MANIACAL | TRACOB

Four.

"Jakey? Jakey!"

Troye's voice rang through the empty house, bouncing off of the dust-covered walls. He had been calling for Jacob for the past five minutes, and his voice was starting to get scratchy, his throat itchy. He let out a sneeze and then a huff, looking around the room for something to drink. He had just woken up to an empty room (aside from the kitten) and he could not seem to get the door open. And yes, he had tried jiggling the handle both ways and pushing and pulling on the door. Nothing worked. He figured it was stuck. And so he sat, by himself, in this pink room. With the cat. Troye did not even know why he had fallen asleep, seeing as he was not sleepy at all. Tired, but not sleepy. Those were two different things. But then Jacob have him a drink and cuddled him and all of a sudden Troye felt all heavy and his eyes all droopy and he fell into a deep sleep. He figured that Jacob had laid him down and tucked him in after that, but now Jacob was gone and Troye could not seem to find him.

"Where d'ya think he went, kitty?" Troye asked the little fluff ball, picking her up. He looked into her eyes and smiled as she meowed, pulling her closer and giving her a kiss on the top of her head. "I guess that I can figure out a name for you while we wait for Jakey, yeah?" Troye sat in the middle of the bed and crossed his legs in front of him, setting the kitten in between his legs. He looked at her black and white fur, trying to see if she looked like a certain name would fit her. Sure, there were the boring names like Oreo, but that was too cliché for a black and white kitten. "Oh I know! I should call you Strawberry, cause I got you from Jakey and he always gives me strawberry things! And you're sweet like a strawberry and. . . and I like Strawberry Shortcake!"

Troye laid down on his back and patted his chest, letting the kitten crawl up on to him. The kitten curled up, purring loudly as Troye pet her gently. The boy stared at the ceiling, randomly beginning to count backwards from one hundred. And he did that same thing almost eight times before he heard footsteps coming up the hall. He sat up quickly, holding onto Strawberry so that she did not fall. "Hi Jakey!" Troye said, letting Strawberry down and crawling towards the edge of the bed. He watched Jacob as he walked into the room and shut the door behind himself, setting a bag down on the floor. Troye leaned up on his hands and knees, giggling as Jacob leaned down and gave him a peck on the nose. "Where did ya go? Strawberry and I missed you."

"Strawberry?" Jacob asked, raising his eyebrows. Troye nodded and picked up the kitten, holding her out for Jacob to hold. He did so, slightly reluctantly, holding her small body in his big hands as Troye reached up and pet the top of her head.

"She's called strawberry because I got her from you and you give me lotsa strawberry things. And she's sweet like a strawberry. I really like strawberries and I really like her, so it fitted! Speaking of strawberries, when are we goin' back for birthday cake? Mama must have it there by now."

Jacob was quiet for a moment before placing the cat back onto the bed. "No, we aren't going back tonight." Before Troye could speak, Jacob held up his hand. "But I got us one that we can have all to ourselves. And I got you some toys and movies. Tonight will be fun, like a birthday sleepover."

Troye perked up slightly at the mention of a sleepover. He was never really invited to sleepovers, no one really liked him. It was so nice of Jakey to bring him here for a sleepover, wasn't it? They could have so much fun together and spend time playing with Strawberry and maybe even teaching her tricks. "I didn't ask mom though," he said. "I always have to ask mom if I can go out, Jakey. She does not want me to get hurt."

Jacob nodded. "I know, that's very smart of her. But luckily for you, I already asked! So now we can sit back and watch movies and eat your birthday cake and do whatever you want to do."

"That does sound nice," Troye muttered, "okay. As long as it's good with mama 'n dad, I wanna stay. Can we go on an adventure before we do anything else, though? I wanna go outside!"