The one with the cat
As I walk down the familiar street I feel as though I am being watched. I look over my right shoulder, then my left. There is no one in sight. I shuffle along a little faster than before. I get this feeling again and run. My heart beats in my chest as I run in fear of my possibly imaginary, pursuer. I see a chance to get off this street, because there is an alleyway right up ahead. I continue to run then slip into it and sit down, panting.
"Hey little girl, why don't you come with us?" a man walked in front of me. I moved to get up and another man blocked the exit of the alley.
"We are more fun than wherever you are going." the big one says as he grabs my arm. I scream and he pushes his hand over my face. His hand is very large and smells of grim and liquor. I almost throw up. I start to thrash around, my heart thudding in fear. I squirm enough to be able to bit his hand. I instantly regret this because of two reasons, first, it did nothing and second, I now have a gross taste in my mouth. I do have a second, though to scream for help.
"please, someone help!" I yell before he hushes me with his hand again. Tears well-up in my eyes. I try to blink them away but they spill over. Hot tears run down my face in a rush of fear and pain. The man then freezes. His grip is still hard and impossible to get out of but I can relax for a second.
"Let her go." a big strong voice says in a confident command.
"A-and what if w-we don't want t-t-to." the man holding me says.
"Then I will make you." A few thoughts go through my head at the same time. Who is this man? Why is he here? What does he want? Is he also here to rape me? Will I be alive to tell my parents? Can I trust him? I finally resolved that he is here with bad intentions, then I suddenly faint.
"Hey are you awake?" a male voice says. This confuses me until a rush of what happened yesterday comes back. I pitch forward into a sitting position. My hair falls in front of my face and I hug myself in fear.
"Woah, it's okay. I won't hurt you." The voice says. I slowly look up at the speaker. It is obvious he is handsome. His messy blond hair and piercing blue eyes are a major hint. His muscles are also big and strong. He has a black t-shirt on with an odd symbol on it and the name of a band. Tears spill over once again, yet this time I'm glad to be alive. As I cry he looks stunned. He resolves that he should comfort me. He pulls me into his chest and wraps his arms around my waist. I rest my head against his shoulder, glad to be near a non-threatening human being again.
"w-what did you do to those men?"
"Well, they might be out of the hospital in a month... or 5." he stated a sly grin spreading across his lips. I smiled back and huddled near him, weak and vulnerable. After all of the stress and action I guess I was tired because I fell asleep.
"NO! Please, please god let her stay with me!" I scream as my sister fades from this earth, her eyes clouding over.
"No, god please, please, please not her, anyone but her." I wail onto her lifeless body. But, she is gone, forever. The sky swirls and then I am standing on a pear outlooking the ocean. I stare into the black depths of the water. A shadow seems to be rising and I know I should run, but I can't. Then, a demon-like monster rushes out of the water, ocean spray falling around him. His face is leathery and twisted with a cackling, toothy mouth and small beady eyes. I fall into the water and then the man I just met comes to my aid. He pulls me out of the water and then sets me down on the pear. I cough, trying to catch my breath. he smiles, then takes out a knife and throws it at my head, I scream and wake myself up.
"hey, you awake now?" The familiar voice says. I open my eyes and look at him. I see a small red dote on his collarbone. No, wait, they are all over. Blood, he is covered in blood. He must have killed those men.
"When were you going to rape me?" I ask, sure that he is bad. He smiles a slow evil smile.
"hmmm, later tonight, but now Is possible too." he jumps on me and I struggle to free myself. . After a long hard fight, I have enough room to run. I run away from him and onto the street. I head in the direction I think is home. He apparently gives up and stays in the house while I run. I run down the street and round a corner. I crash into a young woman but I get up and keep running. Then I run down a hill and trip. At the bottom I have broken my arm and am bleeding on both my knees, but I keep running. Unfortunately I am lost. My heart thuds as I stop running and I slip down the tree trunk. Looking at my surroundings, I am in a park. I start to slip into unconsciousness, and the last thing I see is a white cat walking up to me...
"please, please stay with me!' I scream at my sister's dying body. Even as I replay this scene I know that she will die and I will cry and it will end. But, as I scream into her dead body, her spirit appears in front of me.
"of course I will stay with you, I will always watch over you, forever and ever." my tears dry and I stare at her in wonder. Was this supposed to happen? This didn't usually happen this way, but I felt relieved for the first time. Then the sky swirls into black waters. A shadow rises from the depths and bursts out of the water, a huge demon-like monster. It wails at me then hisses. It's eyes are focused past me, and I turn to see a bigger monster. This monster was protecting me. Then I fall into the water and the demon thing herds me into an underwater cave. I go into it and see the white cat, staring at me with piercing green eyes. It cuddles next to me and purrs as it slowly falls asleep.
I awake and open my eyes slightly to see the bright light of the sun shining overhead. I am lying down, under a tree with a white cat next to me. It's a wonder that the cat stayed. I was sure it would have run away by now. I picked it up and began to pet it slowly. The piercing green eyes opened suddenly and it jumped out of my hands. It looked up at me as if to say 'follow me'. I followed of course. It walked just fast enough to keep me right behind it. We went a very confusing route and ended up in another park. The cat ran to a bench and sat down beneath it. I ran to the bench and stared at who I found there. It was a young man, sleeping with a coat over his back. He had black hair, black as the night sky. And his hands were large and strong, his face gentle but sharp, and his eyes that I wanted to see open so badly.
"What did you bring me this time neko?" a deep, gravelly voice asked. The head slowly rose and the young man sat up. The cat jumped onto his lap and he opened his eyes. They were just as green as the cat's. I blushed and looked down, to avoid being amazed by then.
"She's no good, neko. I can't use her for anything. Not pretty enough to work as a hostess and not smart enough to get a real job." I was offended.
"And how do you know how smart I am?" I said to him with anger.
"I can tell. Your last test grade was... C+." he said. He was right.
"How do you know that?" I asked, afraid of him being another creepy stalker like the other men.
"I'm good at reading people, now go away. I have no use for you." I stood, thinking of my possibilities. After a short while I realized that I was desperate. I needed somewhere to sleep and someone to take care of me.
"Can I please stay? Please? I can work in some way! Anything, please I have no where to go." I crumpled to the ground and started to cry, finally saying my hopelessness out loud. I had nothing. I could expect nothing. There was no way I could live by myself. I had to just give up and die. That would be the only way I would be able to live, if that makes any sense.
"hmmm, fine, you may stay but only if neko likes you." I looked at the cat. It came up to me and sat in my lap, looking at the man. He narrowed his eyes at the cat, and the cat cocked it's head to one side as if to say 'I can make my own decisions'.
"so, you stay. Sleep here and tomorrow we will start to work everything out." The man threw me his jacket and I realized that he had no shirt on. He must be freezing!
"Ah, no, here you can use the jacket." I said, trying to hand it back to him.
"no." he said and fell asleep shortly after. I thought about how he must be cold. I couldn't help but stare at his chest, though. He was well muscled and obviously very fit. One thing on his chest drew my eye to it. A long scar broke up his perfect chest into two halves. It was pinkish and obviously had been there for a long time, maybe a year or two. I set a small sleeping place under the bench using his jacket and also fell asleep soon.
"Hey, get up!" I was awakened by a strong push. I rolled around for a bit until I saw the guy standing over me.
"We have to get a move on, otherwise I won't be able to get us any food." he said as he stood, still with no shirt and started to walk away. I checked my watch and realized that it was only 5. I had to follow this man though.
"so, whats your name?" I asked him, trying to make conversation.
"no reason you should know that."
"please? I just need something to call you."
"fine, my name is Hiro." I smiled at it. It was a nice name, Hiro. It sounded kind and mysterious at the same time. I trotted after him as he walked. He made a lot of sharp corners and walked near alleys. After the long, confusing walk we were at a restaurant that was just opening. They served early bird breakfast. Hiro leaned against the wall and waited for a long time. He told me to hide in the bushes. Then a man came out of the restaurant. Hiro walked behind him for a little while until they were alone, then he pulled out a gun.
"Give me the food and some money." Hiro said pointing the gun at the man's head. The man dropped the leftovers and 60 dollars then ran. I ran up to Hiro, upset.
"Why did you take his money? All you needed was the food! Do you do this every day?!" I half-screamed at him.
"Hey what about neko? She needs food too plus I only do this like, once every 3 days. Plus, he gave a lot of money, I would have only wanted 20." Hiro walked a short way back to the bench and told me to sit down and wait. He came back 3 minutes later with food for neko and a black shirt on. He sat on the bench and waited while the cat ate. We talked about life and what it used to be like for us. I mostly talked about school and my grades and pressure from my parents and stuff. He talked very little but I only heard him talk about life like it is now for him. We talked for a long time until it grew late. The sun was setting when three men walked up to us. Thy were all huge and strong.
"Hey this ones cute." one said grinning a wide toothy grin.
"Yea, wonder if she is a virgin!" The other shouted while the third cackled. From my past experiences I gasped and shrank into a ball. Why did this always happen to me? Now, I would surely not get away I wasn't that lucky!
"Piss off." Hiro's voice rang out, strong and clear.
"Hah! This one thinks he can act strong and scare us off! We'll show you punk!" One of them said and he threw a punch at Hiro. Hiro dodged and hit him hard in the jaw. Then the fight blew out of control. They all attacked Hiro at once and he was fought them all. He was fast and a good fighter, but I was still scared of these men. I curled into a ball, hugging my knees to my chest. I shivered in fright as tears rolled down my cheeks. I was scared and confused at why Hiro was helping me. I just wanted to run, but I can't run. Hot tears flow down my cheeks as I listen to Hiro punch and kick the men. I shut my eyes tightly and bend my head into my knees. This men would kill Hiro, they would then kill me. All hope was lost I would be killed. I was even more scared than before because i knew I had run out of lucky breaks. I cried into my knees and I shivered in fright. All of my emotions and thoughts drowned out the fight. I was focusing on crying until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I gasped and pulled up my head quickly to see who it was. It was Hiro.
"Their gone."He seemed very startled to see my tears. I continued to cry though. I couldn't help it. That much emotion didn't go away that fast I was still scared and I was still upset that these things kept happening to me.
"Stop crying, I'm done with them, their gone." He told me. After he realized that nothing he could say would make me stop crying, he draped his coat over my shoulder and set me down on the bench. Then he leaned against the bench facing away from me, to keep watch. I slowly cried myself to sleep, watching through blurry eyes, his back, strong and protecting, keeping watch over me.
As I wake up I can hear the sound of birds and I can see the harsh light of day. I sit up and rub my sore eyes, looking around. I see Hiro standing in the same position as I last saw him in.
"You better now?" he asks in a gruff voice.
"Y-Yea, were you there the whole night?" I asked, hesitantly, not wanting to anger him.
"Yea didn't leave once." he replied sounding slightly pleased. He turned to me and reclaimed his coat. I saw large bags under his eyes, and I thought of how hard it must have been to stand there all night.
"um, Hiro?" I asked, wanting to tell him that I was grateful.
"what?" He looked into my eyes.
"N-nothing." I said, I couldn't say anything to him when he was looking at me like that, his green eyes piercing through me as if he could see my very soul. I was very thankful for him though. I couldn't imagine life with out him by now and I didn't know if I wanted life without him. I knew that one day he would fall in love with some girl and leave me but I wanted to appreciate the time we had together for now
"You sure?" he said. I think he could tell that I wanted to tell him very badly that I was happy I had found him that day. But I couldn't because then he might think was weird and leave me.
"Y-yea I'm sure." I replied.
"fine, well, today we can hang out. Neko ran off and will be back later and we have enough money and food for right now."
"Okay, what do you want to do?" I was almost sure he would say that he wanted sleep but instead he said that he wanted to talk. So we began to talk about all kinds of things. Our family, neko, and all other things too. But I remembered his scar and thought that now would be a good time time talk about it.
"Hey, um, I noticed a scar on your chest a while ago. How did you get it?" I asked him innocently. His eyes switched from being friendly to being made of steel.
"Why?"
"Oh, um I just wanted to know." I said, scared that I had angered him.
"It was a long time ago, when I was 14. I had just gotten home from school. I was looking around the house for my parents when a saw a red stain on the carpet. It was a trail of red dotes. I followed them to my parents room. When I opened the door there was a man standing over two bodies. My mom and dad. He had slashed their throats and was holding a bag of their valuables. I screamed and tried to run but he caught me. I kicked him,but it didn't do anything. Finally he dropped me and kicked me hard in the stomach. I jumped up, trying to get the bag but he cut me and gave me this scar. Then he ran and I haven't seen him since." After telling the story, Hiro got up and walked to the bench to sleep. It was pretty late by now. He fell asleep, but could only lie awake. I tossed and turned, thinking of his story. It must have been hard for him, to have no parents. I was here but I knew that I could one day find my family again. I felt bad for him. I flipped onto my back and looked up to the night sky, it was covered in stars.
"Hmm, it's a beautiful night." I mumbled to myself. I decided to watch the stars for a while. I looked up at the starts and mumbled to myself a lot of things I have wanted to say out loud.
"I think Hiro is sad. He has had a very hard life, but I hope it gets better. I'm also really happy that I can be with him. I hope that I can continue to be with him. Wait, do I... love him?! No, it couldn't be! But I do want to always be near him and never leave his side. Maybe I do love him... I don't know." eventually I ended up falling asleep.
Our days continued in much the same way. We would get food and money at the beginning of the few days and then do it gain in another few days. I even began to help by asking sweetly and batting my eyelashes then running. Neko came and went as she pleased but I loved having her around. Then Hiro and I talked and then I watched the stars only talking to myself. After many conversations with myself I have decided that I love Hiro. I have also decided that I will stay with him as long as he lets me. One night though, my conversation was interrupted.
"okay, so I have decided I love Hiro. I have also decided to stay with him. I won't leave until he asks me too, then I will go willingly. I sorta wish that he knew how I felt becau-"
"I do." I spun around from my sitting position to see Hiro standing behind me. I leapt up in shock and horror.
"Oh. Um, I was just, um, talking about, a funny story. That I heard and it wasn't any-"
"You love me." Well, no use denying it anymore.
"*Sigh* yes, I do." I looked down in shame.
"Why" he asked. More like said actually. I looked up in embarrassment and confusion. Why? Why?! What sort of response was that?
"Well, I don't know, I mean, your nice and dependable. I can look up to you and feel like I'm protected. I always know you'll help me when I need it and the way you care for neko is really cute." I ended with a slight crack in my voice when I said the last part. I could hear him walk over to me. Then he title my face up by gently pushing against my chin. I realized that this is the first time we have really touched, skin to skin. I blushed madly as he looked into my eyes, with his green, alluring, beautiful eyes.
"Is that so?" he said, eyes never looking away from mine.
"well, yea" I replied not sure of how he wanted me to answer. He drew his face close to mine and looked from my right to my left eye and back again a few times.
"Interesting" with that he pushed my face away from his and walked back to his bench where he fell asleep again. I could only stand, stunned at the past events that had just happened. I went over and over them in my head. I eventually went over to my bad and went to sleep.
I opened my eyes to a cool, blueish light. I realized that it was quit early and I had woken up. I flipped over and sat up a bit to look at Hiro's sleeping face. He had a peaceful look that I had never seen on him before. I jumped back a small amount when he flipped over. I heard the one word he said though.
"Love" I sat stunned. He was thinking of me. That was strange. Our days continued , though nothing had happened until one night.
"still up?" I heard a voice behind me. I spun to see Hiro looking at me. I smiled a bittersweet smile and said, "Can't sleep."
"Hey, you still love me?" he asked as he sat down beside me. I blushed and nodded my head. A slow smile crept onto Hiro's face. He leaned very close to me and started to kiss me. I was shocked, but I kissed him back. He continued, making the kiss more and more intense, and I had no idea what to do. Finally he stopped the kiss and looked into my eyes.
"interesting" he said, a smile playing on the corners of his lips. I laughed and he joined me, which made me laugh even more. When we stopped laughing, he kissed me once more and then he settled down next to me to fall asleep. I put myself next to him. My head on his chest, I slipped into a blissful slumber.