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Fiction Crime Coming of Age

This story contains themes or mentions of physical violence, gore, or abuse.

The rain was pouring, the blood dripping off my dry hands. I stared at the bloodied body in front of me. I see a flash of black in the corner of my eyes, I turn my head to see a small black cat with bright orange eyes. It stares back at me. I get snapped out of my trance at the sound of the police sirens. I grab my bag and the things I could get off the person in front of me quickly. I run down the street until I know I’m far enough away. I can’t get the image of the cat out of my head. When I get home, there is something on my floor mat. I pick up the object for it to move, and when I lift the lid there is a small; black cat. I look around thinking this is some joke. I hear my neighbors sleeping in their apartments. It’s 3 in the morning who would be up at this hour? I pull my keys out and unlock the door. I head straight to the spare bedroom. I dump my bag out to see what I can salvage and hopefully sell. I hear the door creak open, I look back to see the cat walking toward me. I pick up the cat and set it on my head. I focus my vision on the technology and look for any damaged parts, Nothing that can’t be fixed easily. I clean and bag everything to sell at the pawn shop in a few hours. I take a quick shower and head to bed. I wake up to see a person in all black next to me in bed. I sit up and inspect the situation. The person wakes up and has bright orange eyes. That's when I realize how small the person is. She looks at me with fear in her eyes. Suddenly there is a black cloud and the person is back to the cat. I get up and mumble that it’s too early in the morning for this. I walk to my pantry and grad nut bar. I look behind me to see the cat. “I know you’re human don’t hide it anymore.” I turn around and see the girl she looks to be 5’2 or shorter, I toss the nut bar at her. After some explaining on both sides, I look through my closet looking for better clothes for, um. “Hey, what do I call you?”

“Um, Kuro,” She says, I see an old hoodie in the back. I grab a pair of shorts. “You can wear these until we can get to the store.” I watch her to go the bathroom to change. I grab my backpack and start to put all the packaged “stock” and get ready to go.

“Where are you going?” I look behind me seeing Kuro. I sigh and pull a pair of boots out of the closet next to the door. I help her put the shoes on. I grab her wrist and start to walk to the pawn shop.

“I can offer you 1050 for all of this.”

“That’s it? You have offered more for less!”

“I can’t sell this easily.” I grab the stuff back and leave forgetting about Kuro. I walk back in and see her looking at a collar of some sort. I make a mental note to get a collar for her. I whisper in her ear that we should get going. We walk to another pawn shop down the street. 

“I can offer 3200 for all of this.” 

“Deal” I get the cash and turn around only to not see Kuro behind me.

“Looking for your friend? She went back there.” The other shopper says. I walk towards where he pointed and saw that there were tapestries with cats and other animals on them. The words were foreign and couldn’t be read. I see that Kuro is looking at a smaller one that has a crow and cat on the top and People in black on the bottom. I go out front and ask the price of the small tapestry. He told me to just take it. 

“I have a lot of people buy them daily, that is the one that can’t catch the eye of most. Did it catch your eye?”

“Um, no it caught my friend's eye.” I go back in there and grab it. I see Kuro is looking at me. She comes close and whispers in my ear; Can we get something to eat. Her voice sends chills down my spine. We head out and get some fast food, I take my napkin and wipe the dressing off her lip. After we ate we headed to the store to get her some clothes. I find a cat onesie and show it to her. She pulls on a dino onesie. We try both on we look at each other only to burst out laughing. Kuro got the onesie and three sweaters, two short sleeve shirts, three long-sleeved shirts, three pairs of sweatpants, one pair of black ripped jeans, some thigh-high socks, three pairs of shorts, and two sets of pajamas. I bought the onesie and a pair of black gloves. I look at the price and see that it was only 35.67. Cheaper than I thought. When we got back to the apartment the neighbor knocks on my door. Kuro was sitting on the couch wearing the hoodie with a pair of her shorts with her new socks. When I open the door she asks who is there. My neighbor looks behind me to see Kuro. She looks at me and asks me to call her later. Her words scare me but I nod my head. When I called her later we had a disturbing conversation.

“Hello deary, What time did you get home last night?”

“I got home around 3 am, I was out all night.”

“Were you near 𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋?”

“I walked by the area in the early evening, Why?”

“My brother was attacked in that area around 2 am.”

“Oh, I am so sorry ‘bout that. I should probably let you go, I have to finish up some work.” I hang up and worry. She knows I’m out late often. I didn’t know that was her brother, but I did save him from the drug dealers. I walk into the bedroom to see Kuro.

Two years later

 I clock out at work around 3 pm, and I walk outside to the alleyway near my work. I pull my mask on and put my gloves on. I manage to catch a few kidnappings, stop some drug deals, and get some inventory to sell at the pawn shop. I open the door to see Kuro dancing with earbuds in. I walk up behind her and place my hands on her hips. She jumps a little to turn around to see me. I kiss her on the nose. I place my hand on her stomach. “I can’t wait till our little pumpkin is here.”

(15% of the population has powers.)

October 27, 2022 14:12

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