Mollie + Chester

Chapter Two

When his big green eyes opened and he saw the world, he thought it was beautiful. The sky was a light blue, filled with billions of clouds and~he could smell families cooking breakfast, the scent of eggs and burnt bacon wafted in the cool autumn air.
The tiny ginger kitten sat up and rolled out~from beneath the seat in the bus shelter where he slept for days out the front of a little cafe and a clothes shop. He padded over to the rubbish bin which had supplied him with scraps of food and found it empty, nothing inside but an old rotting banana peel. His tummy growled and he meowed, sniffing for any edible scraps that may have fallen out of the bin.
From inside the clothes shop, there was a shout and a bang as the door opened, an angry woman with no neck and a red face appeared holding a broom up in the air.
"Shoo!" She cried waving it at the cat and he jumped, racing out~onto the Main Road which led him into a small court lined with perfect houses. The footpath was cold and sharp on his tiny paws.
The kitten meowed after nearly being trodden on by a large jogging man in a tracksuit and covered in sweat and ducked under a broken slat in a white picket fence, his back legs getting stuck as he went. He wriggled free and tumbled out from the fence onto the perfect cut grass that was covered in burnt leaves. A child's swing set sat abandoned in the corner of the yard, a spider web dripping with dew and shining in the morning light stretched across the two ropes.
He padded across the damp grass, holding his tummy as high as possible so it didn't get wet, and jumped up onto a little porch with a dusty outdoor setting and fake plants made of plastic.
"Colin!" Someone shrieked and the kitten jumped back from the house, his fur raising on his back. He heard mumbling from inside so he cautiously moved closer to the window, his paws making tiny clicks as his claws hit the wooden slats of the porch.
He jumped up on the window sill covered in a thin layer of dust, just like everything else and peered inside. A girl with pink streaks through her brown hair tapped her long nails on the table as she pushed around the bacon on her plate, not eating it.
"Colin!" The voice shrieked again and the kitten heard footsteps coming from upstairs. A boy taller than the girl at the table but not as old as the lady with the grey wiry hair in an apron yelling at him, emerged from the doorway and stood with his arms crossed over one and other. His too big cap fell over one ear and his pants dragged on the floor as he walked.
"What?" He said, clearly annoyed at everything. His mother threw her tea towel with holes down on the bench top.
"Do not say what to me! I have been calling you for half an hour!"
Colin rolled his eyes and turned to leave.
"Uh, no, eat your breakfast! That's why I've been calling you!"
But the boy kept walking, leaving his seething mother behind.
She made a weird noise like "ugh!" and sat down at the table with her daughter with her head in her hands.
"Everyone else has perfect teenagers in this town, they can get them out of bed and ready for school all before they hold a stupid lunch for all the other perfect ladies in Tamwood!"
Her daughter said nothing, taking her headphones from her pocket and slipping them in her ears. The mother sighed and took her daughter's breakfast, taking it to the door near where the kitten sat. He jumped off the window sill and hid under the dusty chair as her watched the woman throw the remains of the pink-haired girl's bacon on the grass.
The kitten ran over to the wet grass, forgetting about keeping his tummy dry, and started scoffing down the bacon bits hungrily.
Suddenly, two big hands reached down and grabbed him roughly around his tummy, digging into him and causing him to cry out with a tiny meow. The boy that had picked him up shoved him into a back-pack and started to run.
The kitten could hear laughter from the boy that had taken him and when his eyes adjusted to the dim light he noticed a black book with a crow on it. The kitten covered his eyes with his paws and whimpered. He was now scared and truly alone.
Everything jostled in the backpack as the laughing boys ran. They yelled out loudly, screaming as they pushed and shoved each other.
"Where we going PJ?" Asked one boy, his voice crackling as he spoke. "And what about Miranda?"
"Miranda's old news, and who would want a girl with pink hair anyways?"
The kitten could see light in a zig-zag shape where the backpack's zipper was. One of the boys unzipped the bag and lifted the kitten out. His tiny ginger body shook.
"Where we going?" A boy asked again and the kitten heard rustling as the boys punched and kicked each other, some falling and rolling on the concrete.
"Kujo's gonna be fourteen like the rest of us so he gotta do initiation."
The kitten squirmed when someone bumped into the back pack hard.
"So what do ya need a cat for?"
"You'll see," the boy who must have been the leader said, slipping his bag off this back and pulling the kitten out. The orange fur ball squirmed and tried to scratch him.
The boys had taken the little kitten to the town dump. Giant piles of old TVs, cars and just about anything else surrounded them and right where the boys stood, was an old pick-up truck with a poker table and an esky filled with ice and beer Doma's brother had gotten for them. In the back of the truck, sat three more boys, all with cigarettes in their hand and cards in the other.
"Just when we were getting bored, huh? Its luck," one of the boys said.
"Not luck Doma, just greatness," another said stupidly. He had a huge, dumb looking grin on his face making him look like the idiotic teenager everyone stereo-types teens as.
"Yeah."
"Definitely."
"What do we do next?" the tall one asked.
The tall, blonde one found a piece of string on the ground and tied it around the tummy of the kitten. He meowed loudly and the boys laughed.
"Here, hand me more string, and an empty can," the tallest demanded and he was quickly given what he wanted. He tied the can to the end of the kitten's tail and dropped him on the floor which was packed in dirt covered in bits of coloured paper and metal.
The kitten tried to run then, aiming for that hole in the fence behind the boys but the string tightened on his tummy and he meowed. The can rattled behind him and his tiny heart pumped louder.
The boys laughed, one throwing a beer can that narrowly missed the cat, the other, tying the other end of the string to the truck so the kitten couldn't escape.
There was a bark and a growl that came from the distance, it was Spit the dump owner's guard dog. The dog ran at them quickly, slobber coming from his mouth where his sharp teeth showed and barking loudly.
"Let's scram!" Doma yelled as the boys jumped over the fence leaving the kitten alone to face the terrifying dog. He squirmed, trying to release the string around his tummy but it was no use. The can fell from his tail but he was still stuck. He meowed loudly and watched the ugly dog with the slobber coming from his mouth. The kitten's big green eyes were even wider with fear.

I had read many books about kids with cancer but in all of them the kid is as brave as a prince from a fairy tale. They find a way to survive.
In real life, it's nothing like that. The truth is always around the corner reminding you that you're basically dead already. Anything can happen.
All I could do was watch my family members shed the tears and wait for the cancer to take me.
"Let's go," Seth said lifting me out from my comfy bed.
"Seth! It's my birthday, can't I do what I want?" I wriggled out of his arms and tried to crawl back under the covers.
"You need to get outside, enjoy the sunshine. And," he whispered, "Mum wants you out of the house so she can get ready for the surprise party."
"Why is it a surprise party anyway? Doesn't she know you spoil it every year?"
He faked a hurt look. "You are the little sneak who manipulated me into telling you about your party."
I stuck my tongue out and he chased me down the stairs, trying to tickle me all the way to the door.
Seth handed me my coat, gloves and scarf. "Here, put these on."
"If it's such a nice day, why do I need a coat then?" I asked pulling the red sleeves on.
"Mum's conditions," he said grabbing my hand and pulling me quickly outside.

The wind rustled the leaves and they flew up around me. My short hair flew back from my face and the sun warmed me inside.
Even though I still thought, it could be now, death could be around the corner, I did enjoy the sunshine. As we walked along the concrete slowly, kids rode bikes past, parents pushed prams, birds sung their melodies.
Seth pulled a stray end of my scarf and threw it over my shoulder.
"Hey!" I said scowling at him. He laughed and flicked the other end over too.
"I don't want my little sister to get cold," he said innocently.
"It's not even that cold, you are in a T shirt!" I tugged at his shirt.
Mrs Southbottom, with a very unfortunate name because she was a nice lady, waked past with her little son who held a stuffed monkey. We nodded hello, letting the silence drift between us until she was completely gone.
"That kid's toy kinda looked like you, Mollie," Seth said nudging me on the shoulder.
This was how it always was with Seth. He would fill the silence with endless jokes, and brotherly insults to avoid talking about the inevitable.
To be honest, it was great being someone who wouldn't bring up what was one everyone's minds. Sometimes, he even made me forget I was the imperfection.
We followed the path until we reached the perimeter of the town. The rolling green hills went on forever and ever and so did the cows that grazed among them.
The path turned and we saw the tall wire fence of the town dump. We were silent as we walked past watching out for the big dog Spit who was there to scare annoying teenagers away; they always thought it was cool to hang out in piles of rubbish. I would never understand why.
I saw something move in the rubbish and grasped Seth's hand, listening for the barks of Spit.
A tiny orange thing was moving around an old pick-up truck, meowing in distress. Quickly, without thinking, I scaled the wire fence, my tiny feet fitting in the gaps in the wire and landed at the bottom, my back against it, trying to think of what to do next.
My chest was pounding, moving up and down quickly as I tried to catch my breath. I could see Spit in the distance now, racing towards the kitten tied up. I darted across the dump yard as fast as I could my new locket from Seth bouncing around my neck. My chest and throat were burning but with fumbling fingers, I untied the piece string, despite Seth's calls for me to turn around and come back.
The dog was now so close I could hear its heavy breathing so I scooped up the kitten in my arms and ran back to where I had come from, my runners kicking up rubbish behind.
Seth had climbed the fence and was hanging off the wire, calling me. He grabbed the kitten off me and held it in one hand, grabbing me with the other.
I jumped as high as I could and clung to the fence as the dog came running into the wire, his sharp teeth managing to grasp one of my untied shoelaces. I guess Mum was right; not tying them was a danger hazard, she just didn't say it was a hazard because a killer dog might grab one and try to pull me off a barb wire fence.
I yanked hard, the lace slipping from his mouth and I scrambled over the top, Seth following closely behind me. He crawled down first on the other side and caught me when I jumped.
We were both panting, trying to catch our breath.
"Let's not tell Mum about this," he said letting me sit on the floor. He placed the kitten in my lap and sat beside me. The tiny thing was trembling and I held him close to my chest. He began to calm down as he snuggled close in my arms.
"He's cute," I whispered to Seth and he nodded in agreement.
"We should go home, have you got your breath back yet?"
I nodded even though I was still panting.
"When you said you wanted to make it a fun birthday, I didn't think you meant getting chased by killer dogs, but hey," I shrugged.
"But you should know me by now, let's go find some killer emus now."
"Emus?"
"Emus are scary, okay!"
"If you say so," I laughed shrugging my shoulders.
We walked home, me carrying the cat, Seth making sure I wasn't going to collapse on the concrete.
And for once, I thought my birthday could actually be different.