ALL THAT WAS LEFT BEHIND

Following Instincts

Morning arose once again from the night, like a celestial spirit rising from a darkened grave. Fresh morning sunlight shone through the window, and I noted the intricate deign it made by running through one of Claire’s sun-catchers, with bright reflections of sparkly light, and an array of small colours on the table cloth.   

            I squinted my eyes, and settled down with good old cinnamon toast cereal. The taste was hardly noticed, as my mind was clouded with grogginess.

            “Good morning, Sea. Did you have a good sleep last night?” Claire asked me as she hurried down the stairs, her stringy hair flinging each way and sprinkling wet drips of water from the shower all over the floor.

            I looked up at her with a mouth full of cereal. I nodded and smiled to the best of my ability without chocking. For some reason, cinnamon toast crunch was so easy to choke on.

            “That’s good,” she answered. “Okay, I had to get to the restaurant early this morning, we have some new exciting things going on, but I'm sort of running late.”

            Claire hurriedly twisted her hair into a neat little bun on the top of her head, and fastened it with a tie. She smiled at me with her carefully coloured lips and continued talking to me as she moved around the house.

            “So, you’re okay walking to school by yourself?”

             “Yeah. It’s only a few blocks away. I’ll be fine. Thank you,” I called.

            A few seconds of sheer icy silence surpassed, which was peculiar, for there was always at least the sound of the birds communicating amongst each other, and whistling their contented little hearts out. They soon resumed, as did Claire.

            “I’ll be home before you get out of school though, do you want me to pick you up?” she asked, reappearing into the kitchen.

            She looked at me, and quickly refigured something in her mind, speaking before I even had the chance to reply. “Oh, I got a call last night. The social worker wanted to talk to you. His name is Samuel, right?”

            I nodded, wondering what else he could possibly have to say so soon.

            Claire stopped shoving things around her purse for a moment, and looked past the things around her, somewhere far and captivating.

            “Okay then dear, I'm leaving now sweetie. Would you mind pouring a little food in the kitty dish before you head out? I love you!”

            And with that, she was gone.

            Pour some food in the kitty dish?

            For some reason, the thought that cats needed food too hadn’t occurred to me. Although, I had not given the cats much thought anyways.

            I put my dishes in the sink, and scavenged the kitchen for the cat food, which ended up being located in the most obvious spot. I found it in the closest cupboard to the tiny bowl placed neatly on the kitchen floor.

            Hesitantly, I pulled it out, and struggled a bit with its weight. Carefully, I let some of the brown pieces of the unknown substance into the bowl, where it clinked against the sides as it fell. The smell of it was absolutely awful, and it filled my nose with the fishy stench of garbage.

            Despite the unappetizing smell, tiny footsteps of the eager cat rushing down the stairs were heard. The black fluffy ball of fat hurried over to the bowl as fats as its stubby feet could carry it, and it quickly plunged its round head into the bowl. Even though I hadn’t exactly taken a liking to it right off the bat, I felt myself being quite intrigued and marvelled at it.