A big thank you to every single one of you who have reviewed! Here is the next installation of Lucky Cat! We're switching back to Alice's point of view for a little bit of adventure! A big shout out to my good friend Mary Tew for helping me out when I had some writer's block! Rate and review for a kitten-shaped cookie c:
APOV
It had been one day and two nights since I ran away. Things had gone according to my plan: I ran for hours until I ended up on the other side of town. It had been late in the night so I made my bed under the shelter of a willow tree and tucked in my tail for bed.
Curiosity haunted me until sunrise. Who had been the one to try and force open my bedroom door? Had it been a concerned Chives, or an apologetic Jasper? Was Jasper upset? Was he searching for me? Did he even care?
The next day I tried my luck at finding somewhere to stay. I wandered every alley searching for any vacant or abandoned houses but I had no luck. There was no place for a stray neko like me to fit in, especially on this side of town.
Unlike the area where the Whitlock estate was, all the houses here were small and broken down. The streets were lined with totalled cars and garbage. Repulsive men stood on the street corners smoking cigars and talking to themselves. It wasn't the type of place anyone would want to live in, but it was my best chance of staying low for a while.
The next night was even colder than the last. Instead of backtracking to the willow tree, I fell asleep propped up against the brick wall of a dark alley. I slept better there than I did the first night, but my stomach continued to wake me with its growling. I hadn't thought to pack any food, and the thought of digging in garbage made me sick.
However, by morning I decided that I would rather go dumpster-diving than starve. I poked my head into an alleyway and made sure that I was its only occupant. The last thing I wanted was to get in a fight with some sort of vicious wild animal.
I leaned over the edge of a garbage dumpster and began sifting through bags in hope of something edible. The smell was awful, but the thought of filling my stomach was stronger.
"What in the world are you doing?" A voice behind me startled me and brought me out of my instinctive mindset. I slid down and landed on the ground in front of the dumpster, turning around to face the one who had spoken.
She was taller than I was, blonde, and beautiful. There wasn't one flaw on her face. I thought I recognized her from one of the beauty magazines underneath the coffee table.
"Well?" The blonde demanded again, looking almost horrified.
"I guess I'm looking for something to eat." I admitted.
"In the garbage?" the blonde continued, placing her hands on her dainty hips. "There are much better places to find your lunch!"
"How do you know?" I asked her, my ears flattening to my head.
"I learned from the best." The blonde girl stepped a little closer, and I realized one feature of her that I hadn't noticed before. On top of her head were two furry ears.
She was a neko.
"What's your name?" she asked me, tilting her head to the side.
"Alice." I breathed, walking up in front of her.
"I'm Rosalie." the blonde told me. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
She held her porcelain hand out towards me and I reached out to shake it. For the first time, I realized how dirty I had let myself get on my own. My hand was clammy and scratched compared to hers, and mine wasn't lined with rings, unlike Rosalie's. Besides looking physically elegant, her clothing and her jewelry was elegant as well. It was hard to believe she could be a stray neko like me.
"Follow me, Alice. I'll show you a better place to get something to eat." Rosalie took my elbow and lead me out of the alley and down the street before I could even argue with her.
"Where are we going?" I asked her.
"We're going to get you some food." Rosalie let go of my arm but kept the pace with me. For a minute I felt like Edward, when I had taken him home with me from the park. Is this what he felt like, hungry and cold? Lost?
Rosalie took me to the entrance of a pub. There was a sign above the door in bright red letters that said SORRY, WE'RE CLOSED. The pub didn't even had a name. I knew it was a pub because as soon as Rosalie opened the door the air smelled like alcohol. It reminded me of Maria, and I hated it.
"This is where you live?" I asked tentatively, reaching out to grab Rosalie's sleeve. The air was musty and I felt uncomfortable and out of place. It sure didn't seem like a home to me.
"Oh, no. This is where my master works." Rosalie explained. "He owns this bar."
Things were made more clear to me. Rosalie wasn't a stray. She looked nice because she had an owner who took good care of her. I wondered if her owner was anything like Jasper, but I doubted it. Jasper was one of a kind.
"Rose!" A tall man with trimmed facial hair and greased-back hair stepped out from behind the bar. "There you are, sweetheart. I was beginning to worry about you!"
I watched as the man grabbed Rosalie's hips and pulled her smaller body against his. They kissed in a rather sloppy way, and I tried not to look. Almost as soon as the man's eyes opened he noticed me and pulled away from the embrace.
"Oh, and who is this little kitten?" he asked with raised eyebrows.
"This is Alice," Rosalie answered for me. "She's really hungry."
"Well then we better get her some lunch now, shouldn't we?" The man motioned for us to follow him through the door behind the bar. On the other side was a kitchen, although it wasn't nearly as big or grand as the one I was used to. "What do you like to eat, kitten?"
Two pairs of eyes landed on me and I tried to stutter out words, but Rosalie interrupted me.
"She was digging in the garbage! I don't think she would mind eating anything right now!" she hissed, as if the man had asked something inappropriate.
"I don't mind." I mumbled, looking down at the floor beneath my feet.
In response, the man began to pull open cabinets, looking for something edible to feed me. He pulled out a can of tuna and I let out a squeal of delight.
"You like tuna, do you? Rose likes it too, that's the only reason I'd ever have cans of tuna in a bar..." The man seemed to be talking to himself more than to me as he opened the can and handed it to me with a tiny fork.
"Thank you." I said as I began shoveling tuna into my mouth. The taste was more than satisfying after being so hungry all morning.
"You're a tiny little thing, y'know that?" The man continued. "You got a home?"
I swallowed hard and looked up at him, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.
"No," I answered. "Not anymore."
"Can she stay with us? Can she?" Rosalie begged, wrapping one of her slender arms around his waist.
"I'm not really looking for anywhere to stay." I said quickly. "I'm just passing through town."
"Where are you headed?" The man persisted. I didn't know where I was headed so I shrugged my shoulders. "Well," he continued with a smug expression, "You better be careful, then. There's a blizzard heading in from the North. You would be better off staying with us until it passes through."
I remembered the thick fluffy powder that covered the front yard during the last snow storm. It was cold and would definitely be hard to tred through, especially without warmer clothes.
"Alice, he's right. You could die out there." Rosalie pulled away from her owner and took my hand. "Please stay with us?"
I looked back and forth between the two of them. Rosalie's eyes sparkled with excitement and the man looked rather amused, like he had already expected my answer. After all, it seemed like the smart thing to do.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt."
Rosalie squealed and threw her arms around me. Besides shy Edward, I had never had another neko friend before. I had forgotten how childish and energetic we could be, even after we grew up. Rosalie was a perfect example of that. As she jumped up and down, her long blonde curls bounced off her shoulders and flew from side to side.
I smiled and danced around with her in a circle, realizing that maybe staying with Rosalie and her master wasn't such a bad idea.
Rosalie and I spent the day in the back room of the pub, hidden and out of the way of the customers coming in and out during the afternoon. Once night fell we could hear the pub alive with talking, laughing, the clinking of glasses, and thumping music. As uncomfortable as I felt being one piece of drywall away from a hundred or so drunk adults, Rosalie kept me company and it wasn't so bad.
Rosalie told me the story of how she had met her owner.
"I wasn't born in the mill," She began as she sat on her knees and focused her bright yellow eyes on me. "My mother was a housemaid to a very rich man and my father was a stray. They met one day in the garden and fell in love."
Her story sounded like a fairytale to me, like something I would have read in one of the many books in the Whitlock library. Rosalie sighed and went on.
"My father was hit by a truck when I was still a baby." she frowned. "My mother raised me, but as soon as I was old enough her owner tried to sell me."
"That's horrible." I whispered. The blonde neko nodded solemnly.
"I was scared, so I ran away. I didn't tell my mother where I was going or anything. She was probably heart-broken." Rosalie's eyes shifted to the floor.
"What happened after you left?" I prodded, inching closer to her as if she were about to tell me a secret.
"That's when I met him..." Rosalie closed her eyes and let out a dreamy sigh. "Emmett."
I didn't know who Emmett was, but I didn't think it was her owner.
"Emmett was the strongest, bravest neko I've ever known." Rosalie went on. "He was a gentleman too. He saw me in the cold and gave me his only jacket." She began to blush, as if she was reliving the memories. "I stuck to him like glue, and he taught me how to survive on the streets."
"Did you love him?" I asked. My mind flashed back to Jasper.
"Yes... I loved him. He made me feel safe. Eventually, we slept together... and we were going to have children and raise them to be free and happy, like we were." Her eyes clouded over sadly, and I realized she was speaking in past tense.
"But something had to have happened." I mumbled, realizing that Rosalie was a pet now and there was no Emmett around, nor any children. Rosalie nodded her head.
"I fell extremely ill and lost my litter. Emmett didn't have the ability to take care of me anymore, so he left me behind."
"He just... left?" I gasped, feeling my heart ache for her.
"Emmett blamed himself for the miscarriage. He thought if I found a nice owner that I would be better taken care of." Rosalie sighed. "Better than he could take care of me on the streets, anyway. A few days later, Royce found me in the same alley you were digging in this morning. He asked if I wanted to stay with him, and I said yes."
"You gave up your freedom, just like that?" I gawked, playing idly with my tail. "You could have followed him, or-"
"I could have." Rosalie interrupted me. "But what would be the point in that? He left because he didn't want to be weighed down anymore. If I had ran after him, he would have only ran faster. That's the most important part about living on the streets. You have to do what's best for you."
I realized how much older Rosalie was compared to me. She was taller and had a much more bodacious body, especially compared to my pixie-like build. But she had already been pregnant and nearly had children. I couldn't imagine myself being that position for many years to come. Rosalie was like an older, wiser sister. I appreciated her knowledge and respected her.
Rosalie stood up and I understood that the conversation was over.
"It's almost closing hour." she announced. "Once all the men are gone, Royce will wipe the counter and take us home. You'll like it there, it's nice. Royce's father was a millionaire."
I shrugged slightly. After living in the Whitlock residence, it seemed that no house would impress me more. It probably didn't have a secret library, either.
It was late and I was beginning to get sleepy again. After munching up three cans of tuna throughout the day I wasn't hungry anymore, but my body was ready for a long nap. I curled up on the ground and relaxed my eyes for what seemed like a brief moment.
Before I knew it, I felt myself being lifted up into someone's arms. My eyes flickered open and I found myself looking up at Rosalie's master. He didn't say anything, and neither did I.
He set me in the back seat of a car and held the passenger door open for Rosalie before getting in himself. It surprised me to see how well he took care of his neko, considering I thought Jasper and Chives had been the only ones to have a heart for our kind. I wondered if he loved her.
It wasn't a long drive back to their residence. I climbed out of the car and looked up at the home that was almost as elegant as Rosalie's jewelry. It may not have been as big as the Whitlock home, but the stone front and the two-story pillars reminded me of my old dollhouse.
Rosalie pulled me inside by my wrist and began opening doors, describing what each room was and what it was used for. My eyes were too heavy and my head was too foggy to remember where anything was. She showed me to her bedroom, which was painted cream with regal maroon carpet. Her bed was the size of Jasper's, but it was perfectly made- not a pillow out of place.
"You can sleep in here." the blonde told me, nudging me towards the bed. I flicked my ear.
"Where are you going to sleep?" I asked with a confused look.
"With my master, of course." Rosalie smiled. "What kind of neko would I be if I didn't sleep with my master?"
I stared at her for a moment with pursed lips, unsure what she meant. A good neko slept with her owner? The innocent kind of sleeping, where you felt safe in their arms? Or the sensual kind of sleeping, where the bed creaked and you moaned each others names at night?
I remembered the passionate kiss that Rosalie and her owner shared at the pub. I assumed she meant the sensual kind.
"Oh, okay." I said calmly, lifting myself up onto the royalty themed bed. "Thank you for allowing me to share your home." Chives had always said that manners were the most important part of being a guest. Even if I felt uncomfortable in the unfamiliar house, I had to use my manners.
"It's nice to have another neko around." Rosalie leaned in the doorway and curved her glossy lips into a smile. "Goodnight, Alice."
"Goodnight." I answered, pulling back the blankets and climbing underneath them. Rosalie flicked the light off and left me alone in the big dark room. I laid there for a moment, pretending I was back in my own bedroom or tucked into Jasper's large bed.
A few seconds later I was racing across the room to turn on the light switch, then running back to jump in the bed. There was no nightlight in this scary room, and no Jasper to keep me safe from the monsters in the closet.
As I laid there with the covers pulled up to my chin, I realized I had never felt so alone in my life.
As Royce predicted, the following morning brought nearly three feet of snow and it was still coming down. Rosalie and I sat idly on the couch in the living room watching an old cartoon while Royce paced around upstairs.
"It's a weekday. He still has to open the bar." Rosalie explained. "But we can stay home if you'd like. I only go to work with him because I get lonely here by myself."
I felt much better after taking a hot bath and getting dressed in some of Rosalie's smaller clothes, but now the idea of getting up and going out in the cold weather, and much less staying in the storage room of the bar, sounded very unappealing.
Royce left in a rush and Rosalie and I stayed home. The entire day we sat on the couch hardly entertaining ourselves. At one point we pulled out a stack of board games and puzzles to keep ourselves occupied. The kitchen was ours to manipulate, and although the snacks were sweet and delicious, nothing compared to Chives' homecooked meals. I found myself growing increasingly homesick throughout the day.
Sometime during the evening, when Rosalie and I were watching another movie on HBO, the front door opened loudly and three pairs of footsteps came bursting inside. I reached my head around the arm of the couch to investigate.
Royce was accompanied by two other men, approximately the same age. One had long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail with trimmed facial hair. The other man had even longer jet-black hair that hung down around his shoulders. All three of them were laughing and pushing each other from side to side.
I looked to Rosalie, expecting her to recognize these friends of her master. However, she had a disapproving frown.
"Do you know them?" I asked quietly, ducking my head back down. She shook her head, which made me slightly more uncomfortable.
"Sometimes he brings friends home from work." She whispered back. "They're drunk."
"Rose!" Royce's slurred voice called from the front door. "Rose, come here. Come here, Rose!"
"I'm coming, Master!" Rosalie put on an obviously fake smile and hurried to her owner's side. I heard her purring loudly from across the room.
"There she is. There's my Rosalie. Isn't she a looker, fellas?"
"A looker indeed." One of the men answered, his voice sending chills down my spine. I listened silently from my hiding spot on the couch. "Just like you said she was. Where's the other one? The little one?"
Before I could formulate a plan to hide myself, one of the men approached the couch and noticed me sunken into the cushions.
"There you are. She's a cute one, Royce. A little young, maybe, but she'll do..." Two hands grabbed me around my waist and pulled me up off the couch. It was the dark-haired man with dark eyes. I squealed and wrestled away from him, running across the room to hide against the wall.
"Leave me alone!" I cried out hesitantly, feeling my privacy threatened. I shot a frightened glance at Rosalie, who was being held against Royce's body from behind. Her dress was pushed up around her hips, and one of his hands were snaked into her panties. She looked at ease, as if the touch was normal.
"Now Aro, Royce didn't bring us here for nothing. There are two of us and only one neko to share." The blonde said from across the room. "We'll flip a coin. Heads and I get her first. Tails and you get her second. How's that?"
"You're a dirty cheater, James." huffed Aro. He was still heading towards me. "I'll get her first, and you can have my sloppy seconds-"
"Shut up!" I screamed, catching the sudden attention of everyone in the room. "You better leave me alone, or I'll... I'll..." I was at a loss for words as panic began to take me over.
"You'll do what, sweetheart?" Aro smiled. "You don't have a say in this." His hand shot out and grabbed my wrist in a rough grasp. The air around him held the stench of alcohol, and I held my breath. In the next few seconds, I formulated a very simple escape plan. If I scratched Aro, and raced past James and Royce I could make it to the front door, which I noticed had been left unlocked. The only flaws with that plan were that my backpack remained upstairs in Rosalie's room, and there was three feet of snow outside. My feet were bare.
It was my only chance. With my free hand, I unsheathed my claws and swiped at Aro's face. The second he released me, I took off across the living room.
"Alice, wait!" Rosalie called from somewhere behind me. I dodged James' uncoordinated hands and yanked the front door open. My instincts brought me to running as fast as I could across the surface of the snow. After a few uneasy stumbles into snowbanks, I gained a steady pace and ran away from the elegant home.
As soon as the house was out of sight, I dove under the shelter of a tree and masked myself from sight. I evaluated my situation.
I had no supplies, no shoes, no jacket, and I was in the middle of a blizzard. I just barely escaped a potential rape, and my only friend was trapped in her home with three drunk and hormonal men. There was nothing left to do but move on to the next town, and I had idea how long that would take.
So I started walking.
As I walked I began wondering about Jasper again. I wondered if he missed me, or if he was worried about me out on my own. I wondered if he had spoken to Maria, or told her that I was gone. I wondered if Maria had pressed charges on him for my violent attack. I wondered if there was some sort of neko police searching for me.
I walked as far as I could push myself to go. The town I was in now was unfamiliar and just as physically unappealing as the last. My feet were completely numb and dangerous shades of purple, and eventually I couldn't support my own weight on them. I dropped somewhere along the street and lay in a crumpled heap of frozen limbs.
Sometime before falling into a dizzying blackness, I heard a fuzzy voice calling out to me.
"Hello? Are you hurt? Can you hear me? Hello? Oh, Jesus..."
Oooooh boy! That gave me goosebumps just writing it! James and Aro were a nice twist, yeah? And don't worry, Rosalie will be coming back into play later! Can you guys guess who little Alice is going to run into next?
Keep reviewing! :3 Nyaaaa!