When the Sun Sets

Chapter 2: Loneliness is now only patchy

"Meow"

That sound..

" Emerald! You.. Y-You survived! " I said now bursting into tears as I picked up the silky cat.

She purred as I stroked her. I was no longer alone! I sat down on my bed with her and started eating the first can of baked beans followed by the opening of Emerald's cat food.

I was amazed at how unscarred the cat was. She only had a few burnt marks on her tail which weren't major and black ash on some of her fur. I presumed that Emerald had noticed the fire early and ran of East instead of North like we did, hoping to meet us at the safety house when it was all over. She is a very obedient and clever cat. Her sense of smell is rather sensitive as well meaning she could smell smoke from miles away. 

I decided to give her a bath in a pond outside, in order that shower water could be used for water supplies. I also had a bath with her since we were nowhere near anyone.

I am a country girl and was born that way. Our farm is filled with lots of wheat fields, on one side, and grass on the other where the trees were located and presumably the direction where the bush fire came from. Our farm was pretty and our house was made of solid wood. Although this was not necessary for bush fire sake's, the family loved it and it was cheap seeing that we struggled to make a living at times.  My dad works in supplying wheat to the wheat industry but the income is not much considering the transportation of the wheat itself. My mum meanwhile, painted for a living and some of her paintings were recently shown in an Australian Art Exhibition. My mum always captures colour well. If anything was to stand out in her artworks, it would be that. That is what always made our home, home. Mum's Artworks. They covered every wall making everything feel personalized and special.

Though the safety home is not like that. It was never decorated properly because we didn't consider the bush fire happening relevantly soon. It has a table and chair facing the back corner along with a small fireplace on the corners wall.The bookshelf was located next to the three mattresses on the ground on the right hand side of the room where the blankets were thin and the pillows, stiff. The kitchen and a bigger table with three chairs surrounding it, were located 20 steps in front of you, against the wall opposite to where you enter. The floors were tiled everywhere in order that the fire won't spread and the walls were made of the tick layered steel that you see on the outside as well. For safety, there were no windows except fro the a small hole near the mattresses. Outside everything was wet from the rain last night that stopped the bush fires, which made walking through the grass barefooted not a nice trip. To the left of the safety house, is a small pond, big enough for two people to bath yet not a swamp. Around the pond there is black tainted grass making the sky blue that the pond reflects, stand out.

The lack of sleep I had last night is regretfully talking was taking its toll on me so I went to have a nap.