Kemuri

Chapter 25: Stray Cat

The Winter winds blew. The sky was dark grey as the clock displayed the time. 8 pm. Huitzi was sitting in the dark, cradling himself, staring in the void. Kieran. Abraham. Arthur. Centello... He had spent the past two weeks crying day and night, from the pain on his body and within his heart. The image was seared in his head, anytime he tried going to sleep, anytime he was left alone, that gunshot was near deafening.

"Come eat something," Joel said, opening the door, letting a blinding ray of light inside Huitzi's room. "Or just come out for a second, how about we go for a ride?"

"Won't we get shot again?" Huitzi hadn't spoken in hours, his words came out rougher than he expected. He turned from the door. "Just...I'll be fine, I'm not hungry..." He knew Joel only meant good but he couldn't bring himself to get out for now.

"Well... you know where to find me..." Joel closed the door again. Huitzi looked out the window, the moon was nowhere to be found under the thick blanket of clouds.

After another hour passed, he got up, walked out of his room, and walked out of the house, and set forth in the city, all alone.

He passed by pubs and bars, most having sports playing and drunk men talking. "You heard about the gang war that happened the other day? I heard it turned into a shootout." a man started, he was bald but compensated with an imposing beard.

"I heard there was a fire too or was it an explosion?" A woman continued, about in her 60's.

"It was a fire, a whole warehouse burned down, and even some of the buildings nearby. "

"Thank god, it was in the outer city," the first man continued.

"You think it was a crystal? I heard there are more and more these days," said another man, taking a deep sip of his beer, his cheeks bright pink, the foam of his drink clinging to his mustache.

"Not you too... Do you really believe in this fairytale? It was just a regular fire, probably something stupid too" A third man continued, dark-skinned and with a head full of dreadlocks.

"No! It's totally possible, you don't remember the fire in Portland 10 years ago? They say it was a crystal that did it, a little girl too. I wonder if they ever found her..." The bearded man added, emptying his drink.

Huitzi listened loosely. It... burned down? Is it the same place?... Did he?...

Huitzi continued his route, his mind now racing with this newfound information. He passed by a liquor store and saw the bottle. Spanish Caribbean. He bought it, using a fake ID his brother had made for him when they arrived here. He opened the bottle and drank eagerly, coughing on his first sip, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. The drink tasted bitter.

He stumbled, the Rum starting to take effect as the night got colder and the winds got stronger. Centello burned. I'm sure he burned. He has to...

He sat down, his back against a wall, the light of a streetlight illuminating him from above, white and blinding. He took another sip of the bottle, then dropped his hands by his side. He started crying, silently at first.

Then wailing his heart out, crying as hard as he could, crying as if to empty his body of all tears, of all pains, of everything. He wiped his eyes but the tears kept rolling down his face, getting hotter and hotter until the tears seem to evaporate right off.

When he laid his hand back down, he felt a ball of fur. Looking down, he saw a grey cat padding towards him, smelling his finger and lightly biting him. Huitzi lifted his hand and petted the stray cat, the animal bending under his hand, stretching and purring. Huitzi wiped away his tears and took the cat on his lap, heating it up softly with his hands. But as he was caressing the animal, he noticed that he was rubbing ashes off of it, its true fur color being black underneath. Black cat. That black cat... Kieran, Abraham, Arthur...

A snowflake fell gently on Huitzi's hand, looking up the boy saw hundreds, thousands of other snowflakes slowly falling. It was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen, it almost made him forget the cold.

Huitzi carried the cat with him as he made his way back home. He entered Joel's apartment, inside were Jony and the rest of Spark's crew. "Tinto... Where have you been?" Joel started, slightly scared by the look on Huitzi's face.

Huitzi's eyes were half-shut from drinking half a bottle of Rum on his own, and blood-red from crying, dried tears were still visible on his cheeks. There was a faint smile on his lips as he kept petting the small black cat gently purring against his chest. Abraham, Arthur, Kieran...

"I'm going to kill Kieran."