302 Wallance Lane

Chapter Three

I wake up to the sound of my parents voices. Their conversation runs through my room and seeps into my ears.
  "She never does anything to help..." the voices swim through my dreams.
"I asked her to..."
  "Boxes..."
  "Ungrateful." Their distant clatter spins in circles around my mind.
  My eyes pop open quickly observing my surroundings. Four white walls frown back at me as the sun hangs to the ceiling, scared of dripping onto the cold, empty, hard floor. I hear no voices coming from the corners of my house. They have vanished like the dreams of the past. I climb out of bed stretching, as my bare feet touch the icy, unforgiving floor. A shiver goes through my spine.
"Did I forget to take the boxes out last night?" I ask myself rubbing my eyes, "shoot." My sleepiness leaves me as I throw a pair of grey ankle short socks on. I make my way down the dark hallway smoothly and turn the corner to the living room. The suns faded rays momentarily blind me as the curtain sways. A small dark figure moves steadily between the curtains causing them to sway.
  "You forgot to take the boxes out last night. " My fathers slightly angry voice says behind me. I look towards the door at the sad stack of brown boxes.
"Sorry." I tell him in reply, walking towards the boxes to retrieve them. 
My dad grabs my wrist from behind, "You have to help out around here." I look back towards him and nod my head. His eyes hang low and dark circles paint the underneaths of his old eyes. Fatigue. He looks at me for a second, pondering, before letting my wrist drop down to my side. He doesn't say a word as he leaves back towards the safety of his bedroom. My eyes look back towards the bottom of the curtain. The burnt red curtains still sway making the light dance on the opposing wall. I take a closer look at the strange figure wrapped in the tips of the curtain. A small orange cat notices me and sits at my pale knees.
"How did you get in here buddy?" I rub my fingers over the tip of its head. The cat purrs back at me in happiness.
  "You're gonna have to go out with the boxes pretty, my moms allergic to you." I tell the cat with sorrow. He looks up at me like he understands and climbs into my lap.
  "I wish you could stay too." I run my hand over his back and he purrs in response.
The lonely orange creamsicle cat follows me as I pick up the boxes and open the front door. My mother sits outside reading a small faded book in a dusty white rocking chair. Chipped paint covers the edges.
"Good morning momma." I struggle to hold the boxes in my fragile arms.
"Good morning Charlotte." She says without looking up. I step over the broken cracks in the pavement as the cat rubs up against my legs. He follows with every step I take.
"It's a good thing you didn't take those out last night. It rained. They would have been a pile of mush by now." My mother says looking up from her book.
"Dads mad." I raise my voice back from across the lawn. The boxes sit in a heap by the mailbox.
"He will get over it." She swats her hand my way.
The dead brown grass stings through my socks like used needles. "Are you going to the store today?"
"Your father wants me to." She sets down her book on her lap laying her glasses on top.
"I'm hungry." My stomach rumbles.
"There is a coffee shop a couple blocks down if you don't want to wait on groceries." My mother picks back up her book and gets lost in the words. She's not going to the store.
The coffee shop isn't a horrible walk from home. It takes me twelve minutes to reach the edges of the small town.
"I think I'm going to name you Alastair, even though I can't keep you." I look down on the cat still closely following my side. "It means defender of the people, you're a good cat." Alastair looks up at me and meows. "I thought it was a good name too buddy."
The coffee shop is located at the corner of Bond and Cornwall. It's open side blinks red and yellow.
"Stay right here Alastair. " I tell the small cat. He finds a patch of sunlight and lays his head onto his paws. The coffee shop door opens and with a creak and a loud ding. My senses are filled with the smell of fresh coffee grounds and sand-which meat. I crinkle my nose.
"What can I get for you?" A young girl with brown hair that it tied back into a tight ponytail tells me. She must have a headache.
"Give her the sweetest coffee ya got and add in a croissant." A cold arm drapes over the back of my shoulders. The girl working glances between the two of us. Casper smirks beside me. He places a pile of money and change on the counter.
"Alright." She says turning back to make the coffee.
"How do you always show up at the same places as me." I remove Casper's arm from the back of my neck.
"An angel like you is never too far." His right hand finds the edges of his pocket and sit peacefully. He nudges me with his elbow. I tell the girl working thank you and head out, Casper behind me.
"I didn't know you had money." I say to him looking for Alastair. "I'm not an angel either." I laugh sipping my too sweet coffee.
"Ya don't like sweet stuff huh?" He places a cigarette in his mouth and lights it. His hands cupped around the yellow flame.
"Do you prefer your coffee black and cold?" I snicker squatting down next to Alastair. He looks up between Casper and I and stands closer to me.
"You're a funny lil thing aren't ya." He sits on the pavement next to me legs crossed.
"This is Alastair. I found him in my house this morning." I tell Casper.
"Wish I could have found ya in my house this morning too but instead I found ya inside a hipster coffee shop." He reaches across me to pet Alastair.
"Mom won't be going to the grocery store for awhile and I was starving." the croissant is warm in my hands.
"Hmm." He watches the leaves twirl on the street.
"Did you walk from the motel?" I ask curiously.
"Is it really any of your business princess?" He places three fingers on my knee and taps to a song I don't know.
"Says the stalker." I laugh. He looks at me with a smirk on his face.
"You're so strange." I let out a laugh.
  "That's my middle name sweetheart." He chuckles and slides his hand to my cheek. His thumb rubs circles around the side of my face. Gentle.
"It is not." I break from my small trance and push his hand away.
"I'll bring ya my birth certificate next time I stalk you." He laughs but there's a seriousness to his tone. I nervously laugh and play with the shoelace on my shoes. "When will I see ya again?" He lights another cigarette.
  "Like you said an angel like me is never too far." I tell him standing to my feet. "Thank you for the coffee and croissant." I offer.
"It's my duty. " he nods his head letting his hair fall into his eyes.

The morning sun has washed away the sleepiness of the world. Cars speed past me as Alastair and I make the treacherous walk back to my new home.
"When's the last time you ate?" I ask the silent cat feeding him the rest of my croissant. "We won't tell Casper I let you finish this, we can keep it a secret. Just between me and you."
As the beautiful creature and I make our way down my street I hear loud voices in the distant. Distraught angry voices. They send punches towards me like a loud speaker playing metal music. As my house comes into view I see my parents yelling at each other in the afternoon sunlight. They look like a painting performed by an angst teen with no art ability. Arms throw up in the air and distressed eyebrows. Alastair leaves my side and runs into the army green forest behind my house leaving me alone with a pair unfit for each other. Alastair disappears into the edge of the depressed trees as I enter the yard of a dead house. Laughter ran away with the last of a happy family. The grass does not sting like the voices do. Their words send knives through my ears and out of my skull. I wish the beautiful creature had not left my side.