yep!" the kid answered.
"Oh well, I wasn't expecting you to bring it so soon. I didn't have time to get it's cage ready. Why don't you come in and set it down somewhere." the woman gestured with her hand, and John took Indiana inside, setting him down on a coffee table in the living room. The elderly woman looked at Indiana.
"What a handsome young mouse! And what fine clothing! I'll set up his cage. You run along now." she said, gesturing John to the door.
"Do you want any help?" John asked politely.
"Oh no, I've got it. You go home back to your mother." the woman insisted.
"Ok. by Mrs. Jones." John said as he walked to the door and left. Mrs. Jones walked over to a closet under the stairs, reached inside and pulled out a colorful mouse cage.
"This'll be your new home little guy." she told Indiana showing him the cage. She was being sincere, but to him, that cage looked like no home. The woman washed, dried, setup, and decorated the cage. All while telling Indiana how much fun he'd have here, and new friends he'd make and stuff like that. The only thing remotely interesting was mention of other mice somewhere. At least he'd have someone to talk to. She brought the cage to the coffee table and set it down. She then lifted the glass and lowered it into the cage. She lifted the glass slowly on one side, making sure Indiana couldn't run up her arm, but instead would fall into the cage. Indiana tried not to fall in but fell anyway. Once he was in the cage Mrs. Jones quickly took the glass and cardboard out and shut the door, trapping him inside. She carried him to a small area at the end of a hallway where a dresser-looking thing lay. It had a big glass displaying case filled with all sorts of knick-knacks. On the dresser part there was already a mouse cage sitting there. Mrs. Jones placed the new cage carefully next to the one already there.
"Alright be nice. I'll be back later," she said gently, then walked out of sight. Indiana looked to the cage next to his. It was almost exactly the same, the only difference being color. A young white mouse looked at him curiously, her nose twitching.
"Um...hello," Indiana said hesitantly. He wasn't sure what to expect from her.
"Hi, I'm Sally! What's your name?" the white mouse greeted kindly.
"My name is Indiana Whiskers." Indiana replied, grateful that the other mouse was kind.
"Doesn't that sound familiar!" a new voice snorted, caching Indiana off guard. Another white mouse crawled out of a little hut that was in both the cages. She strode up to the edge of the cage where Sally stood, eyeing Indiana down.
"My name's Sue. gotta problem with that?" she growled. Before Indiana could reply Sally snapped,
"Sue stop it!"
"stop what?" Sue retorted.
"Stop acting like a thug just to scare people! It's so annoying!" Sally spat.
"Ok ok, fine. Sorry about that I was just messin' around. you don't gotta worry about me." Sue reassured. Indiana stood there for a moment, not entirely sure what happened.
"Hey! Where'd you get that hat and that belt?" Sally blurted excitedly.
"Oh well.. to be honest I got them off of a doll." he answered.
"heh, Nice!" Sue chuckled.
"sooo, do you guys know if there's any way out of here?" Indiana asked glancing around his cage.
"Huh... you could try the latch on the door. I know for a fact it's not locked. You might be able to just pull it open." Sue replied pointing her nose to the top of the cage where the latch lay. He sized up the climb and quickly ascended, the horizontal bars making it easy reach the top. He looked over the latch, working out how to open it. A loop of metal went into his cage then looped back over one of the bars. He tried pulling on the latch and found that He could almost get the loop under the bar it rested on. He pulled it down as strongly as he could, using his feet to push himself down. But unfortunately, the latch remained where it was. Indiana kicked and banged on the door, hoping to force it open that way. He pushed and pulled every which way in vain. He finally gave up and dropped back to the ground, rubbing his paws, which were red from banging on bars.
"Well...it seemed that easy when Merium would open it." Sue mumbled, to Sally.
"Who?" Indiana asked.
"You know the lady that put you in the cage." Sue replied.
"Ok anyway, Is there any other way out?" he asked.
"You could try the second floor!" Sally squeaked.
"The what?" Indiana asked.
"The second floor! See that hole behind you. It's a tube and if you go up it, you'll end up in a little room." Sally started explaining, but Indiana cut her off,
"how's that gonna help?"
"well listen!" Sally snapped, "the room has a roof that opens. The lady, Merium opens it all the time!" Indiana's ears pricked.
Well, it's worth a try. he thought to himself, heading quickly for the tunnel entrance. He hesitated at the opening, poking his head in cautiously. Finally, he shook his head and climbed up, quickly reaching the little room, and little was right! The room was pretty small, only big enough for two mice to fit. And the ceiling was so low that Indiana couldn't stand on two paws. The walls weren't bars like the rest of the cage was. Instead, it was all opaque, colorful plastic. He flipped onto his back and kicked at the ceiling. And, much to his frustration, it wouldn't open either. He stood up and sniffed around the edges until he found a latch on the roof. This latch looked much simpler than the doors was. A simple pull and he'd be out. The problem being that the latch was on the outside of the cage and far from his reach. He kicked the bedding under him in frustration. He wanted to scream but was aware of the sisters watching him. He climbed back down to the main cage area and padded to the sisters.
"Is there anywhere else to escape?" he asked, his voice pleading. The sisters glanced at each other, then at him.
"No. there isn't." Sally said solemnly. Indiana stared at the ground, dismayed.
"Oh come on! It's not bad here!" Sue tried to reassure him. "You get food and water, an-"
"but I don't want to be a pet! I have places to be! Places to see! Mice to-" Indiana shouted, stopping at a sudden realization. "Marina! Oh god! I hope she's ok! She must be worried sick. Why did I let that cat catch me!? Why did I let those people catch me!?" Indiana panted, his head ached with all the worry and stress. He glanced over, the sisters stared at him in shock. Sally covered her mouth with her paws, distress showing on her face. Embarrassment and shame washed over him. How could he act in such a way? Especially since they had been nothing but kind and helpful. He wanted to apologize but found he didn't have the strength to speak. Instead, he crawled into the little den in the cage and curled himself up.
"Log..uh...nevermind. I... I was captured today by some humans. They brought me to this home pretty far from mine and locked me in a cage. I've tried all day to escape, but I failed. Usually, I'm ok in these situations, but to be honest....I'm scared. I've never been in a scrape like this. I don't know how to get out of this. And I'm worried about Marina. I wonder if she's safe if she's worried. I...I don't know. I can just try again to escape later but if I can't...."
Indiana shut off his recorder. Moonlight shone through the blue plastic den, fitting his mood. The sisters had been asleep for a while, but Indiana found it hard to sleep. Everything made such strange noises here. Not to mention everything else on his mind to keep him awake. He wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his chin on his knees. Having no choice but to wait for night to pass.
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