It was the middle of December, and snowflakes were twirling in a gracious dance, flake by flake, until they reached the wet asphalt. Their dance was sometimes disturbed by a gust of wind, that moved them away, making them spin wildly against their nature. The trees were bowing to the wind, their empty branches were like hands touching the sky. All while people were just wandering astray, with no set direction, leaving footprints in the powder-like snow.
It seemed like a perfect day, in the mind of a feline who was absentmindedly watching the unfolding view before her. The clock in her room was just a memento of time passing by, with each tick and tock that was going away. Her mind was full of ideas that were going here and there, some good, some dark and deep as the hole that she almost fell into last year.
But there was one person at the center of her thoughts.
Beatrice Santello.
"Honey, breakfast is ready!" the almost crystalline voice of her mother drew her back to the crude reality of things. The reality that aimed, apparently, to tear them apart and toy with them as if they meant nothing. Mae shook her head in disbelief, as she rose from the small bed she was standing on, dust rising in the air in a small dance and landing on her red shirt. She dusted her shirt and descended on the old, creaky stairs as thoughts were still swarming her mind. "Keep it down. Not now," she chided her thoughts, making her way to the kitchen where Candy and Stan Borowski were casually eating their breakfast. Her father was the first to pick up that Mae was definitely distressed.
"Kitten," Stan said as he set aside the newspaper, "are you alright?" He paused. "Something seems to trouble you," he added with a worried expression on his face.
"Nah," Mae said, with a lazy wave of her right paw, "I'm just fine." She added with a deadpan expression, noticing her father's worried look, "It's nothing, really."
Mae began to play with her food, not really interested in eating her cereals. It seemed like whatever was troubling her was not nothing, as she claimed, but something really deep. Mae's mom noticed that as she placed a paw on the young feline's free paw, startling the latter. "Honey. You can tell us what's wrong, you know," the old female feline said with a brief, genuine smile on her face.
"I just want to get out," Mae retorted with a bored expression. "I need some fresh air.", she added as she took her leave from the table. "See y'all later."
The two older felines were looking at each other with questioning gazes, wondering why Mae would be upset – well, more than the usual, anyway – and shrugged as they didn't seem to come up with a proper answer. They were hoping things would solve themselves eventually, whatever it was. Meanwhile, Mae Borowski was aimlessly walking through town, taking in the sight of a white Possum Springs, a sight accompanied by the feeling of chill running down her spine. "It's nothing, just a chill," she thought to herself as she grabbed her arms in a futile attempt to warm herself up as she passed over various stores, until she reached her temporary workplace.
"The Ol' Pickaxe. Bea's not who I want to see right now, but she's my boss and I have to do what she says." Mae thought as she hesitantly put her paw on the shop's door and opened it, her heart racing with fear.
Fortunately, Bea was not in the front, and the small feline could only exhale in relief. "Good. I still have time to prepare-" Her thoughts were interrupted by the bell chiming behind her, signaling the entrance of a client.
"Hello there," the male deer said, "are you working in here?"
The male deer was eyeing Mae curiously, and the feline took the time to look at him. He was somewhat well-built, had brown eyes and rich antlers, a red-squared shirt and jeans, and she could notice a scar under his right eye. His overall appearance didn't give off the sort of deer that would fight, but it was more to him than it seemed.
After a long pause, Mae replied, "Yeah, I work here, what do you need?"
"Just some nails and six long pieces of wood, is all," the deer said as he nodded curtly. As much as she studied him, so he studied her.
A small, dark-furred cat with a small tuft of red hair at the top, wide red eyes, wearing a shirt that seemed to be over-used and over-worn, with a void sign on it, black pants and small boots. It seemed ironic to him that the owner of this place gave her a place to work – Borowskis were known to obtain jobs real hard – but he shrugged the thought.
"A box of nails and six long pieces of wood," Mae said as she gave them to the deer. "Anything else?"
"Nothing else-" the deer was about to say before Bea came to the front.
"Wonderful," Mae thought, "now I'm going to deal with this." She paused as she looked at Bea and the deer, "Or I have to run from it."
"Mae?" Bea asked as she noticed the widened eyes of the small cat. "Where were-"
"Thank you for your patronage!" Mae said as she ran towards the door, tears brimming in her eyes. "I have to-"
"Mae!" the alligator yelled at the small feline, her eyes widened as the cat left the shop, noticing a few tears in Mae's eyes.
The feline was running down the street, not paying any attention to her surroundings, bumping into people, into shapes. She didn't mind the voices that were going in her head, telling her to just abandon all hope, to fall right in the darkest of pits that was reserved for her, the voices that told her to stop and think about it. Nothing really seemed to reach her, as the shapes were taking a form...
"The bridge!" was all that Mae was thinking of, not knowing that behind her, Beatrice was following her as she drove her grey Ford Mustang. The alligator was very worried about her best friend – and possible love interest – and watched as the cat was slowly admiring the landscape that was before her, but also the deep abyss under. Bea stopped her car at a safe distance, the look on her face betraying a myriad of emotions – anger, love, worry – out of them love was prominently showing itself, and she slowly advanced towards the dark-furred feline that was blissfully contemplating her disappearance.
"Mae," Beatrice called out to her, her voice betraying concern. But the feline just shot her a glare that held in it contempt, betrayal, fear and abandonment, as if Mae didn't care at all about the pain she could cause to Bea. "I just-"
"What do you want?" the feline said, angrily. "Why did you follow me?"
"You ran out so suddenly," the alligator said, her voice almost a whisper. "I wanted to explain myself."
"Really," Mae replied sarcastically, "you think that I believe you?"
"There's nothing between -" Bea started, but Mae lifted a paw and closed her eyes.
"You hang out so much we barely talk. And when I want to meet with you, you – you push me aside." Mae spat the last words with venom.
It felt good and it felt bitter at the same time.
"Ever crossed your effing mind I wanted to meet with you as well?" Bea said, exasperated.
"I..." Mae said, feeling a little deflated. "But why then?"
"Because I was stupid, Mae," the alligator replied as she drew closer, "I was stupid."
"What-" the feline was saying as Bea was gently cupping her face.
Bea kept caressing Mae's face, trailing her scaly fingers over the feline's muzzle, booping her small nose, gently ruffling the small tuft of red hair. Mae was taking in the cold touch as she closed her red eyes and enjoyed it with every fiber of her being, and then the unexpected happened. Bea threw her cigarette and carefully extinguished it, before asking Mae to look in her black eyes and just enjoy what will happen.
The female gator enveloped Mae in her embrace and pressed her lips against the feline's muzzle, the scent and taste of cigarette mingling with the taste of bitter cherries, as they enjoyed the dance of their tongues. It was heaven on earth for the two, and the kiss developed into a gentle play in the nearby grass, rolling one on top of the other, until Mae was above Bea.
"You look so beautiful, Bea," Mae said, admiring her face and feeling, by accident, her bust. "I would stay like this forever!"
"Mae, you're so cheeky," the alligator smiled, briefly showing her teeth, "what got into you?"
"Nothing, just..." Mae paused, "love."
Another pause.
"Yeah, love."
"Just hold tight onto me, Mae." Bea smiled.
"It's all I ever want."