Meg trudged up to the door of her apartment. It had been a long day of classes, and the feline was ready to wind down for the weekend. She adjusted the shoulder strap of her satchel, fished her key out of her pocket, and opened the door.
GRRRRGL.
The noise blasted her the moment she opened the door. It was so loud it practically shook the apartment walls. The wet, organic sound could only mean one thing:
Her roommate had already eaten dinner.
Meg froze, the fur on her tail puffing out slightly. She swallowed hard, then forced herself to step into the apartment, closing the door behind her.
Sure enough, Raleigh was reclining on the couch in the small apartmentâs living room area. The overhead lights were turned off, but the light from the tv washed over the couch, providing a view of the large canine. Raleigh was always big, both in terms of height and with regards to her⊠generous figure, but the latter was especially pronounced. She leaned back into the couch, her stomach jutting out in front of her. Her breathing was slightly heavy, and judging by the way she was licking her fingers, she must have just finished eating. On the side table, Meg counted no less than five pizza boxes.
When Meg entered the room, Raleigh turned her attention from her movie. She gave Meg a little wave, her other hand resting on her gut. âHi,â she said, her tone friendly, but slightly weak. âI think I⊠urp⊠I overdid it.â
Rrrmble.
Meg found herself staring at that gut. It was large, but not large enough to make it look out of place on the canineâs frame. It moved slightly with each breath Raleigh took, and she swore she could see it shake when a particularly loud gurgle emanated from it.
She couldnât⊠she couldnât quite tell ifâŠ
âMeg?â Raleigh tilted her head to one side when her roommate didnât answer.
Meg snapped back to the present moment. She knew what she should do: she should ignore all of this. Give her roommate a perfunctory, polite response and head to the bedroom, put on her headphones, and lose herself watching videos on the internet or playing a game.
Instead, she found herself walking toward the couch. âSorry! Yeah, I think you did,â Meg said, her tone playful. She looked at the pile of empty pizza boxes. âDid you happen to save any for me?â
âEr, no.â Raleighâs ears drooped slightly. âIâm sorry! I really meant to!â
âItâs fine,â Meg responded with a smile. âI know how you get around food.â
She hesitated again. She could easily excuse herself now to go have a snack. But then Raleighâs stomach let out a soft gurgle again, and for a moment, Meg thought she saw it move. Had it been a trick of the light? Or something else?
She had to know. She had to get a closer look.
âMind if I sit with you for a bit?â
Raleigh perked up, and Meg could hear her tail thump against the couch. âSure! The movieâs half-over, though. Want me to restart it?â
Meg glanced at the TV. âNah, Iâve seen it before. I donât mind.â
She walked over and plopped onto the couch next to Raleigh. Her eyes werenât looking at the TV. They were looking at the canineâs stomach.
She had to find out if there was a person in there.
It wasnât like Meg didnât already know that her roommate was a pred. Raleigh had never been particularly secretive about it, though she was always reasonably discreet. Which made sense! That was the polite thing to do! Preds who bragged about their prey all the time were the worst.
The problem was, Raleighâs figure and eating habits sometimes made it difficult to tell if there had even been a prey.
The canine had clearly eaten a lot. Her stomach strained against her t-shirt, and it was making a lot of noise. But even getting this close, Meg still couldnât tell. Was that little bit of movement just her stomach settling? Or was there someone buried beneath all that pizza? It would have to be someone significantly smaller than Meg, but a rabbit or mouse might not have the strength to actually make their presence known.
How could she still not be sure, even this close?
âSo you, uh⊠give the delivery guy a good tip?â Meg asked.
âHuh? Oh, pfft. Yeah. I gave him a heck of a tip.â Raleigh responded. âSorry again for not saving any for you.â
Damn it. Too ambiguous an answer to draw a firm conclusion. Meg shook her head. âNah, youâre good, itâs not like itâs your job to feed me. I just hope it was⊠filling enough?â
Raleigh brought her hand to her mouth to stifle a small belch. âYeah, it definitely was!â
Still inconclusive! She did eat five pizzas, after all â that would certainly be a filling meal for most people. Meg was still unsure of the canine had supplemented that meal.
She had to take more drastic measures.
Meg yawned and stretched, making a show of it. She waited a few more minutes as the movie droned on. Then she closed her eyes, pretending to fall asleep, and âfellâ over, so her head was resting on the side of the canineâs stomach.
Raleigh didnât seem to notice, or at least she didnât mind. Her focus stayed on her movie.
Gllllnk.
Meg felt the sound as much as she heard it, and she had to suppress a shiver running down her spine. She had definitely felt something shift.
But she still wasnât certain it was actually something moving consciously, or just the contents of the canineâs overfull stomach settling. It could be either one.
Grrrmmnngle.
There, was that a voice? For a moment, Meg thought she had caught the sound of a whimper. Higher-pitched, probably female. The pizza delivery person? Or maybe she had been in there longer than that. A classmate? A random girl that Raleigh ran into on the street on her way home?
Then Meg heard the sound of another whimper, and this one definitely didnât come from the canineâs gut. She glanced up.
Raleigh looked uncomfortable. Her mouth was hanging open, and she was panting softly. Her stomach rumbled again, and she gave it a rub with her hand on the opposite side from where Meg was leaning. She had clearly overeaten, and it looked like she was paying the price with a stomachache.
The canineâs stomach was loud. Whatever Meg had heard was layered underneath a cacophony of gurgles and rumbles. It could easily have come from Raleigh herself, or Meg might have just imagined it.
And Meg couldnât help but imagine it. A little mouse, buried under all that pizza, trying desperately to escape. Kicking against walls so thick and strong that they just absorbed the impact without moving in the slightest. Crying out, only for those cries to be drowned out by the noisy, active gut.
There was only one way to investigate further than this; one way to be sure. Even though Meg knew from experience what would happen. Even though she knew that it likely meant getting a belch or two in the face, and that she would probably, once again, find herself falling asleep tucked next to her roommate in her bed, rather than her own, with a hand resting on the rumbling, noisy gut. But she had to know. Which meant she had to get⊠hands-on.
âHey, Raleigh,â she said, still looking up at the canine from where she was leaning against her side.
Raleigh glanced down to meet her gaze. âOh, youâre awake?â
âYeah.â Meg felt her cheeks flush as she tried to keep her tone as casual as possible. âUm, your tummy sounds pretty upset. Would you⊠like me to rub your belly?â
Raleighâs expression softened, looking down at Meg with a look of gratitude. âReally? You donât have to do that for me!â
âYeah, of course I will! What are friends for?â
Raleigh wrapped an arm around Megâs shoulder, giving her a friendly squeeze. âThe movieâs almost over. Then we can go back to the bedroom.â
âY-yeah. Sounds perfect.â
Meg nestled into Raleighâs side, the canineâs arm still around her. Her focus was still on Raleighâs gut. In a few minutes, she would be able to really dig her hands into that massive, soft orb, and then she would be able to tell what, if anything, was in there.
Right?