There's no protocol for raining cats and dogs.

It is a morning like any other: You’ve woken up from a sleepless night by your alarm clock right on the hour, urging you to get ready for your job. You have perfected a routine that has managed to keep you on very good graces with your boss. Starting by always arriving on time, if a little earlier, if you keep up the good work, you might actually be able to gain a heavy bonus this year. Maybe you’d actually be able to ask your boss for some vacation days as well, if you got lucky, you’d be able to let loose a little bit and rearrange your bedroom for optimal sunlight. The thought of it already makes you want to hurry up and head out, however, you are not a simpleton who would leave their home before getting a good and healthy breakfast. 

You are almost done preparing some toast with butter, your favourite food, when you hear a queer sound coming from the window. A loud THUNK that makes you flinch and almost drop your plate.  

Darn kids you huff in exasperation. It was too early for them to already get into trouble.

You take a sit at your dining table and turn on the radio. The weather forecast warns you of dark clouds forming in your area and warning you that you to go out with an umbrella, before moving onto other news. You think if it would be better for you to take your car to your job but decide against it. The metro will function just as well, if a little better.

After going through your morning routine, you are ready to head out. You pick up your suitcase and your umbrella, and open the door into the street. However, you stop right in front of the doorstep when you spot a peculiar shape in front of you, a little ball of fur with big, dinner plate eyes staring right at you. You stare back.

“Meow” says the black spot sitting on your outside rug. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say this cat looked confused. Did they belong to someone? Maybe they had gotten lost.

You look around in search for an explanation for the little creature in front of you, but you only see the busy street in front of your apartment like it’s always been. Pedestrians walking about and the odd car here and there making its way through the sea of people, no other thing outside of the ordinary.

A matter for another time you remind yourself, right now you have a metro train to catch. You try to push the little fellow lightly with your foot to not step on them and they give you a most offended look before hissing and running off into the bushes. You stare at the direction the cat had run off to with a perplexed expression for a second or two before shaking your head, locking your door and heading off into the station.

You take your seat in a delightfully almost-empty vehicle. It was empty enough that you could sit comfortably in, without having to share much of your space; but still not so empty that you would have to worry there was a reason people were avoiding it. You stare out the window and watch the dark clouds forming above you and wonder if perhaps the storm was going to be harsher than what the forecast had told you. It wouldn’t be the first time, it had only been a month since the forecast promised a lovely sunny afternoon and you ended up damp in the park with a ruined picnic and a sick friend you had to nurse for two days.

No going back now you say to yourself, after all, if the storm really got that bad you could always just stay a few extra hours at work. 

After a few minutes you hear the same sound you heard in the morning, only it was louder now. THUNK. There was another one. THUNK. And another one. What on Earth was going on today? You look curiously out the window and gasp. This- This is not possible! You rub your eyes and look again! But your eyes did not lie the first time. Dogs and cats were flying through the air! No, they weren’t flying, they were falling! It was raining cats and dogs!

You are absolutely flabbergasted  as you sit back on your seat, not sure what to do. You were never taught what to do in this situations! You go to high grounds on floods, low grounds on earthquakes, but… but nothing on cats and dogs! Did raining animals even count as a natural disaster? You look around your cart to see if anyone has noticed. People are crowding around the windows and you hear snippets of conversations.

“Well, what do you know? My father was right! It is raining cats and dogs!”

“This is incredible! I must phone Lysa! Did you know? My dear Lysa lives all the way...”

“Oh, where’s my journal? Where’s my journal?! I need to write this down.”

Good. You are not going insane, not yet at least. Your mind is blank, unable to process what is going on. Instead, the only thing you can think of is how wrong the weather forecast had been today.

“Esteemed passengers! I have an announcement!” the voice of one of the conductor’s helpers catches your attention. “Do not crowd on me please!” he said before shoving some people who were rounding up around him. “Now, as you may have seen there is some unusual weather. I am afraid that our next stop must be the last one for today. Now, now! Please understand, this is a very rare occurrence and your safety is our top priority.” 

Great. You were seven stops from your destination and you’re not exactly positive an umbrella is going to help with the current weather.

The train stops not long after the announcement and you get off, running to avoid any collisions with the incoming fauna. You dust your suit and look around the station. The building is closed, which means that nothing can fall on you anymore, but it also means you and probably a hundred people are packed like sardines making your way to the line of phone booths lined at one of the walls of the station.  

You can’t help but tap your toe as you wait in line to make your call, people keep pushing past you to get through  and it’s been quite a duel to hold your spot, but you finally make it into one and quickly shut the door behind you. Finally, you can breathe without being pushed from every direction.

You straighten your suit, put your suitcase and umbrella down and call the operator, who redirects you to your office.

“I’m busy. Who’s this?” You hear the stressed voice from your boss on the other side of the line.

“Yes? Mr. Bray? This is Sawyer. I’m afraid I am not going to be able to make it to work today.”

“What? Why?”

You pause. “Sir, is it not raining around the office?”

He grumbles. “I may have heard a thing or two, but there’s not exactly a lot of time to stop and smell the rain, Yates. Now GET OVER HERE!”

Your boss’ scream is enough to almost deafen you and it startles you into almost dropping the speaker, earning you some curious looks from the people waiting outside of your booth.

On any other day, you may have tolerated this, kept your head down and moved on. On any other day, you would just have added a penny into your “Money for when I quit” jar and headed to work. But this wasn’t any other day, damn it! Your boss would have to deal with it.

“Well, sir! It is raining cats and dogs outside and if you took one moment to get your head out of your-” You stutter for a second, you didn’t want to quit yet. “Your work, you would realize that it is unsafe for me to step outside. The metro has already cancelled service and I am going home!” You finish talking right on time before the wave of courage you felt was washed away.

You hold onto the speaker tightly, unsure if you did the right thing. Oh, maybe you should’ve kept quiet! You can almost see your holiday bonus shrinking in front of you. Your boss grumbles on the other line and you are sure that he’s about to fire you.

“Heh.” A laugh? Your ears haven’t tricked you, have they? You definitely heard a laugh. “‘Bout time you grew a spine, Yates. Take the day off today and I’ll see your tomorrow.”

Before you can answer, your boss hangs up. 

Slowly, you put the speaker back to its place, though it misses a few times before getting right. This has truly been the most bizarre day that you have ever experienced, you’re about to take a seat when someone knocks on your booth.

“Are ye done over there? I need to call me son!” says a very displeased, older woman.

You quickly scramble for your things and leave the booth, venturing into the sea of people once again. Staying in the station until the storm passes seems like the most reasonable option, if you could only find somewhere to sit. You stand on the tips of your feet, but the only thing you can see are the thousand heads moving around. Everyway your head turns there’s people. Waiting area? People. Entrance? People. Bathroom? PEOPLE. It isn’t until the next train arrives and you are pushed into a gaggle of people that almost squish you that you decide to risk a concussion to get out of there.

Fortunately, the train hadn’t stopped too far away from your house and if you cut through the park it should only take you about 10 minutes to make your way back. Hopefully the cups of the trees should also help in providing you with protection. You try to move fast, dividing your attention into the path in front of you and the sky. The street is not as busy as the train station, but having to avoid a pack of dogs playing around with each other, while dodging a cat that was definitely going to fall on your face, is quite the task. You keep yourself close to the edges of the street as more animals fall around you, running off the moment they land. Just two more turns should lead you to the park and then straight to your sweet, sweet home.

You slam the door behind you, taking off your shoes and collapsing on the floor. It hadn’t even been two hours since the day started and you’re already exhausted. You should probably take a break, close your eyes a few seconds and...

Meow

A familiar sound makes your eyes shot open. The same sound that you had heard right after leaving your apartment. You look to your right only to see the same black fur and blue eyes of this morning. It’s hair is more ruffled and a quick glance to your slightly open window in the kitchen is enough to inform you of what happened.

“You had a bad day too?” You ask. 

The little creature snuggles up beside you and begins to purr. You keep staring at it, little entitled thing had just come in as if it owned the place. Although, a little furry companion didn’t seem so bad, your day had already been so weird, this might as well happen.