He adjusted the kitten in his hands, letting her tiny head rest against his thumb. She didn’t stir, just breathed slowly, calmly, like she felt safe in a world she’d only recently begun to trust.
He’d found her in an alley two weeks earlier.
“She was so small,” he said. “Thin. Cold. Wet. I wasn’t sure she’d make it through the night.”
He didn’t say it dramatically. It wasn’t a plea for pity. It was just the truth spoken plainly—like someone who had seen too many hard things to sugarcoat them.
He brought her home anyway.
“I wrapped her in a towel I warmed in the dryer. Fed her tiny drops of milk with a syringe. She wouldn’t eat at first. Or sleep. She wouldn’t even look at me.”
He inhaled slowly.
“Some creatures give up before they’re even given a chance.”
The train rattled down the track. Morning sunlight flickered between buildings, casting moving patterns across his face. He continued in a voice that felt like a whisper to the universe.
He chuckled, embarrassed.
“That’s where the crown came from. I wanted her to have something that reminded her she wasn’t just some stray meant to survive in the dark.”Continue reading…
