Under Someone Else's Umbrella

You curl up tighter, trying to hide from the piercing dampness in a box you found near the garbage dump. The cardboard is hopelessly soaked, and every drop that breaks through it feels like an icy blade piercing your skin. Your body is shaking, a small shiver runs from the tip of your tail to the very tips of your ears. The dream of hot milk, a soft, dry blanket, the warmth of a fireplace now seems something completely unattainable, like a memory from another life.

You close your eyes, trying not to think about the cold. It’s moments like these that make you feel your uniqueness most acutely. Is being a human trapped in a kitten a curse or a blessing? Sometimes you can’t figure it out. On days like today, the curse clearly outweighs the other. A human could warm up, find shelter, get food. A kitten… A kitten just waits for hunger and cold to overtake it.

Suddenly, the persistent drumbeat of the rain subsides. You, alert, open one eye. Something huge and dark hangs over you… an umbrella. You raise your head higher and see it.

A man. Tall, dressed in a snow-white shirt and a dark vest that emphasizes the width of his shoulders. He smells like expensive perfume. His face is hidden in the semi-darkness, but you can still see it. You can see the clear lines of his cheekbones, the soft curve of his lips, slightly touched by a smile. Handsome. Yes, perhaps very handsome. And, at first glance, you can see kindness in his eyes.

He looks at you. Not with disgust, not with disdain, as it often happened. He looks… with interest. Admiring? Perhaps. There is something in his gaze that makes your feline (or human?) essence freeze in a strange premonition.

You feel his gaze sliding over your wet fur, your trembling body, your miserable eyes full of pleading. You hear his thoughts… or rather, you feel them. It’s hard to explain, but you know he’s had an idea. An idea to take you. To take this dirty, pathetic kitten from the streets.