Avengers: Altruism [N. Romanoff]

5. Partners in Crime

CHAPTER 5
Partners in Crime

18 October 2008

"Sim Sala Bim!" Claire O'Connor waved her hand over her coffee table in her third apartment of the year.

Jumping on top of the counter was a Ginger Cat with a bored expression on his face, staring up to his Owner with disappointment.

"What?" Claire asked her best friend, "Too Corny?"

The Cat had only meowed softly back as an answer for confirmation.

"What was it? The Hypnotist doing a magic trick or your name as the magic words?"

The cat called Sim Sala Bim easily walked off the table towards his spot on the pale green couch that had been carried around apartment after apartment, leaving Claire hanging with her question. The four year old cat had grown to be an unexpected anchor in Claire's life, a sweet necessity that she would never leave behind.

She would send small quips his way when something went wrong, speak to him like he was a person even when she knew he wasn't at all. Normally the cat would understand through how emotional Claire would get. Sadness was a given, so was anger, but happiness was hard to understand, and so was the love she showed around her Sister that came to visit, especially one day with a tall man at her side.

It didn't take much to realise the twenty-two year-old was not living the life she was destined like those around her, even if she grew as much as they did. Every day she would leave their home, wherever it was that month, and come back later in the day either exhausted physically from performing, or emotionally from being a part-time hypnotherapist.

"It's the trick, right?" Claire shouted after her cat.

A sigh escaped her lips, her hands pulled off the glasses frame from her nose and began to wipe them from the blurs clouding her vision. A small headache was forming at the top of her head, one she firstly assumed was eye-strain which was the reason she had removed her contact lenses, but now worried it was stress.

"You're making me seem a lot crazier than I am," Claire accused the Ginger as she replaced the black frame onto her face, and started to clear her coffee table of all the goods she was using to practise.

"You're right, you're right. It's all in my head. It's an important kid, alright!" Claire justified her stress for this particular upcoming kid's party she had been hired to perform at.

She marched down her short hallway, cliché top hat and red cape falling from her arms, yet she still found time to pause in spot to allow her cat to cross paths with her.

"I've got it!" she dropped all the items from her arms, "Instead of using you, I could hypnotise a parent! That's hilarious for eleven year-olds, right?" she asked, balancing her hands on her hips.