The Cat

Marcus always wanted a cat. Even though he knew how rare they were, he would do anything to get his hands on a cat. He spent every day since the beginning of the year wandering around the streets of his town searching for a feline. Of course, Marcus was younger so he had rules to keep him safe such as, he wasn’t allowed to be out past six (this rule was set by his mother), he would never leave his town, and under no circumstances would he go down an alley. He spent his day walking around shouting things like, “Here, Kitty,” and “I know you’re here.”

When Marcus would get home, he would tell his mother, Laura, of the adventures he had that day, and that's just what he did. After they ate that night, his mother started to plan Marcus’s 8th birthday party. Marcus asked if he could have a cat, and his mother told him no because they are exceedingly rare. In the end she just didn’t want Marcus to know of their money problems.

After they were done eating, and washing up Marcus went up to his room to go to bed. He had forgotten to clean his room and there was an abundance of lego everywhere. He went to his window and saw his neighbor was having a party. He saw his mom walk out there and start talking to a man in a truck, her face was calm and she seemed to know the man, her expression changed from collected to excited as she reached her hand to pet something. It was probably a dog, his mother was a raging dogaholic and basically fainted at the sight of one. So he turned around and went to bed.

Marcus woke up to the noise of something at his widow. He got out of bed to get a look and didn’t see anything. He was about to lay down when he heard another noise, he went back and saw, again, nothing. He went to his kitchen and got some water. While he was taking a drink from his cup he heard scratching at his door. He ran to the door and threw it open. There was no one there. He walked outside to the direction of his window and still saw nothing.

“Meow”

Marcus’s eyes jolted, it was a cat! He ran to the bushes under his window and looked for the cat. He couldn't find it was too dark, so he gave up and started back for his front door, when he heard it again. “Meow,” it yowled, coming from the direction of the street. Marcus ran towards the street, and stopped to look around. There was nothing but an endless road and the truck in front of his neighbors. He walked along the sidewalk promising himself not to leave his road.

“Meow”

There it is! He saw it run into the alley across the street, he ran after it and approached it in the alley. He picked up the black cat, its solid green eyes that glew in the night, and its fur felt as if he was taking a bath. He was so happy that he got a cat, and he held tight back to his road and up the street. As soon as got to the door he jumped out of his arm and ran towards the road, Marcus ran after it. He was not going to let his cat leave. It ran towards the truck that was parked in front of the neighbor's yard. The cat was hiding under the truck, Marcus reached for it and told it not to run away. As he said this the man opened the truck door and took Marcus. He drove away never to be seen again.

The next morning Laura searched everywhere for Marcus and assumed he had already left to find a cat. It wasn’t until six when she realized the situation was much worse. She searched and searched but he was nowhere to be found. This was because he had trafficked and was out of the country, fueling the needs of whoever he was sold to. But in the end, he still had his cat.