it looked back at me

‘...the place where we go to confront our sins - to test our flaws. That place exists. Part of finding your way out is knowing what your sin is.’

“Yeah. Unless you don’t believe…”
I kept my eyes closed while I shifted my position closer to the wall tucking my tail under my hind leg. Listening to that voice over and over again for what seemed like an hour had my temples pounding. It was either that or the fact that this bloody storm had me cooped up in here for the last couple of days and small rodents just weren’t taking the edge off like it had been. The sounds of light fluttering bounced off of the towering walls around me and rang through my ears, pushing me to focus more on that than keeping still.

Deep breath in, count...1 - 2.
‘Do you know what your sin is?’
Exhale, 3 - 4.

My lungs fell in on itself and let out a faint circle of warm air painfully slow. This was one of those days that wasn’t going to make it easier on anyone, and with my luck I wasn’t thinking that I would be the only thing to run towards the darkness for cover. Which meant that eventually, the silence would have to come to a close. A rock slab that had been chipped away by time deterioration collapsed some time ago and created a makeshift lean-to against the adjacent wall, providing just enough space for my body to slip into and melt away into the structure while I listened to the wind's ruckus outside. An’ boy was it really howling now.

‘Well. What do you believe in?’
With a hunger more intense than my own, the closer that I dwelled around the entrance of the cavern, the more I felt the heat being sucked out of the core of my bones. Mother nature was insatiable. But going deeper into the dark caverns of this place? I don’t need to be reminded of what curiosity killed. Blood orange optics cracked open to the sound of light scurrying off near the mouth of the entrance. Ears flicked as I hoisted my frame off of the floor and rolled it onto my paws without being able to erect it fully. My elbows almost skimmed the floor as I inched forward and saw a small creature dart in frantically and shoot off to the other half of the room. I pushed forward and took a few hurried steps out of my cozy nest towards the creature on pure instinct, my mouth already watering. A thought stopped me in my tracks and I turned to look towards the opening.

“Hm...Who spooked you...” I whispered to myself. I felt my nose twitch shortly before I whipped my body around and stepped deep into the shadows of the main hall, taking care to pad softly off near a side wall. I planned on waiting it out and catching the vermin later...preferably before it wandered back into that frozen hell. When I turned to look back out towards the light, I saw a black figure meandering in and looking about. Another wolf it seemed. I fell into a sit and watched as I leaned my shoulder against the wall. The light behind the walkers frame created a subtle glow and I was able to decipher the build...female? My nose never stopped working while I silently watched her. She spoke after some time. Her voice echoing around me and causing me to flick my own harks. Trapped… Yeah that’s what i’d call the feeling. Tied up both inside and out if I had to describe it.

That dark frame continued to shashay her way into, melding with the darkness like one shadow joining another. This midnight vixen was still too far away for me to see any details on her or get her scent. My mind whirred with different situations that this could end up in, but all of them pointed to us eventually finding one another unless one of us decided to head in deeper into this palace. My lips pursed together - I didn’t like either option immensely. But if i’d have my way….

“Define…’Trapped’.” I woofed out to her after letting some time pass. My voice echoed back around us stirring some of the bats taking refuge above us, latin accents dripped over my words making it clear this was not my native tongue. I let my head fall back on the wall my shoulder was already leaning on as my stance shifted. I was happy enough that we were in the dark together and not under the spotlight of the sun. It gave me some weird sense of security, like a barrier between me and this newcomer.
“I suppose it depends on whether it’s consensual or not, no?” I added, my voice lowering as if it was an afterthought.