Chapter 2: Stray Cat

Tap... Tap... Tap... a pencil continually tapped on the blank sheet of paper. Following the rhythm off the sluggish rain as it hit the bottom of the small pail in the corner of the room. Akira sighed heavily while continuing to tap the pencil as she observed her small one room apartment with resentment. A single mattress torn with age rested on the floor in the right hand corner of the room. The sheets atop it were little more than rags. In the opposite corner a small fridge, stove and sink, rusted with age, sat casting shadows onto the worn wooden floor. The stained walls were bare, the wallpaper peeling off onto the floor. Akira's gaze followed a old stain across the wooden floor until once again it rested on the bucket, slowly filling with water. She heaved another heavy sigh as she returned to the papers on her worn yet sturdy desk.

The papers rested on a old second hand Biology text book, which she had bought at an second-hand book store. It was covered with scribbled notes and was missing a few pages but otherwise it was good enough for her to use. Akira stared blankly at the paper that continued to remain blank no mater how much she wished it would complete itself. Slowly her eye lids began to droop, until they finally closed and her head made contact with her book.

"Mom?" A small girl with flowing chestnut hair waring a dress of all black called out into the darkness. "Mom? Where are you?" The little girls deep violet eyes brimmed with tears. "Mom!"

"Your mommy's not coming little girl." Something whispered sneeringly in her ear. "Your all alone and no one is coming to find you."

"No... mommy.." The little girl whimpered crouching down near the floor. She crawled and hands and knees fumbling forward until her hand touched something solid. "Mommy!" The girl cried flinging herself down on top of her mother. Something slick and wet smeared across the young girls face. She pulled away and ran one hand across her cheek. The lights flickered back on and the girl's deep violet eyes opened wide with terror as she let out a ear splitting scream. She fell to the ground landing in a pool of fresh blood.

Akira woke screaming, her hands pressed to her face. Her hart beat flickered wildly like a caged bird. That dream hadn't plagued her in a long time and she had hoped it never would again. "Damn." she mumbled getting up from the desk and walking towards the door of her apartment.

Akira wondered aimlessly around Travorn staring up at the lonely half moon in the star deprived sky. The rain had stoped some time ago and everything was covered in a light coat of water. The city was glowing, even at this time of night which was why she had chosen to move their. The lights kept away the dark. Akira wondered down streets and threw alleyways until she reached the small park in the middle of Travorn. A small bench hidden by drooping bows of an old tree was her destination. It had proven itself many times to be the perfect spot to sit and think.

Akira leaned back against the hard wood of the bench breathing in the fresh air... well as fresh of air as you would get in a city anyway. The bench was old and had been carved into with crude tools to make romantic little hearts surrounding lovers names. Akira finger traced one of these carvings as she stared off over the small lake at the glowing skyscrapers in the distance. The half moons shimmering glow reflecting across the water surface.

A silent, weak meow startled Akira out of her reserve and into awareness. She stayed perfectly still listening for the faint noise again. Nothing happened. Laughing at her jumpiness Akira began to lean back into the wooden bench. She stoped half way as the meow was herd yet again. "Kitty?" She called out quietly. A weak meow was the reply. Akira slowly got up and kneeled on the ground next to the bench. "Kitty?" She called again listening for the direction the reply came from. Another weak meow came from under the bench she had just abandoned. Slowly as not to startle the cat she layed down on her stomach peering under the bench. She saw nothing and with disappointment she began to raise herself back up off the ground. Suddenly two piercing yellow eyes glared out of the darkness, causing Akira to yelp and hit her head on the underside of the bench.

The eyes of the cat never left Akira as she sat back and began to rub the back of her head. "Owww... that hurt." Akira complained holding her head. "You going to come out of their?" She asked the cat returning its gaze unhappily. "I don't care what you do just don't go following me home you got that. I barely have enough money to feed myself let alone some scrawny stray cat." The cat continued to watch Akira his gaze unwavering. "Bye, bye kitty." She called over her shoulder as she made her way out of the park.

Akira hurried her steps becoming annoyed and impatient. The black cat was less than two feet behind her and she could not seem to lose him. Finely her temper snapped. "I said don't follow me!" she yelled at the cat causing many strange looks to be thrown her way. The cat just sat and continued to stare at her ignoring her every word. "Grrrrr..." Akira growled taking off at a run toward her apartment. The cat stayed Where it was watching the girls chestnut hair disappear around the corner before turning down the nearest alleyway.

Akira sighed happily as she closed the door of her apartment behind her. The cat had stoped pursuing her when she ran and was no where in site. "Next time I see another stray cat I'm going to just ignore it." She stated blandly to her empty

room while dropping herself onto the mattress. She sat their for a few moments contemplating going to sleep and working on her homework in the morning. "No. I have to get this done I can't afford to repeat a grade." Akira got up reluctantly and shuffled over to her desk. "No where was I..."

Beep... Beep... Beep... Akira's hand slammed down on the annoying object silencing it for a few moments. "Got.. to... get.. up..." She mumbled into her pillow trying to fight off the sleep that threatened to engulf her once again. She began to drift off again but was brought back to awareness by the soft sound of padded paws on wood. Akira sat up quickly and looked around the floor. Nothing. Yawning she raised her hands above her head stretching her legs out in front with her eyes closed. A soft meow made her body freeze and her eyes fly open to find herself staring into a pair of glowing yellow eyes. The cat's tail flicked back and forth as it stared fearlessly at Akira, t's piercing yellow eyes watching her every movement. "You!" She cried regaining movement in a moment of realization. "How did you...?" A light breeze from the open window answered that question. Akira glared at the cat. Now that their was light it was easy to see why she had not been able to see him at the park last night. He had a glossy pure black coat that covered his whole body from twitching tail to swivelling ears. And now that Akira got a good look at the cat she saw that he had a collar tied around his neck with a small blue stone dangling from the end. "Odd... I thought you were a stray." Akira slowly approached the cat all her anger gone to curiosity. The cat stayed perfectly still as Akira approached, trying to make out the red words printed across the dark blue collar. "Edward..." She read allowed. "Hmmm... well then Edward you should go home now." Edward stared back at her making no movement to leave. "You..." She was interrupted by the sound of her alarm going of once again. "Ahhhh! Nooooo! I'm going to be late!" She yelled running around her room throwing on cloths while gathering her books. "Biology. Biology. Aha!" She yelled picking up her Biology book making Edward, who was on top of it, fall to the floor. As Akira ran out the door she called over her shoulder. "You better be gone when I get back Edward!"

Akira dashed into her first class just as the late bell rang.

"Let's see if you can make it a bit closer next time Aki." Tonny whispered jokingly as she took her seat by the window.

"I told you not to call me that." Akira seethed back annoyance penetrating every word.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Tonny whispered to himself before returning his gaze to the sheet of paper covered in unidentifiable doodles. Akira ignored him and pulled out her worn Math book. At least her first subject was something she was good at allowing her to pay less attention to the teachers useless rambling. She found herself staring out the window wondering about that darn cat and wether or not he had listened to her and got lost.

"SLAM!"

Akira jumped almost falling out of her seat as Mr. Cordrik's book crashed down on her desk. Mr. Cordrik stood only five foot one while keeping the weight of someone six times his size. The light reflected off his balding head and his dull brown eyes were clouded with annoyance.

"Akira I'm sure you know the answer to the question on the board. Right? How about you go answer it?" Akira stood up reluctantly and marched up to the black board. Quickly going through the correct formula in her head she picked up a white piece of chalk. Quickly and effortlessly she answered the problem returning to her seat with a overreacted yawn. Mr. Cordrik's face shone beat red as he tried to suppress his anger. His mouth gaped open like a fish gasping for air as he tried to come up with some type of remark to relieve his embarrassment. Coming up with nothing he stomped back up to the front of the class to continue the lesson. He opened his mouth to say something or other about Akira's behavior, but the bell rang followed by the rush of bodies threw the door. Mr. Cordrik's face once again glowed red from aggravation as everyone happily rushed out of his class.

Next was Biology. Oh joy. The one subject Akira sucked at. Mr. Rolend was a bit short for a guy and had the frame of a girl. His soft blond hair and deep blue eyes gave off a feeling of contentment and joy. He was a relatively nice teacher who new Akira sucked at Biology and tried not to call on her more often then necessary. But today was not going the way she had hoped.

"Akira please tell the class what the function of the mitochondria in a cell is." Akira winched as the soothing voice of Mr. Rolend called her name.

"Ummm its that thing that does that other thing that ummm... helps the cell..." Inwardly she shrunk a little as her classmates began to laugh. "Umm the..."

"That's enough Akira. You may sit down." Mr. Rolend sighed turning back to the board. "Now Akira you pay close attention. The mitochondria is..." Akira shrunk a little further inside as the snickering continued. She felt stupid and made a fool of. Her day was definitely not going well.

Five more periods passed containing more humiliation. It turns out her so called friends were talking behind her back and they were the ones behind the rummer about her liking Tonny. Akira fumed as she walked out of her last period. Why the hell was everything going so wrong? She should have known from the start that noone would truly except her not when she had gotten into Travorn Private School for free. Travorn Private School was the number one school in the country. Every parent that had a few million dollars to spare sent their kids their. Akira was the exception. She was the first person to get into the school for free. If her grades slipped then their went her education. No one would want to be the friend of some poor class girl like herself who could barely afford to keep a leaky roof over her head.

Akira continued to wallow in self pity as she opened the door of her apartment. A pair of glowing yellow eyes followed her movements as she threw off her backpack and flung herself onto her mattress.

"Life sucks!" She yelled throwing a shoe at the wall. It bounced off and landed on the floor under her desk. She glared at the shoe as if blaming it for her problems. Edward continued to watch her from his perch on her desk. He meowed quietly breaking the amounting silence making Akira jump.

"Your not gone yet? Just get already! I'm poor you got me! You'll only be unhappy if you stay here so just get out!" Her voice rose to the point of hysteria and she heaved her shoe at Edward missing by a foot. Water spilled over the brim of her eyes marking a small path down her cheek. Despairingly she flung herself down onto her old worn mattress until she cried herself to sleep.