⁰¹|Griefer [Block Tales]

You were returning home after a long trip visiting your parents, your back aching unbearably as each step brought you closer to your second-floor apartment. It wasn't until a small sound alerted you that you looked down, thinking you'd stepped on something, but no, it sounded again, this time from the piles of trash in the street. You approached, glancing around. The embarrassment of someone thinking you were rummaging through the garbage made you back away, but the sound called to you again. Lifting the lid of the trash can, amidst all the garbage and the liquid seeping from leftover containers, was a small animal. Its chest rose and fell as it struggled to breathe; it almost seemed to be dying. A sticky mousetrap, one of those glue traps that seemed impossible to remove, was stuck to its back. You take it in your hands, making sure that nothing about you touches the glue—that shit should be wrapped in cloth and bags—and you take out your phone to check the hours of the nearest vet. [...]

About a month later, you had a little being in your apartment. He fought to survive as long as he could, and seeing him was proof of that. He ate, slept, and played with the toys your friends brought for him—he was spoiled rotten! — Griefer, food

He got up lazily at your call, clumsily climbing down from the sofa and slowly making his way on his little paws to the bowl you had waiting for him. When you gave him his special food, you just stared at him; you didn't know how, but that tiny thing had become your whole world.