Dani's short stories

I don't do titles

SaeZen, surprise

A heavy ray of sun seemed to hang over my head. The sky was bright, the weather absolutely perfect. Couples were walking hand in hand around the park I was cutting through, dogs barking excitedly, children chasing after them and each other. Everything was absolutely wonderful, I could feel it in my soul.

I reached the end of the path I was walking along and moved to the end of the sidewalk, checking to make sure it was safe for me to cross the street before doing so. A rush of wind passed me, carrying with it the faint scent of the bakery at the end of the corner, and the pizza place just after it. My stomach grumbled in appreciation of the scent. I continued on the way to my apartment, the sleeves of my sweatshirt stretched over my hands. The day may have been absolutely perfect, but the mid-October chill still got to me.

Staring down at my worn out Converse, I counted the cracks in the sidewalk. I'd made this trip many a time before, and had gotten so used to the adventure that I didn't exactly need to pay attention to my surroundings. I shifted the drawstring bag bouncing between my shoulder blades and glanced up at the sky. Streaks of pink and orange were dancing among the clouds. On a normal day, I would have stopped to admire the beauty of such a sight, but I'd already been gone for awhile and needed to hurry back.

I finally made it to my destination, swinging my bag around to grab my keys. I tugged my Supernatural keychain out of my bag and fumbled with my keys for a minute before finding the right one and carefully inserting it into the lock. The door swung open beneath my hand, groaning loudly as it moved. I tugged my key out of the door and returned it to my bag, moving into the entryway and kicking the door closed behind me.

"I'm back!!!" I yelled, setting my bag on the kitchen counter.

"Good!" Bounced down the hallway towards me, quickly followed by footsteps and the sudden form of my best friend, popping around the corner and snatching my bag from the counter. "Did you get it? "

I rolled my eyes. "Of course."

Sie laughed and pulled out a tiny collar, fit with a name tag that read 'Elizabeth' in curvy writing.

I followed Sie down the hall and into the bathroom, where a small white kitten was cuddled into a towel, her fur slightly damp. She lifted her head when we walked into the room, her strikingly blue eyes  so much more noticeable now that she was clean.

"She didn't put up too much fight, did she?" I asked Sie as I took the collar from them, placing it delicately around the kittens neck.

"No, actually, she seemed to really like having a bath. She's still a little weak, but the medicine the vet  gave us definitely has boosted her energy."

I smiled down at the little cat, rubbing behind her ears. "Hear that, Elly? You're a strong little thing." I glanced at Sie, "We can get new food for her next week? I think what the vet gave us is enough to last until then."

They nodded. "Yeah, I think. I still can't believe we found her in the state she was in."

"I mean, any animal stuck in a dumpster would obviously be really sick. Plus she's only a few weeks old."

"True."

I picked Elly up, taking her towel along with her, and moved into the hallway. Sie followed.

"Do you just want pizza tonight? I think we can afford that. I'm getting paid on Tuesday and can take care of the water bill and my half of the rent."

Sie nodded. "Sounds like a plan. We don't have to pay electricity for another two weeks, right?"

I set Elly down on a chair in the living room. She quickly snuggled back into the towel, getting comfortable. "I think."

The two of us fell into the couch across from our kitten. Sie turned their head toward me, sighing deeply. "We're adults."

I laughed. "Yeah. That's so weird."

"I know," They giggled. "But like, we're in college and have jobs and this is so insane."

We went quiet and watched Elly's tiny body rise and fall as she breathed. "We used to always talk about getting a cat...and an apartment...and going to school together." I leaned back, letting my head fall onto the back of the couch, "How long do you think it's going to take for us to fully realize that this is happening?"

Sie chuckled, "It could take forever, but for right now we just have to go with it."

A soft silence fell across the room as the pink-orange-red-yellow strips of sky outside our window sunk deeper below the horizon.