Her Sweet Flavour

a morning visit

POV: Evane

Why aren't you in today, Mittens?

Usually she's a good girl and calls in if she's going to take a day off or is sick, but she didn't today. She had a three-day weekend and yet she's still taking another day off without ever telling me why.

My only hope is that she's okay and didn't take anymore drugs. I couldn't keep an eye on her over the days she had off because I had so much work meaning I have no clue what she's been up to. She's a good girl so she shouldn't have gotten into too much trouble, but I still want to check on her.

I've got some free time finally, so I can check up on her. She should be in her dingy apartment and not to hard to find.

Her apartment isn't too long of a drive, at least when I drive at my usual speed, so I get there pretty soon after leaving the office. I take a deep inhale to get her scent, quickly finding it, assuring me that she is at least in the building.

I huff and suck up my disgust for this place as I get out of my car. It still reeks of drugs and alcohol but her scent does help suppress it so that I can at least tolerate this place for some time. Just enough to check in on her.

Brushing past all the smokers on the balconies in front of all the doors, I slowly pass by her apartment to assure me she's in there. Her scent is so strong around her that it's easy to find where she is even without seeing her.

As I sniff around her door I can tell she hasn't smoked since I last saw her, which is a relief, but then why didn't she come into work?

With the knowledge that she's definitely in her apartment, I step back outside and step into the alley beside her building. It's dark so people are less likely to see how I'm able to get up to her window and get inside her apartment, quietly landing on the floor after checking she isn't in her living room.

By how quiet it is I presume she's still asleep. Maybe she just overslept.

I check around her apartment, struggling to pinpoint what's off about it. Something's new and there's a different smell in the air that I don't know.

Not dwelling too much on it, I go to check her bedroom where the door is closed. Her door creaks a little so I need to be careful as I open it enough to peer in.

As I expected, there she is peacefully sleeping, curled up on top of her sheets.

Mittens, I swear you're trying to give yourself a cold sleeping like this.

I sigh and slip into her bedroom to help get her under her warm sheets, though something is in my way.

What I first thought was a plush toy that she's curled herself around turns out to be a small puppy snuggled against her. It's as close as it could possibly be to her, cuddled in the crook of my kitten's arm looking very content.

Something burns in my heart seeing it so close to her. I want to be in its place. Also, this puppy can't have been with her long yet its closer to her than I am, even with my best efforts.

The small creature stirs at my presence, raising its small head to look at me. It glances at my kitten sleeping soundly next to it, nudging it's wet nose against hers to try and wake her up but she just grumbles, pushing it away but never waking up.

It whines and tries to waddle over her arm that's keeping it close. It sinks into her bed with each step, it's short legs struggling to walk towards me as I stare down at it. The creature looks up and whimpers at me before tumbling over onto it's side.