Blink (Billy Hargrove x OC)

#1 Origins

He made me fish and chips that night, I didn't much care for the fish but I loved the chips, or fries as Americans call them.

*

I'm seven years old, like the tattoo inscribed in my wrist.

This is the year Tom ran out of money. The added cost of me living with him was too much, and he was taking so much time off of his minimum wage job to try to educate me, so they laid him off. We got kicked out of the apartment and lived on the streets for awhile, stealing small things. We joined a group of fellow thieves, and ran with them for awhile, but left when they got greedy and tried to use me. That's what Tom said at least.

*

I'm nine.

We pulled off our biggest heist yet. I blinked into the vault of the US Treasury and took some fat stacks of $100 bills before blinking away. We bought a new apartment, and we lived comfortably. Well known, but anonymous. Those were the good times. Those are the good memories, of just me and Tom.

But, remembering these times without exercising enough caution often leads to the bad memories.

And those are the memories I dread.

*

I'm thirteen again.

"I'm going to go get feed the cats." I tell Tom, my backpack slung over my shoulder.

I can practically hear him sigh from the other room. It drives him nuts that I feed the cats, but I've always felt so bad for them, that they have nowhere to go, no place to call home but the cold and lonely streets. "They're just going to die anyways!" He always says. Another favorite is "they're going to end up following you here and we're going to have 500 cats we can't take care of!"

To that second one I always responded: "they can't follow me if they can't see me!" Which made Tom chuckle and shake his head.

"Okay, don't be gone too long and make sure you get something for yourself to eat as well!"

"I will." I walk up to Tom and kiss him on the top of his head.

"Bye, Angel." He reaches backwards and pulls me towards him to kiss my cheek right before I blink.

The first place I stop is my storage unit. I take a metal can of food from the bag, and blink to the location where the cats are. They don't move a muscle when I appear out of thin air, they're used to me. Glowing eyes and twitching whiskers await me as I fill up the little bowls I've laid out for them. 

Black cats, white cats, tabby cats, they all rub against my legs and give me meows of gratitude. I crouch down with my arms around my knees and watch them eat. 

I spot the little fluffy grey cat I've been befriending, well, she looks grey. I actually suspect that she's white, her fur is just very dingy. She has the prettiest green eyes and purrs a lot. She comes right up to me in her confident fashion and headbutts me, demanding for me to pet her.

"Do you want to come home with me?" I ask her, scratching behind her ears. She rubs against my hand, marking me as hers.

"Tom says he doesn't like cats but I think he'd like you." I smile as another cat brushes up against me. "You'd have all the food in the world, and fresh water, and you could sleep in my bed with me and I could get you a bunch of toys. I could get you the good toys too, because I can have anything I want."

Of course, the cat doesn't respond. She just looks at me intensely with her emerald gaze.

"Look, like these." I take a feathered wand out of my backpack, that I obtained from the pet store and I dangle it in front of the grey cat. She makes a chittering noise and flattens herself to the ground, then after a few moments, wiggles her rump and pounces. I pull the toy out of the way in the nick of time and flick it up, making her leap for it. I giggle as she jumps high into the air, and then lands gracefully. Other cats start to join in, and soon I have too many to play with, they're practically yanking the wand out of my hand.