Seriously, this tiger needs to chill out.
It played with me like a chew toy, biting me and healing me with magic, then biting me again. It healed everything but my leg, so that I couldn’t escape.
For the past day, it had been hunting whatever it could get it’s paws on, and forced me to eat some of it. Believe me, raw venison is not the way to go.
Sometimes, when the tiger was in a sleepy mood, it left me alone and took an hour-long nap. It gave me time to think, without the biting and scratching.
I regretted writing the letter so much it tore at my heart whenever I thought about it. I hoped to the fullest extent that Cora wouldn’t realize where the letter was- but she was too smart for that. She’d definitely figure it out.
Most of the time when the big cat slept, I slept too. But I feared to close my eyes because of the horrible nightmares of Cora being tortured by the tiger.
Sleep, Felix, I thought. C’mon, you only have half an hour left before the tiger wakes you up to-
I grimaced. Great, now I was scaring myself to sleep. I tried to force myself to not think about what was waiting for me in my future, but my self discipline could only go so far.
The most I had deciphered of this cold, horrible place was that it was the peak of a huge mountain- it overshadowed all the other hills in the distance. It was unbelievable that there was no ice- the temperature had to be around thirty degrees- or maybe it was because half of my pants were torn up, my jacket was in tatters, my shoes were more like useless pieces of cloth, and my shirt was the only thing that did anything to warm me up. The peak of the mountain was about a hundred meters wide, with a cave on the left side that the tiger always slept in.
At that moment, the tiger let out a ground trembling yawn. No, no, no!! Why was it’s nap so short?! I felt my body shaking, not just from the cold.
Soft pawsteps became louder, coming my way. “Open your eyes, Felix Willow. I know you are not asleep.” The tiger hissed. I obediently opened my eyes, trying not to look afraid.
“G-good morning. Or is it night? I can’t really tell, because, you know, I’m freezing to death. D-did you come to warm me up?” I tried to smile, but I was too scared.
The tiger cocked it’s head to the side. “Why not?” It murmured so quietly I barely heard it’s voice. “He is freezing to death on Mount Kanchenjunga- what do you think, Felicia? We don’t want to kill our hostage, do we?”
Okay, I know I must be confused and all that the tiger is calling me Felicia, but hey, I just discovered where I am. Now I could actually do something.
Then I realized the tiger wasn’t talking to me or some imaginary friend- there was a voice screaming from… inside the tiger? It was almost inaudible, but if there’s one thing I can do, it’s eavesdropping.
It was a woman’s voice- that was all I could decipher. But I couldn’t find out more, because suddenly, I felt…
Warm.
Like I was sitting beside a fire, sipping too-hot cocoa. I looked up, so intensely grateful that the tiger had the smallest bit of kindness in it to warm me up- but there was still an evil glint in its eye. Then I looked down, and realized why.
It wasn’t just warming me up.
It had set me on fire.