M.E.N.K.

It was a humid, rainy night when the unthinkable happened. Maddison, a human hybrid with cat ears and tail, was left at the door step of a newlywed couple. Maddison, who was barley one year old, wailed on the top of her little lungs until the newlywed husband and wife, Nathan and Jenna, opened the front door.
“Oh my! You poor…thing,” Jenna gasped, unsure how to address the child due to the abnormal ears and tail.
“Bring her inside, Jenna. She must be catching a cold in this weather. Is there a note?” Nathan asked as he stood aside after Jenna picked up the baby basket.
“There is only a name. Her name must be Maddison,” Jenna answered after bringing the hybrid baby into the warm house. Nathan nodded as he shut and locked the front door. He then turned on his heel and followed his wife into the living room.
“Nathan…”
“Yes, my dear?”
“I want to keep her. We always talked about having kids. What if this is a sign that we’re ready?” Jenna asked, lifting little Maddison from her basket, and cradled her in her arms. Nathan watched his wife’s gentle rocking to the cooing baby, a small smile forming on his mouth.
“Of course, Jenna. She’s our daughter now, and we are now her parents.”

*******

Nathan smiled into his coffee mug as a memory, that happened five years ago, played in his head as he watched Maddison, now five years old, chose Jenna around the living room.
“Mommy, I told you not to grab my tail!” Maddison yelled as her lips formed a pout. Jenna laughed, caught her child in mid-run, and held her tight. Maddison now had beautiful chocolate brown hair that faded to white at the ends. The same happened to her ears and tail as she grew older. Maddison giggled and hugged her mother tight, her ears perking up when she smelt her favorite cake, triple layer fudge cake, baking in the oven.
“CAKE?!”
“Not until after dinner, Missy,” Nathan called out from the kitchen. Once again, Maddison pouted. Jenna giggled to herself, patted Maddison’s head, and went into the kitchen to give her husband a kiss. Maddison flopped onto the living room couch, flipping through a new coloring book, trying to choose the best one to give her mommy and daddy. Suddenly, Maddison could hear her parents whispering to each other, so she perked her little kitty ears to try and make out what they were saying. What she heard, though, made her heart hit her floor.
“Will we ever tell her?”
“Maddison doesn’t need to know, Jenna. Besides, what would we say to her? ‘You were at our door step because your real parents didn’t want you.’ That would kill her.”
“What…?” Jenna heard Maddison’s small voice.
“M-Maddison!” Nathan stuttered out.
“Y-You’re not m-my real mommy a-and daddy?” the small human hybrid asked, tears spilling from her eyes. Jenna ran to her daughter and knelt down, throwing her arms around her as she cried.
“Maddie, Maddie, Maddie, don’t cry sweet child. Even if, biologically, you aren’t our child, your father and I love you very much.”
“Your mother is right, Maddison. Now, stop crying, silly girl. Your favorite meal is almost done,” Nathan said, standing from the kitchen’s oak dining table, and walked to the oven.
“Mashed p=potatoes and c-chicken?” Maddison asked, wiping her eyes while her ears slowly began to perk upright.
“And then what’s after dinner?” Jenna asked, brushing a piece of hair from Maddison’s face.
“CAKE!” Maddison yelled out, her ears now fully perked, and she danced around her mother as her father chuckled and set the table.
“Maddison, silly girl, stop dancing and go wash your hands,” Nathan instructed his daughter as he placed a big bowl of mashed potatoes in the middle of the dining table. Maddison’s eyes widened, and ran to the bathroom. As Maddison stood on her pink stool her father made her, her ears began to twitch.
“Car doors slamming?” Maddison asked herself as she dried her hands, and hopped off her stool. She opened the bathroom door just in time to see her front door being opened by a strange man. Maddison sucked in a deep breath, and screamed as loud as her lungs could let her. The man turned his head to look at her, a soft smile on his face. The man looked old, with gray hair and bread, yet his body structure was that of a young male.
“Maddison?!” Nathan shouted. Maddison screamed again as she watched two men followed the other man in.
“MOMMY! DADDY!” Maddison screamed again. Jenna and Nathan ran to their daughter, hiding her as they turned to face the three intruders.
“Who are- Get out of my house!” Nathan demanded.
“Let me introduce myself. My name is Dixton,” the gray haired man said, nodding his head towards Nathan. Maddison peeked out from behind her parents’ legs, listening to the light footsteps the other two men made as they came towards her parents.
“Get out of my house!” Nathan shouted again.
“Certainly, but I’m sorry to say, I must take the girl with me,” Dixton said. As he said that, the two men, who followed him inside the house, tackled and held down Jenna and Nathan so that Maddison was no visible. Maddison’s ears flattened almost immediately, and she looked up at Dixon, who was suddenly in front of her.
“Come here, Child,” Dixton said, smiling. Maddison could fill the tears weld up in her eyes as she let the man lift her up, and take her outside towards a black limo that was parked in the driveway. As Dixton put Maddison in the back, she could hear her parents crying out her name.