Chapter 2: Aly, the Make-Believe Friend

Chapter 2 Aly, the Make-Believe Friend

That first night I coward in the corner of the room. I had enjoyed a nice nap with Yrid talking to me when my nap was interrupted by a sharp order for Yrid to help with supper. She didn’t leave before giving me one last pet and reminding me not to leave the room.

I looked around the bare room, taking in the simple floor bed I was on and the weathered dresser.  There was a single window that was the only light source to the room. It was quite dull to just sit and wait,listening to the dull hum of quiet voices and things shifting around down stairs. I could smell the scent of chicken wafting up the stairs. I had just begun to think about quietly slinking out of the room to just get a better whiff of the intoxicating food, but soon that thought was replaced with anxiety as something clattered to the floor.

“Yrid!” a woman’s voice shrieked. Oddly enough it was a different female voice than the one I heard earlier.

“It’s not bwoken!” I hear the little girl immediately respond. I scurry into the corner of the bed in the corner of the room, unsure what to do and feeling the desire to run and hide.

“Leave it! I want your father to see this-”

“No! It’s okay! See! And the chicken isn’t diwty eitheh!” The little girl pleaded.

“Yeah Mayrid, it’s still looks just fine,” a boy’s voice sounds.

“Watch your mouth boy, or you’ll be sure to get it too,” Mayrid said, however I could tell the father must have entered the room since everything became eerily quiet.

I hear his footsteps, weighted, yet measured.

“Not dirty?” he scoffs. More silence ensues. Suddenly the sound of breaking glass is heard making me jump, “That chicken isn’t even worth feeding pigs the mess you made of it!” the man yells followed by the sound of a slap. Crying begins to come from the little girl.

“Please daddy! I didn’t mean to-”

“Mean to what? Let us starve?” smack, “You can forget about eating anything the rest of tonight and tomorrow. What a waste of my time you are,” a muffled sound followed by the girl coughing tells me she must have gotten the wind knocked out of her or something to have taken her breath away.

“Dad!” the boy’s voice sounds once more.

“Do I need to knock some sense into you Othello?” the man barked. There is a short pause before a more defeated and scared sounding boy replies, “No.” “Then leave her alone and clean up that mess!” I hear what sounds like a ‘yes sir’ before hearing the short gasping breaths of Yrid still trying to catch her breath while fighting back tears.

“I’m sowwy-”

“Get out of my sight before I knock you to the floor again,” the disgruntled man growls at Yrid. I hear her scramble to her feet and is still trying to catch her breath as she enters the room.

The sun had begun to set and the room was progressively becoming more dark. Yrid rushed to the bed and reached out to touch the place I was once sitting in when she left me.  I could see her looking around trying to find me. I was too petrified to move, so scared I might summon the man she called father from down stairs if I dared to move an inch.

"Tokbiyus (tobious)?" I hear her whisper. I didn't say anything since she didn't call for me, or so it seemed, "Kitty?" I perked my head up slightly knowing I'm a cat, "Tokbiyus, come here. I can't see you."
Not quite sure she was meaning me, I continue to remain still and immoveable. Yrid slumps down on the bed, her back to me, and curls up in a ball. I want to meow to her, but fear compels me to silence.

I listen to Yrid quietly cry, giving little shakes here and there. Soon I can only see a faint outline of her in the little light left in the room. As I had just begun to think about curling up next to Yrid’s back, I hear a soft cooing sound. The kind of sound a mother makes to comfort her child.

“Alys? You’re crying. What happened this time?” an angelic voice asked. I scanned the room trying to find who had so sneakily entered the room.

“Maywid wanted me to cawwy the chicken out to the table. I knew it was too heavy foe me, but I knew if I had said anything, I would have gotten in twouble too. So I twied to take it to the table. I had just picked it up when she was suddenly by my side and I bumped into huh,” Yrid explained.

“Oh dear, so you ruined dinner for Mayrid and Davin?” this person asked, sending Yrid into sobs.

“No! The chicken was fine. The floo was clean! The dish didn’t even bweak until my fathah thwew it!” more sobs, “I twy so hawd to be good. Why do they just hate me Aly? Othello nevah gets in twouble like me.”

“Oh Alys. We’ve been through this hundreds of times,” I notice Yrid’s little hand caress her hair, “Your brother’s a boy, let alone he wasn’t the one who killed your mother-”

“You know I didn’t mean to!” Yrid wailed.

“Do I need to come up there and give you something to cry about Yrid!?” the female voice, I assume to be Mayrid, yelled up the stairs. Silence fell upon the room and Yrid’s body shook with the suppressed sobs. The room stayed quiet for many minutes. Then, as though there had been no time in between, Aly spoke again in a whisper.

“I know it wasn’t your fault you killed your mother. And you know I know that.” I, however, am reminded of the alarm I felt before that mean woman yelled up the stairs. It alarmed to hear this bit of news. How was it this little girl could have killed her mother, and unintentionally from the sounds of it.

“I know. But why does my dad hate me though it’s not my fault?”

“Hmm,” Aly mused, “Well, if I had a guess, maybe your dad really loved your mommy, so much that when you came, leaving her dead, he just had no idea how to handle his feelings. Let alone, Davin does drink a lot which you and I know does something to him, making him even meaner,” Aly said. To me it sounded like a tragic love story. I was beginning to feel like this person wasn’t exactly the best of people for Yrid to be seeking comfort from since she was somewhat blunt and uncensored. Let alone oblivious to Yrid’s need to be comforted versus being reminded of the horrors of her past.

“You know, I bwought home a kitten today,” Yrid began to say, seeming to be trying to forget the present situation.

“Really? Well, where is this little guy?”

“I don’t know. I tuwned Tokbiyus invisible, told him to stay, but I he must have left since he isn’t wheya I left him,” she says sadly. I yearn to reveal myself. I hadn’t realized I was invisible at the time. So I began to walk around her, wanting to rub against her gentle hands. I turn around her curled feet and can just make out her face, though confused by the absence of another person.

“Don’t worry Alys,” I see Yrid speak, “I’m sure he’ll come back.”

I marvel at how different her voice sounds when Aly speaks. It truly seemed as though 2 different people were in the room. I carefully nudge Yrid’s hand. It was as though I had sent a powerful shock through her.

“Tokbiyus!” Yrid exclaimed in a barely controlled whisper. I purr at the sudden joy I feel radiating through her. I feel Yrid sit up and carefully scoop me up. it is in this moment that I am in aw of her control. Her desire to be gentle and kind to me despite the environment she seems to live in.

It was decided. This was my human. If I can make her happy just by be being a cuddly mooch, then who was I to deny her and myself love?

“Aly,” Yrid began, “This is Tokbiyus,” she said, looking into the room at something I couldn’t see. And it was clear why I didn’t understand she was calling for me earlier. The name I went by among other cats was Jiji. I had heard of cats, who had humans, learning a new name or if they were fortunate to have been born under the care of a human to receive their name then, eliminating the need to adjust to a new name. I supposed Tokbiyus wasn’t a terrible name, but it seem presumptuous for me being so young. I wonder where she even got the name from in the first place.

“What a cute kitty!” the angelic voice proceeded from Yrid’s mouth.

“Tokbiyus, Aly is my best fwiend. You can play with heh too,” I’m instructed. I cock my head to the side trying to look cute since I am confused by how I will play with someone I cannot see and thus far have only witnessed proceeding from the very body of hers.

“Now Tokbiyus,” Aly speaks, “a few rules from me,” keep quiet and stay I assumed. “First this is Alysin, but I like to call her Alys since she’s just 5 years old and it suits her better!” she says happily, Alysin patting her own head as she looks off into the room, “and secondly,” in a more serious tone, “you better be a good kitty to her. Don’t you make her cry or I’ll chase you away!”

I am confused to realize that Alysin is indeed the little girl’s name. I wonder where Yrid came from. I figured as time passed I would figure out this other name that I was first introduced to her as.

As we sit, introductions being made, me adjusting to my new name, my stomach grumbles in unison with Alysin’s. We look at each other, Alysin looking embarrassed for being hungry.

“As soon as they go to sleep, I’ll see if they left any scwaps of the chicken left,” Alysin informed me. My mouth watered at the thought of potentially having more food to eat and it quite possibly being the chicken I smelled earlier.

In the meantime, I closed my eyes to drift into sleep, knowing I was in good hands.