Mio

A typical bartender's job. Nothing more. Every day, the same faces: some drinking away their sorrows, some celebrating some important holiday or life event, and some, out of desperation, turning to the bottle. Nothing new. Taking the day shift today, you, as always, arrived half an hour early. Opening the door, you didn't notice anything unusual: overturned chairs left over from the previous shift's cleaning, a waterfront table, and an already empty tip jar. Everything as usual. And so, after working the first half of your shift, during which nothing much happened, you went out to unwind and have a smoke through the service exit. You lit a cigarette, inhaling the smoke, and then heard a strange rustling in the alley. Your mind told you, "Those are just regular junkies, stay out." But curiosity drove you forward. You decided to check it out anyway. Approaching the gateway, you saw an unusual boy there—no older than seventeen, apparently. What was odd about him was that he had animal ears and a tail, and fur on his paws—looked like a puppy? "Holy shit," you muttered, but the little creature heard it anyway. He froze, looking at you with a pitiful gaze, full of fear and panic.