Yao sat in the lounge room of his home, staring outside at the world curiously. It was raining today, and he could see people rushing about with their umbrellas over their heads. He didn't understand, why didn't they just choose to stay inside, where they wouldn't get wet? Adults were very weird. He sighed and jumped off the couch, in search of his mother. He was honestly a little hungry.
Yao was six years old, his favourite thing to do was eat and his least favourite thing to do was going to school. He hand long, brown fur, pretty amber eyes and a cute little nose. He also especially loved his mother. He also loved his father, but he yelled at him a lot, so he tried to stay out of his way.
"Mama," he whined softly, finding his mother and hugging her leg. "Can I have food?" Yao hummed, smiling up at her expectantly.
"Aw, are you hungry darling? Hang on, I'll get you some snacks!" she smiled and pet Yao's head gently, ruffling the hair on the top of his head. Yao giggled loudly. Yao followed his mother about, sticking close to her and humming food as she got a biscuit for him. "There you go, they're your favourites!"
"Thank you, mama!" Yao nodded, taking the biscuit in his mouth he trotted off to sit in his mother and father's room, to watch the people with umbrellas from a higher window. He sat on the seat beside the window. He probably stayed like that for ages, only moving when his mother came into the room and he climbed into her lap to hug her. He stayed curled up in her lap for a long time, comfy and warm. Suddenly the front door slammed open, and he heard his mother sigh. She gently lifted Yao up and placed him to the side. He watched her reluctantly head off to greet father, most likely. He pouted; he missed her warm lap already.
Shortly there was very loud yelling. Yao wanted to go investigate, but the yelling was certainly from father, so Yao decided it would be smart to stay away. For some reason his father always frowned at him when he was near. Had he done something wrong? He was pretty sure he was a good boy. Well, that was what his mother always told him.
Yao curled up behind the couch, afraid.
The yelling only got louder. Now his mother was yelling too. It was common for mother and father to argue with one another, but mother very rarely yelled back at father. It must have been a really scary argument, so Yao decided he would stay away as well as he could. He didn't like it when people were loud, it was really terrifying.
Then there was a crashing noise and silence. Yao hesitantly stood, heading out to see what it was. He was scared, his heart beating faster than it ever had in his short life. As he looked out into the hall and down the stairs, he saw his mother's body at the bottom of the stairs. She didn't look okay. Yao cried out softly and dashed down the stairs, nearly tripping over his little feet. He wailed for her to get up, pushing her shoulder and tapping her face. But she wasn't waking up. She wasn't even breathing, was she? Yao started to cry. He cried for anyone, he cried for his father. Where did father go? Oh, he could hear footsteps. He cried out and curled up at his mother's voice. Father appeared at the bottom of the steps. Yao looked up at him fearfully, there was something… menacing in those green eyes that always seemed to be filled with a bad emotion.
The door was still wide open from when his father had come in, and Yao glanced towards it. He looked at his mother's body and tried to hold back more tears. He then watched as his father reached for an umbrella that was sitting beside the door, and Yao just had a gut feeling that if he didn't move, that umbrella was going to be brought down right onto his head. Maybe father didn't love him after all. Maybe he didn't love mother, either.
"Mama," Yao whimpered, lips trembling as he made a mad dash for the door as soon as father went to strike him with the umbrella. In a matter of seconds he was out in the garden, bounding through it up and onto the fence, and out onto the pavement. It was pouring with rain, but Yao didn't care. All he knew is that he had to get away from his father. Yao ran until the house was out of sight, and just for safety, he scaled a tree. He had a horrible feeling father had hurt mother and that he had been the reason mother hadn't been breathing anymore. He started crying again.
Yao stayed in that tree for a long time. Well, at least until the rain stopped. He didn't want to get wetter than he already was. Soon, the rain ceased. The umbrellas vanished and the sky was cleared of the sad looking clouds. Slowly, cautiously, he climbed down, landing on the still damp grass. He frowned. Where would he go now? Sadly he walked along the pavement of the street. He accidentally stepped in a puddle and it shocked him, the sound of it splashing and he looked down quickly. He then froze.
He had forgotten the truth. Yao suddenly realised how small he was and how big the world actually was. He was scared.
Yao was just a little cat.
He remembered why father hated him so much. His father didn't like cats, and Yao remembered all the yelling he had done the day his mother had found him as a little baby, abandoned by something or someone. Yao stepped back, and walked around the puddle.
And he found that he just kept walking until everything smelled unfamiliar. Had he traversed into a new town? That was probably good. Yao kept walking. He was hungry, cold and sad… but what else was a little orphan supposed to do?
It was getting darker, and Yao was getting scared. He never stayed out this late. He found himself in a park, where he saw a little boy playing all by himself. Shyly, he trotted over to him and rubbed against his leg, mewing softly at him. The boy put down his toy car to look at him.
"Hello little cat, are you lost?" he murmured, patting Yao's head. Purred softly, rubbing up against him again. "You have collar," he mumbled, gently stroking Yao's back. "My name is Ivan. Nice to meet you cat." He smiled. Yao wanted to tell him his name, but there was no way a cat such as he would be able to communicate with a human boy. Ivan took hold of the little tag on Yao's collar. "Oh, it says Yao on here. Hello Yao." He murmured. Yao didn't know that his name was on that.
Yao jumped into his lap sadly, curling up in it.
"Oh? Are you sad, too?" he murmured, gently stroking Yao still. "I am sad too. We should be friends, Yao."
Yao mewed back at him, telling him ' yes', nuzzling his hand weakly.
"My very first friend…" Ivan murmured softly, picking up Yao and hugging him very gently. If cats had the possibility to cry, Yao would probably be crying right now. "I'll protect you and love you, little friend." He hummed softly, and Yao lightly clung to him. He didn't want to let go, he didn't want to be alone again.
"Little cat, I get the feeling you are sadder than me," he mumbled, holding him out in front of him. "I wish you could tell me why you're sad, and then I would be able to help you." Ivan pouted and gently placed him on the ground. "Oh well, for now… you can play with me, okay?"
Yao mewed cheerfully. There was no way he could forget his mother or what father did, but he would try to be happy. If there were humans like this in the world, he surely would be okay, right? Yeah, he would be.
this was based on the song 'rockbell' by honeyworks
