A Cat’s Tail CH 4

We stopped in front of the edge. A desolate land of fog in the seemingly bright area. The clear barrier reflected our faces. I looked at me, my slate coat and tabby stripes. I looked at my chest closely, I could see the building behind me through my chest. I was translucent, see through, transparent. I looked over to Ace’s reflection, frightened. His tabby coat of brown made it more difficult to see through, though I don’t think he’s mind to it anymore. His face, he looked scared. Panicked even, he’s done this before. I looked at his ear, the nick being clearly visible. I saw his eyes dart over to my reflection, seeing how I looked.

“You are positive you want to do this?” Ace voice sounded shaky, demonstrating his emotion. “The library lady is not wrong, it is dangerous.”

I looked back at my reflection, taking a deep breath and letting go, “What’s so dangerous about it?” I shuffled my own voice. I was going to take control, shove any fear under a rug and walk away. We go this, a soon-to-be guardian and a spiritual figure, how bad could it be? In a haven like this?

Ace sighed, perking his head abruptly, “I have an idea!” Ace got up and started walking away from the edge. “Follow me!”

Follow? We just got to the edge of the barrier, why would we go back? I decided not to question. Maybe I was in for a thrilling ride, maybe I just wanted to see the fun of an adventure. I blindly followed.

Ace took a sharp left and entered an alleyway. I felt a little uneasy, I never liked some of the alley cats back on Earth. They were into sketchy business and somehow knew many ideas that we unbeknownst to me. Just like the white-coated men, how would they know? I still followed reluctantly. The tall buildings towered, shadowing any light passing. I was intimidated to be in such an alleyway.

“There’s less trash here than normal.” Ace happily said, “That’s how you know it’s a good day!” Ace continued his journey, to a dead end. I’d be lying to say I knew what he was doing. Why was Ace here? What could help us here?

“Where… are we?” I paused, seeing how tall the building was in such an area. The ledges protruded from the sides, potted plants lined the edges. It was scary to think that this resembled the human life I’ve grown accustomed to. “Why are we here?” I followed.

Ace let out a small chuckle, “To a map, where else?” He kept walking to the trash can, not caring that this led to a dead end. He is my guardian… as of a few hours ago, of course. I was like any other neophyte in Heaven, I shouldn’t question a guardian’s intention then. Besides, I owe him the help that he’s given me.

My thoughts were interrupted as a pitter patter echoed on the trash can. I looked forward, seeing Ace prepare himself on the garbage bin. I tried to hurry forward, however, Ace immediately jumped forward towards a low window ledge. I felt my heart stop, a gut feeling that this might not end well. “Ace!” I called out, a little bit of the brick started chipping away, “I don’t think that’s the safest idea!”

“This is nothing!” Ace shook his tail high before taking a large jump to another ledge. He must’ve miscalculated, he slid off and hung by his paws.

“Ace!” I yelled once more. Ace luckily pulled himself up. I felt the chills being sent down my spine. “Ace!” I called out again, hoping he can at least stop or tell me what he’s going to do.

“I do this all the time, don’t worry!” Ace shook his tail again and took a larger jump, from the left building ledge to the right. He bumped into the side of the wall, a brick crumbled beneath him. The loose brick crashed down and created an obnoxious bang in the utmost quiet alleyway. “Watch out down there!”

He jumped once more, pushing a potted plant to crash down onto me. I jumped out of the way in time, shocked he still is going up. Watch out down there… I wasn’t looking out for you anyways? I looked back up, seeing no sign of brown. “Ace?” I yelled out, there’s not much to run to. Could he have made it to the top? A few ledges, and the building had ended? I walked over to the bin and put a paw up, hoping to have a better view of the top. “Ace!” I yelled out, “Hello?” I felt my ears flatten out of instinct, did he just leave me? At that remark, another potted plant slammed directly onto the bin, shattering it instantly. I jumped away as quickly as I could have, missing any part of that plant or pot. I immediately realized my senses towards the whole situation.

“Sorry!” Ace mumbled, he jumped down with different ledges than what he used before. He went into a spiral, making sure he was more careful about the plants.

I let my breath go, he didn’t leave after all. That was a sense of relief more than anything else, where or who would I go to if he did leave? “Where did you go?” I asked, as if I hadn’t already expressed much concern. Ace jumped down on the bin, holding a small page valiantly of his search.

He dropped the paper on the ground, putting his paw on top. “This is your ticket out of here!”

I took a closer look, no less it was a diagram. Though, it looked like a bunch of circles inside other circles with many lines. I smiled, hoping he didn’t sense too much cluelessness. “What exactly is it?”

“Your ticket out of here, I just said that.” Ace restated. I rolled my eyes, having a small snicker come from both of us. “Alright, this is a map of Heaven, well… a piece of it.”

“A piece?”

“Yea, I found this map inside a library book. I did rip out the page and kept it, though I don’t know where the other book is to gather the other section of Heaven.” Ace flattened out the page with his paw, sitting down to explain. “So! We are going to a different district to find the other book!”

I froze, we are going on a quest… not to get home, but to get a different book. “Do you know where? Why are we looking for a different book?” Different questions popped into my mind. As a coincidence, a wind kicked up behind us, blowing the page out of our sight. What were the chances of that?

As of an instinct, Ace dashed to catch the page. “Wait!” Ace went to jump up and catch it, only the wind pushed it further. I had to run to catch up, though it seemed he was still anxious to catch it. Ace rushed into a crowd of the International District, following a yellow page in the sky. I looked around, seeing the best possible way to catch up. How was it he couldn’t catch up to me to the border, yet he’s much quicker here?

Faintly, I saw an auburn coat dance throughout the crowds. He jumped up and down, chasing the page as much as he could. He was decently far into the crowd, still running at full speed it seemed. I rushed ahead, trying to catch up. As I ran behind him in the crowd, I heard many gasps and bumped cats falling. Ace obviously is not looking for the crowd around him. “Ace!” I yelled out, to no avail, he did not reply. It’s as if his careless personality was thrown out the window, he changed so quickly over a page.

I noticed I was slowing down, Ace was getting out of my line of sight. I looked down to my transparent paws, I needed to catch up. I started sprinting, faster than I’ve done in a long time. Oof! I slammed directly into another cat. I felt apples crash and splatter onto me. I shook my head, snapping back into the reality I was in. I got up, panting, and turned to the poor victim. She was Calico with orange and black spots. Bright oranges, dark blacks and white whites. I felt shocked I’ve knocked into someone this roughly. She got up and shook her fur, turning to me in anger, “You shouldn’t run in such a crowd!” She yelled at me. I can hear the anger she emitted, “You realize the amount of danger you are causing?”

I don’t understand what got over me, though it wasn’t Ace. I started trotting away, soon going back into the sprint I was locked in, “Sorry!” I yelled back, hoping she could forgive such a terrible mistake.