S.H.H.A.

Our Own Share Of Problems

Mondays were the vein of Marshmallow and Ninja's existence.

Even with the handful of joyful Monday goers acting as evidence against them, they had no reason to believe a Monday could be enjoyable. At least, on that Monday, they were too tired to remember such a strange occurrence.

Still half asleep despite the rising sun, the sisters walked side by side to the only destination they knew of at the forest camp known as S.H.H.A. Misha's office, which as far as they could tell was more like Ilene's office, sat cradled into the side of a small, but steep hill. The way the building stretched the entire hill made it appear as if they had constructed the stone building before the hill existed.

In human form, the two girls wouldn't be able to fit through the cat door like last time. Certain she had spotted a human door the other day, Marshmallow led Ninja around the small hill.

As predicted, on the right side of the tiny hill was an unopened human door accompanied by two windows on either side. Marshmallow tugged on the handle, its rusty state similar to the chipped white paint and dusty windows of the walls. Ninja was on the verge of suspecting they had gotten lost and arrived at some abandoned building.

After fruitlessly tugging at the door a few times, Marshmallow knocked her knuckles on its cool surface. Only then did she notice the other semi-humans staring at her from their perches in the trees or as they walked by. None of them approached her, but many pointed towards the sisters and whispered to one another.

"Why do I feel like we should have scrapped human form and gone through the kitty door?" asked Ninja, her palm resting on her propped out hip.

She wore a white T-shirt a few sizes too large and a black jacket she'd have to take off soon to avoid overheating. Before leaving their new home and wishing their siblings goodbye, Ninja had brushed the tangled black nest on her head known as her hair. It hadn't taken long for her to reverse the effort.

"Not sure." Marshmallow felt the same unease as Ninja. Not only that, but irritation poked at her insides from being the one who made the decision in the first place. Mondays just loved making people want to roll on the ground and give up.

Before Marshmallow could build up enough irritation to at least shoot a hidden glare at one of the annoying passersby, the lock slid into place and the old, wooden door swung open.

A human face that the sisters could only recognize from the sunshine yellow hair and eyes stared for a few moments. Ilene's eyes lit up and she gasped, "Oh! It's you two. Marshmallow and Ninja, right?"

"Right on the mark," replied Ninja who appeared to be handling the Monday much better than Marshmallow based on the wide smile spread across her face like butter on a biscuit.

The metaphor Marshmallow came up with reminded her that perhaps her decision to skip breakfast wasn't the brightest. Bad decision making often accompanied Mondays.

Ilene stepped back to make room for them to walk in. Dusty air hovered in the room, only moving from the smallest breeze brought in through the door. When Ilene closed it, the room stilled as if she had sealed it airtight.

A table and chairs leaned against the wall. Some chairs were metal and foldable while others were wooden and cushioned. Based on scratch marks on the floors, barely noticeable in the dim light, Marshmallow assumed they were once used often. Perhaps it had once been a common room of sorts.

Ninja, gazing around the room curiously as well, scrunched up her nose from the dust. While brushing it away with her hand, she asked, "What's with this place? Did you guys choose one room of the building and abandon the rest?"