Seven Years Ago

The only reason I had agreed to play this ridiculous game was because of Quinn. She had practically begged me, saying it was going to be fun and exciting. I had foolishly fallen for it. And now I was standing in an abandoned part of Lima in the middle of the night trying to find either one of my two best friends. Which was anything but fun and exciting. It was scary as fuck.

I had been looking for Puck and Quinn for the decent part of half an hour when I heard something move behind me. I spun round quickly, almost losing my balance, and caught sight of a small creature streaking across the road towards one of the old abandoned houses. And, of course, as a twelve year old child, I followed.

I'm still not sure whether it was the worst decision I ever made...

Or if it was the best.

The door to the house had been knocked out and the stench of rotting wood hit me as I neared it. It looked as though half of it had been burnt down and I could see what looked to be a dining room from where I stood on the street because one of the walls had been completely ruined. I walked closer towards it, ignoring the stench and instead trying to find what had been running across the street.

You know how they say curiosity killed the cat? Well, it nearly did when I entered the house and stepped on the tail of a small kitten. The loud screech caused me to jump and the cat ran further into the house.

Now that I was inside, I could see all the dust that had gathered along any furniture that looters hadn't wanted to take. Or maybe it was ash? I didn't know and my attention quickly drew away from the decor of the burnt out house and towards the cat that had headed for what I assumed was the kitchen.

I walked into the room and found its eyes glaring at me and its tail was swaying angrily in the air. I glared back and looked around. This room seemed to have suffered least from the fire which was strange. Surely if a house was going to set fire, it would start in the kitchen. I shrugged off the thought and turned my eyes back to the cat which seemed to have calmed down. I moved towards it and, when it didn't move away, scratched it behind the head. It didn't take long for the little sucker to start purring.

I was still supposed to be looking for Puck and Quinn but having another living being around me in such an abandoned part of town made me feel a lot safer.

I slowly moved to pick the cat up, cautious of its claws. It didn't scratch me but instead settled peacefully in my arms and stayed that way as I walked back through the house and out of the front door.

Like before, I saw movement in the street.

This time however, whatever moved was a lot bigger than a little kitten.

I huddled the cat closer to me as I started to walk back towards when Puck, Quinn and I had started the stupid game of hide and seek. When I got there, I saw the two of them sitting on the bench looking quite bored.

Puck saw me first and jumped up from the bench. Then he saw the cat in my arms and rushed forward to fuss over it. I think it wasn't too happy with that because it tried to claw away from Puck which resulted in multiple scratches down my arm and a cat now attached to my shoulder. Puck seemed a little shocked that it had reacted in such a way and I saw a slight hint of rejection on his face. I would have laughed had claws not been digging into my shoulder.

Quinn was glaring at me from where she sat on the bench.

"And where were you?" she scowled.

"Looking for you idiots," I threw back, matching her glare.

"Then what's with the cat?"

"I found it. For someone so smart, you're a little slow today, Fabray."

She continued our staring competition for a few seconds more before her eyes flickered away. I felt a small amount of triumph and the corner of my mouth curled up slightly.

"Me and Puck need to go home," she said eventually as she looked back at me with less anger. "We thought we'd wait and walk you back too. It's not safe at this time of night."

I scoffed. "Please, Fabray. Do you know where I live? I can get home just fine by myself."

She raised an eyebrow. "So you don't want to walk with us?"

I faltered for a moment, still scared of what would happen if I was left in the dark. But I didn't show my fear, just shrugged my shoulders which almost resulted in the cat falling off. "If you're walking in my direction, I might as well join you suckers."

The small smile of amusement on Quinn's face let me know that she didn't fall for it but she didn't say anything, just stood up from the bench and walked off. "Come on, then. We wouldn't want you to get lost."

I ignored her mocking tone as Puck and I trailed after her with the cat still on my shoulder. I caught sight of a black collar around its neck with a name printed on it. Lord Tubbington? What kind of name is that?

"Are you taking that home with you?" Puck asked, glaring at the cat. He still looked angry from being rejected by it.

"Yeah. I think it lived in one of the abandoned houses. Some bastards probably left it behind."

"Are you two going to hurry up?" Quinn shouted at us. I looked at her and realised she had walked quite a bit ahead of us. She was standing there with her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed.

"You scared of walking on your own, Fabgay?" I shouted back at her and Puck chuckled beside me.

I saw her jaw tighten as we neared her. "What did you just say?"

I smirked, knowing I'd hit a nerve. "You know what I said. Don't pretend it's not true."

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about, Santana," Quinn said, shrugging and trying to calm down. I have to admit, she did put on a good show. But I still saw the hint of fear and anger in her eyes. She caught sight of the cat still hanging onto my shoulder and her mouth turned down slightly. "Aren't your parents going to be angry if you take a cat home?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "They're never there, you know that. They won't care."

"But think about the amount of-"

I knew she was still talking but somebody had passed in front of us that made the world around me stop. I was frozen in place as I watched her walk across the street. She didn't notice us, keeping her eyes on the floor in front of her. She looked like she had tears running down her face but she looked like the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

My feet were walking before I was aware of it and I saw her standing right in front of me. She still refused to lift her head and she tried to walk around me.

"Are you okay?" I heard myself ask.

She glanced up at me and my breath caught in my throat. She had beautiful blue eyes but they were red and leaking with tears. I felt myself getting lost in them as she continued to look at me. Then her gaze shifted to the cat on my shoulder and her eyes widened slightly.

"Sorry," she apologised, though I wasn't sure why and before I could stop her to ask, she had walked around me and was running up an alley. I watched her go and felt my heart sink when her blonde hair disappeared around the corner.

"Hey, Lopez," Puck shouted. "You coming?"

I glanced back at them for a moment before looking back down the alley and hoping the blonde blue eyed girl would come back. But she didn't and, after a few moments, I turned back to my two best friends with a forced smile on my face. I walked back over to them and ignored the suspicious look Quinn was giving me.

"Yeah, let's go."

When I got back home my parents were, as expected, not there. I walked into the empty house and set Lord Tubbington on the ground as I turned to lock the door. If my parents came back, which I doubted they would, they knew where the spare key was to get in.

I didn't bother switching on the lights as I walked into the kitchen. I got a bowl and filled it with milk for Lord Tubbington to drink. I put it on the ground and once he'd found it, I left him alone and walked up to my room. I left the door open for him in case he felt scared of being in the big house alone.

I walked around my room in the dark, knowing it well enough to get changed and get in bed without flicking on the light. My thoughts were still focused on the blonde haired blue eyed girl I'd seen just less than an hour ago. I hadn't seen her before but she had been walking in the direction of Lima Heights Adjacent. Nearly everyone around this area of town knew each other; if not out of friendship, then out of fear.

I shook my head and tried to get rid of the thought of her so I could sleep. Eventually, I did fall asleep but she accompanied me there too.

When I woke up the next morning and the several mornings afterwards, I thought that maybe I would see her again. But as the months passed and eventually those months became a year, I gave up on that hope and she was but a distant memory.