Just Barely

So I decided to do something different and post this little story I have been working on. It is not anywhere close to finished and I will probably post new chapters each few weeks depending on how busy I am. Feel free to critique.

Prologue

There is always an unwanted being in the world. For humans it is rats or maybe even cockroaches. This being must do anything it can to survive, do what humans who have logic and reason and all the nice benefits of being at the top of the world do not understand. You see, the world has a twisted form of a social structure. At the top are humans with their wits and selfishness, all the other animals in the world are below them, not important. Just stepping stones to human success. Now of course animals aren’t innocent of this mindset either. The lion sees the lamb as a stepping stone to its survival, the wolf sees the deer in the same light. No matter what there will always be a species or being that is unwanted. This is the tale of one of those unwanted, unfortunate creatures.

The air reeked of car exhaust and oil. The sounds of music and various machines filled the disgusting streets paved with cracked concrete and shards of glass from broken beer bottles that were littered in every corner, just missing the trash bin. In a small alleyway, hidden behind an old restaurant there was a green garbage bin, sitting alone in this corridor. The trash bin had been left there, forgotten. It was filled to the brim of trash, which the flies enjoyed of course. Unlike many other trash bins there were not any broken bottles next to it, as if this alley had been forgotten just like this garbage bin. Rejected by the world, unwanted. Hiding behind this abandoned garbage bin was a small figure, stained orange and white, if you looked close enough this figure slightly resembled a cat. The figure was splayed upon shredded blankets and newspapers, all of them very messily arranged to be a makeshift bed.

At first look anyone would think this broken cat was dead, but low and behold, it’s ear twitched. The figure slowly lifted to its paws. Now that the cat was standing you could see exactly how broken it was, no wonder this cat was in this unwanted alley sleeping next to this unwanted trash bin. Terrible burns stretched around the cat’s legs and up onto its face. The burns stretched all around it’s body but stopped at the half-way point of the creature, almost as if this poor animal was some failed art project. The animal’s skin was extremely pale, almost luminescent, giving this cat a skeletal appearance which was further helped by the figure’s malnutrition. Who knows how long it has been since this cat has seen a decent meal.

The cat huffed as it started to move, ignoring the annoying pangs of hunger in its belly. The creature had gotten used to the pangs by now, for him they were just… natural. The cat’s bones were stiff, and moving obviously caused the pitiful creature great pain, yet he had gotten used to this pain too. Determined to live another day the little animal moved out of the broken little alleyway to look for scraps that the humans tossed out, or maybe even some mice that got caught in the mouse traps around the restaurant, seeing as those were the only mice this creature could actually catch. With a passionate determination to prove everyone who disowned him or looked down at him wrong, the little cat waddled out into the world, this cruel, yet beautiful world.