LXXXV | Megaphone

❦

I reach a bus stop,

take a random bus
home.

When I get off
the bus,

I see the cat
with scales

like
reptilian armour,

like
when we first met.

Its tail waves
languidly,
a casual greeting.

My fists clench,
fire burns
in my chest.

'You!
'Why are you here?'

It doesn't reply.

Just pads away,
blindly confident I'll follow.
I won't.

But I do.

After what happened,
I dunno
how to face
Shuhui.

Under the void deck,
there's one light
that's flickering.

The scaly cat
chooses to sit
under it.

It's quiet.

At the playground,
there's a
group of teenagers

talking and drinking.

'You didn't show up earlier,'
I accuse.

The cat's glassy green eyes
narrow
at me.

'If you didn't like
'what I was doing,
'you should have
'said so.

'Don't #*%&ing blame me now.'

A scale drops
from its body
like a white rowan petal.

Like a snowflake.

Another one
grows back
in its place.

'You slammed the door
'in my face,'
it says.

'You disappeared
'on your own,'
I say.

I'm not giving in.
I won't.

The cat turns blurry.
So does the void deck.

My eyes are heavy.

Now they're wet.

Something's flowing down
my face.

The cat's tail
droops,
lies like a dead snake
on the concrete.

It doesn't speak.

I also
don't.

I can't.

There's a mothball
in my throat.

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]