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Life wasn’t bad.
Small footsteps were heard against the pavement as Augustus made his way home. He lived somewhat far, but not far enough that he absolutely had to take the bus each time. There was some odd sense of comfort whenever he saw the same people walking the same direction as when he chose to skip the bus ride. It was a bit odd to say, but he liked ‘knowing’ things. Keeping people’s patterns in his mind, observing habits, the way people tended to talk….he derived satisfaction from it all. A few times he’d pointed out a subconscious tic a person didn’t even realize they had and their reactions made him grin. All this to say that Augustus normally was watching familiar faces and seeing if he could exactly time when they would reach the street they turned down, or finally met up with a family member with a car, or would stop and wait for friends to convene at some meeting spot… but today, the Siamese cat walked along with a somewhat distant expression, barely taking note of anything around him.
Walking past a house, he suddenly clenched one of his backpack straps tightly. Someone was using their grill in their backyard and the smell was wafting out over the area, drowning the senses in smoky, sizzling beef. His free hand gently pressed over his stomach as his gaze locked onto the floor in an attempt to focus on just walking home.
‘ You’ll have the lunch money tomorrow.’
‘We have to eat too, you know.’
Augustus hadn’t shown any visible reaction to those words that morning…but now that he was alone a deep frown broke out across his face and he could feel tears welling up as another horrid growl emitted from his abdomen. He shouldn’t be focusing on this, he was fine. He took a deep breath and kept walking. He tried to focus on the buildings for now, the spots where plants were growing out of the cracks of walls and the pavement. This actually worked a bit, tricking his brain away from his shameful hunger. He avoided the bus because he didn’t want anyone asking him anything or hearing his stomach. If someone had offered him any food or something he would’ve felt indebted to them or some other, equally terrible feeling, and he’d rather avoid anything like that.
He managed to avoid further incident for a few more minutes, eyes darting all around the space before him. The colorpoint cat knew this tactic was only a temporary victory, and after just a bit more time passed he was stopped in his tracks and held both hands to his stomach. He looked around before taking a detour down the nearby hillside, leaning against a wall and biting his lip. “Come on! You’re just used to… eating more than you need. You’ll be okay when we get used to it.” Augustus doubled over a bit looking at his stomach with tense eyes. “Please please please stop hurting…” he pleaded with his body, his voice strained and cracking a bit. He lifted his head back up then rested it back against the wall, looking up at the sky. Right now he felt a keen yearning for some kind of close friend, someone he could visit and not be seen as a greedy starving alleycat. He shook his head and rubbed over his face. It was okay, maybe he could look for any yard with a fruit tree and see if any had fallen, those were fair game, right?
Slightly comforted by that hope, the Siamese cat headed up the hill to continue along the path home. Augustus couldn’t help but glare at the ground, staring as if the concrete had wronged him. Brushing a few hairs out of his face, his expression eventually softened until he only seemed mildly sad. What the hell was he doing? Stop being so dramatic over this… this being somewhat hungrier than usual because… well, he actually wasn’t entirely sure why. His parents were oddly vague lately about any reasons for money being tight. He only had to assume it was work hours, or maybe one of his parents had been fired? Wait, why would they even hide that from him? His growling stomach was starting to become a bigger distraction than he thought. Sure, his parents didn’t give him very much to make any educated guesses as to what was actually happening, but he shouldn’t just entertain every thought that slipped into his mind.
“Ugh…. I don’t even need a full meal just a little… snack… “ The boy trailed off as he looked at the corner ahead of him. A homely little corner store he’d passed hundreds of times before, he’d gotten snacks too when he’d had pocket money to spare… which felt like forever ago but was likely only a year. Time was weird for a pre-teen. Staring at it wide-eyed from across the street, he must have looked like some kind of freak. He vaguely knew the layout of the store. He knew that any cameras were mostly for show or if someone was enough of an idiot to get violent, maybe try and rob the register. Why was he thinking about this? He wouldn’t do anything idiotic like that. He crossed the street when the signal turned into that little walking fella, weird that he didn’t have ears or a tail though… maybe to avoid favoring one species over another. Augustus didn’t ruminate over that trivial thought for long, as his legs were taking him to the store nearly on their own, the Siamese cat being blasted by artificially cooled air as he stepped in accompanied by the clamor of a bell connected to the door.
Augustus’ hand immediately reached for his pocket, feeling around for the change he had kept on him. There must be SOMETHING in here that was worth basically nothing, surely. He returned the nod given to him by the man at the counter, the store owner if he recalled. Lots of the adults who owned small places like this weren’t super talkative outside their seemingly exclusive group of friends… and each other. He began to wander the aisles, black eyes flicking around the environment as his heart sped up a bit. He had to avoid dallying too long otherwise he’d probably look suspicious… but he might be able to pass himself off as just slightly dumb instead. He leaned against one of the coolers and winced as his stomach growled loudly again. Come on, no time for that! You’re going to get what you want, just behave a bit longer! He stood back straight after a few moments, considering his options. Bags were loud, it’d be easier to grab the small sleeves of cheese crackers or other tightly packaged items. Individual items that weren’t oddly shaped as well. This was all going off of assumption, of course, he’d never stolen anything in his life. He hadn’t needed to do anything like that, and still didn’t. The short feline grabbed some cheap and barely filling snack to hold in his hand. When his senses were sure the owner wasn't so much as acknowledging his existence, he swiftly grabbed those crackers, a small package of Oreos, and two Slim Jims. No stuffing them in his backpack without being super obvious, he felt. The solution was to slip them up his long sleeves and then fold the cuffs inward to make it harder for them to slide out.
With his mouth feeling dry, Augustus approached the front and quietly put down his little fruit bar and loose coins to cover it. Time stood still for a moment as he looked up at the middle-aged hound behind the counter… wondering if he’d been sniffed out. If he was acting odd without noticing, maybe his fur had been standing up this whole time. The Siamese cat’s face managed to remain neutral despite his head racing with worries and his heart going a bit quickly. He wanted this goddamn food and badly. The hound dropped a nickel into his open palm and he quickly grabbed his purchase and absconded from the store. The mild midday temperature assaulted his senses as he stepped out of the chilled vault of snacks.
The colorpoint cat stood there for a few moments, staring out at nothing while holding completely still. He got ejected from his stupor as he was unceremoniously shoved a bit by another customer entering the establishment, having been standing in the way. In full control of himself once more, he dashed down the sidewalk toward home. An intense frown on his face, he kept his gaze mostly toward the ground as he ran. Once he felt comfortably far, he ducked into an alleyway and hid on the other side of a trash can, his backpack now placed between his legs. He slipped his ill-gotten gains out his sleeves, staring at the inconsequential disparate items that might as well have been a bountiful feast to him with how his stomach felt right now.
“God, what the hell is wrong with you… “ He muttered softly as he picked up the Oreos, his expression unchanged as he nearly tore the packaging while getting it open. Augustus promptly stuffed two of the sandwich cookies in his mouth, chewing swiftly and swallowing in no time. The Siamese cat was not only hungry, his body definitely needed some sugar. He’d been able to tell in some of his classes today, it had been harder than ever to focus on it all; taking notes, answering questions, talking to any of his peers… all of it a slightly stressful blur every now and then. None of that would compare to the metric fuckton of awful he would feel if his father found out he had stolen even this meager haul. He had never been struck or otherwise roughly handled, but he’d be able to feel the disgust in those eyes alone. “You’re so fucking greedy Augustus… they can deal with it… why can’t you?” A gentle sniffle followed that last bit as he bit into one of his pilfered processed sticks of meat. He had never stolen before, part of him wishes it hadn’t been successful to dissuade him from ever trying it again. Alas, that was not what had come to pass. Even as ashamed as he was, on multiple levels, he could not help but feel relief as he decimated his meal. The cheese crackers tasted excellent with the meat, as excellent as these less-than-quality offerings could get anyway. He did not take long to finish his food before quickly discarding any evidence in the trash can he had sought cover behind. He would sooner sleep outside than have to try and endure a lecture about buying junk and wasting money… let alone the fact that he had eaten junk food at all. They had always been very particular on what sorts of foods could be avoided, and he could probably accurately count the exact number of times they’d ever gone to places like McDonald’s. His parents had unfortunately never gotten that vegetable garden to work out… something that had given him mild amusement before and that gave him a keen sadness now as he reflected on its failure.
Deciding he’d had enough of his own head, Augustus stood up, placed a hand over his stomach and exhaled. That would do, it was more choice over what he got to eat than he’d had for a few days now… and that was enough. He wouldn’t have to deal with anything more than his own burdened thoughts over being greedy and an impulsive little thief…
Life was not bad.