'A Trusting Whisper'

I am walking home and a simple equation of the night appears to me in the form of a lost kitten, mewing from across the road, barely audible against the sound of passing vehicles.

Minutes later I am awkwardly holding it by its scruff and we cross the road together, back to where I resume my walk home (or so I thought). I let it down and the kitten follows me, apparently certain that I can lead it home too. And then, for a moment, I actually try.

We stop at a nearby junction and I start to throw random cat dialect into the darkness and tall grass, in hopes of locating the kitten's family, but to no avail. I turn into the road and chance upon some benevolent individual's leftovers, and wait as the kitten greedily gorges itself, rustling the newspaper every now and then.

We continue further into the road after that, reaching a dead end when suddenly some dog starts barking all crazy from one of the houses. I carry the kitten by its scruff again and walk back out towards the main road. It had started shaking, petrified the moment it heard the commotion.

Once the barking was way behind us, I let it down and it began to follow me again.

When we reached the main road I knew it was trying to be brave, because every once in a while it stopped when a vehicle was approaching and followed when it was clear again. I was watching out for it closely, even though we were safely beside the road. Kept an easy pace for it to follow. But sometimes I had to carry it again because it just refused to go on. Sometimes it hid under parked vehicles that were along the way.

And strangely as we approached my apartment, the kitten no longer seemed interested to follow me. I called for it once, twice, many times and it never came. I tried looking for it under cars which were parked on both sides of the road but it was gone.

I have not seen it since.

( _")