The Stray

Part 6 - Cold Front

God, I feel guilty. I haven't updated in like . . . forever. I know some people have been worried, and it was a real jerk move of me to just go about ignoring this site. I apologize. I'm going to try to get back into the habit of writing on here again.

I was sorta not in the mood for dealing with anything like this for a long time. I was having family-distress (be that deaths of relatives, or people close to my heart getting sick and what-not) and I just wasn't really up for anything. I wasn't mentally up for doing anything, let alone typeing up stories.

I do hope you all know though, that I deeply appreciate those of you who notices my lack of updates, and specifically asked after my wellfair. It means that world. People have no idea just how much the kind words of someone, even a complete stranger, can make someone's day just that little bit brighter.

Thank you, and I once more apologize for my prolonged absence.

~ Nezumi

Cold Front

I miss the warmth of the kind man's home. I miss the blanket I slept on. I miss the hot showers. I miss the hot food too.

I should have remembered to check the news for the next days' weather because now he was stuck wandering the streets as strong winds whipped the temperature down to single digits.

I stuff my fingers under my armpits as I huff and puff down the street. I was heading to the subway so I could get back home. I had already admitted defeat. I was attached to the comfort of the welcoming couches and floors back in the cozy apartment. If they left me, kicked me out now, it would be like his mother's boyfriend kicking him out all over.

Hopefully, he would adapt quickly when the time came. After all, second time 'round the transition should be far easier since he'd done it before.

I made it just in time, shuffling quickly past the doors that hissed shut behind me as I entered the car that was thankfully free of any draft.

I was beyond thankful for the Japanese subway policy that you were expected to pay for the ride, but there was no one to really enforce this except for the occasional officer that passed through the train cars to catch the people who tried to get away with not paying.

I slump down on a seat and let my eyes fall closed.

The seat dug into my spine when I relaxed backward. Not as much as I would though many many weeks ago. I had put on some much-needed weight over the time I'd spent in the kind man's company. While my ribs still clearly popped from my skin and my limbs still resembled sticks, I had more flesh on the bone and I could actually call my legs legs instead of a short pair of stilts.

"Ticket."

Lords above, what has he ever done to deserve this?

"Ticket."

The sound of the officer making his way down the largely empty car was like an invisible punch to my gut.

"Ticket." The voice was just a few feet to his right.

Footsteps clunk across the metal floor until they stood in front of me.

"Ticket."

Perhaps if he pretended he was asleep he would just leave him be?

There's an irritated sigh before his shoulder is roughly shaken. "Kid wake, up."

I grunt and open up my eyes to see an old grey-haired cop looking down on me with a twitching mustache.

"Ticket."

"Y-you kn-now, we've had s-some wicked winds t-t-today. My ticket k-kinda just blew-blew away," I stutter out, giving my best I'm-innocent-please-believe-me face.

"Next stop you're coming with me kid," he said, then added after something he must have seen on my face, "And you'll be coming either way, with or without the cuffs is up to you."

The day just kept getting better.

: : : :

The sound of the jail cell door falling shut slapped him upside the head like a stamp to officialize his doom. There was no way he was getting out of this one.

What did he have in his favor? He couldn't give up his name or they'd call his family. They offered him a phone call, but who could he call? He knew no numbers, and even if he did who would he call? 

Surely not Shouta, the type of humiliation that would bring on is unfathomable. If he answered the phone, he'd probably be disgusted with me for ending up in the clink, and if he did agree to come to bail me out, then what? It's not like I could pay him back the money.

All reason pointed to Shouta not having a good reaction to such a call.

So I sat morosely in one corner of the cell, trying to ignore the cell-mates surrounding him on all sides. Several smelled drunk or high, others look like they had just been pulled from a fight with bloody noses and teeth. With the way one man held his jaw, I think he lost a tooth as well.

I rubbed my nose with the flat of my palm to try and get rid of the last clinging cold and push myself further into my corner before stuffing my fingers under my armpits. I wished I had more than just a thin shirt and sweater right now. I could feel my goosebumps through the fabric!

Pulling up my sweater I hooked it around my ears and over my nose so I could blow my hot breath down my shirt. Hopefully, it'd help me warm up a bit. God, and to think this type of weather used to be tolerable at some point. I've become spoiled!

With reluctance, I allow my head to fall back against the dirty wall behind me. I might as well get some sleep. I didn't know when it would next be available to me in the future.

It's perhaps a good thing that I hold such low-expectations, for I was pleasantly surprised the next morning.