No.

Matt glared up venomously and took a step back, fists clenched and raised in self-defense, as if punching an oncoming finger would make it stop.

“Don’t touch me!” he shouted loudly. This combination of actions seemed to get the woman’s attention, and suddenly her eyes were intently focused on his mouth. Her hand stopped moving forward and, unbelievably, retracted a few inches away. She bit her lower lip and remained concentrated on every subtle change in his features.

Matt couldn’t believe it for a moment. Had he just startled her? Or was this her listening?

With nothing to lose, he shouted again.

“Leave me alone, got it?” he asked. The woman once again remained focused on his lips. Her eyes squinted, a puzzled look locking her features into a quizzical expression. Her eyes darted over to the white kit with the red cross on it as she gestured to his body with the hand that was closest to him. “I can handle it. I can patch myself up. I don’t need your help. Your hands are too big, and I don’t want you touching me. Got it?”

The woman watched his face intently before her eyes widened. She bit her lip awkwardly. Matt’s heart started thumping harder against his ribs, making his ears ring. Had he said too much? Was she angry now? She didn’t look angry.

The woman reached over to the white kit and opened it, splaying it on its side to reveal all of the bandages, patches, and salves inside. A single role was enough to wrap Matt like a mummy; and, for that instant, he wondered if she was about to bind him up so he couldn’t move.

This didn’t happen.

Instead, the woman placed a loose fist on her chest and rubbed her chest clockwise a few times before holding up one finger and leaving the room entirely. Matt’s stomach turned in knots, feeling like he had been flipped upside down and dropped, as he watched this woman leave the room.

Did she just listen? Or is she getting something else? Oh no… what if she’s getting a cage? No. Not again. Not today.

Despite his sliced palms and bodily injuries, Matt walked over to the edge and peered over. There was nothing to grab onto. He looked back at the medical kit. Was there something in there he could use?

Matt walked back over to the opened container and rummaged through the packages that were nearly the length of his leg. Tweezers. Tape. Rolls of gauze. Safety pins. There were other things, but there were already some promising items.

Sadly, he had only begun to pull the gauze out when he heard the padding footsteps of the woman returning. His stomach churned again as his head throbbed. She was coming back! Why? Why couldn’t he just be left to his own devices?

What was worse was that he heard someone speaking.

No! She’s bringing someone else out here to gawk at me.

He could hear part of the conversation as the voice got closer, but only one side of it.

“Slow down, will you? Yes! Slower walking and slower talking. You found someone outside? And you just brought him in? Were you not watching ‘Forensic Files’ with me? This is exactly how we get ki-”

The woman stepped into the room and Matt suddenly understood why the voice was quiet. One hand was cupped and, crouched in the palm of her hand, was pet. Her other hand was free and was pointing and making different gestures. While Matt didn’t understand what each individual gesture meant, he knew what it meant for the woman.

She was deaf.

The sickening taste of bile rose in his throat.

This woman got a specialized pet to be her translator? Some kind of therapy pet? He could only guess what that mean for him and what was going to happen next.

In the meantime, the pet, also a woman, leaned over the edges of the woman’s fingers and stared hard at Matt before turning back and gesturing to be set down on the countertop. The human woman grinned and made a few gestures, which caught the pet’s eye. The pet rolling her eyes, she turned back to her human and nodded while gesturing and speaking out loud.

“Yes, yes. I know you’re smarter than that. You wouldn’t just let some rando in the house.” The pet turned and stepped off of the human’s hand. She was just a little shorter than Matt and had sharp, narrow features. Her dark brown hair looked like it had a reddish hue in the dim flashlight glow, but Matt could easily make out the pet’s hazel-brown eyes. The pet grinned and glanced back at the human to finish a different, snarky remark. “At least, you wouldn’t bring a human sized rando into the house.”

The human rolled her eyes and gestured to Matt, who had backed up involuntarily five steps at this point. The pet readjusted her shirt and booty shorts, nodded, and looked back to Matt, speaking and signing at the same time.

“Sorry about that. I was half asleep when she came in and woke me up. I guess introductions are in order. I’m Nivea. Gargantia over there is Kaylee. Wave ‘hi’ Kaylee,” said Nivea. The human woman, Kaylee, smiled hesitantly and waved.

“Figures,” muttered Matt. “They always get what they want.”

“Wow, you’re friendly, and beat up. What happened to you? Rough and tumble with a lawn mower?” asked Nivea, a cheeky smirk planted firmly in the corner of her mouth. When Matt scowled at her instead, Nivea shrugged and dismissed her statement with a wave of her hand. “Don’t answer that. Now, come on. Loosen up. You’re safe. Let’s get you cleaned up and bandaged.”

Nivea went to move forward just as Matt took a few more deliberate steps backward.

“I don’t need your help. Neither of you,” he spat. Nivea, still speaking and signing, retreated those few steps she had taken forward.

“Woah, easy there buddy. We’re not the bad guys here. We’re just trying to patch you up,” Nivea replied, glancing back at Kaylee.

“I don’t need help from a human or her pet. I’m done, you hear me? Done,” stated Matt angrily. At this, Nivea folded her arms across her chest and put her weight onto one leg, a disbelieving look on her face. Matt bristled at her confrontational stance, but was surprised to hear what she had to say next.

“Excuse me? Pet? You want to rethink that slur buddy?” asked Nivea. Confusion temporarily tongue-tied Matt as Nivea continued speaking without signing. “I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m not a pet; not here at least, and certainly not with Kaylee.”

Nivea watched this new guy’s reaction, which was mixed and muddled at best, before casting another glare at Kaylee and then back to her. He was still bristled suspiciously.

“Right,” he stated. “That’s why you let her carry you around like some kind of lap dog.”

At this, both Nivea and Kaylee winced, which surprised Matt. Nivea rolled her eyes before looking back to Kaylee.

“Kaylee, could you run some warm water in the sink? Our belligerent house guest probably wants to clean up before getting bandaged. It’ll help prevent infection,” Nivea said aloud as she signed.

“You’re going to bathe me? Like some infant? No chance,” Matt stated defiantly. Nivea shot a glare back at Matt and kept signing.

“You look like a grown-up. I think you can manage yourself,” said Nivea as she turned back to Kaylee. “Can you believe this guy? Wants us to pamper him with a spa day.” Kaylee, who looked disheartened, managed a smile in the corner of her lips before walking over to the kitchen sink and turning on the tap. After a moment, she left the kitchen, leaving Nivea and Matt alone.

With the two of them alone, Nivea turned her attention back to Matt.

“There, she’s busy doing something. Now, could you lose the hostile act and talk to me?” said Nivea as she folded her arms across her chest again. Matt took another hard look at his fellow pet. If this was some kind of scam, it was a good one. At the same time, there was something about Nivea’s face, her focused hazel-brown eyes that was genuine, both with how annoyed she was as well as her willingness to help.

“Talk to you?” asked Matt. “Like what? Feelings? What happened to me? You want the whole life story?”

“Okay, bud, sarcasm isn’t going to help you. Knock it off. Let me guess. You were passed around from family to family? Not so great bonding time? Lots of hands? Lots of unwanted touching? Tossing, squeezing, undressing? I’ll even guess that you weren’t left outside. Meaning you ran away?” asked Nivea, stating his whole life’s story as if she were there. Then again, it wasn’t hard to guess the life of a pet.

“Name one pet who hasn’t had that kind of life,” muttered Matt. He felt a twinge in his leg and a burning sensation in his arms and palms where he was injured.

“Well, then you of all people should be able to tell a good human from a bad one, right?” challenged Nivea. Matt couldn’t argue with this statement. Within the first few minutes of knowing a lot of the humans he came into contact with, he was able to read what kind of person they really were. There was only one who seemed decent, a man with multi-colored eyes who came into a second chance shelter, but Matt was already reserved at that time, so the man “adopted” a younger, female pet instead.

“Sure. It’s probably some kind of instinct they programmed into our genes,” replied Matt.

“Whatever you want to call it, use it now. Okay? Kaylee, the woman probably looking for soap and clothes for you right now, is one of the good ones. Did you get that sense from her? Think about it for two seconds, without this aggressive front of yours, and tell me if you really think Kaylee is one of the bad ones,” said Nivea.

Matt clenched his jaw and, despite his best efforts, considered Nivea’s words. When Kaylee pulled him out of the water, her fingers were splayed. She kept her fingers opened and palms cupped when she carried him instead of pinching his torso in between her fingers.

Kaylee didn’t listen when he spoke not because she was ignoring him, but because she couldn’t hear him. Even though that was annoying, Matt had to admit that Kaylee watching his lips and bringing Nivea to help make him comfortable and to communicate was, at the very least, considerate.

Despite his immediate reaction, Matt had to admit to himself that Kaylee did seem like one of the good humans.

As he came to this realization, Nivea smiled knowingly and nodded slowly.

“Seems like you got it,” she stated plainly. Matt bit the inside of his cheek before finding himself curious about his fellow pet.

“How’d you get here then?” he asked.

“I was the teacher’s pet, literally,” said Nivea sighed.

“You’re kidding,” said Matt, feeling his insides churn with the thought.

“Yeah, middle schoolers. Hormones and angst and growing pains. One too many prodding fingers had me just as angry as you are right now. It wasn’t until Kaylee showed up that I felt like someone was listening to me,” she said quietly before chuckling lightly. “No pun intended.”

“So, you asked her to take you? Or did she rescue you on her own?” he inquired. Nivea laughed at this question, making Matt tense slightly before he spotted the smile on Nivea’s face. He thought she was laughing at him, but really she was laughing at the question.

“It was a bit of both? She helped get me out and I accidentally hid in her bag at the end of the school day. I was a stowaway, but she wasn’t really mad about it. She was actually really surprised to find me,” said Nivea. “She offered to let me stay here not as a pet, but as a friend. I took her up on it for a while, living quietly under her bed unbothered, but then I actually left and lived outside for about a week and a half before coming back.”

“You left? And she let you?” asked Matt. Nivea nodded.

“I wanted to see if I could live on my own, but it was hard. Kaylee left out things to help me, and I realized I could survive on my own. Still, I decided to come back because I saw her one day sitting outside alone. She looked so sad, and I realized we both needed a friend. It made more sense, even though we could make it on our own. We could be stronger together,” explained Nivea. “Now we’re friends.”

“Friends,” stated Matt, his tone disbelieving. “With a human.”

“Hey, that difference doesn’t matter to anyone but yourself, at least it doesn’t matter here,” said Nivea. “And, if you let her, she could be the same to you.”

Matt listened quietly until Nivea finished, hearing something he didn’t think possible. A pet had escaped with the help of human. This human let a pet live freely not only in the home, but also outside. Could this be a safe place?

Matt didn’t have long to ponder this to himself before Nivea directed her attention to him.

“Now, care to give me a name at least? You don’t have to give me your whole life’s story. You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to. I’d just think it’s common courtesy, one person to another.”

Matt, still rigid, sighed and nodded.

“Matthew,” he said quietly. “My name is Matthew, but I usually go by Matt if the human cared to ask.”

“Matthew slash Matt. I like it. Nice to meet you,” greeted Nivea. “Is it okay if I tell Kaylee your name when she comes back in? Or would you rather introduce yourself?” At which point, Kaylee returned with a few small plastic cups filled with what looked like different soaps as well as a couple of washcloths. She didn’t make eye-contact when she came in, instead walking quickly and quietly as though she were intruding and simply came by to drop off these things.

Nivea gave Matt a nod toward Kaylee, but Matt froze up the moment Kaylee came back into view. Even with Nivea’s prompting nod, Matt felt tongue tied once again. Kaylee set these things in the sink and turned to leave. Nivea sighed and shook her head before going over to one of the lights and pressing it multiple times so it would click on and off. Matt realized after a few seconds that this was to get Kaylee’s attention, and it worked.

Kaylee turned and glanced at Matt before looking over at Nivea.

“Mind if I come with? He probably wants some privacy while he gets clean,” said Nivea as she signed. Kaylee smiled and nodded, stepping over to the countertop and laying the back of her hand flat against it. Without hesitation, Nivea stepped onto Kaylee’s hand, using her thumb as a handhold for balance. One-handed, Kaylee made a few signs to Nivea, who quickly signed back. Kaylee, seemingly insistent, signed a few more things to Kaylee. Nivea sighed and turned back to Matt.

“She doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable, but she wants to know if you need a lift to the sink over there. We have ladders and lines in place, but you look pretty banged up. Just a thoughtful gesture,” said Nivea, who was once again signing and speaking so Kaylee could understand.

Matt stared at Nivea, who was standing of her own free will on Kaylee’s hand, and then to the human who arguably helped save his life. The comment about size not mattering to them seemed to be true and, after a moment’s hesitation, Matt nodded.