Daniel

"I hate fucking humans," Ev called out as he got inside the apartment, carrying a bunch of bags and seeming rather angry.

"What happened?" I asked back as softly as I could. His dark eyes set on me and he took a deep breath.

"Went to the vet. The kitten had a microchip. Turns out she wasn't a stray. Someone adopted her about a week ago -a family- but she ran away, and they don't want her back..." he said quickly, annoyance clear in his voice.

"Who wouldn't want back a pet they lost?" I asked, not really expecting him to answer.

"Fucking no one. She clearly was more than they bargained for, cause she's a living creature and not a fucking toy, so instead of at least finding a decent home for her they threw her out!" he answered and pushed back his purple hair so it wouldn't be in his eyes.

"So where is she now?" I asked, noticing that he didn't have her.

"I left her to the vet so they could run a few more tests and I went to buy some stuff for her. I'll go back in a bit to legally adopt her," he said and leaned down to start taking out the things he had bought. "I got her some food, a litter box and a bunch of toys. Also, a small blanket so she's not sleeping in a fucking towel."

Ev sighed and put the things away. I watched him as I sat by the table and bit my lower lip, a question eating me up.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he said back, not looking up at me.

"How did you carry these with your motorcycle?"

"I have a car too..." he replied slowly and dug in another bag. "But that reminded me, I also got something else," he went on and then stood up and brought to the table a new cell phone, still in its package.

"You got a new cell?" I asked, looking at the item and then up at him.

"It's for you."

"For... me?" I muttered and pulled back a little. "You've already done so much for me... I- I don't want any gifts..."

"It's not a gift. I'm not asking anything in return, but I don't have a landline and in case anything happens you don't have any way to reach out to me when I'm at work or out. Besides, you can also talk with any old friends of yours. You've been gone for a while and they might be worried about you," he explained and went to go through his backpack.

"Friends?" I asked back, not taking my eyes away from the device that was on the table.

"Yeah, from your old school?" he said and looked back up again.

"I didn't go to school. I was- I was home-schooled," I replied.

He was still crouching down by his backpack, but he cleared his throat and frowned. Slowly, he got up and walked to the table, where he let down something he had gotten from his backpack. My eyes followed the movement and I froze. It was his ID. I looked away quickly, not wanting to seem as if I was prying, but what I caught a glimpse of made me look again.

"Hold on," I started, changing the topic. "I thought Ev was short for Evan. Your actual name is Everett?"

"Don't say it like that," he replied with a soft chuckle. "It's not a bad name..."

"No, it's not. I just didn't think of you as... an Everett," I quickly explained myself.

"But you thought of me as an Evan," he said, mimicking my tone. "For what it's worth, you don't really look like a Daniel either," he went on.

"What do I look more like then?"

He thought about it for a second and walked back until he pressed his back against the counter of the kitchenette. I watched him intently and waited for a response, still not over the fact that his legal name was Everett. I couldn't imagine ever being able to call him that.

"Danny. Danny suits you," he said finally, drawing my eyes back up to him, as they had drifted away. "I should get going..." he muttered as he checked his phone and saw the time. "I'll be back with the kitten soon."

"Adam..." a voice sang in my mind.

I shook my head trying to get the memory out of my thoughts, but it was too late. Come on, forget it. Forget it. I looked at the clock. It hadn't been ten minutes since Ev left. And he wouldn't be back for at least another half hour.

"Open your mouth, Adam... come on, I'll show you how...."

No, stop.

Instinctively I reached out and took a cigarette from the package on the table. I lit it on fire and walked to the window. I inhaled, letting the smoke touch every corner of my mouth and throat all till it reached my lungs. I exhaled, crying while doing so.

"Don't be like that... don't cry."

"Shut up!" I yelled out in real life, even though no one was there to listen. "Shut the fuck up..."

I inhaled again.

"Ah, you always make me feel so good."

I didn't even think as my fingers ripped out the cigarette from my lips and pressed it against my exposed forearm. I cried out in pain and almost dropped the butt on the floor, but I managed to hold on to it and throw it in the cup on the countertop. The burn hurt and I quickly moved my arm under the faucet in the kitchenette. The cold water stung at first, but after a while it managed to take away a lot of the pain.

I checked the clock again. Ev would be here soon. I shut the faucet and closed the window. Quickly I went to the bathroom and looked through the first aid kit. I found a couple of bandages and some sort of soothing cream. My eyes read through the package and when I read superficial burns, I rubbed some on the round burn on my forearm and put a bandage on it. I then put everything back in place and pulled down the sleeve of the sweater I had borrowed from Ev. My heart was pounding in my chest when sat down to the table by the laptop and I heard the key enter the lock.

"You're back," I said, my heart in my throat.

"Yeah, when I got there all the tests had come back and basically all I had to do was sign some papers..." Ev replied and set the box that contained the kitten on the floor. He opened it up after closing the door and without skipping a beat the kitten jumped out and started looking around the apartment.

"Did you come up with a name?" I asked him, looking from the cat back to Ev. He rested against the counter and then threw away the cup with the few cigarettes that sat next to him.

"Not really. Was thinking you could help me figure something out," Ev said and came to sit next to me. "I think something dark and poetic suits her... like Darkness or Doom, but less lame."

"Doom isn't lame. It's the name of my favourite video game," I defensively snapped.

"For a video game, it's fine. But for a cat..." Ev said, his voice fading as the kitten jumped up on the table and came closer to me. She started rubbing her head against my hand and I smiled, moving my hand to pet her. "Omen," Ev said and I turned my head up to see him.

His eyes were down on the little grey kitten with the long whiskers and fluffy tail. She looked way better than yesterday, both mentally and physically. Last night her whole demeanour, despite her curious nature, was rather exhausted.

"Finding her last night... it was an omen, that I should keep her. We should keep her. She's an omen for us," he explained and looked up to me again.

"Omens are supposed to be God-sent..." I told him slowly.

"You don't believe in God?" Ev asked, with a raised eyebrow. I didn't hold his gaze. Instead, I looked down at the green-eyed kitten that was fairly close to my chest and was rubbing her head against it, purring loudly.

"If there's a God out there, he's late," I muttered. A distant thunder made me turn my head to the windows. Everything was grey and fluffy and the rain that fell was still light.

"So, tell me more about your favourite video game. That... Doom," Ev said, drawing my attention and sitting up to go boil some water.

"Well, the plot is that you are a space marine that goes around killing all kinds of demons and zombies and monsters in general," I explained.

"Didn't peg you as someone that liked those kids of games... you want tea?" Ev replied.

I hemmed in agreement and started playing around with the kitten, tapping my finger on her little black nose and watching her try to swat it away.

"What other kinds of games did you like to play?"

"I honestly played whatever. It was a great way to past time and it kept me completely out of my thoughts. But if I had to pick a favourite genre of games, I'd say Indie Horror... or well, Horror games in general," I said thinking through all the games I used to have in my old room.

"Really?! You like horror?"

"It's not like it can scare me..."

Ev smacked his lips and poured water in two cups. Then he came to sit by me and placed my cup of tea before me.

"You must really miss playing video games," he told me.

"Watching other people enjoy them is better than the alternative."

"What's the alternative?" Ev asked, sitting back in his chair and sipping on the hot tea.

"Going back," I said under my breath.

He lowered the cup and took a deep breath. There was a little crease between his eyebrows and again I found myself unable to hold his gaze. I couldn't take it.

"Say, has anyone made a video playing Doom?" he asked, switching the topic.

"Yeah, in fact some of my favourite creators have made entire series of videos playing it," I immediately said back.

"I'd like to watch them. I bet you have already seen them, but..."

"No, I'll watch them with you. You don't get it; I love this game. I don't mind rewatching it over and over again..."

Ev laughed. I stopped petting the kitten and turned on the laptop that was on the table. Disappointed at my lack of attention the kitten went to Ev. He ran his thumb over her head and down her spine all until he reached her tail. Then he settled on scratching her pointy ears.

"So, is her name going to be Omen?" I asked him, looking through the videos to find the first one.

"Do you like it? As her name?"

"She's your kitten. I don't see how I-"

"If you don't like the name, we can keep looking..."

I thought about that for a second and turned to look at her again.

"Omen..." I muttered, seeing how the word rolled off my tongue. "Omen," I repeated a little more pressed this time. "Yeah, Omen. I like it."

Ev smiled and drank some tea. He nodded and looked at the laptop's screen. As I had found the video I was looking for, and I had made it full-screen, I pressed play. The creator started up with their usual intro and then the fun started. Oh, I loved these kind of videos...