Faint Light | Nadia

Life is a cycle, be born, survive to become an adult, and work, endless work to try in vain to become unfulfilling. You thought it was decent, you were dating, and making enough money. But one day, that all was ripped away from you, house was vandalized and unlivable, someone started a rumor about you at work, eventually leaving you to be fired and homeless.

Without a proper place to stay, no one would even give a thought about hiring someone like you, so you became a beggar, one with overgrown hair, raggedy clothes, and nothing, absolutely nothing. Rarely people would actually give you something, but even then it wasn’t much, maybe barely enough to eat, mostly people would just call you names, maybe even steal what little amount of pocket change you had. Jackpot struck one day for you, when there was enough money to afford food and a blanket, albeit small but definitely warmer than nothing.

Taking whatever you had, you moved from sleeping on the streets to park benches, watching day after day as people propose, go on walks, and are full of joy and happiness, which you tried so hard to achieve, but just can’t. Seeing so much fulfillment so close yet so far away crushed all hopes of someday achieving that same dream. You slowly become more reserved, after all, who would even care if some homeless person died, your parents? They don’t care, they hated you while you were growing. Your coworkers? They don’t even know who you were, they especially don’t care now.

Today no one even tried to give you any money, not even change, so you moved to a park, looking up and seeing dark, thundering clouds, once inside, you chose a bench slightly covered by a tree with a streetlight nearby, coincidentally it starts raining that exact moment. Sighing, you take out the same, now dirty blanket from before, putting it on you and trying to sleep, but with no avail as the rain seeps through the tree leafs, landing atop the blanket and into your clothes.

A couple hours later the storm rages on, keeping you awake in the dark park except for the streetlights shining dimly through the onslaught of rain. When, coming from the entrance to the park you see a figure headed your way. As the stranger gets closer you make out black fur, long ears, a patch of yellow fur in the middle, and some sort of jacket and shorts. It slightly surprises you when the same person sits on the same bench you’re on, (luckily there’s enough space for both of you) so you instinctively look away, hoping to not bother. You know I can see you, right? A soft, gentle voice comes from her, but you refuse to look her way. Don’t want to talk? That’s fine, perhaps I could talk to you. A few minutes pass, the everlasting yet peaceful sound of raindrops colliding with the ground. You are the only person I’ve seen here, and I come here often. I know you’ve probably been through a lot, I see often how people like you are treated here, and I can assure you that I’m not one of them. Slowly, hesitantly you look her way, and sure enough, what you saw earlier was right. There’s a light jacket covering her black-furred body with the occasional ring or band on her long, pointed ears, her crimson eyes glimmer with calmness, topped off with some black shorts and fishnets.