Furries

Damien: The Black Ally Cat

Patricia's POV:

Hello. 

My name is Patricia Walker, and I am a high school English Teacher. It's the career I've chosen during my years of high school and I enjoy it quite a lot, I get a good amount of wage, I meet new people every year and I teach them everything I know, and I also love seeing them graduate and take their first step into the adult world on their own. But to be honest, it's also a very stressful and tiring job. Many nights I don't get enough hours of sleep because I'm too busy grading my students' assignments and homework and planning the next few lessons for my classes. See, I'm the type of person that doesn't stop until I get the job done and finished with perfection. Yes, that does make me a workaholic perfectionist, but I can't help myself. 

Everyone keeps telling me that I'm working too hard and too much and that I need to take a break once in a while so I can save up my energy. But I don't listen to them though, I just brush their concerns aside and continue with my work. I know I should be listening to them, and I know that they are right, but I fear that if I stop and take some time for myself then I'm gonna end up losing too much time to get the work done. So I just keep working until it's done and perfect and that's it, I don't do anything at all for myself. 

And that's what I'm doing right now, sitting in a chair on my apartment's balcony, grading my students' assignments. I had them do a book report on stories that involve true bravery, and right now I'm grading them on their word choice, their punctuation, their use of vocab, and their description of their chosen stories. So far I've gotten 10 assignments graded and I have 5 more to go. 

I sigh in exhaustion and use my free hand to try and rub the stiffness out of my neck. 

"Stiff neck?" A male voice speaks out of nowhere. 

I gasp and jump in surprise and turn to the source of the voice. There, sitting on someone else's balcony railing, was a tall, slightly muscular, male black cat. He was sitting with one knee up to his chest and the other leg was dangling in the air. And his tail, which had some grey stripes and spots, was unconsciously swaying side to side. 

He wore no shoes so I can see his paw padded feet, but he was wearing black sweat pants and a storm cloud grey t-shirt. His hair/fur was slightly up and parted to the right. His eyes were an emerald green color and his eyebrows were quirked upwards. And his w shaped mouth was up in a smile. 

I didn't realize that I was staring at him for quite a long time until he spoke again. 

"What? You weren't expectin' a black cat to be sitting here talkin' to you?" He questions me. 

I snap out of my stare and finally speak to him. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. Is that your room?" I ask him. 

He shakes his head and stands up. "Nope. I don't live here. I live elsewhere with a couple of cat buddies of mine." He answers and makes his way to me by climbing from balcony to balcony. 

"Oh, so you're just wandering?" I ask. 

"Pretty much." He nods and makes it to my balcony and takes a seat on the railing. "It's pretty much an ally cat thing." 

"Uh-huh," I nod my head. "And what are you doing wandering on this side of the city?" I ask him. 

He shrugs his slightly broadened shoulders and says, "Just felt like explorin'. Came upon here, noticed you here, and seein' that you look a little stressed out and tired." 

I cast my eyes downward in embarrassment. I hate it when people see me being exhausted and stressed out.

"So what's stressin' you out, pretty lady?" The cat asks me this time, leaning forward a little. 

I quickly turn my attention back to him and clear my throat. "Nothing," I answer rather quickly. 

The cat's eyebrows rise in a questioning manner and a knowing smirk rises on his lips. "Nothin'?"

I nod my head in response, although I wish I hadn't because my neck started to hurt after I did that. 

"Then how come you were rubbing your neck earlier before I made my presence known?" He questions me. 

I tried to quickly come up with a white lie that'll make him stop questioning me about my stress. I already have enough people telling me and that I needed to take some time to relax. "Because I thought I felt a bug on my neck," I say, hoping he'll buy it. 

Although by the look of his smug face, I knew that he didn't buy it. But thankfully he decided not to push it.

"Alright." He sighs and shrugs his shoulders. 

I sigh in relief and feel my shoulders loosen up a little. 

"Well, I need to get goin' anyway." The cat sighs and stands upon the railing edge. "You got any plans tomorrow?" He asks. 

"I work tomorrow," I answer his question. 

"What time do you get off?" He asks. 

"Uh, 3:30-ish," I said, feeling a little confused as to why he wanted to know that. 

"Good, I'll be here after you get off," The cat says and walks away from me, hopping over to the other balcony next to me. 

I stare after him wide-eyed. 'He's coming back here tomorrow?' I question in my head. 

"Oh by the way," the cat turns back to me, "the name is Damien. Yours?" 

I blink my eyes once and tell 'Damien' my name. "Patricia." 

"Patricia." Damien hums out my name, trying it out. "I like it." He complements then climbs up on the other balconies and takes off, leaving me behind baffled and confused.