After school had ended I started walking. I checked my watch, it was 3:35. I saw a cat in an alleyway, it was perched on top of the railing of an apartment. It stared at me intently with its bright yellow eyes. I stepped forward down the alleyway, it jumped down, and walked over to me. Purring and tiptoeing around me. I crouched down and petted its back, rubbing my hand through its black fur. I looked at him with pity and said," Sorry buddy I ain't got no food maybe next time." It looked at me longingly, but I walked away and it eventually returned to its home in the alleyways.
"I'm home" I whispered, as I opened the door. I put the keys back on the hook and closed the door. I walked to the kitchen. There were bottles of beer everywhere, most emptied but some had tiny bits left in them. There was a sticky note on the kitchen table,
Hey, I have to go overtime at work again there should be enough food in the fridge. Make sure to do your homework.
"Of course," I sighed. He always did this, why should I be surprised? I got a garbage bag and picked up all the trash before tossing it outside. I walked to my room and closed the door. I took out my papers and set my backpack down at the side of my chair. I took out my earbuds from my backpack and started listening to music. The homework wasn't very hard as it was tedious. Often I'd spend hours every week generating graphs and equations.
After a while of working, I took off my earbuds and laid back on my chair. I was pretty much finished with my homework so I decided that I would go out for a walk. I checked my watch, it was 5:17. I grabbed a jacket, my phone, and a couple of other things and walked out the door. I ran down the stairs. As I ran out of the apartment complex a crow flew past over my head cawing as it lept into the sky. I smiled and ran out into the sidewalks.
After walking for a while it had started to get a little cold outside so I was glad that I got a jacket. I walked past the convenience store, past the monument of some random dude, past the park, and made my way up the sidewalk and into the pet store. After a couple of minutes of searching for cat food I had decided on "catopia's catfood", I went to go grab three cans. I heard someone saying something in the background. I grabbed three cans and put them into the shopping basket.
"Can you hear me?" I looked up starting to think someone was talking to me. The first thing I saw was her. What was her name? Had I already forgotten? I think it started with an a? I scratched my head.
"Sorry I forgot your name", I told her. She looked at me almost unsurprised.
"No problem it happens all the time, my name's April!" She said chuckling.
"Oh okay. What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I thought it was pretty obvious? I'm buying pet food."She replied laughing.
"Oh sorry that was a dumb question from me," I said.
"No problem. What's your cat's name?" She asked.
"Oh I don't own a cat I just found a stray cat and I'm feeding it so, I didn't name it," I told her. I remembered the first time I had met the cat. It was a couple of months after we had moved here. I didn't have many friends. so naturally I was pretty alone, but when I was walking home one day. I saw a cat lying on the floor of an alleyway. I rushed to try to help it but turns out it was just sleeping, and from that day I had always tried to meet it, and feed it.
"Oh, what a shame. I have a cat, her name's Happy" She said. Before I could say anything she asked, "hey random question, can I see your hand?" I hesitantly raised my arm letting her hold my hand. She looked at it for a moment, then with a look of almost disappointment. "I'm done. Sorry, that was kinda weird wasn't it."
"No problem, weirder things have happened to me," I replied. with a quick breath, I said, "I'm gonna go check out now. You wanna come with?" She agreed smiling.
I walked out of the pet shop waving goodbye to head down to the alleyway. After a couple of minutes of walking, I noticed something strange. Today there weren't many people out and about. No lovey-dovey couple walking around flexing the fact that they were in a relationship. No children were running out and about playing with the toy planes they got from PicPonalds. Though there was the occasional person walking down the street. "Whatever, it happens sometimes. maybe everyone's got something going on today? "I thought to myself. So with that, I'd shrugged off the notion and continued walking. looking forward to meeting my buddy.
Right before entering the alleyway, I called out, "buddy!" No answer. I took out the can of food and started opening it with a can opener. However, once I saw into the alleyway I quickly ducked back. I could make out three figures in dim light. Two figures towered over another. They were both tall, but something was strange about them. They almost looked deformed, but the third one seemed worse, almost like he was dead. It was silent for a little bit but then I heard a skittering sound followed by a strange gurgling. I swallowed and took a deep breath, and out of curiosity decided to take another look into the alleyway. The people were gone. Maybe it was my imagination? Still cautious I stepped into the alleyway. I wondered how the people could have disappeared just like that if it wasn't my imagination. I heard a skittering sound and quickly turned. No one. Maybe there was another alleyway connected to this one I thought. I heard some skittering again, I looked directly to my side. I let out a sigh of relief just a couple of cockroaches. "Hey, buddy are you okay?" I whispered. I took a deep breath and forced myself further in. The alleyway got progressively darker. I thought about turning back but I really wanted to find the cat.
"Damn looks like a rat found its way in" the sinister voice echoed through the alley. I swallowed And looked back. Then it was there. I shrieked and fell backward. It looked like a person wearing some sort of black clothing barely trapping in its deformed body, and it had bandages wrapped around its face all the way until it reached his mouth with blood splatter layered around its clothing, its arm deformed in a gruesome manner. Its mouth wagged side to side as if the jaw was broken, its teeth jagged and unevenly spaced. Its face is a little longer than most people. Then the other one dropped down, just as creepy as the first
"So how much do you know human?" It snarled as it grinned a toothy smile. It tilted its head to the side letting its bandages flow down onto the side of his face. They started to advance, slowly but surely step by step until they were 2 feet away from me. I stared into their eyes, not sure what to say. My brain is racing to find a way out. My eyes scanning the alleyway for anything, for anyone walking past. Now looking at the alleyway, it was decently spaced with pipes running down the buildings. Wires nearing the second floor. The buildings however looked old and abandoned. However, that was all I could make out in the darkness.
"Nothing," I said, while beads of sweat dripped down my forehead. It looked at me with its glaring yellow eyes, as if it was peering into my soul. I took a deep breath, my mouth dry, my eyes scanning desperately for anything. However to no avail with the two creatures pinning me down I couldn't do anything. The pipes were attached to the buildings, the wires were too high, I definitely couldn't climb that far up, and even if I could the frail building beside me would collapse and murder me not to mention the creatures wouldn't stand there doing anything. I looked at the ground, full of loose dirt. Then I saw it. A little further into the alleyway, there it was. A medium-sized wrench sitting behind a drainage pipe. I took a deep breath, looked up, and said, "look how bout I just leave I won't tell anyone anything." It chuckled,
"You know too much, boy."