Milk

My Lost Voice

Milk visited a lot of places when he left the apartment. The park. The alleys. The tunnels.

He visited the trees too. Enormous, extravagant entities flecked with silver blossoms.

The thirty third time Milk had escaped the apartment, he came across another cat. Walking through the tunnels, he saw a blur of white and orange sitting in a heap. He approached it cautiously.

"Come closer, I dare you."

It was an aggressive, scratchy voice. Milk could tell it was female. He backed away cautiously.

The cat rose from her sitting position. She began to tread towards Milk. He backed away even further.

"Move into the light, where I can see you." She commanded. He did so. Fortunately, Milk had just entered the tunnels. Some ran very deep into the earth.

Light flooded his vision as he walked out of the small opening. He continued to back away as the cat appeared out of the entrance.

She was a calico tabby. Dirt stuck in her fur and she smelled like the deep caverns of the tunnels that Milk had only been through once.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

Milk was hesitant to use his voice. He had not used it in years. But the cat looked fierce, and he did not want to anger her.

The first time he tried, only a scratchy, unintelligible voice came. The second time was also unsuccessful. Finally, he was able to produce a sound.

"Aha nu lsu lesu to gu."

"What?"

"I...have...nowhere left...to go."

She eyed him suspiciously.

"Then come with me."

Surprised by this turn of events, Milk hesitated, but the cat gave him a look. He decided to follow.

The cat lead him through the many winding tunnels. The stench grew as they ventured further underground. The greenery of the outside vanished after only a few minutes in, but after another ten minutes, they were replaced by bright, glowing ferns of unnatural colors. Pink and yellow and blue stems bloomed out of a small crack in the wall, while leaves of an unnaturally vivacious red littered the ground.

The cat's pace was fast, and it was difficult for Milk to catch up.

On and on they walked, in silence, until at last the endless tunnel came to an end.

A small cavern, the ceiling only a few feet above Milk, came into view. Small golden flowers that grew around the entire cavern glowed and illuminated the entire area. It was like a cat infestation. Everywhere they say, huddled together, looking as if they were waiting for something. That something seemed to be Milk and the female cat beside him.

Every eye silently stared in their direction.

Then, one of the cats, an old one, walked forward to greet them.

"Who is this one?" It said to the female cat. Milk could tell that it was also female.

The cat looked at him. "He is someone who has nowhere left to go." She said.

The cat who had spoken about Milk stared at him, then spoke once again. "He does not look like it, Vidali."

The cat whose name Milk now knew as Vidali, spoke. "Why would he have any reason to lie to me?"

"There could be many reasons, Vidali, and I want you to consider that this cat, who by the way, looks well fed and quite healthy, could have just lied to you for the fun of it? You know what those apartment cats are capable of saying, I'm sure." For a second she stared meaningfully at her, and Vidali flinched.

Milk had no intention to talk. He was actually considering if he had lied to her for the fun of it - After all, he did have a place to go, he had just been there the previous night.

And then the sensation of confusion and panic swept over him. What was he doing here? Why couldn't he have just said that he was just taking a peek? No harm would have been done. Milk could have just returned to the apartment, like he's been doing for the past month. And now he was stuck who knows how far under the ground, with absolutely no chance of escaping the winding tunnels that lead to who knows where.

"He told me, Medala, and that's good enough for me." Said Vidali.

She turned to Milk. "Right?"

Milk had no idea what to say, and so he did the thing he thought was most logical at that moment, and ran.