The Lost Kitten
Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:21 pm
_____Hi, everybody. I’m sorry I haven’t been on a lot. But ever since Ethan had that filtered paper thing given to him , we’ve been trying to figure out why he got it and trying to stop it. He’s told me I just have to be patient and wait. And he’s been busy with the sick people, too.
_____While I was waiting, I talked to some friends I met and talked to ever since Ethan disappeared and came back. And they said I should write this incident down here. I decided to take a walk on the sidewalks and enjoy the final fingers of the sunny weather before dusk came. It was very nice. Most of the people that had seen me before gave me tiny, strange smiles out of the corner of their mouths when I waved and said hello; I don’t know why they never waved back or smiled big. I decided to keep walking, going down a lane of small apartments.
_____“Clarity, will you help me find Porridge? I can’t find him anywhere.”
_____“Sure, Luke,” my smile grew when I turned and saw the little black-haired boy I sometimes saw when walking. “Where did he go?”
_____“That way,” he replied with all the seriousness a six-year-old could have, turning around to indicate the direction, arm straight with his finger pointing out. I felt a prickling flush touch my neck as I peered at a stone wall darkened by the canopy of trees overhead and the taller buildings around it. I stepped a little closer, looking at the large, crooked hole in the wall and blinked, gazing into the shady corridor that opened up within. A small trickle of water entered wall before disappearing into the blackness without a sound. I took another step nearer, slouching my back in an effort to peer through the gloom. Swallowing, I turned my face toward Luke, who studied my face with eyes that were even blacker than the hole before me, staring solemnly. I gulped again.
_____“In there?” I asked thickly, almost hoping that somehow I was mistaken.
_____“Yep,” he nodded once, a brief, long motion starting with the arc of his tiny chin touching his small chest and rising all the way up until he was staring at the trees overhead; I could see the tiny bump in the middle of his neck. Then his chin covered it as he brought his nod to a close, and once more his inky eyes fastened my gaze to his. “He went in there,” he repeated slowly. “Will you find him for me, Clarity?”
_____“Umm . . . sure,” I agreed, my chin bobbing in a tinny response nod. “Do you want to come with me?”
_____“No,” he responded with deadly serious practicality. “I want you to do it. I’m afraid of the dark. The monsters might eat me.”
_____“Oh. Okay.” I squared my shoulders, took a deep breath, and gave a reassuring smile to Luke before venturing inside the tunnel. He didn’t smile back, his depthless eyes seeming already in mourning while watching me. My skin shivered as the shadows took me into their embrace. I hesitated before proceeding further, the cement became cracked and sloped downward deeper in. There were brackets of yellow gathered around in a circle where the cement leveled out, about ten feet away. The entire place was closed in like a prison, the walls were the sides of buildings, the seething foliage. An ominous, echoing, gurgling sound emitted from a large gap in the floor, partially covered by a slab of dark metal.
_____“CLARITY!” The voice shouted so loud and with such abruptness I said a little “eep!” and jumped, knocking my head on the rocky ceiling. I twisted around, watching the large, lumbering figure come vaulting over the fence line on the other side of the street and dash across the crosswalk and through the alleyway, stopping short of me.
_____“Mark?” My palm kept my heart from pattering outside my chest. He said he was my age, and perhaps he was right. He was fifteen years old and looked older, gangly with long limbs and a stunted torso, curly brown hair almost black in the shadows. He had the same dusky skin and snub nose as his younger brother, but his eyes were his own, light amber like that hue of honey. “You scared me, Mark,” I chided him gently.
_____“Me?” He seemed astounded by my confession. “Scared you? What about you scaring me? Don’t you know how dangerous it is down there, Clarity?”
_____I looked behind me as he pulled me back into the light by the hand, and instantly I felt better because of it. “Really?” Again, I looked behind me. “Luke says Porridge went down there, and asked me to go look for him.”
_____“That stupid, dumb, frigging . . . cat . . .” Mark infused his sentence with several naughty words. He says a lot of bad words when he’s mad. I’ll edit them out. After a moment, something shifted in his eyes. “Actually, that’s a good idea. Hey Molerat, tell Mom and Dad that I might be late for dinner.”
_____I sighed. “Mark, you shouldn’t call your brother ‘molerat.’ It’s not nice . . .”
_____“Okay, Mark,” Luke waved. Mark’s name-calling didn’t break his brother’s mournful inflection. “Goodbye, Mark. Goodbye, Clarity. Can I have your CD’s, Mark?”
_____“You’re a freak, Molerat,” Mark sneered as he led me by the hand into the darkness. We both shivered, the air was noticeably cooler now. “Honestly, I think Mom bought that kid off an Ebay Special or something.”
_____I didn’t know what that meant, so I saved the question for later and ignored his bad words when we climbed over the yellow barriers and found the large, crack-eaten hole partially covered with the big steel slab. No matter how hard we tried to move it, it wouldn’t budge. Mark tried to squeeze his way through, but his body wouldn’t fit right; his arms and legs were too long.
_____“Clarity, this is a really, really, really, bad idea,” he said as I dropped to my bum and dangled my knees in the hole, looking cautiously for any signs of Porridge. “You know that, right? We don’t know how deep that is. We don’t know if Porridge is down there. It’ll be pitch black. We don’t know what’s down there.” He kept listing off reasons I shouldn’t go.
_____“I’ll be okay,” I assured him, holding out my hands while he took them. “Besides, I promised Luke I’d get Porridge back. Maybe you can go tell those construct people to come back and move the slab so you can come down, too,” I said while he held my hands and gently lowered me into the pit.
_____“Sure,” he grunted slowly, his face red, his arms tensed and trembling. “Whatever.”
_____“You’ll have to lower me further,” I said, my legs and knees scraping the sides of the hole and finding nothing to put my feet and hands against. “Almost—there . . .”
_____I said a little scream as he let me go, whereupon I fell and was grabbed by the darkness.
_____While I was waiting, I talked to some friends I met and talked to ever since Ethan disappeared and came back. And they said I should write this incident down here. I decided to take a walk on the sidewalks and enjoy the final fingers of the sunny weather before dusk came. It was very nice. Most of the people that had seen me before gave me tiny, strange smiles out of the corner of their mouths when I waved and said hello; I don’t know why they never waved back or smiled big. I decided to keep walking, going down a lane of small apartments.
_____“Clarity, will you help me find Porridge? I can’t find him anywhere.”
_____“Sure, Luke,” my smile grew when I turned and saw the little black-haired boy I sometimes saw when walking. “Where did he go?”
_____“That way,” he replied with all the seriousness a six-year-old could have, turning around to indicate the direction, arm straight with his finger pointing out. I felt a prickling flush touch my neck as I peered at a stone wall darkened by the canopy of trees overhead and the taller buildings around it. I stepped a little closer, looking at the large, crooked hole in the wall and blinked, gazing into the shady corridor that opened up within. A small trickle of water entered wall before disappearing into the blackness without a sound. I took another step nearer, slouching my back in an effort to peer through the gloom. Swallowing, I turned my face toward Luke, who studied my face with eyes that were even blacker than the hole before me, staring solemnly. I gulped again.
_____“In there?” I asked thickly, almost hoping that somehow I was mistaken.
_____“Yep,” he nodded once, a brief, long motion starting with the arc of his tiny chin touching his small chest and rising all the way up until he was staring at the trees overhead; I could see the tiny bump in the middle of his neck. Then his chin covered it as he brought his nod to a close, and once more his inky eyes fastened my gaze to his. “He went in there,” he repeated slowly. “Will you find him for me, Clarity?”
_____“Umm . . . sure,” I agreed, my chin bobbing in a tinny response nod. “Do you want to come with me?”
_____“No,” he responded with deadly serious practicality. “I want you to do it. I’m afraid of the dark. The monsters might eat me.”
_____“Oh. Okay.” I squared my shoulders, took a deep breath, and gave a reassuring smile to Luke before venturing inside the tunnel. He didn’t smile back, his depthless eyes seeming already in mourning while watching me. My skin shivered as the shadows took me into their embrace. I hesitated before proceeding further, the cement became cracked and sloped downward deeper in. There were brackets of yellow gathered around in a circle where the cement leveled out, about ten feet away. The entire place was closed in like a prison, the walls were the sides of buildings, the seething foliage. An ominous, echoing, gurgling sound emitted from a large gap in the floor, partially covered by a slab of dark metal.
_____“CLARITY!” The voice shouted so loud and with such abruptness I said a little “eep!” and jumped, knocking my head on the rocky ceiling. I twisted around, watching the large, lumbering figure come vaulting over the fence line on the other side of the street and dash across the crosswalk and through the alleyway, stopping short of me.
_____“Mark?” My palm kept my heart from pattering outside my chest. He said he was my age, and perhaps he was right. He was fifteen years old and looked older, gangly with long limbs and a stunted torso, curly brown hair almost black in the shadows. He had the same dusky skin and snub nose as his younger brother, but his eyes were his own, light amber like that hue of honey. “You scared me, Mark,” I chided him gently.
_____“Me?” He seemed astounded by my confession. “Scared you? What about you scaring me? Don’t you know how dangerous it is down there, Clarity?”
_____I looked behind me as he pulled me back into the light by the hand, and instantly I felt better because of it. “Really?” Again, I looked behind me. “Luke says Porridge went down there, and asked me to go look for him.”
_____“That stupid, dumb, frigging . . . cat . . .” Mark infused his sentence with several naughty words. He says a lot of bad words when he’s mad. I’ll edit them out. After a moment, something shifted in his eyes. “Actually, that’s a good idea. Hey Molerat, tell Mom and Dad that I might be late for dinner.”
_____I sighed. “Mark, you shouldn’t call your brother ‘molerat.’ It’s not nice . . .”
_____“Okay, Mark,” Luke waved. Mark’s name-calling didn’t break his brother’s mournful inflection. “Goodbye, Mark. Goodbye, Clarity. Can I have your CD’s, Mark?”
_____“You’re a freak, Molerat,” Mark sneered as he led me by the hand into the darkness. We both shivered, the air was noticeably cooler now. “Honestly, I think Mom bought that kid off an Ebay Special or something.”
_____I didn’t know what that meant, so I saved the question for later and ignored his bad words when we climbed over the yellow barriers and found the large, crack-eaten hole partially covered with the big steel slab. No matter how hard we tried to move it, it wouldn’t budge. Mark tried to squeeze his way through, but his body wouldn’t fit right; his arms and legs were too long.
_____“Clarity, this is a really, really, really, bad idea,” he said as I dropped to my bum and dangled my knees in the hole, looking cautiously for any signs of Porridge. “You know that, right? We don’t know how deep that is. We don’t know if Porridge is down there. It’ll be pitch black. We don’t know what’s down there.” He kept listing off reasons I shouldn’t go.
_____“I’ll be okay,” I assured him, holding out my hands while he took them. “Besides, I promised Luke I’d get Porridge back. Maybe you can go tell those construct people to come back and move the slab so you can come down, too,” I said while he held my hands and gently lowered me into the pit.
_____“Sure,” he grunted slowly, his face red, his arms tensed and trembling. “Whatever.”
_____“You’ll have to lower me further,” I said, my legs and knees scraping the sides of the hole and finding nothing to put my feet and hands against. “Almost—there . . .”
_____I said a little scream as he let me go, whereupon I fell and was grabbed by the darkness.