I was in bed, struggling with the unbearable pain in my chest. I wished I would disappear or maybe just appear to others, pretty and kind. Did I really mean it though, that, I was unsure of. I just hoped I’d wake up the other day to a world full of hope. That wouldn’t happen though, how could it? It would have been impossible, if only I hadn’t closed my eyes for five minutes.
I woke up to the delightful sound of birds, chirping around like it was summertime already. We were in the middle of January. How weird, I thought as I yawned, and got up. Just as I stood up, I saw a small kitten, curled up on the edge of my pillow. My family hated pets. They thought cats and dogs were nothing but additional chores, birds were criminals confined behind bars, and bunnies were merely a source of extra cleaning. They wouldn’t have seen this innocent soul crawl inside. I picked her up. She was the size of the palm of my right hand. She had a bruise on her back. A bruise, that matched my birthmark that I hid from others with the help of some concealer. It made this tiny kitten unique, it gave her personality. Suddenly, the thought of a dark mark on my back didn’t sound so awfully agitating. I walked to my window, to take a glance into the outside world. We hadn’t seen snow in years at that point, but when I looked out, I was facing a white coat of ice and snow. My room was looking into a big garden full of trees, that were naked due to the weather there. That made birds who enjoy the cold and rain like me, obviously seen. The sky looked pretty, with the colors blue, yellow, and green it had as its undertones.
As I was admiring the view, my father entered the room. He had a warm smile on his face, showing his dimples. ” I see, you have found our surprise.” he said, pointing at the kitten who had somehow fallen back asleep on my right hand. ” We thought she’d be helpful.” I was confused. Two days ago, when I asked to get a cat, they had refused and shouted at me for wasting their time that was too precious to even dare. He added, ” I made waffles today, with syrup, your favorite.” My face made a weird expression showing disbelief. I didn’t know how to react, so, instead I just shut my mouth and followed him to the kitchen.
I left the kitten on the floor and filled a cup with milk for her to drink. I sat down at the table, later on. The smell of freshly made waffles had filled my nose. I was excited, for a day that had for once started off with hope. I saw my mother, looking at me as I grabbed the bottle of syrup. She had added fruits cut in shapes to put on the waffles. I smiled as I grabbed a heart-shaped strawberry and put it on top. She returned my smile as she opened her mouth to talk, ” So, what are you going to name her? ” she asked with a soft, questioning voice. I already had a name in mind, so, I didn’t think long. “Noelle.” I said, not hesitating once. “She’s white, and judging from her size, she was born at the start of December.” I heard her giggle as she got up and picked the kitten up. “Welcome to our family, Noelle.” she excitedly said.
After breakfast, my mother left to get a collar with the name Noelle for the kitten. I was bored and wanted to go out. Our house was not close to the city center so there weren’t many places I could possibly go. I still grabbed my coat and gloves and left home. The lake right outside of our house had frozen. It had been turned into an ice rink. I wanted to learn more so I decided to approach. Everyone was having a lot of fun. No one pushed or pulled, no one said any bad words. It was like the whole world was in peace. There was an old man, who sold hot cocoa with who I thought would be his wife. They looked so happy, even though they knew they didn’t have much time left to go on. There was a boy carrying her little sister on his shoulders. Their giggles made people around smile with joy. It was like everyone glowed. That made me freeze in place, with an expression showing shock. Everything in my life was falling into place, while this place, was the cause of my joy. I put on ice skates and as I was about to go, a young girl realized I didn’t tie the laces ’cause I didn’t know how. She knelt down and helped me with the skates, and smiled as she left to get hot chocolate from the couple across the road. I stood up and got into the ice rink, happy for once. As I staked my heart out, bumping into a young boy. He somehow knew my name, he was shouting.
“Macey!” I opened my eyes to my father yelling my name. I didn’t know why he needed me that badly. “Wait a minute!” I thought, of course, a bad dream was all this could be. It all felt like one of those classical stories, where in the end, everything would just turn out to be a good bad dream. I looked around, knowing I wouldn’t see the adorable kitten looking at me, but a part of me still expected her to be there with me. I stood up and approached my window, outside there never was snow. And all that lake could ever be was a dry mess with no signs of life.