Lost Heart √

Eight

Skylar's POV

"Chicken!" I shouted for the fifth time (or maybe the fiftieth), looking around and past the dark street curving away from my house. But there wasn't any sound of movement or any soft meows Chicken usually responded with.

She'd run away. My cat had run away. The thought alone was so absurd that it took me a while to let it all sink in. Chicken had never done something like this before. She didn't just...run away!

"Oh God." I breathed out, my eyes wide and my heart racing wildly. The only bits of noise I could make out in the whole of the neighbourhood were the faint chatters from my own house. And that was it.

Chicken ran after the hooded guy, I told myself. And then kept repeating it until dread curled up in my stomach. What if...what if--

"Chicks," I whispered into the night. "Chicks, please come out. Wherever you are. Chicken!"

But there was no movement behind the bushes. Or near the neighbourhood houses even. It was dead still in the night.

Inhaling deeply, I pushed a few stray strands away from my face, my fingers shaking.

She'll find her way back. She always did. She used to do that a lot when she was just a little kitten. Chicken used to run away and around the house and always came back.

So I waited right there for a minute or two, anxiously biting my lower lip as I looked around. I waited and waited but nothing happened.

He took her. The hooded guy had taken my cat.

I dashed back inside my house and the moment I stepped past our backyard, Mom started bombarding me with questions.

"Skylar!" She was frowning. "Where in the world were you?" She must've seen the alarmed look on my face since she added rather softly this time. "What happened?"

Chicken, I thought. She'd been with me since I was a kid. She'd been there for me when no one else was. If something happened to her--

"She ran away." My voice alone sounded horrified.

Mom seemed confused. "Who ran away?"

"My cat! Chicken, Mom! She ran away and I tried...I've been trying to look around for her but I can't find her!" I think I was stressfully rambling since Mom stepped closer and squeezed my arm. "I can't find her, Mom."

Even during that, I found myself constantly shooting glances over the fence, the spot where Chicken had run off to.

"She'll come back." Mom told me, which I guess was her way of reassuring me. But I didn't need reassurance. I needed my cat.

"Somebody took her." I looked back at her, my eyes wide. "There was somebody...she ran after him."

Mom's frown deepened at my words. But before she could've said anything else, another loud voice interrupted us from a distance.

"Skylar! You missed all the fun! Emma literally just fell into the fire!" It was Sloane and she would've sounded tipsy if I had cared to give her much of my attention.

I swallowed and looked back at Mom. The lump in my throat felt heavy. I can't lose Chicken, I thought. I didn't want to think about losing my cat. She was out there somewhere. All alone.

"Come on!" Sloane appeared right beside me and started tugging me towards the bonfire.

I passed Mom a hurried glance and she responded with a confused shrug of her own. Confused and worried.