Short stories

Null

 He woke up. Like every day before, he woke up. And like every day before, he couldn't get up, not yet. He lay there, looking at the ceiling, wondering if it was worth it. Wondering if he should try today. But like every day before, he still got up. Well, his equivalent of getting up. He started to flex the muscles in his skin, working them, warming them up. His body began to slowly take the shape of a human, instead of a pancake. It had been cold, so he had to work with the extra weight of the blanket. Although the blanket added a bit of a challenge, it wasn't nearly as bad as when he got cold. Nearly thirty minutes passed, thirty minutes of him just working up his rigid form. Finally, he sat up out of bed.

Now, the day has really begun. First, he got his shower, then he got dressed in his regular clothes. Jean pants, a t-shirt, and a hoodie. He looked around his house, taking in the general lack of furniture and items. The gray walls were blank, not a picture frame or shelf in sight. The kitchen was the most colorful place in the house, with dishes piling up in the sink, bread and spices left out on the counter. Stains on the floor from various dropped sauces. And then the fridge, the only truly decorated item in the house. There were magnets for clipping papers unto, a few of them occupied with important reminders. There were magnets ranging from advertisements for cars, to advertisements for food places. There were a few magnets that were just the standard black circle. That fridge had very little empty space left, space he planned on filling over time.

He grabbed himself a bowl of cereal, then after consuming it he tossed the bowl into the sink, making his way to the front door. Grabbing his sunglasses from its little shelf by the front door, he put them on and pushed the door open. A blast of cold air got him shivering, but since he wasn't a deflated pancake it didn't worry him too much. It was a Saturday, so he didn't have work today. He headed to the park, and sat down on a bench, watching the people and the birds, and the dogs. Someone sat down next to him, someone he knew from work. "Hey Null!" The man waved. "How's it goin buddy?"

"Good," Null signed to him. "You?"

"Oh it's going alright for me." The man smiled "Y'know my wife? It's her birthday today, I'm on my way to the pie shop down the street!"

"You had probably better get going then," Null signed, with a little shoo motion at the end.

"That I should!" The man chuckled, getting up from the bench. "It was good seein ya!"

Null waved goodbye to him. That was Ronald, everyone called him Rocky though. Null wasn't sure where the name came from, but Rocky was a good guy, he made friends with everyone he saw. Null could swear Rocky made friends with the pigeons even. Rocky also knew sign language, as well as spanish. "It's so that I can talk to everyone!" He would say. Rocky and Null very rarely spoke to each other, it was strange to Null that Rocky even knew he existed. Null worked as a janitor in a big company building. He was one of a few, nothing special.

Null sat on that park bench for hours, watching people come and go, noting the anxious mothers with their crying children, and the oblivious teenagers and young adults on their phones, bumping into others as they walked down the sidewalk. This is how he spent his free time. Watching. Wishing that he fit with them. He sat there all day, simply watching. Come sundown though, he had to go. With the sun climbing down in the sky, the blue fading towards gray, the lights around the city turning on, he began his journey down the road.

Null was nearly home, his house was within sight, he could see his trimmed lawn and mailbox at the end of the driveway. It was almost imperceptible, barely audible but there, under the rumbling of cars on the road and sound of brakes, a thin cry. Null paused, listening. The cry again, from a bush. Null walked towards it, and crouched to look underneath the bush. And there, inches away from his feet, was a kitten. Barely the size of his palm, it looked incredibly dirty, and its tiny voice sounded hoarse. Null stared for a moment, watching the kitten stagger out from under the bush meowing. He looked around, seeing if its mother was anywhere near, but based on the poor condition of the tiny creature, it was abandoned. He made a split second decision and scooped up the small creature into his palm. Turning away from his house, he walked to the nearest pet store, hoping it was still open. It was 7:30 by the time he got there, the sun was down, and there was only one employee inside by the looks of it. Null went up to the counter and put the kitten down, pulling out a notepad from his pocket and a pen. "What does it need?" He wrote. The employee - Lidia, her badge said - took a glance at the small thing.

"It needs formula, a bath, and a warm bed, probably a heating pad," She said.

"Where can I find those?"

Lidia looked at the front of the store, then back at him. "I'll show you real quick." They went around the store and retrieved the items, the crying kitten in Null's hand the whole time. He paid with his card, and then left to go home.

Upon arriving at his house, he put the items on the table and took the kitten to the bathroom sink, where he gently washed the dirt out of the kitten's fur with warm water. Then he prepared formula for the kitten in a small bottle he had bought alongside the formula. The kitten ate the formula rather greedily, and as Null watched it he felt warm inside. It had been ages since he felt anything but empty. "Ray," Null whispered. "Your name is Ray. Like a ray of sunshine."