Christ, I felt like an asshole.
And the fact I wasn’t telling her dads, Ryan and Sam, was eating away at me. I kept pulling my phone out to ask Mom for their number, but then I’d remember her asking me not to. It was the least I could do, right? But she didn’t want me to call the police, and that totally went against what I wanted to do, which was to walk down to the nearest station and confess everything.
Looking around the apartment, I frowned when I realized she’d have to do everything with casts on. How did you do laundry like that? What about when she needed a shower? Jesus, how would you pull your underwear down to pee?
Glancing warily down at Fugly Adams, I came up with an idea. My place was up a flight of stairs that she’d never be able to get up or down in her condition, so I was going to move in here to help out until she got them off again.
“Well, Fugly, looks like you’ve got a new roommate.”
Lifting his head, the cat hissed at me. Although, because of where his eyes were looking, maybe he was hissing at himself?
Wedging my hands under his belly, I made to lift him but stopped when he dug his nails in.
“I need you to move so I can go and get my shit.”
The words made him dig them in even deeper, but it was when he turned his head and aimed his eyes directly at me that I gave in.
“I’ll let you call the shots if you look the other way.”
Closing his eyes slowly, and I swear he looked smug as he did it, he turned away from me again.
The change of plans was okay, it gave me time to look up the kinds of things people with disabilities used to make life a bit easier.
As luck would have it, there was also a store four miles away that sold it all, and with a click, I had what I needed waiting to be collected by one o’clock.
That meant I could catch a couple of hours of sleep, then collect my shit from my apartment before picking it all up.
Still under Fugly’s weight, I closed my eyes and settled in, doing my best to get comfortable on her couch. The problem was, I was tall at six-foot-four inches, and the sofa was made for someone Sasha’s height, roughly five-foot-six. I managed to make it work, though, with my legs hanging over the other armrest, but every time I moved, the damn cat would dig his claws in to make sure I knew not to move too far. It wasn’t conducive to getting proper sleep, but a nap would work to recharge me somewhat.
Unfortunately, during it, I totally forgot that my parents could see my credit card bill online.
Specifically the charges to a medical store with ‘Disability Aids’ in the name.
Waking up, I stretched and winced as every muscle in my body screamed. It wasn’t until I opened my eyes, though, that the truly fun shit started. The first thing I saw was a pair of light blue eyes, staring at each other and only an inch away from my face.
I’d like to say I took the shock like a man, but a high-pitched scream came out of me as I pushed away from the monster and then fell about two feet onto my back.
As the oxygen left my body with the impact, I remembered where I was.
“Jesus Christ, you little bastard,” I wheezed, holding my chest. “Like that shit’s not bad enough from a distance.”
Because he was tied to the devil, the bastard in question poked his head over the couch cushions to stare down at me. Well, no, not staring at me, more like staring at his nose, but with his face pointing in my direction.
That gave me an idea.
Lifting my hand, I used my index finger to get Milkshake’s attention, and when it was roughly two inches away from his face, I moved it around to see if the eyes would separate and follow it. It turns out they didn’t. It was like the landing gear of a plane getting stuck when his eyes moved to a certain angle up or down, and when I moved it to the side, they just stayed in place.
“I thought cats had great eyesight? Aren’t you meant to be able to see predators when they come close to you?”
“Meowarrr!”
“Even your meow’s fucked up.”
This time, he just let out a faint growl.
“Is there a physical therapist or something who could help part the seas of your eyes? Like a feline ocular Moses?”
Apparently I’d pushed my luck because he jettisoned off the couch over my body, landing with a thud on the floor and walked away, leaving me lying there watching his ass sway.