A full moon night it was. Some festival that meant more leftover for the lone mouse residing in that chic house. To be fair the lady of the house hated him and hence he hid out of sight till he realised that she left him leftovers all over the place. He thought they were poisoned.. but one day she casually came up crunched an apple piece and left a little for him.

He overheard her refusing pest control in the section that he lived.. the little hidden hole behind the staircase. How he came here, he was not exactly sure but he remembered his mother pushing him into a house asking him to run away and not trust humans who poisoned food, unless they had the same food infront of him.

It was almost a grand life in peace. The lady got married the same year and theirs been an interesting understanding. At times she would even talk to him, she was going away for a week, her husband was a busy man, she did not have kids, her husband was starting a new business , they met on a boat and fell in love, she wanted to adopt a kid, she lost her parents in a car crash after the marriage...

Lately she rarely went to the usual parties and the husband was not home much. She seemed happy enough playing her piano though softly gently She whispered one day, "Mouse I am growing old. I will miss you if you die before me."

That was a strange comment as humans lives longer than mice. He chripped hua reply from the hole. She jumped back and said, "No no stay there.." and laughed and left a piece of fresh apple.

That day, he knew there were guests of the husband in home , as he could understand from the tone of voice of the lady. She was soft, polite and formal. With her close friends who all moved away or passed away she had been much more lively. He knew the meal was there but hidden well.

So he, the Mouse crept through the silent house in search of its nightly meal. His ears pricked at the scream, causing him to stand on his hind legs to spot the source. When the body came crashing down, he scampered away with his tiny heart beating fiercely. A bass glass rolled away from her hand..

Then he came running back. The lady was extending a hand to him.. in her dying breath saying, "Murder.. please..run away. Please .. all murders."
He came to smell her hand and she brushed his little nose once and never again.

He scampered back. The voices on top started to rise. "What was that sound ? "
Screamed a woman's voice.

Soon six people were surrounding her. They were all quiet. They looked shocked, perplexed not sad. But that voice screaming was not down yet. He tried to look up and someone screamed.. "Is that a mouse?"

"Did she slip looking at the mouse.."

"She was a scared lot.."

He retreated to his other hideout.

Police came. The husband came late. He entered and howled. He demanded everyone to leave. The screening young woman finally came down to touch his brows, "Brother ....." and hugged him.

All the six gave their versions.. but where was the glass in her hand that mouse had noted to have roled somewhere. Did someone take that away.

"Accidental death.." The Police Inspector Rashid muttered even as few claimed fear of a mouse. He denied the claims of her husband to the body and sent it for a post mortem.

"There is something not right here.." He said as he kept looking for clues. Mouse heard his phone ring. His ears stood up and he overheard Rashid being instructed to complete the Post mortem at the earliest to hand over the body.

Inspector Rashid stood still as he ended the call of his senior. The lady's husband came down and asked for progress on the post mortem. He nodded his head and did not answer.

"Will you be still searching for something ?" The husband asked mockingly . "What do you believe happened here ? We drugged her and pushed her down the stairs?"

"Everyone was sleeping when she fell down .."

The police inspector asked ,"True so many possibilities are there. Accidental is one of them. Who is the next of kin."

The husband spoke with a gruff voice, "I believe she left everything to her cousin sister, they were brought up in the same house together. I inherit nothing. So rest your suspicion. "

The police inspector asked," And where is the sister?"

The husband stopped on his tracks of cleaning his sandals and said, "She is sleeping I believe. Just returned from abroad completing her studies."

Next day the Police Inspector was back as the family lawyer came. Mouse who was very hungry, ate a small piece of bread that was stored in a hidden corner. Stale and not fresh like what the lady would have provided.

He took a prime seat behind the curtains, careful to camaflougue himself. The lawyer looked broken.

" First her parents went away. Then her. All accidents. Her parents' car accident was something she wanted to cross check. She had some concern lately towards it. She said that her cousin sister was at home that day and supposed to be in the car too yet in the last moment she declined."

The earlier screaming lady screeched back, " She is dead and one must not speak bad of the dead but she questioned me on it even as I was grieving the death of my guardians. She was elder by years and went away to stidu, work, party , marry .. I was home. I was for them. "

The lawyer shook his head and said, "Yet you took her assistance immediately to go abroad for studies ? One you did not succeed in completing ?"

The husband stepped in neatly and said, "Sisters fight and this is possibly just grief lawyer that is causing Sister to talk a lot. People do not succeed too. What has all that got to do with my wife's death and her will ?"

Rashid looked on, apparantly neutral till it seemed he had noticed the Mouse, sitting camaflouged in the brown tapestry setting. His brows came together. But before he could speak the lawyer declared ,"Yes. Anyways none of it matters now. She is no more. Police is investigating the case. Her wealth is not left to anyone but..."
"What..?" screamed the cousin sister. "I was not given anything when my gurdians died and even now nothing too.."

The husband said, "Possibly she left everything to a trust to be managed.. Calm yourself ".

The lawyer sighed ,"She left everything to the resident mouse of this house. She was sure she will leave earlier. The house , the wealth are all dedicated to providing him and his children mice, if any , a safe home, fresh apples and some humans to care and clean."

One of the guests, Rabu then said shocked ,"Gosh I know about mouse. She kept speaking of her child who had apples.. She was afraid if she died ... her family would do pest control and kill him."

The husband shook his head, "Honestly she had lost her mind. Childless she took to a mouse..."

But Rabu then spoke up suddenly, "Well if she is.. I mean was not afraid of a Mouse.. then why did she fall. She was going to take a glass of milk with her sister as childhood practices.. Where is that glass..? Was she indeed not poisoned by that obnoxious foreign returned brat ?"

The sister was screaming again in anger , " Brother you tell them .. you tell them.. they are accusing me. I... I .. am the victim. I will murder..??"

The husband was quiet and looked at the sister quietly. Only Mouse with his hearing could hear.."This one needs to go too.."

Rashid rechecked with Rabu if he saw the lady prepare a milk for her sister or herself. But the answer was no , she has simply mentioned it and other would agree too. But there was no glasses found .. anywhere with milk. The sister denied. He knew the husband had money of his own. Infact the house had also been gifted to the Lady by her husband. A self made successful man, who did not grieve for his wife but there was no reason to kill her. He infact looked at the sister angle and likely affair. Nothing had come up.. there too.

Mouse cared little about Rshid's thoughts though with his nose he could sense the confusion. Such huge people and this case needed him now. Ofcourse he knew there was a fridge upstairs too. But where it was he did not know. He had never visited .. upstairs.

A week since then, the Husband walked into the home and made a call, "The sister will go to a charity event with me... "

Then he called out to the sister to get ready. He softly told her, good that the glass was never located. She smiled and said, "I came down and took it away from where it had rolled to. Everyone was busy with the body and then with some mythical mouse.I have been leaving mouse trap and ratkills .. no one is eating them."

"Leave that Mouse .. dear. I told you not to do anything but drug her drink.. and you know wax her ground- floor slippers, she was a cleanness freak, slippers for each floor .. rest I would manage.. even the postmortem guy is well he knew the assignment."

She smiled and agreed.. "The idea of her slippers being coated with wax was brilliant. Getting that from the airport was so easy and well a little heat and dry and done.. ! The police inspector almost spotted them. So I slipped them on. Damned difficult to walk."

He smiled and kissed her forehead softly. "Dear sister. You tiny one did well. Just lost your head a little at the will ? Let's agree we have taken our revenge. You for your ill treatment at the hand of the guardians .. ignoring you, verbally abusing you of being a burden when no one overheard ... and I .. for the way that family treated my mother in the party. Drugging and well.. Driving my parents to suicide. "

She nodded eagerly, "Yes .. someone must pay."

The husband looked at her and said, "Though to think of it.. your father was also there when they abused my mother.. She was a handsome , powerful woman. No that's ok. Come on.. you and me are different right. Brother and sister in arms. Dont worry."

She looked almost guilty. "Sister was not aware perhaps of what had happened to your parents."

He smiled evenly and assured that she knew just did not know who had caused it.

"The parents also did not link the successful business man to the woman they were putting in her place a decade ago." He smiled again as he remembered his beautiful wife. She longed for a child and he had ensured an operation to never have one. His death almost made him love her. She diwd looking graceful too. And he led the woman beside him out. She was an extra and that would end today. He could not risk her not speaking rubbish any longer.

The Mouse came out and climbed the floor. He knew they will not be back. At least in one piece. The car bonnet was open and he was hungry, so he chewed the wires. Shame on them for leaving poisonous food everywhere. A Mouse is a mouse afterall. If he had dainty shoulders like the Lady.. he would have shrugged. But Mouse did not have time for all that.

Yes.. there was the fridge.. hidden as a potrait. Why.. who cared. But he managed to locate the milk glasses too. Smell...? How did they recruit Officers ? Not by their nose ?

Now if only the police came and located his muddy footprints. Rest he had saved a lifetime of stale bread and can survive on it in his hidden holes throughout the ground floor. Oh he has to remember to chew the slippers..

Rashid came and laughed incredelously at the tiny footprints.. muddy running over the carpet.. the potrait that was fridge, the milk glasses hidden inside, the slippers waxed.. chewwd?

He doubted the person performing the post mortem.. He had already requested for another one. Then before he left.. he took out an apple and left it for the Mouse.. "Not poisoned .. " he called out. "If I were you.. i won't eat the rest of food left though. looks like rat kill . Let me know if you want to live with me ? Fresh apples everyday!"

Disgusting human. Does not know he has a Mouse and not a tiger. The size of the apple .. but it was juicy and he could eat a lot too .. and store some.

He was not going anywhere. If Rashid visited again, Mouse may rethink. For now, he wanted to remember the dear lady and miss her a little.. if he can. Afterall he was not a foolish human but a Mouse.

Footnote.. The car crashed. The people inside ..however may just survive..

@meanderingsoul
#WritcoStoryPrompt18
The mouse crept through the silent house in search of its nightly meal. It's ears pricked at the scream, causing it to stand on its hind legs to spot the source. When the body came crashing down, it scampered away with its tiny heart beating fiercely.
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