Morning came and went, soon it was the early afternoon hours. Cedric steeled a breath as he looked himself over in the window of a clothes store. He had combed his hair this morning to appear professional though he kept his right eye covered all the same. He adjusted the collar of a light blue button up shirt, the only semblance of business formal that he currently owned that was clean, and dusted down his work slacks.

  It wasn’t much and appeared more casual than he would like. ‘It will have to do…’ he thought, mentally preparing himself for his upcoming interview.

  Cedric didn’t know what to expect when he called the flyer number this morning but he certainly wasn’t expecting the response to be immediate. All he did was answer a few questions; before he knew it, he had an interview set for that afternoon at the daycare center.

  Thankfully, the directions were on the back of the flyer so getting lost wasn’t an issue. The daycare was located along Reggae Road, which was close to the TechBeat Borderline. From where Cedric currently stood, he was just within walking distance of the place even though the location itself was a bit obscure.

  Why was it so far from the city? Relatively speaking anyway…

  Walking the road to his destination, he could tell he was somewhere along the outskirts of the city. There was a row of suburban lodgings on either side of him, having just left the small shopping center a couple miles back. He was glad to have saved money for a taxi, otherwise he had no confidence of making it to his interview on time.

  Even though it was a distance away from the city, Cedric could see why. Beautiful middle class houses to stay in, no districts segregating the humans and Animalia, and just a few more miles away was a stretch of dirt road leading out of the suburban neighborhood into a large clearing. The clearing was huge, almost valley-like, with sparse light posts lining up the road up to the entrance of a woodland area.

  That tree lined passage was the TechBeat Borderline. The only entrance- that he knew of- to Beatwood Valley.

  Animalia territory.

  At least, that was one of the rumors Cedric had heard about it.

  Realizing the distance was longer than he thought, Cedric gulped while looking down at his watch. Was he making good time?

  The watch face read 1:35pm. His interview wasn’t until 2 o’clock. There was no way he was going to make it to the daycare on time on an hour long walk, not even if he ran. Why didn’t he save up more money for the taxi? At least then he would’ve been there by now.

  “Now what?” Cedric asked no one.

  Before he could solve his dilemma, a car horn honked from behind him. Looking back, Cedric realized he was standing right in the middle of the dirt road, blocking the car’s path. He hurried off to the side to allow the car to pass.

  Instead of passing him, however, it slowly eased up before stopping right next to him. The passenger side window rolled down. Peeking up from the car seat on the same side looked to be a young Animalia boy no more than three years old. Cedric blinked at the child’s curious eyes, confusion coursing through him as they stared at him in awe.

  “Excuse me, sir,” The voice that spoke to Cedric didn’t come from the child, but from the person seated in the driver’s seat. “I’m sorry, but do you need a ride somewhere?”

  Cedric blinked once at the question as he peered through the open window to see who was speaking to him. The driver was Animalia as well, a rabbit just like the child was except instead of blinding white fur and a mop of black hair sat a young woman with cream colored fur and short dust brown hair hung low in a cute bob. She was dressed professionally, on her way to work it seemed, and despite the fact that she was speaking with a human her voice was kind and polite. There wasn’t even a waver to her tone.

  This fact seemed to ease Cedric a bit as he responded in kind, “Thank you for offering but I think I can manage.”

  “Are you sure?” the woman seemed a bit surprised by the refusal. “You looked like you were in a hurry.”

  How could she tell? Was it his stance? Or maybe the way he was staring at his watch earlier? Whatever the reason, this stranger knew how Cedric was feeling.

  He stood silent for a moment before answering. “Actually, I need to get to a job interview… might have gotten a late start.” Cedric chuckled nervously.

  “I can drive you there, sir,” the rabbit woman said with a smile. “It’s really no trouble at all.” She looked down at her young passenger. “I was actually going to drop off my son at daycare before heading to work myself.”

  Daycare?

  Cedric wasn’t the type to ride with strangers unless it was in a taxi or a similar service. But this woman was on her way to where he needed to be anyway- had to be if she was going down this road- and she was offering to take him. He could make it in time if he agreed to it. Plus, he really needed this job; what if he didn’t get this lucky again?

  Without hesitation, Cedric jumped at the offer for a ride. The woman allowed his access to the back seat as he slid onto the comfortable cushioning. Once his seatbelt was safely secured and the door was closed, the car began driving down the road.

  The drive, while not long, was uneventful for the most part. As the car traveled down the road, Cedric decided to make small talk with the driver. He learned that the woman’s name was Abby, a young single mother who lived in the suburban area he just walked through. While she talked, Cedric picked up hints of an accent in her voice; it was rich but only just noticeable if one listened closely. Shirelan maybe?

  He decided to not press that topic for now. Abby was now making small talk about her job to which Cedric just nodded. From what he could tell by her tone, she was somewhat venting her frustrations but due to her son being seated right next to her the rabbit was obviously holding some choice words back.

  “… And then I get told that I was disrespecting one of the customers,” she said. “I did all I could to help them and this is the thanks I get?” Abby scoffed. “I’ll never understand why people love to stir up drama, you know?”

  Cedric nodded, giving out his best sympathetic smile before turning towards the window. It wasn’t that he was losing interest in the conversation, far from it. The way Abby was talking about work had reminded him of his own work situation. If he could count the number of times he had nearly gotten in trouble due to dissatisfied customers, it would be too much.

  The change in scenery somewhat helped put his mind at ease as the car drove through the tree lined road. They were getting close now. He could just feel it.

  “Sorry if I’m babbling too much,” Abby said with a nervous chuckle, snapping Cedric out of his reverie. How long had he been zoning out for?

  “You’re not,” said Cedric. “I’m sorry. I was just… thinking.”

  “About what?”

  Cedric sighed, tucking a stray strand of hair behind his ear. “Nothing in particular.”

  While Abby didn’t look too convinced, she still smiled at him briefly before focusing back on the road. There was a moment of silence between them before Cedric decided to break the ice once more with small talk.

  “So…” He paused for a beat. “What’s it like… being a single parent?”

  Abby quirked an eyebrow at that, “Why do you ask?”

  Cedric shrugged. “Just curious. It must not be easy.”

  “Oh, being a parent is never easy,” The rabbit woman laughed a bit at that. “But it’s worth it.” She turned to the younger rabbit with a smile. “And Rikki here is hardly a handful.” She gave Rikki a small pat on the head, earning an embarrassed groan in response. “Right Rikki?”

  All Rikki did was pout for a second before smiling back at his mother.

  Cedric couldn’t help but chuckle a little. The two had a wonderful bond with each other. Inseparable even. He could tell just from their interaction that they had a healthy mother-son relationship.

  Memories of his own family crept up into his mind at that moment. Leaning back in his seat, Cedric allowed himself to get a bit lost in them.

  Way before coming here, he had lived on the Mainland with his family. His mother would be making breakfast in the kitchen, the sweet smell of cinnamon pancakes wafting all the way into the dining room where his father would be sitting at the table, browsing through the latest shopping catalogues. And then there was Maria, his twin sister, greeting him with a warm smile as she helped set the table.

  Their parents would often tease how similar they were, in both appearance and personality. But Cedric liked to think that Maria was more social than he was. He was a bit more reserved than most; still was in some way. It was by no means his fault, but it wasn’t as if he could just leave the house whenever he wanted.

  His situation, while complicated, was relatively stable for the most part. Typical nuclear family, a pleasant atmosphere…

  A happy home.

  What more could one ask for?

  Cedric…

  Then, all too suddenly, the memories began to change…

  Cedric…!

  The dining room suddenly shifted to a dark room. He was lying down in bed, Maria standing right over him. Although the darkness made it difficult to see any distinct facial features, Cedric could tell that his sister was scared, calling out his name. He had never heard her sound so panicked before…

  Wake up…! Cedric, wake up!

  Cedric could remember the feeling of being shaken awake. The unusual creaking of the floorboards as if they were about to give way. The acute scent of smoke…

  WAKE UP!!

  Cedric’s eye shot open as he jumped in his seat. Looking up, he saw the worried expression on Abby’s face as she looked back at him. The car was no longer in motion.

  That’s right, he was still in the car… He still had an interview to go to…

  “Is everything alright?” Abby inquired.

Cedric took a moment to catch his breath, forcing a smile as he did so. He hated that dream- no, more like a nightmare. It was a constant reminder of the past… something he thought he had left behind.

  “Yeah,” he said, wiping away some of the cold sweat that had formed on his brow. “I’m fine… Just nervous I guess…”

  Abby quirked her own brow at that. She was obviously not convinced but didn’t want to pry nonetheless. “If you’re sure…”

  With a reassuring nod, Cedric looked out the window once more.

  The car was parked in front of a large rectangular building, big enough to be a warehouse. The outside of the building was chalk white, with a kid friendly jungle mural painted along one of the longer sides where a playground was properly situated. The entrance area where they were parked in was reasonably small; a light rose colored door sat underneath a wooden sign that read ‘Welcome!’ on it. And right on top of the building itself was the daycare’s name exactly as it read on the flyer.

  Cedric was in awe at the sheer sight of it. It was no penthouse, sure, but it was aesthetically pleasing to say the least.

  As he looked at the building, Abby unbuckled her son from his car seat and lifted him up into her arms. The young rabbit in turn sighed, just simply allowing it to happen as he relaxed in his mother’s grip.

  “I’ll just be a minute,” Abby said to Cedric. “So if you’d rather wait here until I get back-”

  “Oh, no need!” Cedric smiled, opening the door as he unbuckled himself. “This is actually where I need to be.”

  He wasn’t sure what to make of the rabbit’s expression, but judging by how wide her eyes had gotten Cedric could tell that she wasn’t expecting that as his response.

  What had he gotten himself into?