Cy sat bolt upright, finding himself on the couch in his living room and still in his clothes.
He had heard a frightened scream for help from Ry that had woken him instantly. He fumbled for a light switch and dashed to the utility room. "Ry, what is it?" Cy asked. He looked down at his open gym bag. There was no sign of Ry. He kneeled next to the bag and began removing the other items. "Ry, where are you? Ry?"
In the stillness, he heard nothing but the rapid pounding of his own heartbeat...and then a weird chittering sound. He dashed to the backdoor, flung it open, and stepped outside the house. In the harsh illumination of fluorescent street lamps, Cy saw a raccoon standing on hind paws while dangling a jockstrap in its front paws.
"Oh shit!" Cy gasped as the raccoon, taking one look at the gangly teenager, fled into the nearby dark woods. Cy followed the shadows for a few yards before the masked bandit vanished under the cloak of darkness.
Meantime, the poor jockstrap had heard the sound of its boyfriend's voice as the scary beast grasped it with claw-tipped fingers. "Cy!" Ry rejoiced in the instant before the raccoon raced headlong into the dark woods and lost itself in tangles of vegetation. Thorns and rocks abraded Ryan's jockstrap cotton body as the raccoon fled in great haste. A great gash got torn into his pouch when the animal tugged severely to rip its prize away from a thorn-covered branch.
Back outside his house, Cyrus considered a pursuit but figured it would be pointless. He would try to locate Ry at first light. He hoped the flimsy jockstrap could remain safe for a few hours.