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From behind a wall, she waits. Her friends walked past the school’s front entrance. She stepped from the shadows. The orange sunlight hits the cement, and in a way it spotlighted her. She is seen more clearly now. Her hair frizzed up and she was hunched as she walked towards the school’s front. Her feet dragged, her head hung low. She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before reopening them. She looked up. Halted. Her eyes widened. A black cat with white boots sat at the end of the stone fence nearby. Little Destroyer! For the past few days, she has been seeing the cat running off everytime she went to sit in the soft tennis area. Only seeing the glimpse of the cat’s black furred back as it hurried away on its little white boots.
“Little Destroyer!” She exclaimed as she hurried over to the cat, not caring for the weird looks shot by two passing by students.
She knelt down. “You’re not running off again, are you?”
Little Destroyer meowed, then it laid on the ground. She reached over and patted the cat’s head. Then, she scratched under its’ chin gently.The cat purred in response, stretching a bit. Kanako smiled,her eyes softened. Little. She sat down and for a few minutes, she patted the cat in silence.She stopped petting and the purrs stopped as Little Destroyer looked up with curious emerald green eyes. Curious eyes.
“If you were not running off all the time, I could give you treats or food, dummy.” Kanako said.
Little Destroyer stared.
“Being a cat seems so nice, I can sleep anytime I want and do whatever I want.” Little Destroyer stretched, then sat back up.
Kanako groaned. “Ugh, I have math homework to do when I get home. It’s the worst. Full of numbers. Numbers. I don’t understand how Maki love it so much!”
The cat meows, nodding.
Kanako puts her chin on her hand, glancing around before looking at the cat. “I hope Maki falls down during practice tomorrow.” She laughs.
After she calmed down from laughing, she drops her hands on her lap and sighs. She looks down at the cat.“You’re a good listener, I’ll tell you something.”
The cat’s ears perk up.
Kanako looked around. The orange sunlight still shine on the school grounds. A light breeze gently brushed through her hair as she sighed again. “I hope you don’t... run away and listen…”
Listen, please. She has a voice. Everyone has a voice. Their voices heard. From. Spoken outloud, written, shown by hand and body movements. Voice is shown in some way. She uses it all the time. All that came out most of the time were words that she called being realistic. Negative words that she spit out that might be true or what she really means was hidden in her mind. It was her shield. She held it tightly and used it. She is not afraid to use her words and will not hesitate to call the bullies “pigs” because bullies’ words don’t matter to her. It does not matter!
Her shoulders tensed as she frowned. “I’m feeling down these days, hehe, well I seem down all the time the way I talk.. Always bitter..”
The cat moves closer to kanako.
“I already talked about it before, but I guess it’s getting to me again… I just feel so stupid for liking to draw sometimes… every night I draw and check the comments.. They don’t like my new drawings.”
The cat stared.
“I don’t care. Screw it.” Kanako chuckles.
“As if that’s easy, it bothers me still… my mom says respectable people don’t draw. She thinks it’s stupid. I can’t show her my drawings or talk about them. I don’t want to hear what she says. The comments are enough.”
Validation for her drawings in the past made drawing seem worth it. Ever since the boys soft tennis team starts really practicing, her creativity took a different path. Something that made her heart jump with joy. The boys swinging their rackets and running all over the place. Soft tennis is useless, but they still keep playing.
Kanako held on some of her gray skirt’s fabric tightly. Her eyes downcasted for a moment before looking at the cat. “I want to follow my dream. It’s okay, right?”
Little Destroyer placed a paw on her hand, meowed. It stared at her and it was like that for a few moments. Then, the cat turned around and walked away.
“Bye, Little Destroyer.” Kanako smiles. “Thanks for listening.”
It quickened its pace and it ran off. Once again, she saw the cat’s black furred back running away on its white boots.