As you pull yourself out of what little sleep you got, Sunday morning arrives like any other. Curtains soaking up the sunlight, the cool morning air on your skin.
And a horrific piece of work by your side.
You almost forgot about it, jumping a little as you turned and saw it laying by you. As your heart rate falls back down, you get up and dress yourself, leaving your normal morning routine in favour of waiting for the creature. After all, it's not going to get far without you.
As it begins to wake, it stirs with renewed vigour. Moreso than you expected.
The creature feels around until it's sure it's found the floor, before pulling itself from your bed. Immediately, it begins to stalk the room, guiding itself around by feel. Catching on that what it's doing, you rush over to its side, and take its hoof in your hand again.
"I'm here."
Your touch and words relieve its tension, and you can feel its ease knowing you're still there for it.
You think to yourself in silence. Why did you bring this on yourself? Why have you gone and made yourself the guardian of this thing? Leading it back downstairs, you banish the thoughts with one answer.
Because you are not a cruel man.
As you reach the bottom of the stairs, you note the creature moves faster than it did yesterday. It's had rest, yes, but it's faster than you expected. And then it does something you really didn't expect.
It walks ahead of you and takes the lead.
Dumbfounded, you follow along, confused and bewildered at how this thing is moving so effectively without needing to feel around where it's going first. You're certain it's blind, only serving to complicate things more. At last, it stops in front of a door you recognise as the one leading to the basement, tapping on it with a hoof, as if it's desperately trying to get your attention. Opening it, you take hold of its hoof again, and slowly coax it down the stairs, wondering to yourself what's going on all the while.
Reaching the bottom, it begins to search around, sticking close to the walls as you follow it around with a hand on its back. It stops in front of a random portion of wall, standing expectantly, confusing you even more. You assume it knows what it's doing, and for your sake, you hope it does, and begin to inspect the wall.
After about a minute, you find something. An abnormal crease. Pressing into it with your finger, you come to realise that the way the basement always looked wasn't at its barest. This was wallpaper.
It had been like this the whole time? This was how it'd looked since you bought the house, years ago. Without further ado, you pushed against it harder until you made a split, and tore the paper away. Behind it laid a secret, something that made you feel like a trespasser in your own home.
A door.