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The chilly winds of autumn were beginning to settle in, whooshing through the air and threatening to freeze any warm-blooded creatures nearby. Wilbur Soot, unfortunately, happened to fall victim to this cold; he shivered as the icy air pierced past his winter coat and straight to his bones. He persisted onward, reaching and pulling his deep red beanie impossibly closer to his head and tugging at his coat.
His feet were like heavy bricks. At this point he’d already lost all feeling in them and was just dragging them along on the sidewalk. He longed to be at home and in his cozy warm bed with layers of blankets, thick as snow.
Ironic. He chuckled to himself, watching his warm breath billow out into the cold air like smoke.
He was almost home. If it made himself feel any better, he calculated that his house was probably a kilometer away, maybe even less. Soon he will be away from what felt like fucking Antarctica.
A small mewl sounded. Wilbur froze mid-step and glanced down to see a small bundle of cream fur below his raised foot. A kitten?
He slowly knelt down to get to its level, although he was tall as a tree and couldn’t get as close as he would’ve wanted. The kitten meowed again in greeting and padded up to him.
“Hey, little guy,” Wilbur almost whispered. The corners of his lips twitched, threatening to curve into a smile as he reached out and gently petted the cream-furred kitten. The soft fur brushed against his fingers, and, for just a moment, he forgot about the cold.
He carefully wrapped his calloused hands around it, pulling it close to his lap. He could feel the kitten shivering slightly under his fingertips and his heart squeezed with empathy.
“A little cold, huh?” he mumbled. The kitten rubbed its face against his coat and he chuckled.
Then he realized he was in the middle of the sidewalk. Wrapping protective hands around the kitten so it wouldn’t fall, he lifted his head and glanced around. Luckily for him, it was growing dusk. Nobody was nearby, but the sky was starting to get a little darker than it was a few minutes ago.
This kitten seemed quite young; was its mother nearby? Wilbur scanned the area again. There were no other kittens in sight, nevermind a mother cat. He squinted, deep in thought. Then an idea popped into his head and his eyes lit up.
He lifted the kitten so their eyes met on an equal level: brown eyes to piercing blue ones.
“You know what? I think you’re coming home with me.”
The kitten stared at him with those mesmerizing blue eyes of its, and then proceeded to let out the loudest meow he’d ever heard in his life. He bursted out laughing and stood up, allowing it to hook its tiny claws to the front of his coat and holding his hands over it supportingly.
“I’m guessing that is a yes.”