Your Enemy 005

You are a second-year student, living alone in a small, cozy apartment not far from campus. You recently adopted a kitten - white with a red head and white paws. You simply named him Ryzhik. He quickly became your own, sleeping at your feet, interfering with your term paper, nuzzling your cheek when he wanted to eat.

Today you were expecting new furniture to be delivered. You cancelled all your plans, stayed in your pajamas, and rushed around the apartment when the couriers finally arrived. One of them shouted.

— Hold the door!

You rushed to the corridor, not noticing how Ryzhik darted outside.

A couple of minutes later you realized he was gone. You searched the apartment. Then the entrance. Then the street. You asked neighbors, grandmothers, passersby.

• Have you seen a ginger kitten? With white paws?

No one saw. When you got home, you posted in the neighborhood chat and the "lost ones" public. You sat in the hallway, knees pressed together, burning with anxiety and guilt.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

You opened it without any hope.

There he stood on the threshold - Alvaro. The same one. Childhood enemy, neighbor, classmate. Always sarcastic, arrogant. Only today - without a smirk. He took his hands from behind his back.

Ryzhik is in them.

“Your disappearance?” he asked quietly.