I spent my night unpacking. When it was all done, I looked around the apartment. The small one bedroom one bathroom, on Colfax, the rough part of Denver. It had been cheap, with peeling paint and facebook marketplace furniture. But, seedy or not, it was still mine. I had asked Kiana to come with me to adopt a kitten, I wanted a friend. She had work, and couldn't. So I went by myself. I braided my hair down my back, and pulled on a white lace top, and black leggings. I grabbed my bag, and beat up vans I'd had since tenth grade. I took the Metro, and walked the five blocks to the animal shelter. Inside, I was greeted by a symphony of sound. Dogs barking and the sound of shoes on tile floor. It was cold inside. I walked to the woman at the front desk, who I'm 90% sure was 200 years old. She smiled lovingly at me.

"Hi Miss, are you looking to adopt an animal?" She asked, rustling with paperwork.

"Yes, a kitten preferably." I said, and she nodded. She pointed to a door at the back of the hallway. When I opened it, my heart broke. There were so many cats in there, and kittens. They were sleeping or playing, or pawing at the glass they were behind. I walked around, and then I got to one in the back. She wasn't a kitten, but she was a calico. The paper said her name was Mary, and she was one years old. She was curled up in blankets, sleeping. I pressed my hand to the glass. She looked up at me. She had yellow eyes, and she looked sad. I asked the woman if I could hold her, and she said yes. I sat down taking the small cat in my arms. She looked up at me,  eyes pleading. I stroked her fur. She laid her head on my arm. 

"Why is she here?" I asked the woman. She sighed.

"She was abused in her past home, or so we were told. She was found in a dumpster, during the winter, surprised the poor thing made it. She was practically frozen." I looked down at her. 

"I'd like her please." I said. The woman smiled at me.

"That's good to hear, not many people show interest in her." 

"Why's that?" I asked. She shrugged.

"She's shy, not very playful until you get to know her, she'll run if you raise a hand at her, but she likes you." She said smiling. I felt bad for her.

"If you'll put her back, I'll have you fill out some paperwork. We'll have them get her ready to go." She said. I moved to put the cat back in her cage, and she pressed against me. I moved my arms up, to place her back. Where she retreated back to her blankets, and curled up again. I followed the woman to the front, where I filled out the paperwork and produced the fifty dollar adoption fee. I decided I needed to run to the pet store conveniently next door, pick up the essentials for her. They brought her out in a box with holes in it, which broke my heart more. 

After the pet store, where I dropped one hundred and fifty dollars on a litter box, food, toys, a bed, and bowls, I walked back to the metro, then back to my apartment. I let her out of the box, and almost immediately she ran under the table. I set up the litter box, and bed and food for her. I offered her the toys, tried to play with her, but she stayed curled up in a ball. Watching me with her big yellow eyes. I went to lay on my bed on my side understanding she needed space, twenty minutes later, she jumped onto my bed, and curled into the curve of my body. 

"Hi Mary, hi love." I said softly, petting her head. Her eyes, were so wide, and her pupils were dilated. I looked at her, my own baby. Just then my phone rang, and she jumped off my bed. Back under the table. I answered the phone, it was Owen.

"Hey?" I asked.

"Hey are we still on for meeting today?" He asked. I had totally forgotten.

"Yeah shit, sorry. Where do you want to meet?" I asked.

"Starbucks?" He asked. 

"There's one near my apartment bulding, it's on Colfax, maybe we can meet there." I said, hopefully trying to avoid another metro ride. 

"Sure, does three work alright?" He asked, it was 1:20 now. I agreed, and hung up. In the meantime I tried to coax the cat out from under the table, to no avail.