not the end | DNF |

3 - Tears and Tickets

Every minute or so I would whip my head around to look back at the small kitten, clearly terrified out of his mind siting in the small cardboard box in the backseat of my car. Every pothole I hit felt like I was rolling over steep edges, rocky cliffs. Every jolt was followed by a strangles 'meow' screeched in terror. I bit my lip anxiously, worried the small cat wouldn't trust me after this traumatising ordeal. I could practically feel his deep blue eyes burning a hole into the back of my head as it glared at me, clearly wanting to pull over just as much as me, as I was starting to feel carsick from the long drive.

As my small car dipped down into the undercover parking area below the apartments, I turned my head a final time to check on Caramel.

He was gone.

My gut dropped immediately, my breathing quickened, and I started to panic. I pulled up to my parking space and quickly pulled in, turning the key to flick the engine off and grabbing my phone before rushing to the back doors.

I wrenched open the side and crawled into the cramped space, my head ducked over at a 90 degree angle. I made my way across the seats and reached for the side of the box, hoping to god that he was still in there. I pulled the flimsy structure towards me roughly, sticking my head directly over the top to get a better view inside.

I released a heavy breath that had built up inside me, corked under my anxiety like a heavy dumbbell. I blinked away the tears that had brimmed my eyes during some point, Jesus I was so emotionally raw at the moment. A smile crawled its way across my cheeks as my spirits lifted, which felt strangely like a helium balloon tied to one of my ribs was trying to soar up into the atmosphere. A very strange way to describe the feeling, but that's literally how it felt. I had only known this cat for less than 3 hours, but I was already so attached. It felt nice, being able to attach myself to something new without the worry that it would desert me like Sapnap and Dream—

No.

They didn't desert me, they just managed to line up their flights better than I had, making sure to check the weather forecast prior, unlike me. Excuse me but how was I supposed to know that Florida was home to some of the strangest, topsy-turvy weather on the planet. I mean sure, one of my best friends lived there, that should indicate to people that I would be aware of what life was like in his hometown. But no, super unobservant me barely noticed him wincing during the constant storms (BARELY!!! THAT STILL MEANS I DID, JUST SOMETIMES NOT EARLY ENOUGH TO COMFORT HIM BEFORE HE LEFT THE CALL IN AN ANXIOUS STATE OR HIS WIFI CUT OUT!), let alone counted the number of storms per month in a certain week of the year. Sorry, I'm not perfect?

I let out another heavy sigh and breathed in deeply, trying to oxygenate my lungs as much as humanely possible after all of the air and soul had left my body for a second. I reached down into the box to carefully cradle the purring kitten, trying not to wake him. As he laid in my hands I realised just how small he really was, barely filling up my palm, his small whiskers tickling the bottoms of my fingers as they lightly brushed against the skin. My smile widened as he curled himself tighter, pushing deeply into my hand and he fell deeper asleep. I placed him gently back in the carrier box and closed it up so he would fall out as we walked up the 10 flights of stairs up to my apartment (Broken elevator, I'll tell you later. Maybe).

I slid out of the car, carrier in hand, and walked around to the other side of the car to grab the rest of the stuff which I had purchased for the cat. It was surprising easy to balance everything, considering the number of items I had; a bed, some toys, food, litter, an NEW litter box, bowls, and some random vitamin things the pet store lady suggested. The only real difficult was opening the door to my apartment without dropping it all over the hallway floor. Thankfully, the bags were proved durable enough to hold out against being smashed against the cold tiles.