The Science Of Words

Part 3: The Lucky Cat Cafe

As soon as I can get away, I go outside. I don't feel like a park today, so I just wander around the city. 

It's starting to get dark, and I'm about to walk back home, but before I do I want to check on something.

I walk a few blocks down and cross the street, walking down the sidewalk until I reach the cafe me and my dad used to always go to. It closed down three years ago, but a month ago when I went past I saw a sign by it that said it was opening up again. I've come back many times since then, hoping it would be open, but it never has been. 

As I near it, I see lights in the windows. I run the rest of the way. It is open! The new owners even kept the old name: the lucky cat cafe. And it smells just like it used to smell.

I walk excitedly to the door, and as I pull it open, a bell hanging above the door jingles, just like when I used to come with dad. The place is clean and friendly, and a young woman with auburn hair stands behind the counter. I walk up to her.

"Hey," she says. "Welcome to the lucky cat cafe. What do you want to order?"

"I...don't know," I say, breathlessly gazing at the familiar food items on the menu.

In the end I get a strawberry smoothie, which was my favorite back when I came here with dad. But as I sit at a table by the window, sipping it, I start feeling sad. How could I come here without my dad? How could I sit here, drinking the same flavor smoothie he used to always get me, without him? 

I push my smoothie aside and stand up, heading toward the door.

"What's wrong?" The cashier asks. "Is it bad?"

"No, it's really good," I say. 

"Don't you want it?"

"No, I can't drink it." I put my hand on the doorknob. "It reminds me of stuff."

"Okay..." The cashier says slowly. 

I open the door, the bell ringing again, echoing in my head. Why can it ring like that with my dad not here? I look angrily up at it, grab it by the ribbon, and tear it down.

"Wait!" The cashier calls as I walk out. 

I suddenly realize what I just did. I stop short, looking at the bell in my hand. I don't want to walk back in and face what I just did, but I don't want the bell. I groan, walk in, walk over to the cashier, and give the bell back.

She looks down at the bell. "What did you do that for?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I say, trying not to raise my voice, but I can't stop myself and yell angrily. "It's none of your business!"

I try to walk out the door, but someone is standing in my way. It's Darien. Why is he here? Was he following me?

"I need to talk to you." He tells me. He says it strangely, like he's mad at me but actually isn't. 

"Tadashi, it's okay, she gave the bell back." The cashier says.

"I need to talk to you." He repeats, grabbing my arm and dragging me to a door behind the counter.

"Tadashi!" The cashier says warningly, but Darien/Tadashi ignores her.

He brings me up some stairs to the little house above the shop.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"My room. Come on." He says, and starts up another flight of stairs.

He opens the door at the top of the stairs, revealing a bedroom. There's two beds, and he leads me over to the one on the right.

"Sit down," he says. I sit on his bed, and he sits down in his desk chair.