the raven-haired boy saw the orange one was on a monday afternoon. the sun was low in the sky that day, spilling its sugary pinks and yellows across the sky in the warm spring haze; the shop had an hour until close, and the soft whimpers of the animals sleeping and snoring sounded in the empty silence he sat in.
the quiet peace was disrupted gently then, only by the quaint jingle of the golden doorbell above the glass door. a short teenage boy who he suspected to be about his age padded softly towards the kittens in the back of the shop, taking his hood down to reveal a head of bushy, tangerine hair, defying gravity in all directions. he watched as the boy sat on his knees and settled in by one of the younger pairs of kittens, a brother and sister duo of tabbies that the shop just got not two days ago. he smiled softly yet sadly to himself as he pressed his small fingertips against the smudged glass, the sister scrambling up and pushing her little pink paws up at him.
"just here to look?"
"oh, um, mhm," the peachy boy replied, his red eyes raw and glossy as he nodded back.
"alright. i'm here if you have any questions," he offered earnestly. he longed to ask why the boy had been crying.
"okay."
a few minutes passed slowly as the boys sat in the pet shop, the sun falling farther and farther behind the cotton candy clouds and switching shifts with the moon. the employee kicked his feet up onto the counter and slid his copy of "more happy than not" out of his backpack behind the chair, and the customer sat and pawed at the tabbies.
a shuffling noise arose and the boy stood up and headed for the door, wiping his eyes and sniffling softly, but not leaving without muttering a, "thank you, have a good night."
the pet shop worker waved goodbye and watched him leave, a gray sadness spreading inside his chest, right in the spot below his throat and between his lungs. it stayed there until he locked the door of the shop and walked home in the violet evening.