A Prey Among Predators
Inside Nolan's Place...
The inside of Nolan’s townhome is in a peaceful state: The end table stands by the door. The sofa is still. The windows display the bright afternoon skies and trees. A clock in the kitchen ticks away.
Suddenly, the door bursts open and Nolan darts through the foyer and into the living room. He skids into his bedroom to the left and dives under the blankets of his bed. Poking out from the end of the shuddering mounds of blankets is his fluffy white tail.
Nolan balls himself up and stays completely frozen. His eyes are wide. His ears are pinned against his back. His mind is drowning in the flashbacks of the attack: Carter bursting into a grizzly bear and pouncing the helpless Zachary. How his claws fly through the air; how his roars shake the ground; how his eyes spell merciless murder.
The sensation of a presence penetrates through his blankets. Nolan snaps his head to the left and pokes his eyes out from one of the slits of his blanket mound.
Peering out through his bedroom window from across his room is Brett. Nolan stays frozen.
“Pat…!” Brett calls out, slightly muffled. “Can I come in? We should talk about what happened.”
With the image of the grizzly bear flashing through his mind, Nolan slips back under his blankets.
From the other side of the window, Brett frowns at his teammate’s disappearance. “Patty, what’s wrong?”
The blankets show no sign of movements. His white tail still sticks up in the air.
Brett huffs, dropping his eyebrows. “Aw, come on, talk to me!”
The mound of blankets stare back at him.
Brett relaxes his expression. “Okay… Uh, just call me when you’re ready. We gotta figure out what to do and clear things out.” He drums his fingers on the windowsill.
The blankets stay still.
Brett press his lips. “I’ll see you at practice tomorrow.”
With a pat on the windowsill, he ambles pass the window.
When he senses Brett’s presence fading away, Nolan pokes his head out and gazes at the window.
The window displays a simple tree and the wooden fence behind it.
Nolan the slips back under his covers.
