𝙷𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚊𝚜𝚝 ↠ 𝐂𝐀𝐂𝐖

Just Wait For Me

As the week went by, Alpine's food supply ran low, and she sure let me know. The constant meowing, the pouncing on me playfully, the list goes on. So as I got her little travel bag ready, she came up next to me and just watched me. I side glanced at her before continuing to lace the bottom of the bag with her favorite blanket.

When I finally finished, she didn't hesitate to jump right into the bag and make herself comfortable. While she was snuggling in the bag, waiting for me, I went to the door to grab my sneakers. As soon as I was done lacing them up, I walked back to Alpine. I picked up the bag and put the strap over my shoulder, making sure I didn't shake the bag too harshly while walking down the hall and down the stairs.

So after the dreaded 23 flights of stairs, we reached the old, rusted entrance door. I stopped for a moment before gazing down at Alpine, who was just laying, curled in a ball in the bag. "You sure do give me a workout going down those stairs, Alpine." I gave her a breathless laugh before going to the door.

 When I pushed the door open to the outside world, it made a groaning creak. After all the years that it hadn't been used. Even with me living there, the door was nowhere as used as it once was.

Stepping out, the Sun blinded me for a moment since I had spent most of my time in my dark apartment. I had to squint my eyes for a while before they eventually got used to the intense amount of sunlight. Alpine, on the other hand, seemed to like the sunlight on her back because she just snuggled into her blankets even more. I could hear her soft snores in between my paced footsteps as I continued to walk.

As we got closer to the street vendors, I could hear the commotion get louder. Not that it was a bad thing. After all, it was the weekend. The only bad thing was that since it was a weekend, it meant there would be a lot of people. All the more reason to hurry with my shopping and return home.

Once I reached the main street of the vendor stands, the crowds people formed were overwhelming. It was a lot busier than it usually was, which was odd. I mean, sure, it was usually busy, but just not this busy.

Trying to maneuver my way through the river of people without getting pushed back with their current of footsteps was a difficult task, to say the least. All while Alpine just slept like a baby in the bag at my side. Finally pulling myself out of the stampede of people, fighting for my life, I made my way to a stand and began to look around at the items on display. 

The stand didn't have anything I had been looking for in particular, as it was a jewelry stand, but the items on display were quite a sight for sore eyes. The (probably fake) jewels sparkled when the sunlight hit them just right. It reminded me of an all too familiar encounter; one that happened so many years ago. 

"Are you just going to sit there and stare, or are you going to say something?" He said, in a defensive tone, still looking at me. You could tell his accent was that of an American.

I sat there for a moment, thinking about what I should say. My mother taught me that staring was rude, but I've been kidnapped, and I still have no clue where I am; so do the rules still apply?

"Would you happen to know where we are, or are you as clueless as I am?" I asked, trying to get some sort of reply. He didn't answer.

I turned my gaze towards the wall until out of the corner of my eye caught that of something glistening. When I looked at the source, I was shocked to find that the source of the glistening was coming from the man. Not only that, but it was his arm that was creating the effect. His gaze shifted from me, back to his arm.

"Pretty ugly, isn't it? Makes me look like a monster. They made me into this, this machine. You'd think after all these years of having it, I wouldn't even have a reaction to it anymore." The break in his voice, it hurt to see the self deprecation.