-GOLDEN THORNS-

~CHAPTER 1: SHATTERED MIRRORS~

Rose woke up from his bed in a cold sweat, and examined his surroundings. To the left of him was a window with yellow stains, a cardinal plushie, and a small leprechaun figure that sat next to a black, potted flower. To his right, a poster of "Bill Forest and the Leeches", a piece of his wallpaper falling off, an empty bug cage marked "Jared", a sewing kit, syringe and shattered mirror. He sighed in relief. He was still in his shabby apartment.
He looked down at his paw. He was still missing one of his arms, and a rose vine entangled the remaining one. He stared into his shattered mirror and saw he was still missing a tooth. He was still the same. He sighed. "Why must my memories come to haunt me?". He regretted that deal he made with the figure all those years ago. But you can't change the past now, can you?
He got out of his bed, brushed his teeth, combed his fur and went outside. Standing there were two other cats. One with light yellow fur, two wristwatches and glasses, and the other one was a dark brown cat with half a tail and eyebags. "Hey Rose!" the light yellow one said. "Morning, Violet" Rose replied. "We were waiting forever!" the dark brown one said. "I doubt it was that long, Bane" Rose stated. "Uhhh... guys?" Violet said, looking at one of her wristwatches. "It's 1 hour AFTER school starts". "WAIT WHAT!" Rose shouted. He couldn't be late to the last day of school! He and his friends hurried down the streets, and stopped to catch their breath. Bane went to the street and held his thumb out for a Taxi. "I don't think that'll work..." Violet warned. "Oh please, this is Mew York city! There's Taxis EVERYWHERE" Bane snapped back.
By some miracle, the gang had gotten a ride from a skinny, oriental shorthair with a missing eye. "Hello there... need a ride? You already paid me earlier, so it's okay!". They were confused, sure, but they took what they could get. Bane, Violet and Rose all hopped into the taxi while Violet tried to start up some casual conversation. "Soooo... how did everyone sleep?" she asked. Bane just stared at her with a look that said "You know I have insomnia" while Rose just sighed. "Well, you see... my dream was the memory of me making a deal with that plant thing". Violet tried consoling Rose. "Well there's worst cards you could've gotten!". Bane did an annoyed sigh. "You DO realize that he just re-lived his greatest regret, and your response is 'it could've been worse'? That's like responding to a pirate reliving the day he lost his leg and you respond with 'It could've been worse'." he spoke. This made Violet silent as a mouse.
The taxi driver responded. "Well, when I was 'bout your age, I stumbled across that plant feller' and made a deal. He promised me smarts but he took my eye. I thought that was the end of it, but he drew a card and now I know that everybody I meet is the same guy in disguise." He told the kids. "Don't even TRY to hide it" he added menacingly. "What...?" Rose questioned. Bane took out a book and quickly flipped through the pages until he landed on the one he wanted. "Fregoli's delusion... a mental disorder where the victim has the belief that everybody they meet is the same person in disguise... My guess is he got the disguise card" He then closed the book. "So that's why he thought we paid him before!" Violet added. "Wait, we never told him where we wanted to go..." Rose added. He looked through the car window and saw they were about to pass the school. He opened the car window, and the kids jumped out of the Taxi and ran inside the school while the Taxi driver nearly crashed the car.