I sat on Jim's dirty couch hugging my knees still in shock even after the drugs had worn out. Jim was in the bathroom for what felt like hours, presumably cleaning the blood off his body.
What the hell just happened?
I was infinitely grateful that Jim rescued me from that psycho pervert, but now I was back in the flat with the man who had just axed another man to death. Yesterday I was thinking that my Dad would chop me into pieces if he ever caught me again, but now I was with a man who literally chopped another man, and the cat-, poor Pluto. Was that really necessary…?
Jim finally came out of the bathroom looking fresh and clean. Although he did not exactly transform into a prince charming, he did look a lot more presentable.
As if that matters now.
"I cleaned the bathroom. Go get yourself cleaned up too"
Although I might have ignored anything else and kept wallowing in shock and self-pity, a chance to take a shower after all that had happened was just what I needed so I duly obliged.
Standing under the hot shower and just letting the water cleanse my body finally made me feel better, but once I set out to wash my hair I realized there was no shampoo or shower gel.
"Jim! There's no shampoo"
I turned the water off, opened the door just to let my head peek out, and shouted.
"Use the cat shampoo"
"I'm not a frigging cat!"
"There's nothing else"
Oh, man…
Better this than nothing, I thought and picked up a bottle of cat shampoo that was left on the sill of the bathtub.
Hang on-, does it mean this guy also uses cat shampoo?
Yeah, as if he ever takes a shower.
I laughed at my own stupidity and just went ahead with it, and surprisingly, the shampoo actually smelt really good.
I was soon faced with yet another predicament though, which I should have thought of earlier, was there was no clean towel, let alone a clean set of clothes for me of course.
"Jim! I can live with cat shampoo, but I NEED a clean towel"
"You are such a bother… oh man…"
Jim reluctantly got up from his couch, went over to a cupboard, and took out… a clean towel!
"Here you go"
He said as he snuck in his hand holding the pink fluffy towel through the gap of the door while positioning himself to make me feel secure enough that he couldn't be stealing a peek.
"I'm surprised you got any"
"It's Mimi's. Use it cleanly"
"How the heck am I gonna use it any dirtier than a cat?"
"Mimi is a very clean cat"
The poor cat must have been so depressed living in this mess in that case.
I shut the door and dried myself with the towel, and finally, I felt freshened up and better.
When I came out of the bathroom fully dressed - still in my school uniform, but I remembered not to put the tie on this time - I found Jim lazily stretched out on the couch browsing through stuff on his phone again.
"What are you doing?"
"Just watching some vids"
"What vids?"
"Cat videos"
That somehow brought a little pang in my heart. As messed up as he was, judging by how he's been acting and what he's been saying, he really did seem to love cats.
"Do you miss Mimi?"
"Yes"
"You know… maybe she will still come back?"
"I hope so"
"Have you tried going out to look for her?"
"No"
"Huh?"
"I don't go out. Unless I really have to"
"But it's your Mimi! You must go out to look for her!"
"She will be back when she wants to"
"What if she doesn't? You are just going to give up on her like that?"
Jim then had a very short flash of anger in his eyes, which freaked me out because of what just happened earlier in the day, but it was only for a microsecond and he sat up from his couch, sighing;
"Look, kid. You won't understand, but-. We had a bit of a fight before she left"
"I'm sorry. I don't quite follow"
"It happens sometimes… we have a little fight, she runs away, but then she comes back. It's just that this time she's taking longer. But I'm sure she will be back"
"What if she's in any danger?"
"Huh?"
"That never occurred to you? Maybe she's hurt somewhere. Maybe she's waiting for you to come find her"
That stumbled Jim somewhat as if he hasn't thought of that possibility before.
"Or maybe someone found her and took her in, thinking she's just a cat off the streets"
Jim's jaw dropped and he covered his mouth with his freshly cleaned hand.
"You may be right!"
With that, he got up, went to the balcony, and brought back that impossibly shiny silver axe.
"NO NO NO NO NO"
Is this guy fucking crazy?!
"Somebody must be holding her hostage. I'm gonna get her back"
Without any further hesitation, Jim was heading to the door with his axe firmly in his hand.
"Are you stupid?! Please don't do that again! Please!"
I chased him and jumped on his legs, which made him fall flat on his face.
"Ouch, what's wrong with you, kid?!"
"Please… don't kill anyone. It's horrible…"
Jim got up, shrugged me off his legs, and picked up his axe again.
"Don't jump on me again. Only Mimi's allowed to do that"
There was such disdain in his voice and contempt in his eyes that it sent a shiver down my spine. I panicked;
"Meow"
Well, that came out of nowhere.
"Meow? Ha… Ha… Hahahahaha"
He then laid the axe on the floor and knelt in front of me, placing his rough hand on my head and ruffling my hair.
"Don't worry, kid. I never killed a person before and I never will"
But you just did…
He then got up to bring the axe back to the balcony and made his way to the door again as I still sat on the floor on my knees.
"You are right though. I will go and look for Mimi. Maybe I should have done so earlier"
"I will come with you"
"What for?"
"It's easier when there are more people looking for her, right?"
And besides, I didn't want to stay in this flat alone either, and on that account, I just didn't feel comfortable being by myself anymore.
"Just don't get in my way"
He shrugged and got up to leave in surprisingly quick strides for a man whom I've come to know as such a slob, so I hurriedly got up to follow him out of the door.
Not so long after that, we were out on the streets and Jim was struggling as if he'd just come out of a dark cave into the sunlight for the first time in years.
Well, it probably was the case indeed.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm… I'm just not used to being outside.. in the sun"
"See, it's good that I came with you, eh?"
"Right…"
So I ended up being the one to lead the way around the neighborhood that I wasn't familiar with. Not so far out from Jim's flat though, actually, just down the street, we came across an old man in an oversized coat who greeted Jim.
"Oh, isn't that Jim! What an unusual sight! I've never seen you in daylight before"
"Uh-huh. Have you seen Mimi?"
"Mimi? Who's Mimi? And is this your… girl?"
The old geezer looked back and forth between me and Jim suspiciously.
"None of your business. Where's Mimi?"
"Who the heck is Mimi?"
Then to my surprise, Jim pushed the old man against the wall by his shoulders, bringing his face really up close to his, growling;
"I'll ask you one more time. Tell me where Mimi is"
"Hey, calm down man! What's your problem?!"
"Calm down, Jim, calm down!"
I had to physically pull Jim away from him as well.
"I'm sorry, Sir. Mimi is Jim's cat. He's a little on the edge since she went missing. Have you seen his cat, Sir?"
The man then straightened his coat which didn't particularly benefit from straightening.
"Ah, I see. So it's your 'cat', eh? I'm a dog person, to be honest, but yeah, I get where the agitation's coming from. But I can't help you there. I don't even know what this cat looks like"
"How does Mimi look, Jim?"
Actually, I didn't know either.
"It has… er-, never mind. We will know when we see her"
The old geezer and I both shrugged and we were off again.
Just around the corner, I spotted a big rubbish disposal container.
"Look, maybe Mimi will be there!"
I excitedly ran over to check inside.
"Mimi doesn't play with rubbish"
"YOUR house is full of rubbish"
"How rude"
But of course, Mimi wasn't there.
Then we walked further down the road to come across a small park.
"Looks like somewhere cats might come, no?"
"I wouldn't know… I don't know where Mimi goes when she's out"
"Gees, sounds like you don't really know much about her"
That made Jim want to protest, but he held back.
Before I knew it though, I was humming along as I moved from one tree to another looking up to see if there was any cat sitting by, crouching down to check under the benches, even looking into rubbish bins, getting sidetracked by some super cute squirrels, then back to scowling through the park again.
"You seem to be having a good time"
Jim commented and it made me blush a little because I was indeed.
My Dad had never taken me out and played in a park like this. I'm 14 and well past the age of being excited at 'playing in the park', but perhaps it was the childhood I've never really had that got me pumped up.
Then something caught my eye.
"Jim! Did you see that?!"
"What?"
I spotted a little cat that was about 30 meters away from us - I have good eyes! - as it was looking at me and hastily ran away as its eyes met mine.
"Let's chase that cat!"
"We are not here to play you know…"
"Duh, it's gonna lead us to the cat's hide-out, that's why"
"Cats hide-out?"
"Do you even actually like cats?"
Before hearing his answer, I ran after the cat and voila, there was a bridge over a small stream across the park, below which sat no less than 6 cats playing around.
"Mimi! Are you there?!"
As Jim excitedly ran over though, all of them got - rightfully - scared and started to slowly back up, just waiting for the right moment to make a run for it.
"Stop man, you are scaring them!"
I caught up with Jim and physically stopped him, then gestured for him to sit down while I knelt and slowly crawled my way toward them. Although they looked initially suspicious, soon they dropped their guard and walked over to check me out with curiosity. Even more than that, once I firmly established my position in the center of their crib, some of them were even climbing on my laps and letting me pat on them.
Heh, I'm good with this.
Jim carefully approached us to have a closer look, and from his face I could tell that although he was fascinated with how good I was with cats, there was not so subtle sign of disappointment that Mimi was not among this gang.
"I'm sorry, Jim"
"It's okay. You did your best"
"Let's look some more then"
"Enough for today. We are heading home", Jim said bluntly, swiftly turned, and paced away.
We?
Bye bye cats, but I have a place to go now.
I quickly got up to chase Jim, skipping and humming while I heard the cats behind me meow.