An Average Day at Laminax

Chapter 9

After I had crashed the car, I was making my way across the fields, heading east. Hours later, the sun was rising, and I had made my way into the mountains. I continued to walk through the mountains until I couldn't walk anymore. I was wandering around the forest, wondering when someone would spot me. The orange and yellow colour palette that I had wasn't exactly best for hiding in the forest, During the day, I usually stopped and checked my service to see if I could get any, but as I was stuck in the middle of the Coloradan woods with no towns for miles, there would usually be no service. Despite this, I used my nose to unlock my phone, which would result in four certain areas of the phone screen becoming wet due to how wet a felines nose is. Whenever I was not focused on trying to survive, I also practiced saying basic words until an understandable sentence came out of my mouth. At night, I slept up in the trees, hoping that the foliage would cover me.

I woke up as early as I could so that there would be less risk of someone spotting me. I climbed down the tree easily and wandered around the forest again. It was quite peaceful, apart from the fact knowing that I was being hunted down and when I did get caught, there would be a possibility that I would be either killed or transferred to some far away laboratory. It was much like being in the Hunger Games, hiding in the woods, sleeping in the trees and gathering for supplies. The only thing that was missing was a bow and arrow and other people who were out to kill me. Now that I think about it, I think that could apply to the workers at Laminax looking for me, most likely wanting to kill me.

On the third day of being in the forest, I was close to starving. All I had to eat was some apples that I found in the back of the car that I crashed. I peeled off the skin and ate it in small quantities, and I got to the core of the apple on the second day of being in the forest. Third day, going onto the fourth... I thought to myself, as I was sitting down on the forest floor, looking at the sun set in the distance. My phone went flat just thirty minutes ago and was now placed into my messenger bag, which was slung around my shoulder. Over the course of these days, I had managed to nearly completely regain my speaking abilities. The only word that I was struggling to say was octopus, but I didn't see how that would come up as a problem later on. The night got colder as the sun set. I got up and started to walk. To the left of me was a road, and cars sped up and down. I was making sure that I the foliage was completely covering me, so nobody could spot me. I walked and walked, thinking that this would go nowhere. I jumped at every little noise, thinking that somehow a hiker was going past.

I saw lights in the distance. When I moved closer, crouching down, I saw that I was approaching civilization. Although I felt safer being in the forest, I knew that I would starve to death if I stayed for much longer. Once I made sure that there were no cars, I quickly sprinted across the road and onto the other side. I kept to the side of the road, quickly moving. I went past luxurious houses with long driveways to smaller houses with trash bags on the front lawn and long forgotten frisbees on the roof. Once I went past a house with a large dirt driveway, I looked at a street sign to see where I was. Cheyenne Boulevard it was it read. I quickly ran away and found myself hiding behind a bush. I looked at the building that was at the other side of the road: Hermanos Oaxaqueños Mexican Restaurant. Cars were constantly pulling out of the small parking space in front and new cars were replacing the empty spots. I looked down the road to see if any cars were coming, but there were none. I quickly crossed the road and found myself at the back of the restaurant. There were large dumpster lining up across the back of the restaurant, producing an overwhelming smell for my feline nose. I crouched down next to a particularly foul-smelling one.

I covered my nose with one of my paws, and I was wondering what to do now. I was right outside a busy restaurant in an open space, where someone could easily spot me crouching down next to the dumpsters. I was slowly beginning to panic. When James was about three, he would close is eyes and stand against the wall, waiting for someone to come along and attempt to scare them, because he believed that if he had his eyes closed, he would turn invisible, and nobody could see him. Right now, I wished that were true. I could feel my ears pull back and flatten on my head as I realised what kind of situation I was in. Incoherent thoughts filled my mind, worries and anxiety. In a last second desperate measure, I said quietly "Save me."

There was a sudden, strong wind force, and shortly afterwards I could hear something land softly on the grass next to me. I slowly turned my head down to see a black and white truckers cap on the grass. I heard a man say "Wow, that was a real strong gust of wind. Where'd my hat go? Oh, there it is." The sound of the man walking across the grass become louder and louder. I closed my eyes. "What the... what is that? What? Oh my God..." the man said. I opened my eyes and turned to him. He was holding his hat and staring at me. He had a whitish-tan skin tone, with a stubble beard, black hair and a haircut that could only be described as a combination of slicked back hair and a mullet. He had a short black sleeve shirt and tattoos spreading up and down his arms. He had a black leather belt with a large buckle and charcoal pants. He was looking at me with shock. "Uh... what's going on? What are you supposed to be? A cat? It isn't Halloween right now, its May." He spoke. I nodded my head. The man was now talking to himself, saying "Oh.. I don't know what to do. Should I call the police? Oh, God..." "D-don't call a-anyone." I muttered. "Oh, you can speak? Alright. I won't call anyone." He spoke. "Take me to... your c-car. Make sure t-that nobody sees me." I spoke. "My car? Alright.. I'll get it started, and I'll open the door for you. When you see the door open.. come here as fast as you can, but try not to draw any attention to yourself, alright? I'll be asking questions about... you." I nodded. He put the hat back on his head and he ran away.

I turned my head to see him getting into a blue pick-up truck. He started the engine and opened the passenger side door. I quickly got up and crouched down, sneaking towards the car. I got it and slammed the door, throwing the bucket into the back of the car and lowering myself in the seat. He looked at me with a confused face, before shaking his head, backing out of the space, and going onto the road.