Pet's Machine (a short story)

Slowly, Pet crawled out from under the bed. The muffled voices of the three hooded men gradually faded away in the distance. As they left the house, they carried the unconscious body of Pet’s father. Pet sat on the bed, still tensely tugging at the corner of his lucky cushion, pondering what to do. His hyper-alert senses told him the men would not be gone for long. They would return to rummage the house once again, until they found IT. How long could he go on pretending to be nothing more than a retarded child, blissfully unaware of what’s happening around him? Read on...