It wasn't late but it was still for the young girl to be away from her home. It was quiet; the usual quietness of the city with only the sound of footsteps and murmur. There was a black cat roaming the streets with a big scar on its left eye. The young girl eyed him as her body trembled; she hated cats. Margaret, that was her name, with her black hair and gray eyes, waited alone for her cousin to arrive and walk her home. She didn't feel confident to return alone yet. However, with the girls trying to get her angry and ridicule herself, she tried to go home alone.
As she walked back home, she realized she missed a street or two causing her to deviate from the usual route she was used to observe. The worst part of her hour was the presence a cat that approached her meowing and asking for food. In her eyes, cats were monsters in disguise. Her feet unconsciously stepped back as her body refused to listen to her commands. She wanted to run but it was a hard task at the moment.
"It's only a cat! It's only a cat! You don't have to be scared of it," she reassured her mind as she took repeated deep breaths. Her voice was a whisper to not disturb the quietness of the space. It felt heavy on her small heart and it was the first time she noticed quietness like this, especially the building; they didn't belong to the third rank.
Margaret gave the cat one last glance before climbing a tree behind her. She sat with her legs in front of her face and her arms wrapping tightly around then. She watched as the cat walked away with a head down, easing her tension. In her mind, she knew that cats were pitiful creatures as well but she had a bad history with one of them.
Margaret Smith waited for her cousin to find her as he always did.
Sierra looked at her terrible reflection after she came back home from school. She didn't know how much she would stay in front of a mirror that spoke only the truth of her reflection. Her hands tried to fix the small details and froze when the sound of a key pushed inside the keyhole resounded in the whole house. She hesitated between closing the door of the bathroom or move to her room. In the end, she picked her coat and boots then ran upstairs jumping two by two until she reached her room. The door opened and her mother entered with a guest.
After gaining a little bit of her courage, she opened her door and peeked at the guest and mother downstairs from a corner. The woman was looking at the man strangely and Sierra didn't miss that. Her eyebrows turned into a line as a soft laughter echoed in the house. She always returned like this, ruining more of what her father had. It was like poison spread in her organs as she heard their conversation; it was mostly flirting but more importantly about her.
"I must rely on you for that, Mister. The world is still a beautiful place when people like you exist. I believe she will become a better person if you talked to her," Sierra cursed the man in her mind as he was sitting on her father's chair and her mother was in front of him, sitting their legs a few inches apart. She had a lovely simply dress covering her body. Her leg flirted with his as his hand did the same for her thighs. The woman thought she was alone.
"I will do a great work, you can trust me on that madam. I helped many youngsters regain their former life and be like what their parents asked. She will be a lovely future woman waiting for a husband after graduation. You don't have to worry about anything."
"That's true! I worry about her…"
Sierra walked back to her room, tiptoeing. The feelings that rose in her inner world were like a volcano erupting awake waiting to turn everything into a sea of bloody flames. A cloud of smoke blurred her vision and tears rolled down. A mixture of feelings whirled inside her heart taking roles; it was sad yet angry. She wished for the woman downstairs to rot in the same world she rotted in, to wither and decay until nothing was left, even ashes wouldn't have left traces. It was a wish and wishes never come to reality, which was why they were wishes.
Her eyes wandered outside the fixed a black cat that meowed at everyone walking down the streets; no one cared, no one stopped. Everyone walked as if it didn't exist; some of them kicked it aside and the other only shared a glance with it. It was that time where everyone rushed home. Sierra's eyes didn't leave the small silhouette; it reminded her of a part of her.
"To what extent are you going to shut yourself inside your room?" her mother opened the door of the room only to find it empty. She checked the areas where her daughter hid from her and she was nowhere to be found. She was confident she was home as it was her time and she found the bathroom showing signs of recent use. She shrugged her shoulders and moved to her Buddha altar making her every day prayers. Wishing for fortune, wealth and the death of husband… As soon as she reached the prayers about her husband, she turned enraged and prayed aggressively.
Sierra couldn't hear more of her absurdities so she sneaked from her window. Her body crouched next to the cat, hiding behind the white fence surrounding her house, her hand caressing the gentle creature as it warmed to her touch. She waited till her mother left her room and lifted the cat in her arms and ran to her neighbor's house. He was a cool man with a bright smile and he would never deny her in his house. She had to feed the cat.
"Hello, Uncle James," she pushed the door open as she found the old man on his couch smiling with a pipe in his right hand. "I brought a stray cat; can you keep it for me?"
"Welcome back! Are you getting away from that woman? A smart decision. I saw her as she was walking back but I couldn't warn you. I prepared something for you to eat."
"I am fine. I am planning to cook for my father tonight. I want to make a delicious meal and sit with each other."
James nodded. "He would be thrilled. Do you know how much he keeps boasting about you? Take care of him; he has no one besides you."
James watched the daughter of his neighbour take the cat to his kitchen and feed it what he prepared for her. Since his wife and daughter died in an accident he suspected fabricated, he treated Sierra like his own daughter. It wasn't a hard thing to do. As a free man making money, he had a lot and no one to leave it to. He sensed his last days approaching as his body turned more rigid and hard to use. He was satisfied with his life but only one regret resurfaced on his mind as he thought of his death; he didn't find out the truth behind their deaths. It was as if all roads stopped in a dead-end.
His hand touched the safe next to his leather chair. Unlike Sierra's house, his house didn't have many objects. When you step inside, you notice a leather chair next to a safe and a small carpet under them. He had a small table where he kept his food and days of eating with his neighbour. He nodded at the memory smiling; there was a time when everyone was satisfied with simple happy moments: sitting all six of them around this small table while the chimney kept the place warm and cozy, they laughed and had comfortable evenings.
"I will be leaving, Uncle James. Do you need me to bring something for you and help you with something? I don't know, maybe I can cook for you," Sierra showed him a smile she rarely used. It was a genuine one, expressing the small happiness she felt from feeding a small cat.
"No, it's fine," he smoked. "Why did you bring a black cat? I thought everyone feared their ominous side."
"It's hard to assume that. It's cute and I don't think they bring ominous energy. People are crazy sometimes but everyone believes in those superstitions."
"Indeed. It's the norms here, what everyone learns and experience. Come here," he beckoned. She moved next to him looking at the safe as he put his hand on it. "Do you see this? If something happens to me, you will find a key in the usual place I keep your meals," he opened the safe using a golden key. "Here, these are documents written under your name. You got to do anything with it. Use it to your liking."
"They say that when people approach death, they start talking about it, more often, more frequently, until it would be the only thing they think about. Are you going to leave too, Uncle James?" she eyed him with dull eyes, almost showing despair.
"Life is unpredictable but I feel it in my bones; my life is going to an end."
"I will think about it. I will leave. I think my mother must have left."
Hey watched her as she left, the atmosphere around her shifted to melancholy and sadness. He knew she remembered her teacher again. This time it was because of him. His head turned to the window, eying the leaves of the tree in his garden as it withered.
Sierra walked for a while and reached the end of the fifth rank area. As she turned back, her eyes noticed Margaret hiding her face between her legs.
"What are you doing there? Are you lost?"