Swept

Chapter 2

I look into the deep swirling shadows of the alley, feeling like backing out of this alley with Mikey and making a run for it. But in my heart, I know it's too late. There's no way Mikey would be able to walk anymore tonight, and even if he could, I wouldn't risk getting us in the line of fire of animal control. So, at this vital moment in my life, the courage that's now pumping through my blood veins is the only thing that forces a shout from my mouth. "Ash! I need you!" No reply. Well, second times a charm. "Ash!" Her dark gray form slinks out of the shadows. "What do you want?", she snaps. I blow out a slow, exhasperated sigh before answering, "My friend Mikey hurt his paw. Can you please help me?" She peers around me to look into Mikey's emerald gaze. She growls at me, and asks, "And what can you do for me if I help you?" I blink twice, a nervous habit of mine, and answer, "This time, I can't do anything. But this is my best friend and he's seriously hurt. Ash, please help me. Just this once, I promise."

She growls again, and stalks closer to me. "Listen punk, I don't just do favors for house cats.", she says, casting a death glare at Mikey. "Okay.", I say softly and shrug. "Come on, Mikey." I turn towards the moonlit entrance of the alley. Just before we leave, I look into her deep blue eye one last time. She seems to freeze, then she starts coughing uncontrollably. She calls out for somebody, and stumbles onto the concrete.

I gun it up to her, with Mikey whimpering and limping behind me. "Are you okay?", I ask anxiously. She swipes her paw out at me, and her claws connect with my jaw. "I'm fine. But... But... You guys can stay.", she stutters. Relief floods me, mixed with pain because my sliced jaw is really hurting. "Thank you, Ash. It's just till tomorrow." She looks sideways at me. "And don't think I'll do this again!" I smile slyly at her, and start to direct Mikey over to the clan nurses. "Oh!", she calls. I look back at her again. "And you can call me Luka."

-2 hours later-

Mikey is still in the care of the clan nurses. His paw must be broken; it wouldn't be taking this long if it wasn't. I'm still worried about him, but eventually the day's events combined with the peaceful mewing in the alley lulls me to sleep.

About two minutes later, I feel a gentle nudging at my side. You've got to be kidding me, I literally fell asleep two minutes ago. "Callie?",says a soft voice. Mikey, of course. "Are you awake?" I flick my tail at his side. "Well I am now.", I grumble. He lays down and curls himself into my side, and surprisingly I don't really mind- half because I'm still drowsy and half because he looks scared, like he needs some support. Heaven knows that's what I needed when I first started out as an alley cat.

"I'm scared. I wasn't built for this life!", he whispers almost silently. "Neither was I. Now sleep. I'm tired and can't put up with this."

+++

I'm a tiny kitten again, and my usual sleek white hair is fluffy. Mom lays a few feet away, watching me prance about in an illogical attempt to catch a dust mite floating through the air.

As I bound in front of her, she scoops me into her paws and starts to clean the fur on my wriggling body. The piercing sound of a siren cuts through the house, and smoke billows into the living room. "Mom!", I scream. "Hush, baby.", she purrs. She picks me up by the scruff of my neck and runs through the doorway of the living room.

She continues running through the house. The stench of smoke and burning becomes more prominent as we near the kitchen, and mom looks up just as a pole from the jacket hanger falls to the ground. It hits her right eye, and me and her scream simultaneously. Her open mouth causes me to go tumbling to the ground, but she doesn't stop. She thinks she still has me. "Mom! Mommy!", I yell frantically. I'm crying from the smoke, and because I'm genuinely terrified. I take a half step forward, but yelp and jump back as burning pieces of wood crash to the floor in front of me.

"Mommy?" I'm so tired. Maybe it would be best to just lay down, forget everything. The smoke is burning my lungs, and my white fur glistens with sweat. Don't lay down! Get up!, my conscience screams. But I do lay down, collapsing onto the floor as my weight seems to double. My eyelids sag shut, and all I can think about is the fear that I'll never see my mom's beautiful blue eyes again.

+++

I wake up gasping for clean air, air without smoke. It's still night time. Mikey slumbers peacefully beside me, and the alley is silent. Screw it. I start to cry. And when I say cry, I mean cry. I manage to stay silent, but the sobs that wrack me are the hardest I've cryed in a while. I remember the fire, of course. I'm able to clear it from my mind most days, but suppressing the memories just serves to make them come crashing back to me with ten times the strength they did last time.

I can't remember much of my mom, so I can't explain why the memory of losing her hurts so much. Actually, I can explain. It hurts because I know that my mother is probably dead. It hurts because I'll never get to grow up with her, or get to know her.

It hurts because I'll never get to tell her I love her.

I loved her while I was a kitten, and I love her now. When I was a kitten, though, the only words I knew were mom and mommy. I never got to tell her.

Mikey is stirring beside me, and there's no way I'm waking him up and explaining this to him. I think I'm going to go for a walk.

I stand up and shake the drowsiness out of my limbs, stepping lightly around the slumbering figures of the alley clan. The moon still shines bright in the sky by the time I make it to the dark storefronts framing the alleys entrance and some cars still drive by on the road. My paws carry me to a little fabric store about five stores away, with wrought iron benches and a pink and yellow striped awning in front. I hop onto one of the benches, settle my head down, and turn my eyes onto the cobblestone sidewalk beneath me.

The tears still blur my vision as I lift my head and body up so I'm level with the window just above the bench. All sorts of fabrics, threads, and ribbons line the walls and shelves and the tears fade away as I get lost in the pattern of a turquoise and ivory fabric. I would love to disappear into the swirls of that fabric, to thread myself into its peace and harmony and away from this crappy, disaster-filled life and for a brief moment I imagine that I have. Then I open my eyes again and I'm back to reality; back to the fact that I'm an orphaned alley cat who causes trouble.

"Callie?" I turn around and there's Mikey, a little black smudge almost indistinguishable from the surrounding shadows. I sigh and jump down from the bench, landing a couple feet away from him, and start making my way back to the clan alley. Miley clambers up beside me, and starts to ask, "Why were-" "It's no concern of yours," I cut him off sharply. "And don't follow me places without me knowing." He dips his head and walks in silence the rest of the way, and when we get to the alley I find the deepest, darkest corner to sleep in for the remainder of the night.