Brainstorm - What is Normal?

3. A Cat In A Storm

I was doing my usual walk home, listening to the birds that sang with my music, feeling the faint but warm afternoon sun shining above me and how it created long shadows as I walked through the neighbourhood.

I was thinking of how my day went, repeating every moment through my head. The funny things me and my friends did together, the conversations I had with people the good and awkward ones as I face palmed myself while thinking of the stupid things I said.

Sometimes I don't know what to say to people so I'll ask them random questions like 'If you could choose to never have to do one thing again what would it be?' Face Palm.

I'm not popular at school but I don't really care, I much rather spend time with a few close friends that I know will except me no matter what. Rose, Clare and Madeline's faces popped in my head, as I felt a smile spread on my face.

Since I was thinking of all these things, I didn't notice the grey clouds coming in my direction, when suddenly it started to poor with rain.

I knew today was going to be cloudy, but I didn't expect it to rain! I quickly whipped out my umbrella. And continued to walk.

The rain was becoming heavier by the minute and I could hear thunder in the distance. I thought of calling my grandma to pick me up but scrapped the idea when I remembered that she was at the movies with a friend. I continued to walk, my shoes soaked in water and the lower half of my body heavily drenched. The thunder loud and frightening.

"Why now!" I yelled at the storm.

A bright flash of lightning struck, beaming through the clouds. The sudden flash of light shocked me, blurring my vision and I slipped.

I managed to stop myself from landing face first with my hands but felt a sharp pain as I realised, I had cut one of them on a rock in doing so.

I looked up from the ground to see something bright red in front of me, standing out against all the blues and greys of the storm. Am I bleeding? No, it looks furry. The red thing in front of me moved to reveal green eyes and then meowed.

A cat?

I stood up and used my hands to wipe my eyes, trying my best to ignore the pain in my hand. As I fell, I dropped my umbrella and it must have been blown away by the storm.

I bent down towards the cat, noticing that is was stuck under a huge branch. The cat's green eyes pleadingly looked up at me begging for help. I lifted the heavy branch off the cat, but it didn't move, it must be injured.

I grabbed my backpack which was slightly dry, cleared one of the pockets, forcefully shoving my lunchbox into another and carefully placed the cat into my bag. I zipped up the sides while still leaving it open at the top and placed my jumper over it.

There were a million questions running through my head. Why was the cat out in the first place? Did it belong to anyone? What was I going to do with it? Why was it red? Whatever, I would figure it out later, right now I was focused on getting me and this cat safely home.