"COME BACK HERE! You pest! " An angry middle-aged fat woman with thick yellow-colored eyeshadow and smudged pink lipstick shouted like a tortured walrus. She's holding her dirtied sandals as she runs.
She almost slipped on a dirty puddle a while ago as she chased a white furball with gray patches.
But the culprit never stopped running as his mouth secures a piece of tuna fish he stole from the raging woman. A glint of satisfaction passed through his forest-green orbs as his sensitive ears picked up a sound of hoarse breathing and gasps.
"C-Come back here! Give me back my expensive tuna! I always wanted to eat that. . ."
He heard a thud, he knew that's his cue to stop running and looked at the pitiful woman almost sleeping in the cement.
'Heh! That's what you get from eating too much and being greedy. ' The cat thought and stopped himself from smirking or else his meal would fall.
The woman started to squeal and cried like a baby as she tried to stand up. He heard that the money used to purchase the tuna came from the lady's monthly salary.
'I should have pitied you, but I am sorry, ugly auntie, but I am so hungry today and consider my continuous burglary as payment from the abuse you gave me when I was still a weak kitten. '
If he was a human, he's certain that his look could kill.
He could clearly remember when he was still a kitten. It was rainy back then and he found a nice warm cardboard box to ease the creeping coldness he felt. The box was located in a human's small gazebo. He was lucky.
He proceeded to lick himself dry and purred. He wanted to sleep. It's been weeks since he last felt this comfortable. His old cardboard box was snatched away from him by human kids, they put him inside and dropped him in a pond. He was carried away by the water. Almost drowning for almost 30 minutes.
If not because of a kind elderly woman, he had already died.
"Meow, meow, meow. " He stretched his paw and closed his eyes.
He didn't even notice a silhouette of a fat woman, crossed-arms, and snarling in his direction. "What the hell? Why is this cat here? You pest! You contaminated the box I'll use to place my newly bought pastries! " the woman angrily said and started kicking the box with him in it.
He meows loudly in pain and starts to cry. "You pest! Die! Die! " The woman continued kicking him until he was forcefully kicked out from the box. The box ruined him-bloodied and wounded.
He whimpered and tried to move his weak body. Silently hoping that the fat woman would leave him alone.
The abuse didn't stop and a pitiful wounded cat was found shivering in the rain. He couldn't even open his eyes and breathe properly because of the blood stuck on his nose.
It was a miracle that he'd survived but he wished he died at that moment.
It didn't end there, thus the abuse became a continuous cycle. Abusing the poor cat was one of the fat woman's hobbies and the abusers even multiplied.
He was beaten with numerous things.
Humans throw stones, water, even boiling water, they wouldn't care if he'll hiss in pain or he'll be bruised.
They'll use him as a toy. A game of violence and he'll get hurt.
He wondered why humans are such selfish creatures? Humans tend to be unfair and hurt others, be it other humans or other living creatures. But they will complain and act like a poor person when everything would backfire. Finally feeling the damage they had caused but never admitting they wronged.
Closing his eyes, he clearly remembered what he had done to live.
To survive, he taught himself to be agile, to be strong, and to steal from his abusers to survive. Just like any cat.
The fat woman is his favorite victim as an infamous cat burglar. Her house hosts a glorious feast every day. Obviously from that woman's physique alone, one can tell how gluttonous she is and the woman is easy to rob as cat's hell because she can't run further.
Humans called her condition as obese. But he calls it like Bob: the pig.
He dismissed his thought and proceeded to walk to a nearby alley. He needs to eat his meal as fast as possible or else other cats will try to steal it from him. That's the rule of life as a street urchin cat.
Other cats stole his meals numerous times when he was still inexperienced. They are not even satisfied if they already got his kill; they dig their claws in his skin, hurt him, and even mock him for being weak.
He knows he can't fight them back. He's physically weak; sickly-looking and skinny. . . but,
Hurt him, the hell he cares what's important is he already finished the meal.
He was supposed to be a robber, so what he stole must remain his.
He sniffed the surroundings to make sure no one was there. Cats in this neighborhood are easy to spot. Urchin like him stank with odor than domesticated ones.
'Those domesticated cats smelled like flowers with an attitude of a queen bee, add tch. '
He rolled his eyes as his brain pictured an image of a domesticated cat booming with an attitude he met a week ago.
He jumped in the garbage chute and placed his hunt there, licking his lips as his sensitive nose smelled the amorous aroma of the fish despite the awful rotten garbage present.
"Intadakimasu!" he mimicked what he had heard on a human's television and then he started ravishing his meal. . .
Fast.
If there is a monster living inside of him, surely it is his appetite. It's already two in the afternoon, approximately four hours since his last meal and now he wants to eat again.
He licked his paw and yawned. "I am hungry," rolling on the cold cement of the alley, he meowed and started to rub his tummy as it started to complain.
"It's time to hunt for food again, me is lazy. " He started to stretch his limbs as he moved his tail left and right. He doesn't want to go. He wants to visit the cat dreamland instead.
Hearing his stomach rumbling again, he started to sharpen his nails in the cement as he started to contemplate and decide.
"Lazy? Or no food? " Lifting his head towards the sky, he put his paw on his chin and started thinking. Eyes wide, mouth open.
"Lazy? " His tail wiggled to the left as he thinks. "Food?" It moved to the right.
In the end, he found himself walking straight to the direction of a nearby house, not far from the alley he's staying in.
Jumping from the gate, he set his eyes to the small apartment. "I hope there's food. The owner is crazy sometimes. "
He knew the owner of the house. A teenage human with a haggard appearance. He almost ran from fright yesterday when he saw this human; messy hair, eye bags, and swollen eyes. He looked like someone who is a 'drug addict' according to human vocabulary.
He went inside the house using an open window and began to scan for food. "It's quiet here, the owner is living alone? "
Aside from the serene atmosphere, the whole house seemed like a garbage dump. Things are scattered everywhere; clothes, plastics, rotten food, and crumpled paper.
"Messy, crazy owner," wiggling his tail, he mumbled and rolled his eyes.
"Where's the kitchen? " He walked across the room, careful not to hit the scattered trash.
"Come on, mind! Think about a new plot! " Anthony whispered as he tried to scribble ideas on his notepad.
He slumped on the dining table and sighed. "Damn, " he cussed.
He crumpled another piece of paper and threw it on the floor. Scratching his head, he picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip.
"Magical girl? " He wrote again. "But what about her? " He started to illustrate how his character would look like in the piece of paper.
He started to grin and hummed happily. "This time, Mr. Pat So will like this!" He nods as he adds a staff feature on his notes.
"She'll be able to transform using her staff and then she'll have a. . . " Putting his pen on his chin, he started to think again.
He puffed and scratched his head again. "I think I should eat my burger first. It will help me think. " Using his left hand he started to search for his burger while finishing his illustration using his right hand.
Instead of his burger, he groped something furry. Confused, he groped it again and started pinching it. "Why did my burger become hairy? " he questioned himself but still he didn't dare to look at the direction of his burger.
He pulled one of the hairs and his burger twitched. He rubbed his eyes and slapped himself. "Anthony, see? Too many fictions make you hallucinate. " He pinched his burger again and as he was about to get it-
It meowed.
"Why would a burger meow?" He rubbed his head and blinked his eyes repeatedly, making sure he heard it right.
"Anthony, you're just sleepy. Yes, you're dreaming with your eyes open." Convincing himself, he retreated his hand and decided not to eat his burger anymore.
"Idiot, " he heard a voice say and another meow followed.
He saw a cat walking straight in his direction from where his burger was. Moving its tail, it hit his coffee cup; spilling its content on his precious notes.
He saw how his illustration got soaked and how his written ideas vanished in an instant. He felt his blood boil as he gripped his knuckles, glaring at the creature who was looking at him boredly.
If there's one thing that could make him mad-It's ruining his art! His writings!
"You wretch!" He grabbed the dish cover on the table and entrapped the cat with it. The cat didn't even try to run away from what he did, which is unusual.
He smiled triumphantly and eyed the entrapped cat. "So it was you? You ate my burger and soaked my notes! "The cat just looked at him, not even blinking, expression bored and eyes looking like it's pitying him.
The cat opened its mouth and meowed. "You're a shit, " it said.
Anthony blinked his eyes, shocked at what he had heard. "W-What? " His mind started screaming, telling him the cat just talked. His heart throbbing and he started to sweat.
The cat rolled its eyes. "You're a shit. " It repeated.
Anthony saw darkness and fell to the floor with a loud thud.