girl from mars

01 | cassiopeia

Amanda chucked her broken umbrella into the trash as she approached the steps to her townhouse, it seemed everything that could go wrong for her today was. First, her alarm hadn't gone off this morning which made her have to rush through her morning routine just to catch the bus into work. She barely made it on time, however, her relief was short-lived as one of her co-workers ran into her, spilling their coffee all over her. It hurt like hell, and it had ruined her favorite shirt- what once was a soft, silky cream shirt now had a large brown stain down the front.

As if that wasn't enough, the raise she had been working so hard towards for the past quarter went to Jane. Fucking Jane. Amanda's work rival who seemed to always have a problem with her- despite the fact that Amanda hadn't done anything to her. Having to deal with her as a desk neighbor was bad enough, but she refused to stop gloating about her raise for the rest of the day. She knew it pissed Amanda off, yet she did it anyway. She was practically seething as she walked home when her umbrella decided to break during a torrential downpour, further adding to her bad luck.

Completely soaked, Amanda stepped into the building's hallway to see her door left slightly ajar. Her eyes widened as she assumed the worst, however when she entered the building none of her items seemed to be missing- her TV, laptop, everything of value was still there, so she hadn't been robbed. She thought back to earlier in the morning- had she forgotten to close the door in her rush? It seemed to be the most likely option, she didn't remember locking the door like she usually did. She chided herself for being so careless as she dried her hair with a towel and changed into clean, dry clothes.

She made her way back to the kitchen, shaking the container of cat food as she poured it into Violet's bowl. Oddly, Violet did not come running into the room at the sound, which was very unlike her. "Violet?" Amanda called out, searching around the room for her beloved cat. She wasn't in any of her normal sleeping spots, which caused Amanda to start to panic. She was turning over couch cushions, peeking under the bed, and looking through every nook and cranny to find her. Finally, she hesitantly looked towards the door, the realization dawning upon her.

"Oh my god, please don't tell me she got out." She gulped, quickly pulling on a raincoat and rushing out the door.

-

"Violet?!" She called out, shielding her eyes from the torrential downpour as she peered into the alley. 'She wouldn't have gone far...not with all this rain' she reasoned to herself. But then again, she hadn't known how long Violet had been gone. She wasn't a super active cat, so Amanda was hoping and praying that she would be close by. Violet wasn't in this alley, so Amanda quickly ducked into the next one to continue searching. She had been looking for almost half an hour and was starting to become more nervous when she heard the faintest sound of a bell.

She rushed towards the noise, rounding the corner to an alley. She couldn't see anything from the outside, so she crept further into the dark alleyway. Once again, she heard the faint sound of a bell- one that sounded exactly like the one on Violet's collar. She clicked on her flashlight, illuminating the figure of a person and a grey cat in front of her.

"Violet! Oh my god!" Amanda cried out with joy, causing the figure to turn to face her. The person had black hair tied up into two high ponytails and was wearing a brightly colored outfit, they also had...blue skin? Amanda would've thought it was just a cosplay if it wasn't for the long elf ears and blank white eyes. The creature's eyes widened as Amanda approached, which caused her to slow down.

"Sorry, uh...I'm not going to hurt you," she calmly spoke, "My name is Amanda, and I just want my cat back. Uh, her name is Violet." She gestured towards herself and then towards the grey cat in their arms.

She hoped the creature could understand what she was trying to get across. She didn't know if they could understand English. She slowly approached the two, trying her best not to startle them. As she got closer, she could see the creature was covered in cuts and scrapes, dark blue blood pouring out of them. Amanda quickly bent down, examining the cuts as the creature flinched back.