The long day passes, the sun beats down unrelenting. My
energy is sapped from my body from the constant heat and hard days. The only
relief to be found is at night when the air turns from roasting hot to barely
tolerable. I climbed my stairs with all of the strength a starving man on his
last leg. I pushed the door open and collapsed to the floor. My cats race to my
side, purring as they rub their fluffy bodies against my unmoving head and
shoulders. They lick my arms frantically; their motivation is of love but also
of food.
I drag my
corpse of a body across the floor as the cats joyfully skip and frolic around
me. They play and wash eachother, they climb on my body and they race down the
stairs into the hallway. The mischief beasts return to my apart when they hear
the rustling of the cat food bag. I pour dry kibble into their dishes and they
eat as if they had never eaten before. They had not eaten since breakfast and
their partially empty food dish was a grave concern to them.
As my lazy
roommates eat their kibble, I continue to drag my lifeless body across the
floor. As I dragged my body across the floor, the friction from the dragging
separated my leg from my pelvis. I left my leg behind as I continued towards my
bed. My cats played with my severed leg and nibbled on the toes.
I crawled
into bed, turned on soft music, covered myself in blankets and pillows, then
drifted off to the sweet oblivion of death. I died in bed, months passed, my
body decomposed into the earth. Grass and plant life sprung forth from the site
of my death. My apartment crumbled, vines overtook humanity, my cats played in
the rubble of human civilization.
Then a
sharp noise sounded, it was the alarm on my phone. The sound continued, it was
piercing and unpleasant. One of my cats tried to drown out the sound by
covering it with their soft fluffy body. The muffled alarm continued to sound.
I rose from the dead, fully formed, alive and with all of my limbs. I coughed
up dirt, spiders and worms. I moved my arms, the motion felt like a rusty
machine moving for the first time in years. I twisted my pelvis and pointed my
legs toward the edge of the bed, popping sounds erupted from my spine and lower
back. The cracking of my back felt good and I continued to move. I moved like
an ox over burdened with weight, I lumbered to my computer desk and drank down
a gallon of pills. The pills restored the remaining bits of humanity that I had
lost on the previous day. My cats danced and chirped as they noticed I was
awake. I pet the small goblins as they frolicked through the apartment.
Breakfast was served for them as I drank coffee.
I looked at
my phone and saw the weather report, "Surface of the sun” was written as
the temperature of the day. I sighed and prayed for death.
I sat hunched over my keyboard as I checked my emails and my
pointless social media. One of my cats climbed across my shoulders and back. I
sat unmoving, this was normal for me. I then stood up, shook the cats off my
body and began to get dressed. The cats gracefully floated toward the ground
and scampered off. I smiled. I want only happiness for them.
I
headed for the door and dragged my armor from the closet. This armor would
protect me from the day, from the heat and from the opinions of others. I knew
at the end of the day my armor would be broken and falling off but I put it on
anyway. I needed it just as everyone does. I went out to face another harsh
day. My cats slept like potatos.