𝐀𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐚

CHAPTER 1: A SMELL IN THE AIR

I woke up after having a restless night. The weak sunshine from the sun escaped between the curtains and managed to land exactly on my eyes, making me wake up immediately after not sleeping at all.

I sat on the bed and scratched my eyes, also yawning from the tiredness, and looked around, adjusting my eyes to the sudden light. My room was covered with drawings, from top to bottom, sometimes clothes, sometimes buildings. The rest of the room was just varnished wood, giving it a rustic look.

I was still deciding on being a designer or an architect, or a musician, or... a writer. I was still much undecided about my future, but that wasn't a "today" problem.

Grabbing my guitar, the first thing I did every morning, I tried a few tunes from a song I was trying to compose, but it just didn't work. The tunes were all right, but the lyrics just didn't come, guess I just lacked inspiration.

"Oh, the...," I started, but nothing came.

Eventually, I just ended up playing random notes until I was fully awake. Playing helped me forget about my problems, and even if that's not something you should do, dealing with them was much harder. The weak dim light coming out of the window looked like a glimpse of hope coming from the outside, and I felt like I was missing something out there.

I heard a few gentle knocks on the door, and a low voice coming from the other side, with a small cat head coming from behind it.

"Can I come in?" asked my mom, gently.

I nodded slowly and opened space on the bed for her to sit.

My mom was shorter than me and was a little chubby as well, but no person in the world could be as cute and terrifying at the same time. She was also lovable, and one of the best, if not the best, mothers in the world.

She sat down by my side and looked around my room in silence for a few seconds. I already knew why she was there, and to be honest, I was happy that she was standing for me.

"I'm okay, you know," I said.

"You were crying last night," she said. "How is that okay?"

"Yesterday was yesterday," I answered. "I'm better now. Not 100%, but I'm way better than I was before,"

She grabbed my paw and started rubbing it with her finger, something she did when she was concerned about me or my siblings. I put my other paw on top of hers and touched my forehead on hers.

"I'm ok, mom, I swear," I said.

She sighed and nodded, but I knew she wasn't convinced. Even though she would respect my preferences in avoiding the subject, and that's why I loved her so much, because she could take care of us and give us space at the same time.

"Are you going to school today?" she asked.

"Of course," I said, looking at the ground. "Can't miss classes,"

I could miss classes. I was doing fine at school, but I didn't want to worry my mom more than she already was.

She put her paw on my cheek and hugged me. I hugged her back and felt that we understood each other.

"If you have anything wrong, anything at all, please come talk to me," she said. "What we feel is not nonsense, and what makes us unhappy is important. We can't deal with things alone, so please, trust me, okay?"

I nodded again and hugged her tighter. It was nice to be loved like I was with her. Since my father left us, mom would work hard to give us a happy life, and we all work together too, so she wouldn't carry all the weight.