Part II: Family Pet (Kinda)

Joel and Ellie were cooped up in their home, sitting in the living room. The power was out in Jackson for the second time this week, which meant no hot-anything in their home for the foreseeable future. At Ellie's insistence, they made a blanket and pillow fort in their living room. Though it wasn't completely warm within their fort, it was an improvement compared to the rest of the house.

"Do you remember where that groundhog was at?" Ellie asked.

"Not a clue. But I reckon it's buried underneath all that snow." Joel replied.

"Well if that little fucker wants to pull some magical bullshit and extend the winter, it might as well help us survive it."

Joel couldn't help but laugh. "Ellie, these things aren't exactly "magic." They just have a good hunch."

"Well I demand a recount, or re-shadow or something." Ellie muttered.

"That's not how it works unfortunately." Joel responded. "We'll try again next year."

Ellie was about to say something else when she heard a window shatter.

"What was that?" Ellie said.

"Stay put." Joel grabbed his flashlight and moved a pillow aside to see what caused the noise. He saw a fairly small hole in the window so he ruled the noise being caused by an intruder. He continued to shine the light around the room until he saw something move in the corner of his eye. He shined his light at the movement and caught in the light was...

A groundhog?

"Well hey there." Joel muttered.

"What is it?" Ellie asked.

"Looks like a groundhog found its way in."

"A groundhog? In here?"

"Yep." Joel kept his light on the small animal. Even with the light shining on it, the groundhog didn't move. To be fair, the flashlight was probably the closest thing to "warm" it's felt in a while.

"Aw, it's kinda cute." Ellie had poked her head from the fort to catch a glimpse of the groundhog.

"Still want to eat it?" Joel joked.

"Nah, it looks too cute to eat."

Joel didn't want to argue with the logic of that statement as Ellie had no problem eating copious amounts of rabbit the other day.

"Ooh, can we keep him?" Ellie asked.

"I'm not sure if that's a good-" Joel didn't get to finish his sentence before Ellie grabbed the flashlight out his hand and left the pillow fort, beginning her pursuit of the groundhog.

At that point, the groundhog sensed the imminent danger and began to run away. Joel didn't consider himself an animal whisperer by all means, but was certain he could literally feel the fear emanating from the poor groundhog as it scurried around their home. Eventually, Ellie managed to wrangle the groundhog in her arms. When Ellie brought the groundhog into their fort, Joel noticed that groundhog was significantly calmer, even snuggling in Ellie's arms. Maybe the poor thing welcomed the warmth from the girl who cursed and threatened to make him into soup not too long ago.

"What should we name him?" Ellie asked, laying the groundhog gently on a blanket.

Joel wanted to argue against keeping a groundhog as a pet, but he decided to let Ellie have this one. Even for a little while. "Anything other than Callus is fine by me." Joel replied, moving to lay his head down on a pillow.

"I still don't understand why you hate that name so much." Ellie replied. "Hmm...how about...Phil. Yeah it looks like a Phil." Ellie scratched the groundhog's head.

Joel couldn't believe it. "You're joking, right?"

"No, why? What's wrong with Phil?"

Joel laughed to himself. "Nothing at all, baby girl. Phil's an alright name."

Ellie scoffed. "You're so weird."

"Speak for yourself."

(I'm bored at work again and this idea wouldn't leave me alone LOL)

Because Ellie would totally try to have a pet groundhog. Could this become a tradition for Jackson? XD

Thanks for reading & please review