“Where the hell did that come from?” asked Nicole as she bent down to look at the skinny little cat in Hannah’s arms.
“Did she have it with her at the house?” David asked.
“Oh,” Alex exclaimed, walking away, “she’s allowed to have a cat, but my dog has to get locked away? I say we get rid of the cat instead!”
“She didn’t have it with her, you jerk!” Kaitlyn replied. “You were there! Do you remember her carrying a cat across the street?”
“I was pretty distracted by, uh, saving your life!”
The raised voices made the cat scramble in Hannah’s arms. When Hannah let go it ran back into the mat-fort with Ryan.
Everyone looked into the fort, where Ryan sat holding it.
“Ryan, buddy,” Nicole said as she crouched. “Is that your cat?”
In the darkness of the little fort, she could see the boy shake his head.
“But you’re taking care of her? Looking after her, right?”
He nodded.
“There you go,” she said, standing, facing Alex. “It’s Ryan’s cat. Are you going to take away Ryan’s cat because we put your dog down the hall?”
Alex said nothing. He glared back at Nicole, knowing exactly what she was doing. She knew he wouldn’t do anything to hurt Ryan. She had that smile on her face. The one she got when she outsmarted him. He didn’t know how David had put up with it his whole life—he was already getting tired of it after less than a week. He decided his only way out was to change the subject with a question. “Well, where did it come from?”
“It probably came from outside,” David said as he finally tugged his gloves off.
“Thank you,” Nicole said putting her hand on her brother’s shoulder. “I never would have guessed that the cat that wasn’t here before came from outside. It doesn’t live at the karate school? Maybe it—”
“Drop it, Nicole,” David said, tossing his gloves into the corner.
“Maybe it does live here,” Kaitlyn suggested. “You know—like you guys do. Do you guys live here?”
Nicole crouched again. “Ryan?” Her voice softened when she spoke to him. “Can I see the cat, buddy? I won’t hurt him, and I won’t let anyone else.” She looked up at Alex. “Okay?”
A moment later, she stood holding the cat. “It’s so small.”
“Is it a kitten?” Hannah asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” Nicole said, examining the cat. “I think it’s just small. Like, a runt. She’s real skinny.”
“He,” Alex said, looking on.
“What?” Nicole said.
“He. It’s a boy cat,” he replied, looking back at her with confidence.
“What makes it a boy cat?” Kaitlyn asked.
Alex burst out laughing. “Really? You don’t know what makes a boy a boy? Oh, my God. Well, you see—”
“Stop,” Nicole said. “He’s right.” She went back to her examination. “He is really small and skinny, like he hasn’t been eating. Probably came in looking for food.” She handed the cat back to Ryan. “There you go. Ryan? When did you get the cat?”
Ryan motioned for her to come closer, so she crawled in. Nicole whispered and waited.
Maybe he can talk after all.
Alex’s thought was confirmed when Nicole stood back up. “He says he first saw her—sorry, him—two days ago when we went out to rescue you,” she said to Alex. “But he only started feeding him yesterday.”
“How come we never saw him?” asked David.
“Maybe it doesn’t like all the noise that some people make,” Kaitlyn answered, glaring at Alex.
“Oh, whatever,” Alex said. “Hey, Ryan? Can I see your cat to show some people that it likes me?” He looked back up, “You’ll see. Animals love me. So, Ryan? Can I see the cat? Please?”
Nicole grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back up. “Actually,” she said with that smile that he was growing to hate, “she’s right. He runs away when there’s too much noise. This time he got caught because there were people everywhere. Which,” she added crossing her arms, “is another reason why everyone should just shut up.”
“Okay,” David said, now lying on the floor, as he examined a stain on his shirt, “but where did the cat come from?”
“He doesn’t know,” Nicole said. “He just found him downstairs and took him up—”
“Downstairs?” David burst out, causing the cat to bolt out of the room. “When was Ryan downstairs?”
Nicole looked down at him. “Ryan probably does all kinds of things when we’re not looking.” She looked back into the fort. “He’d go nuts if he just stayed in there.”
“So, the kid that lives in the box made of cushions isn’t nuts?” Kaitlyn asked.
Alex stepped forward, getting between Nicole and Kaitlyn. “He’s not nuts. He’s been through a lot, that’s all.”
For a moment, everyone stopped and watched. Alex didn’t feel angry anymore, nor was he instigating. He was just sticking up for Ryan.
“Sorry,” Kaitlyn said after a moment of staring into his face. “I didn’t—”
“Don’t say sorry to me,” Alex cut her off. “Tell Ryan.”
“What?”
“Tell Ryan you’re sorry.”
“Okay,” she said. She crouched down to talk to Ryan.
Alex looked up and Nicole gave him a quick nod and a smile. He smiled back, knowing he had done well.
“I really didn’t mean that he was nuts,” Kaitlyn said as she stood up. “Just ...”
“Yeah, whatever,” Alex cut her off again. “Just be careful, okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, looking at her feet. “I ... we ... me and Hannah ... we know what he’s going through. What you’re all going through.”
“Oh yeah?” said Alex. He sat on the floor and looked up at Kaitlyn, waiting for her story. Everyone else looked to her as well.
“We were at Colby,” she started. Hannah squirmed against her as they all sat down.
“It’s okay,” Nicole said. “You don’t have to tell that part. David and I were there too.” She looked down at Hannah. “Your sister doesn’t need to hear about it again, anyway.”
“Oh,” Kaitlyn said, looking down at Hannah. “No. I guess not. I’ll just ... skip that bit.”
Hannah clung to Kaitlyn as she continued with her
