Written With Love | MJ Fanfic

1. This Your Cat?

Friday, October 9th 1973

Stella

I sat upon hill at the huge field a few blocks from my house, finishing up any homework I had. Because it's autumn, the field was full of brown, red, and yellow leaves. Usually in the summer time, all kinds of beautiful flowers sprout everywhere around this field. It's the very reason I started coming here. It's a place I come to think and release my mind. I enjoy myself here. On this hill I could see the everything, houses, streets, trees. To me it was the most beautiful place on earth.

Leaves blew all around me, as I wallow in the sounds of wind. I found myself completely mesmerized with the beautiful colors that sat in the sky. A sunset was the most beautiful part of each day. It looked like a painting on a canvas; A vibrant pink and deep orange were blended into the huge canvas such as the sky. The sun was starting to set so I knew I had to head home soon.

I packed up my note book, and folder. After getting everything together I made my merry way home.

As I arrived, I realized house was completely empty. Both my mother and father were no where to be found. They're usually gone most of the time, so I didn't really mind; its what I was used to.

I'm an only child with no siblings, so it got pretty lonely around here sometimes. I'm what you'd call a "latchkey" kid. Most of the time I'm looking after myself and entertaining myself. Nothing out of the ordinary for me, I mean, it's been this way for a couple of years.

The only company I have most of the time is my cat Willow. She's a brownish-orange and white tabby cat. She's around 3 1/2 years old, but was a small 5 week kitten when I got her.

"Willow!" I call out for her. Usually she comes prancing from underneath furniture when I call her name, but this time I didn't see her.

Maybe she's in my room...

I advance to my room looking around for my cat; I look under my bed, inside my closet, in old shoe boxes; but she wasn't there.. I started to grow confused, and slightly frustrated? She's probably being silly, playing hide and seek or somethin'. I decided to look in my parents room—even though Willow hates being in there— hoping she'd be somewhere in there. I tried to keep calm instead of becoming anxious so I could affectively focus on looking for my cat.

I searched the bathrooms, the TV room, living room, kitchen. I searched every room in the house, I technically turned the house upside down looking for my Willow. After an excruciating half hour, I started to sweat. My brows were furrowed so hard my head was starting to ache. I began hyperventilating at the thought that my cat might've ran away.

I quickly ran to the back. To my absolute terror, the door was left open.

"How could my parents be so irresponsible?!" I cried out in such intense frustration. If my cat is gone for good, it would be their fault..

Seeing that the back door was open, I immediately ran out of the house, calling out for my pet. I searched the sidewalks, knocked on doors. I did anything I could to try to locate my cat. It was getting darker and darker, which meant it would be hard for me to look for her. At this point, salty tears were streaming down my face. I felt hysterical walking around San Fernando Valley with a red nose and a teary face.

I knocked on one last door. "Have you seen a cat, um with white and orange fur? It had a collar on it th-that said Willow?" I stumbled over my words trying my best to maintain my composure.

"No, I haven't. I'm very sorry," The white lady looked at me with sympathy. "I hope you find 'em soon," She says before gently closing her door.

I slowly walked off the woman's patio in disbelief. Tears began to well up in my eyes as I felt my face become hot. I sigh, unwillingly accepting the fact that I may never see my cat again—

"Hey!" I hear a male voice call out a couple feet away.

I turn my head to see a boy. A tall skinny black boy, with a beautiful afro, holding my cat?!?!

Without thinking, at the sight of my cat, I immediately sprint over to the boy and wrap my arms around him, engulfing him in a large, emotional hug, causing him to lose his balance.

"Woah," He chuckles nervously, regaining his balance and making sure not to drop my cat. He pats my back empathetically, then pulls back. "This your cat?" He asks me with a soft tone in his voice.

"Y-Yes!" I smile, frantically wiping the tears off my face. "Thank you so so much!" Joy over took me as the boy smiled at me while rubbing my cat on the head. She seems to like him, and Willow doesn't really like anyone.

"Of course," He smiles, while handing me my pet. "I um, I saw her walkin' around in my back yard. I spent a while trying to find her owner. I couldn't imagine how heartbroken you must've felt knowing she wasn't in your care."

"I literally almost died," I lightly joke. "She's really everything to me."

"Gee, I can definitely tell," He chuckles.

"Have you got any pets?" I ask the boy, brushing a strand of my pressed hair behind my ear.

"Oh yeah! I've got tons of 'em. All kinds of pets! I've got rats, a german shepherd, and birds. I've even got a boa constrictor," The boy smiles at me as he joyfully speaks about his many pets.

"Isn't that a snake?!" I cringe. I had a small fear of snakes ever since my father had one as a pet. I was never afraid of petting one, just being strangled to death.

"Yeah!" He laughs briefly at my reaction. "She's not scary, she's really calm," He nods. "Say, you seem friendly. What's your name?" He asked me, looking me in the eyes with his big brown ones.

"I'm Stella," I smile holding out my hand to shake his.

"Michael," Hearing him tell me his name striked a bit of familiarity, but I couldn't put my finger on why at that moment. It wasn't important anyway. He delightfully accepted my handshake. "I hope to see you around real soon, Stella. Have a good night."

"You too, Michael. Thank you again for finding my cat, I appreciate it so so much."

"Of course, Stella," He smiled at me one last time before walking away with his hands in his pockets.

I watched him walk away for a moment. Evidently feeling my eyes watching him, he turned back to look at me, then waved once again with a soft smile.

I looked at the cat in my arms and began walking back home, extremely relieved that I got my best friend back. I hugged her tightly, and kissed her on the head as she snuggled into my neck. "I'm so so glad I found you willow tree," I coo.

———

Hiii! I hope you guys enjoyed the first Chapt. of this book. It's a little short but it's only the beginning;). The second chapter is currently being worked on.

Thanks for reading <3