~Not everything is meant to be known...~

Hi, I am Elvira Glisson. I am an english professor at the Skylite University and I've been working there for the past 3years. Due to the winter vacations, it's closed now. I wasn't really having anything to do during this vacation so I was planning to go out on a holiday. But things turned up to be quiet unexpected in both good and bad way. This event will be undoubtedly an immemorable one for the rest of my life.

It was a Tuesday Morning. I was in the garage planning to take my car for cleaning. I took out my car keys from my coat pocket and was about to unlock the door when suddenly a sound made me turn around. It was coming from a heap of useless boxes kept at a corner of the garage. I put back my keys from where I took them out, and walked towards the boxes. Before I could bend down and have a peek, a strange looking creature came out of it. Not strange but peculiar. It's skin had no hair or fur, but something a bit rough and stony. But it had three hair, or at least that's what I think it is, of three different colours, yellow, orange and light-pink rising from it's head. It's round blue eyes were like marbles and tiny little mouth always seemed to be smiling. It's body was much like a skinny baby‌, the only difference being the rocky texture. It's forelimbs were long and almost reached the grounds but hindlegs very short. As a result, it stood much like a gorrila or chimpanzee. But the most striking feature was it's medium-sized and vibrant orange furry tail which was soft and smooth like a feather pillow with silk cover. I forgot everything about taking my car for cleaning, and gently picked up the creature and brought it in. I was cautious that it might become violent on being picked up, but to my surprise it didn't even show a sign of frustration or discomfort.

I stuffed a box with newspapers and placed in it. It sat quietly with it's eager eyes inspecting every corner of the room until I brought it some milk in a bowl. To be honest I had no clue what to feed it or how to take care of it, but it was enjoying itself to the fullest. It drank the entire bowl of milk within minutes giving me quick glances at regular intervals. Then I grabbed some books from the shelves on animals and started going through them hoping to find this creature or at lease something similar. I spent the entire afternoon reading all the books one by one but it didn't come to any help. No books had any information about something like my Rocky. Oh yes, And I forgot to mention, I named it Rocky for it's rocky skin-texture and colour. The name seemed most appropriate.

Anyways, I was leafing through the pages of the last book in my collection, a book written by a African Explorer, about the strange animals he had encountered. But no-one seemed as peculiar as mine, until I came to the last part. It mentioned his encounter with an animal which he saw partially. He saw a beautiful furry orange tail in between the bushes, but didn't get to see the rest of it, as it ran away at a hunter's gun sound which came most unexpectedly from somewhere. I immediately glanced at Rocky. It was having the time of it's life, playing with a old toy I gave it. I led out a deep sigh as grabbed my laptop and started typing a mail to my colleague Melanie. I knew deep down in my heart that I had to send Rocky to somewhere safe. If the news of me having a rare animal reaches the ears of greedy men, then god knows what will happen. But it was bound to be happening if I kept in with me for long. But where do I send it? Will it be safe in the forests? Will National Parks be safe? I wrote everything to Melanie about how I found Little Rocky, what is looked like and how I want to send it to somewhere safe. Melanie's uncle was a zooligical scientist. I felt he is someone I can turn to. Melanie's reply came that night saying she would visit me next morning.

The next morning, soon after I got up and had helped myself with a cup of coffee, the doorbell rang. It was Melanie. She came in and sat on the couch and said to me, "Elvira, uncle is out of country currently. It is impossible for him to come now as he was in the middle of a very important research. But he told that we can go to Andrew. He is Uncle's very close friend. I have his address. I sent him a mail letting him know about our arrival and he replied back saying that he would be glad to help. I am also planning to come with you. You don't have any problem, do you?"

I shook my head and thanked her for the help. Then I brought the half-drowsy Rocky from my room and showed it to her. "Spectacular" she said out loud.

Next day we left for Andrew's residence. The address was "12/3 Lane no.2 J.W.Rd Mark.Town" Melanie drove the car for about 2hrs after which I took over the steering wheel. After another 2 hrs we reached Andrew's house. "It looks more like a institution than a house" I exclaimed.

"He is a bio-chemist. He has his own laboratory inside his house. You'll be surprised." Melanie said.

"Have you been here before?" I asked. "No, but I've seen pictures of the lab and heard a lot about him from uncle." she said as she pressed the doorbell.

An old servant opened the door. He led us through a corridor into the huge living room, which seemed like a science exhibition to me. The racks were filled with scientific objects for display and the bookselves filled with books on chemicals, botany, zoology, space, and astronomy, etc.

"Does he read all these?" I asked, my mouth wide open.

"He keeps them for just show I think. I haven't heard him to be interested in astronomy or space. But I'm not sure." She told me.

After a minute or two, Andrew came to greet us. He looked like a cartoon scientist, wearing a extremely long lab coat that almost touched his ankles and round glasses, and few strands of half-grey hair behind his ears. "Does all scientists look so comical?" Melanie giggled but I gave her a hard nudge with my elbow signalling her to stop.

"Welcome welcome! Hope you did not have any trouble on the way." he said with a big smile.

"No sir, we didn't"

"Very well very well. Please have a seat. Melanie told me about your pet. Please set it free. It will suffocate in that box of yours" he said looking at the big brown box I was carrying.

Rocky was indeed there but it wasn't suffocating since I had made many holes in the box for air to pass. I opened the box and picked it up in my hands. Melanie had already helped herself to the couch and a cup of coffee. I didn't realise when the coffee was served. I also picked up my mug and was about to drink it when I noticed something strange. "Why was Mr.Andrew looking at Rocky in that way? I didn't feel comfortable at all at his strange look. But I didn't speak of it and kept at eye on him. Something didn't feel right. I didn't know what.

The horrific incident took place that night. But let me start from the evening. We were having tea and snacks in his living room. Mr.Andrew was sitted on an armchair with Rocky standing on top of the coffee table playing with it's favourite rag doll.

"I have never really seen such a creature all my life. Very rare I must say. Might be the only one in the world, who knows. We need to keep it safe. Rich and cunning people won't sit idle if they know about this." he said.

"By rich people if you mean people who will give me bundles of cash in exchange for my Rocky, I should mention that I won't touch a single note." I said coldly

Mr.Andrew's look in the eye changed for a minute. Melanie didn't notice that as she was busy tickling Rocky and munching on the cookies served to us. But I couldn't ignore it. The feeling of uncomfort started to grow. Certain doubts occured to me. Will Rocky really be safe with Andrew? Will he actually take him to some safe refuge? Did we do the right thing coming here?

I suddenly felt the urge to snoop around a bit. So I couldn't help myself from saying, "Excuse me for a bit. I need to go to the washroom"

"Sure" he said.

Of course I didn't go to the washroom. I took a left turn instead from the entrance of the corridor that led to the washroom and went upstairs. Each rooms had a nameplate placed on it. "Laboratory", "Bedroom", "Private". I assumed the rooms which did not have one, to be empty and unused. I first went to the bedroom. Nothing suspicious lay there. Even the other rooms looked quite normal. I began to think whether I was worrying for nothing and just tresspassing. But something told me I wasn't. I searched everyroom thoroughly but nothing suspicious turned out. I was searching the last possible room, that is the laboratory when I found a big blue notebook. I leafed through it's pages out of mere curiosity and found details about the person. The book was actually his personal diary. Apparently his full name was Andrew Jonson. I was looking through some other details when suddenly something clicked my mind. It was like a spark of lightning that had struck upon my head as I was fidgeting in complete darkness. But the truth was not-only unexpected but blood-curdling. I ran down the steps and almost bumped into the servant who had come to collect the coffee mugs. I tried to look as calm and cool as possible. I sat on the couch with a fake smile on my face and took Rocky from the table to my lap.

"It's getting late. You both must be tired. You see, I am really amazed by this pet of yours. Do you mind if I keep it with me tonight? I want to have a close look at it."

Melanie was about to say 'yes' or 'sure no problem' when she gulped at my strong nudge and sharp eye contact. I tried to behave absolutely normal and said,

"I'm sorry but I've grown a really close bond with it, more than just a master and pet. But sadly, for today's greedy world, I have to part with it forever. So today is probably the last night I can spend with it and I don't want to miss it. I hope you understand."

Melanie gave me a sidelong glance as I signalled her to be quiet and waited for an answer from Mr.Andrew with baited breath. "I understand. Sure you can". Saying so he got up and wished us goodnight. We wished him back and went to the guest room prepared for us.

"What on earth has happened to you? You're acting so strange since you returned from the washroom." Melani said as she threw herself on the bed.

"You really thought I went to the washroom?" I said

"Yeah? Why didn't you? Then where did you go?"

"To investigate"

"What!? Elvira stop speaking in riddles please."

"Alright. Listen Then. I had my suspicions when I first looked at Mr.Andrew directly into his eyes. Something didn't feel right. He didn't really have that spark in his eyes which a dedicated biochemist like him should have. But I had no proofs in hand to jump into conclusions. But that is morning's story. In the evening when we were having tea, he mentioned about people who would buy Rocky from me with money. But my reply made him insecure." I said looking at Rocky who was half-asleep in the brown box.

"Insecure? Why will he feel insecure?" Melanie asked utterly confused.

"Because he didn't speak on any random men. He spoke of himself."

"WHAT!?" Melanie's eyes widened as she sat upright.

"Yes. He is no bio-chemist. He is just a wicked person who's intention is to somehow snatch Rocky from us and sell it elsewhere. But he started feeling insecure as soon as I said that I'm not bought with money."

"But my uncle said Mr.Andrew is a bio-chemist. We can't deny that"

"Yes Mr.Andrew is a dedicated and honest Bio-chemist. Not the person who is currently pretending to be Mr.Andrew."

Melanie couldn't speak a word so I decided to continue.

"I had searched all the rooms in the evening and had found nothing until I stumbled across Mr.Andrew's, I mean the real one, personal Diary. His name was mentioned written as ANDREW JONSON". I spelt it out loud.

Suddenly the same lighting seemed to struck

Melanie's head as she got up from her bed with both excitement and fear and said, "But in the reply he sent us to my mail, it was mentioned ANDREW JHONSON! No man would ever spell his own name wrong. Then who is this man??"

"I think it is Mr.Alexen Coey. Mr.Andrew had written about him in his diary. He's Mr.Andrew's childhood friend. He used to be a good shooter. But at a very young age he started suffering from Myopia. This means his far-distance eyesight had become weak. Due to this he couldn't continue shooting and started a small business. But it didn't run well and he suffered great losses. Mr.Andrew used to give him money to support his business but all in vain."

"I see. And lack of money developes greed. And soon the greed becomes too much and the person starts using illegal ways to earn. And therefore he is interested in your pet. He wants to sell it for a huge amount that would last him for the rest of his life. Now all of it make sense."

"You're right. But the question is where is Mr.Andrew then? I'm sure Mr.Alexen knows the answer. I would have escaped from this hell right now if not for Mr.Andrew."

"Sh-shouldn't we in-inform the police?" Melanie had started to fear.

"Yes. Give a call. Right now"

We had just finished calling the cops when the door slammed open. Both of us looked up with a start. I immediately ran to Rocky and held him tight. " I will protect you no matter what, even if it costs my life " I whispered. Mr.Alexen entered with a revolver in his hand aimed straight at me. Melanie had become stiff. She couldn't move.

"HAND ME OVER THAT ANIMAL OF YOUR'S RIGHT NOW IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE!" Mr.Alexen's voice pierced through the pin-drop silence of the night. "I will never give it to you" I said boldly as my eyes caught the side of a recorder peeping from the shelf. He must've been as suspicious of us knowing the truth as I was of him and hence, had made the arrangement beforehand. "Then I guess the game is over..." he said and he grasped the revolver tighter and was perfectly set to press the trigger. But something absolutely unexpected happened. Leaving me spellbounded, Rocky shooted out of my hand like a bullet and flung itself right on Mr.Alexens face. "Aah! Get off you brat aahh!" he screamed in agony as Rocky scratched on his face with its small yet sharp claws, which I hadn't noticed before, making him drop the revolver. I immediately grabbed it and aimed at him although I had no idea how to use it. Rocky jumped back down and climbed on my shoulder. "The game is indeed over I guess, but for you, not me" I said as the room vibrated with the sound of police sirens. Mr.Alexen was sent at once to hospital, and Mr.Andrew was found tied up in the 'private room' and rescued. Mr.Andrew was extremely terror-stricken and Melanie had gone to console him. But amidst everything, the real hero of was undoubtedly my little Rocky. The police took Rocky and promised me to keep it in the government protected forests and that no-one will perform any researches on it to fulfill human curiosities. Melanie and I returned back the next morning.

On the way back Melanie said, "Too bad we didn't get to know anything about Rocky. I mean what species it belongs to, it's orgin, etc."

"Not everything is meant to be Known..." I said with a smile...