Chapter 2: Daisy

As a self appointed professional world traveler, Voot is often seen making friends with ghouls and lost souls in abandoned caves, often showing off his collection of rocks that he believes are gems hidden underneath. Despite his best efforts, people still seem determined to make him feel bad, and though Voot knows better than to subject himself to the opinions of others, he isn’t the brightest when it comes to noticing social cues.

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A bell rings a timely tune as he opens the wooden framed glass door, stepping swiftly out of the cool summer evening into the small warm coffee shop. Dented laminated wooden table tops shone as the setting sun glinted through the dusty windows. Gentle clinking of spoons against the sides of mugs muffled against the brew of fresh coffee. The few patrons who sat by windows staring down at their phones paid little attention to the new customer as he walked across the concrete floors, a dazed expression on his face.

He clasped his claws behind his back and smiled his best smile, waiting for the sleeping teenager behind the counter to wake up. When a faint snore was the girl’s response to his smile and the water filtration didn’t even break in its stream to the murky bottom of its pitcher, the customer cleared his throat and smiled again.

The girl let out a harrumph, her head still resting on the counter. “What’s your name and order?”

He opened and closed his mouth, wondering if the girl was going to lift her head. When she still lay there, her head lulling slightly to the side, he smiled, feeling humored, as though her complete lack of mannerism was her actually telling him a secret.

“I’ll have a large cup of black coffee and the name is Voot, spelled ‘v’, double ‘o’s’ and a ‘t’.” he responded swiftly. Tilting his head, Voot rocked back and forth on his heels as he watched the girl lift her head in annoyance then jerked backwards as she took in his appearance.

It wasn’t a reaction that he wasn’t used to, but everytime it happened, he would always begin laughing, and that would often lead to rather weird situations to be in.

To many he may look scary or odd or weird, but in reality, with a huff of his breath and the jut of his chin, Voot felt insistent on proving to everyone, and in this moment the bewildered girl, that he will be the happiest and kindest soul that any being will have the pleasure of coming across.

With long wispy claws, flower stuffed wrappings and the gunny material of his back sewed securely onto his back, the traveler knew that he was out of place among the rundown street shops and narrow alleyways leading to nowhere.

Had he known this was the type of place he would end up in after the time warp, he would’ve paid mind to buy some sort of shirt or jacket so as to not keep drawing weird stares from jay walkers on the street.

The girl behind the counter was staring at Voot with the very same look that some business man had who had then promptly ran directly into a pole because he was not watching where he was going. A laugh began to bubble up in Voot’s throat.

Kindness is what Voot considered to be one of his best qualities. And while it was one thing to always be smiling at everyone and everything, it was another to be laughing at random places at random times. Not only can it be impolite, but it can also be off putting.

Still eyeing him, the girl slowly backed away, perhaps to grab a blender and swing it at him, or maybe the phone to call the police and tell them a demon had come to kill her. However, that didn’t happen. The girl simply backed away, grabbed the coffee pot, and poured it into a cup.

His smile turning awkward, Voot slipped over a ten dollar bill, quickly grabbed his cup and walked out of the shop, shaking his head as he mulled over where to go.

Evening light turned to a slow stream of sunlight as the shadows of buildings lengthened, leaving strands of darkness around the street. Scalding hot coffee burned Voot’s throat, his mind and sight wandering over the numerous sleeping bodies on the sidewalks to the countless birds lining the sides of building signs.

He shook his head, letting out a sigh as he closed his eyes and hummed out a tune as a block of remaining sunlight hit his face. No matter where he ended up, Voot always managed to take sight of some large number of homeless people sleeping on the streets, belongings drawn close to them for warmth. It was a problem that many cities had and it needed to be fixed urgently.

And an urgent problem it was.

Tripping over the sleeping man on the ground wasn’t Voot’s main concern, nor was spilling his scalding coffee on the man’s front, his scream waking up several other people sleeping nearby. His main concern was when he stumbled backwards into a small box laying in the front of a brightly lit alleyway. He landed square on his ass, his legs hanging off the side of the surprisingly strong cardboard box.

And right next to him, a puppy with floppy ears and brown and white patches. It barked excitedly at Voot, who was staring at the dog with wide eyes, awe apparent in slack jaw and the adoring noise that was coming out from the depths of Voot’s heart.

Time seemed to slow down as puppy’s tail wagged back and forth, gently fanning Voot’s hand, the angered shouts of the homeless people blurring out as Voot stared down at the little animal, it’s tongue sticking out at the side, it’s head tilted, taking in the noises around it. Around its neck, a dirty white collar had a yellow bone shaped name tag that read, “Daisy”.

The obscenities that the man was shouting in front of Voot finally seemed to filter through his mind and on instinct he clamped his claws around the puppy’s ears, as to block out the bad words that the man was saying. In response, she licked his puffy arms, letting out a whine of confusion.

Voot looked at the homeless man who now had grabbed a hold of a sharp pointed metal pole and was waving it around in front of his face, his mouth still spewing profanities. He turned back to the puppy and his vision and mind cleared.

Using one hand to grab the puppy’s middle and the other to remain clamped around her ears, and kicked back his feet, falling flat on his back, half his body still folded into the box.

The shouting grew louder as more and more people awoke from the streets and were gathering around to see what the commotion was all about. Not wanting to stick around any longer, Voot hugged Daisy to his chest and with a sharp inhale of air, he rolled backwards again and promptly crashed into another homeless man sleeping in the alleyway.

Good naturedly, the man immediately awoke and began yelling at the top of lungs, pummeling his fists at Voot, who was still sitting in the box directly on top of the man’s face, his gray hair barely visible from around the box.

Daisy began barking at the man at the same time Voot started apologizing, waving his head and arms around to avoid the mangey throws that the guy was throwing.

“I didn’t even know you were sleeping here, honest to God. I was just trying to get out of a terrible predicament, I truly had no idea you were gonna be here, man.”

The man was now bellowing out names, spit flying out from underneath the box.

“Even though I can’t tell what you are saying, I have a feeling that in different circumstances, we would have a solid back and forth going on here,” Voot observed, admiring the way the man didn’t seem to stop in his attempts at hitting Voot. He nodded in approval. “You’ve got potential talent, I’ll hand you that.”

He curled his clawed hands around the other man’s fist and shook it, a grin wide on his face. Considering that he was still stuck in the box holding a crying puppy and was partially covered in saliva, Voot still managed to collect his thoughts despite the hollering from the crowd around him.

Voot paused as he attempted to pluck the box off his ass, clambering up to stand flat on the man’s chest as he went.

“Poor guy,” Voot said to Daisy, realizing the man had passed out from either exhaustion or lack of air. He tutted aloud, the box finally freeing from off of his body. Satisfied, he looked up ready to get out of this place only to run straight into the chest of a coffee stained shirt. He hadn't noticed it before, as he was talking to the man on the floor, but only then did he realize that amidst their conversation, a crowd of angry men had gathered around them, sharp objects and large blunt edges all pointed directly at him.

“Oh…. my apologies,” he smiled and while still holding Daisy in one hand, standing on the man’s body with two feet, and the other hand raised in a peaceful gesture, Voot silently prayed to whatever deity was out there, coming to the conclusion that no amount of sweet talking will properly adhere to this situation.

“You little cockroach,” the ringleader spat out, coffee still dropping down the front of his shirt.

“I really am sorry about that, it was a complete accident,” Voot said with a regretful sigh, using his free hand to scratch the top of his smooth head. Only silence with the occasional self muttering came from the crowd, their gangly limbs twitching with anticipation.

The man reached down the front of his pants and pulled out a lighter. Voot side eyed him, shifting his weight onto one foot, throwing his head over his shoulder. Continuing down the alley, there were no angry people in sight, only a ladder and a rusted dark green dumpster bin.

He turned his attention back to the coffee man, a grin growing on his face.

“Interesting place to keep that,” he noted, dipping his head in reference to the lighter. When the man opened his mouth to retort back, Voot stooped low, grabbed the box, his eyes still trained on the aggravated group and pitched it forward, quickly turning on his heel and booking it for the ladder, Daisy still in his clutches.

Yelling out a sincere apology, Voot leaped up and grabbed a loose hold onto the metal hinges, his weight swinging to one side. Letting out a yelp, his claws slipped out from around the ladder and his body leaned backwards, his laugh turning into a panicked cry along with Daisy’s frantic barking. His left foot fell out underneath him and it hovered into the air before slamming into the top of a sweaty, hairy head.

Whoever the individual was crumpled from the full weight of Voot’s foot, who used their forehead as leverage to propel himself back up right onto the ladder. He didn’t bother to look down as he swiftly regained his balance and climbed up the ladder.

Voot swung his legs over the top in a swift movement, and pulled the ladder up, effectively escaping from the mob. Feeling elated that he got away safe and sound, he raised Daisy up to his eye level, who had been watching the men below him scream their voices raw at Voot.

“That was easy enough, huh?” he asked her, his grin reforming. Voot stepped forward victorious in his pathway, and immediately fell 20 feet down into sand, his head crashing into a grass patch. He sat up, spluttering sand out of his mouth, his arm at an awkward angle from his attempt at keeping Daisy staying upright.

The puppy let out a yelp, possibly laughing at him before jumping out from his claws and running away, kicking up bits of sand everywhere. Voot shook his head and shoved his arm back into place, watching Daisy running around with an amused smile.

A final patch of blinding light disappeared below the horizon as the sun waved goodbye in its descent below the ocean. Voot stood up, his feet moving on their own accord. He crossed over patches and patches of grass, the ground turning from sand to water as he walked across a beautiful golden shore, the sky sporting a calm blue, a muted yellow, and a bright orange.

Voot let out a joyful whoop and swooped low to pick up Daisy again, which resulted in her letting out a stream of equally joyful barks. He sat down on the shore with the puppy, straightening out his arms so that it appeared she was flying in the sky with the setting sun behind her.

“You’re the only friend I need, Daisy,” Voot said with a smile as she licked his chin, her tail hitting his arm over and over. “You have the kindest soul of anyone that I’ve ever met.”

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A story written by: Sabrina Ha