Sunday, 23rd of July

I was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for Alma and me while the rain outside was still pouring, the storm showing no signs of stopping. It was unusual for me to be up this early on a Sunday. Generally, I'd sleep until noon. But I needed to be up before Alma so that she didn't run away while I was still sleeping.

I was nervously gripping my wrist from time to time because it was the first time in years that I wasn't wearing my bracelet. Whenever it tore apart, I fixed it right after, but I couldn't do that right now because the stupid me lost it. I couldn't for the life of me remember where I put the bracelet after picking it up in the garage.

While the bacon was still sizzling in the pan, I took some water and watered the potted plants in the dining room. Mom sent me a text, reminding me to do it, else I surely would have forgotten.

The only flower I hoped to never forget was the one in my room. I once played a video game where it was optional to water a potted plant, and I forgot about it, killing the little bush permanently. That made me feel so sorry that I went to the store, and bought myself a small flower to look after, I named it Lisa because that's how it was called in-game. And I swore myself that I would care about this plant like I cared about my own life; I owe that to the poor bush I brutally murdered in that game, by violently letting it die of thirst.

I looked around and wondered when Alma would be waking up. I had been thinking a lot about her since yesterday; it was unbelievable that someone from her home, possibly her own parents, hurt her this much. She was so innocent, and on top of that, she had the rare cat ears and tail.

As far as I remember the stuff we were taught in school, around twenty years ago the first girl with cat-like features was born somewhere in a small country in Europe. At first, people were shocked, and there were rumors that the woman who gave birth to the girl had sex with a cat. But only a few weeks later there was another baby born with the same "disease" on the other side of the globe.

Humans with these ears and tail were born like any other baby, from two ordinary human beings, and had been appearing since then. In some countries, they were treated with utmost respect because people believed they were the next stage in the human evolution. In other nations, the US included, they got bullied and treated like shit by many people.

There was no exact explanation as to why they were born like this, it was an uncontrollable mutation, happening to girls only.

Supposedly, around one girl per month was born a catgirl, that's roughly one child per twelve million, and Alma was the first one I had ever seen myself. They behaved like any human being and didn't show any biological difference besides their ears, the tail, and sometimes unusually colored fur, hair, and eyes. Also, their nails were tougher and sharper, more like claws, which explained why Alma could press her nails into my shoulder so easily.

Not long after I got lost in my thoughts about catgirls and Alma, the sleeping beauty in question came walking down the stairs and slowly stepped into the living room, holding the white kitten in her arms.

She yawned adorably and stretched a bit in the pink PJ's I lent her, without putting down her kitten. She made a few steps closer before stuttering, "Goo-Good morning... B-Brea..."

She was really nervous, her moving ears made that clear. But why? It's not like I turned evil overnight. Then she put down her cat on the floor and took something out of her pocket, speaking in a shy voice, "I'm... I'm sorry for breaking it... I t-tried my best to fix it with the things I found here..."

She opened her hand and showed me my blue bracelet, the torn strings tied back together. The dream that had been haunting me for years came to my mind because the situation reminded me of it. I tried to quickly forget about that again, and said, " Good morning... thank you so much for fixing it, but you didn't have to do that... did you at least sleep well?"

I asked her, although I already knew the answer. She nodded, her quiet voice speaking, "Yes..."

I knew she was lying to me because I heard her scream at night, so I went to check on her, but when I opened the door, she was sleeping. She was tossing and turning in her sleep, audibly having nightmares. Then she continued in a small voice while looking at her kitten, "C-Can I have something to drink for her?"

"That's why you are so nervous? Of course, she gets something to eat and drink, and you get too," I answered. That made her face light up while also making the nervous movements of her ears calm down.

"Thank you very much, b-but why do I get food in the morning?" Alma tilted her head a bit with a confused expression on her face.

Her hair that had the same light blue color as her eyes wasn't tied up in twin-tails now, so strands of hair fell in front of her face. She tried to readjust it, but as she had no human ears to push the hair behind, it fell back to where it was.

I giggled and realized I was staring, so I spoke, "You are my guest, why wouldn't I offer you something to eat?"

"My p-parents only gave me bread or rice in the afternoon, a-after I came home from school..." said Alma stuttering like she did something wrong. It seemed that she had been through some rough times and it clearly broke her. She expected punishment for anything that didn't fulfill my expectations.

"You only ate after school and in the evening?" I questioned.

She shook her head and replied, "N-No, only after school..."

"What?!" I was shocked and once again spoke a bit too loud. She took a step back and turned around to defend her kitten by kneeling down over it.

"Alma, I'm sorry, I got too loud again. But be sure, I won't hurt you, ever. And as long as you are here, you and your cat can have as much food as you want, we have enough," I spoke, calming her down.

Now that I thought about it, because I was shocked by the bruises and her ears, I didn't even realize that she was way too thin and had bags under her eyes. Alma wasn't looking healthy at all; she clearly didn't eat nor sleep enough.

"What is your cat's name?" I asked curiously.

"I-I didn't give her a name yet... I only had her f-for a short time..." replied Alma.

"Why not just name her now?" I questioned her.

Alma seemed like she thought about it for a while and then said, "T-Then I'll call her Lucy... I had a kitty with t-that name when I was little..."

"I see... it's a nice name. Now that I know how to address the both of you, Alma and Lucy, follow me to your breakfast," I responded and went into the dining room, where I sat down at the dark wooden table. I pulled the chair next to mine away from the table, and patted it, signaling Alma to sit. She hesitated for a moment, her ears twitching, then sat on the chair. Her tail was sticking out the back of the chair, swaying slowly from side to side.

I had prepared two bowls for Lucy, one filled with water, the other filled with cooked meat, and made waffles and bacon for Alma and me.

"I hope you are not one of the people who say that bacon doesn't go with pancakes and waffles, that would mean we can't be friends," I said jokingly, but there was no way I wouldn't want to be friends with her, even if she disliked everything I liked. I knew I shouldn't be trusting her that quickly, but it was hard not to.

"B-Brea... why are you giving me such expensive food?" she spoke like she was doing something wrong.

"What do you mean?" I didn't think waffles and bacon were any expensive, to be honest.

"My f-father always said that something like me isn't worth such expensive food, only he and his new w-wife ate food like this."

What she said was unbelievable for me. I didn't know how anyone could be cruel enough to eat waffles while giving their own daughter plain bread and saying stuff like that. The thought of this guy filled me with hatred and disgust, and I didn't even know him.

"Alma, I don't know what happened in your life, or who mistreated you besides your family, but I'm not one of them. Whatever you want to eat, just say it, and I'll make it for you," is what I said, but I was not that great at cooking. Sweet stuff like pancakes, waffles, and cakes was the only thing I was confident in.

"I'm not hungry, you don't need to make me anything..."

As I had expected her to say something like that, I was well prepared and replied, "But I already made this delicious food for you... if you aren't going to eat it, who will? Would be a waste to throw it away, don't you think?"

Alma's ears made those nervous movements again, and I could tell that she wanted to eat those waffles. Then she finally said in her small voice, "I'll eat it..."

I smiled and put a plate with some waffles and bacon in front of her. She sat there looking at it with an unsure expression. Because she looked like a lost child I kinda wanted to help, so I took my fork, violently pierced a small piece of bacon and waffle, and led it to Alma's mouth.

"I-I can eat it myself..." she said while fidgeting with her hands. As she saw that I was serious, she blushed and ate the food off the fork. Only then I realized that I used the fork I already ate with.

While I was immaturely blushing from the "indirect kiss" that I gave Alma just now, I watched as her expression and the movement of her ears changed, showing me that she probably liked the waffles.

"It's good," she said while tearing up. That was a very unexpected reaction, so I didn't know what to do.

"Hey, no need to cry, if it's that bad then you don't have to eat it," now I was feeling sorry for making her eat it, but then she took the second fork off the table and ate another bite.

"Thank you, I like it," she said smiling with tears in her eyes. I wasn't sure why she was crying, but the smile seemed genuine to me, so I didn't overthink it too much and started eating myself.

After we finished, Alma helped me wash the dishes. Actually, she thought that she had to do all of them herself like it was the most normal thing to do. I was pretty sure that at home she had to do stuff like that, or else she would get punished.

"Thank you very much... b-but Lucy and I will be leaving now..." she said while looking down at the floor with her ears hanging. It was obvious that she didn't want to go out into the rain, but she probably didn't want to mooch off of me or cause any problems.

"I wish you'd just stay here..." I blushed after realizing that I spoke my thoughts out loud. Alma's ears pointed up, it seemed like my sudden confession caught her attention. I continued, trying to fix things, "I-I mean, it isn't healthy going out while it's raining this much, neither for you nor Lucy... I'm pretty sure it will keep on raining for a few days, why don't you stay here until the storm ends?"

I wasn't sure if what I said was a good idea, we were still pretty much strangers after all. It's not like I said it on purpose though, it was as if I lost control for a moment.

"N-No, I can't..." muttered Alma, "My mommy always said not be with strangers..."

The fact that this eighteen-year-old girl used the word "mommy" made me chuckle, while I thought that she probably referred to her real mom; she wouldn't have used that word for her stepmother.

But more importantly, although it's right not to blindly trust strangers, I knew that I wasn't going to hurt anybody. And I was naive enough to believe that Alma also wasn't going to.

After what I said, I actually did want her to stay, too. Not just because I was genuinely worried about her, but also because I wanted to get to know her better. She had been on my mind all the time since I brought her inside, there was so much I wanted to know about her.

I needed to come up with something that made her stay, so I started, "Yes, that's right, you shouldn't trust strangers, but..."

It took me some moments to think of something to say, but then I continued, "But this was all the time we had to get to know each other. If you give me these few days, then I can show you that we can be friends, instead of strangers. Staying here with me seems a lot better than going out into the rain, don't you think?"

It was a pretty crappy speech, but it was all I could come up with in those few seconds. Alma's blue eyes were looking at the floor, her ears nervously twitching again, but she had a small smile on her lips.

"O-Okay..." said Alma after thinking for a while. I was still holding the plates we just cleaned, so I moved to put them away. But Alma was holding the hem of my shirt, so I turned to face her again.

"T-Thank you very much..." Alma thanked me without looking directly at my face.

Then I felt the vibration of my phone inside of my pocket, so I took it out and saw that Dad was calling me. I tapped on the green button to take the call, happy to be able to hear my dad's voice.

"Hey Sweetheart, how are you doing?" spoke the familiar voice through the speaker.

"Hi, Dad! I'm fine, thanks," I replied, wondering why he called.

"Good to hear, and we have great news, too. We finished everything we had to do here, so we'll be coming back home tomorrow evening already," announced my dad.

I cussed in my thoughts because, although I loved my parents and was happy that they were coming home already, for Alma to open up, it probably would have been better if it was only the two of us. My uneasiness apparently showed on my face, because now Alma was tilting her head slightly and looking at me with an unsettled expression.

"Wow, that's earlier than expected," is what I replied, but it didn't sound as excited as it should have. My parents were really nice, but even they wouldn't like the idea of having a stranger in the house.

"You don't seem particularly happy about it," replied Dad.

"No, that's great! But the storm is still going, so I thought there were no planes right now," I tried fixing the situation.

"Yeah, we have to fly to Georgia, from there we will come by car. The drive takes a few hours, but like this, we can visit Grandma on the way," explained my dad, "and we have a surprise for you because we missed your birthday."

"Now I'm curious... but actually, I kinda also have a surprise for you," I said while looking at the girl who would be living here for the next few days.

"You know, that's not really a good thing to hear from your eighteen-year-old daughter when you were away for a few days..." my dad sounded like he got the wrong idea.

"No Dad, there is no boy involved, and I also didn't break anything. The both of you will like he-, I mean it," I replied, almost messing up by saying her.

"I hope so..." answered my dad, "but I've got to go now, your mom is waiting. See you tomorrow."

"Bye Dad," I told him and ended the call.

"Hey Alma, my parents are coming home tomorrow evening already..." I didn't know how she would feel about it.

"D-Do I need to go?" questioned Alma with a low voice.

"No, my parents are the nicest people on Earth, they will understand if I explain it to them. You will also like them, I promise," I stated. It would take her some time to open up, but it was impossible to dislike my parents, I was sure of that. But for now, I needed to make sure Alma had fun so that she could forget about all the uneasiness.

"So Alma, what are the things you like the most? You know, what do you do to have fun?" I asked her because it would be helpful knowing what she likes doing. If we could do something that she enjoyed, it would possibly make her open up faster.

"I don't know..." is what she replied. I should have expected that she didn't really have "fun" the way I know it, or else she probably wouldn't have to run away from home with these bruises.

"Then, what are your favorite video games? There must be one you really like," I responded.

"My father never let me play any..." answered Alma while looking down. Without thinking, I grabbed Alma's hand and pulled her in the direction of the stairs. At first, she stunned by me pulling her somewhere, but shortly after, she tried to get out of my grip. I immediately let go which made Alma take a few steps back with a scared expression.

"I... I'm so sorry..." I started, feeling terrible for what I did, "I wasn't thinking... I just wanted to bring you upstairs, so we can play some video games."

Alma looked at me for a moment, still obviously frightened, before nodding and following me. She kept a bit of a distance from me, which was my own fault.

When we reached my room, I led her towards the couch and indicated her to sit. I turned the TV on and took everything we needed to play some games. Alma looked at me questioningly, and I said, "I'll make sure you have the fun of your life in these few days, and we'll start by playing games that everyone knows."

Alma still looked a bit unsure, but then smiled and nodded, "Okay..."

I started the first game and showed her how to play, which seemed to be a bit too complicated for her at first. But shortly after, she began to get it.

"This is your first time right? Why are you so good at this?!" I yelled while getting close to finishing. It didn't seem at all like Alma never did something like this before, her fingers were coordinated as if she had been practicing for years.

"J-Just a bit more!" said Alma, also shortly before reaching the finish.

"Almost there!" I couldn't keep my excitement in. I looked at Alma as the satisfying feeling of victory flushed through her body.

"Yes!" screamed a happy Alma with her cute voice. She noticed that she got loud and blushed, looking down, before apologizing in a small voice.

"You really are a natural at Mario Kart; it's unbelievable that you never played it before," I considered saying that I went easy on her, but that would be unfair because she beat me fair and square.

"Can we... play this again?" questioned Alma shyly with a smile on her face.

"Of course we can, I love this game," I answered, and she got happy.

We chose our characters and I picked some more advanced courses, before once again the countdown started. We gripped the steering wheels tightly, getting ready to fight for the top.

We continued playing for a few hours, and every single game was really close. But eventually I could feel the hunger sneak up on me, so I thought about ending the gaming session two games ago. But seeing Alma this happy was making it difficult for me to bring it up.

Besides, I definitely couldn't lose in the last round, so I kept going whenever she won. And this time too, Alma had the lead by quite a bit. I had to think of a plan that would bring me victory, no matter how devilish it might be.

And then there it was. A plan that would lead me to the first place. An idea that was really unfair and risky, because Alma wasn't a fan of physical contact. If I followed through on that, it could either make her open up more or make the whole last few hours go to waste.

I didn't have much time to think, so my urge to touch Alma took over without me fully thinking it through. As we both were nearing the last turn before the goal, I grabbed Alma's waist and tickled her as hard as I could. At first, she was shocked and let out a cute surprised scream, then she started laughing while cramping up. Her ears were twitching like crazy, and she was curling up on the sofa. She let go of the controller and drove off the road, which was my chance, so I took it. I drove past her and through the finish line, while she came in a few seconds after me.

"T-That was no fair! I would have won!" Alma complained pouting.

"Yeah, yeah, I know... But I'm starving over here, let's go grab some food," I responded.

"I don't really need any-" Alma was interrupted by her growling stomach which made me chuckle. Her face was bright red again, and she was looking at the ground.

"Ok that's settled then, we are getting some food," I said while getting up and turning off the TV. It was only then that I noticed that we both were still wearing our PJ's, "Oh, but we should change our clothes first."

We both laughed and stepped out of the room.