Mitch's P.O.V.
I lifted my head, the room quiet and peace filling my body as I realised that no one was there. There was only the heavy breathing of the other like me in the room, many of them drugged to the point of unconsciousness because they had been too rowdy, had just been sold or had just arrived.
I knew it wasn't a pleasant experience, I had been drugged on multiple occasions so the ones who bought us here could get my cooperation, despite not wanting to do anything they asked. I felt sick thinking about it because I wasn't drugged because I was too rowdy, I was drugged so they could sell my body.
We, as in nekos, were living in cages, cramped boxes that were no more than 4 foot by 4 foot and they were so short that only children could sit up in them, if they were there. The children were the first ones to go, so I didn't see any very often.
I wound my tail around my wrist, a thick brown tail that was fluffy and poofy, the same colour as my hair. Among my hair was a pair of cat ears, small triangles that weren't visible most of the time because of their camouflaging colours, so unless you looked closely, you wouldn't know they were there.
I tried to sleep, knowing that the next morning they would all be back and I would have to go through the trauma all over again, just like every other day.
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I was shaking. There was bloodstains on my already dirty clothing, my fingers were trembling and I could barely move because of the pain that wracked my body. It wasn't any different than normal, I was in this pain everyday, but things were getting worse.
I wasn't allowed time to heal so every time I got injured again, the injuries got worse and worse. Of course they didn't care, I was just there to make him money and if I died or was in pain, so what? They could always replace me with another neko who was in better health and because no one would buy an injured neko I was unless to them.
Even though it was only 11 in the morning, before the buyers started coming in, I was ready to give up. The way it worked was in the evening and well into the night, nekos like me were sold out to buyers for the night, we slept from early morning to between 10 and 11am, not very long, and in the afternoon the buyers came in to take home a neko permanently.
I often caught up on sleep when the buyers were there, they all ignored me because of how malnourished and injured I obviously was. The others, the ones who had a chance of being bought, were kept under a watchful eye from the guards and were beaten if they fell asleep.
I jumped when a guard banged a piece of metal on one of the cages, startling everyone until they were wide awake.
"EVERYONE AWAKE! BUYERS ARE HERE!!!" I sighed and closed my eyes, settling down for a few hours of inconsiderate dickheads trying to kick me through the bars, spitting on me or screaming in my face.
Nothing was different until literally a few minutes before the guards came in and started preparing us for the night, when a young man started walking through the aisle of cages. What I noticed was that he was eyeing the more exhausted nekos, the injured or malnourished ones.
I watched him curiously. Why he was looking at the one usually ignored was intriguing to me and I watched him for a few minutes as he wandered but eventually I tried to go back to sleep, sure he wouldn't even bother to look at me.
"That one." There was a snort.
"You sure? He's one of our oldest and he's on his way out, might last another few months at most."
"Yes. I said I want that one." I sighed when he chose, they were standing close to me but they couldn't be talking about me, I knew it in my heart.
I almost screamed when the cage door opened and hands dragged me out onto the ground and along the floor. I couldn't walk so they simply dragged me along the ground by the leather collar that was wrapped around my neck into another room.
A thick black sack that completely suffocated me was placed over my head and my arms and legs were both tied with zipties before I was dragged into the cold air of the outside world. I was stuffed into the back of a car.
"Not a single sound or I don't doubt you'll end up 6 feet under." They hissed, the threat lingering in my ears for a long time afterwards. I knew it was true, I knew that if I didn't obey I would probably be killed by whoever had bought me. Maybe that was why he was looking at the weak ones? He could have some fun and then kill them. I shuddered just thinking about it.
The man who bought me got in the front seat and started the car, completely ignoring me and sending my fear levels through the roof. There was no music so I knew he could hear me but I couldn't help but cry quietly, curling up in the corner and trying to muffle the heaving sobs so I wouldn't end up getting hurt for being too noisy.
The car stopped after a short ride and was backed into a garage, the engine cutting out. I whimpered into my arm and curled up even tighter, not knowing what would happen now that we were alone. Would he be violent? I didn't doubt that it would still be treated as a slave.
When the boot opened I covered my head but to my surprise he leaned in and picked me up, carrying me bridle style very gently and carefully into the house. He set me down on a mattress and I froze, not wanting to even twitch in case he turned violent. He crouched down beside me.
"Don't move for a second, I'm holding scissors to cut the zipties." I didn't move but I did feel him cut the ties, gently pulling them away so I could my limbs. He then pulled the black bag off my head, letting me blink in the light before getting me to look up at him. "Hey, there you go. It's okay."
I knew my eyes were wide with fear and I was shaking too, barely able to hold my upright position because I was so weak and scared. He was looking at me kindly but that didn't help me because I had had so many interactions with people who had acted kindly at first but then turned more violent than anyone else.
Gently he reached out and touched my hand, watching for my reactions, which was to jump about a foot into the air and pull myself further away from him.
"I know you don't trust me right now, I know you probably don't want do trust me, but I'm here to help you. I wanted to get you out of there because I know that you would have died if you were in there any longer."
With that he left me alone in the silent room, the only thing in it was a bed. It had clean sheets and I eyed them, wowed but also suspicious. The only time I had ever been around a bed was when someone was about to force me to do something I didn't want to, so I wasn't ready to trust him.
He came back with a bottle of water, a bowl of soup and some bread in hand.
"This is all I have at the moment, sorry." He said, setting the food down on a set of draws beside the bed. "I don't know how much your stomach can handle but I'm assuming it's not much considering how skinny you are, so just eat slowly. Don't make yourself sick."
I eyed it but relaxed when he cracked open the cap of the bottle, telling me it was sealed, he took a piece of bread and ate a bit of it and then tested a spoonful of soup.
"The soup's a bit hot, just be careful." I nodded and wrapped my arms around my knees, still scared. I understood he was trying to help me but after being trapped so long the cycle of abuse that I thought this was just another stop along the way, maybe one of the last before I died.
There was silence for a few seconds and then he gently lowered himself onto his bed beside me, waiting for my reaction. I whimpered a little and pushed myself up against the wall, just wanting him to go away, wanting to be by myself.
"I'll leave you alone okay, I just need to make sure you aren't injured." He gently reached out for me and because I was pushed so far into the wall that I literally couldn't go any further away. "I'm not trying to hurt you, I'm trying to help."
When I buried my head in my arms he sighed and pulled away.
"I'll leave you alone now okay." He stood up and headed to the door. Just before he reached it, he stopped. "My name's Jerome by the way. I hope I'll get through to you one day Mitch. I just want to help."
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I spent the next few days sleeping, drifting in and out of consciousness and only waking to eat and go to the bathroom. Jerome didn't interrupt me much, he simply came in to give me more food and sometimes bringing in things to entertain me, like books, or occasionally talked to me as well.
It gave me time to heal and after a few days I started to walk around without pain, strengthening my muscles so I could get around without any trouble. He always kept the door open in case I wanted to come out and after about a weeks I gathered the courage to step outside the door. I hadn't had to before, the bathroom was in a little room off the bedroom.
I padded into the kitchen gingerly, looking around the room, scared. Jerome was half asleep on the couch, curled up on his side like a child but when he saw me he smiled, his eyes half lidded. He looked exhausted.
"Hey Mitch, you okay? It's good to see you out of there." He sat up. I pulled my tail around and hugging it tightly, my ears flat against my head and my hands shaking. The room was nice, clean and it smelled like flowers but I was still unsettled, scared.
Jerome reached out for my hand, letting me place my hand in his rather than him trying to touch me first. I placed my hand on top of his and he squeezed it gently, tugging on it gently and leading me over to couch. We both sat down.
"Are you feeling okay?" I nodded. I was still yet to talk around him, I wasn't comfortable enough just yet and I had didn't have the voice strength to talk either. "Do you want anything to eat?"
I shook my head, pulling my tail gently as some form of comfort because I was so scared. He gently tugged my hands away, pulling my tail out of my grasp and gently trying to comfort me without touching me because he knew how much I hated it.
It took a while, weeks and then months, to begin to trust him. He respected my boundaries no matter how stupid they might seem, he never touched me unless I was trying hurt myself and he had no other choice, he always got me to choose, got my opinion, no matter what it was.
I first talked to him when I found the strength to do so. I first asked him about how he knew my name, apparently it was on a file he gave me, then I slowly started asking him other things. Why he decided to help me was a big one.
"Because I could leave you there. I knew you would die there if I left you alone and I couldn't let you die having only known that horror that was that place. I couldn't do it."
He told me about himself, about how he had seen how nekos were treated and how he told himself that he had to do something. He knew that he couldn't help everyone but if he could help one, even it was only for a little while, then he had done something for one person. And that one person just so happened to be me.
It was that moment that I hugged him for the first time. It was the first time that I had chosen to touch him of my own accord and he hugged me back gently, whispering into my ear that he glad that I was finally getting there.
I knew I wouldn't be able to live normally, or at least Jerome's version of normal because nothing about my life had ever been normal. I could barely focus most days and almost anything could send me into a flashback, meaning I couldn't function for the rest of the day, sometimes even longer.
I tried to do as much as I could as a thank you for Jerome but he told me on multiple occasions that I didn't have to. He wanted to help me and I didn't have to do anything in return.
I grew stronger, but at one point, it stopped. It was like I had climbed a hill and now I was at the top and had to climb down the other side. But the other side wasn't a slow decent, it was like I had fallen off a cliff and there was nothing I could do.
I got very sick, very quickly. One day I was wandering around the house, eating mostly full meals and talking to Jerome and the next I couldn't get out of bed because I was so weak. I knew it was nearing the end and for some reason, I was okay with it.
Jerome had given me happiness in the last year of my life and after only 23 years on Earth, I was ready to go. He gave me love, a place to be safe and a place to call a home, where for the first time in my life I could say I was happy.
He held me as I took in my last struggling breath, shaking a little but trying to be strong for me. I reached up weakly and stroked his cheek, closing my eyes as he leaned down and kissed me.
"Be strong Jerome." I whispered. "Thank you for giving me this." He smiled tearfully, wiping his eyes. He gently played with my ears, small purrs erupting from my chest.
And as I closed my eyes for the last time, I knew I was happy. As my consciousness slipped into nothing, I smiled and thought to myself, I'm glad this is where my life hit its end.
I was happy, I was loved. That was all I needed to know.