Heaven

© Crescentlite

She stood behind the piles of magazines on the floor and made her way across the concrete walkway, the contours on her body masterfully blending with eh shadows of the city and causing her to appear slimmer than she actually might be. It was already very late – almost past midnight – and she wanted to return back to her safe abode just around the corner of a very famous French restaurant 'La Grenouille'. The smell of 'Le saumon aux Lentilles du Puy', La Grenouille's signature dish of wild salmon, wafted through the alleyway and tingled her senses. Licking her lips, she crossed over to look for leftovers.

To her dismay, there was none. La Grenouille didn't leave her anything tonight. Puzzledly, she walked to the back door of the restaurant and clawed at the door. Just then, an old man wearing a chef's hat opened it and peered down sympathetically at her.

"I'm sorry we didn't leave you any food tonight Esmeralle. Business was so good we ran out of salmon. But you might have to start looking for food at some other dustbins from tomorrow onwards; this is La Grenouille's last night here." He said and closed the heavy metal gate slowly.

Esmeralle, the cat, placed a paw on the door, not understanding what the old man said. She mewed softly and gave a huge yawn before settling down at the garbage can. Maybe tomorrow night they might leave her food.

As usual, Esmeralle began her daily routine of rummaging through different garbage cans around the city every morning till night. There wasn't much food the previous night and La Grenouille never gave her any. Eagerly approaching her abode at around midnight again, Esmeralle was puzzled by the different scents the place gave off. There weren't any sweet aromas like before. She looked around and found the place eerily empty. A bunch of hobos wandered into the area and declared loudly "This is going to be my new home!" He saw the cat idling behind the empty trash bin and shooed it away.

Esmeralle was startled by the rude behavior. People at La Grenouille never treated her this way. She wondered who this people were that dared invade her home and even chased her away. Nevertheless, she felt that she was now on a mission to find a new home. The people of La Grenouille didn't seem to be there anymore and she didn't want to share the garbage can with such obnoxious humans.

She leaped from the water fountain, at Central Park, towards the bench and cuddled down there. Feeling extremely exhausted and starved, Esmeralle mewed softly and hoped to gather sympathy from passersby. Soon enough, a lady neared her bench.

"Oh you poor little thing. How long has it been since you last ate something? Let me bring you home." The lady smiled sweetly. Esmeralle yawned and was about to move when she heard a back. Quick as a flash, her senses heightened and she went into alert mode. Just behind the lady was a ferocious looking husky that looked ready to tear Esmeralle from limb to limb apart. Without warning, the husky leaped up the bench and lunged at Esmeralle.

"Sit boy sit!" screamed the lady as her prized husky went out of control. Esmeralle leaped off the bench instantaneously and began the greatest escape of her life, the husky hot on her heels. She wound past numerous trees and dodged many human feet, her vision blurry and ever changing. The hunger in her stomach was greatly slowing her speed down and she feared the husky might catch up to her after a few more yards. As luck would have it, the husky's breath and continued at high speed to wherever her tiny legs could take her.

Dark clouds loomed overhead and pretty soon it began pouring. Cold, wet and miserable, Esmeralle quickly took cover under a bridge. The rain matted her fur and made her extremely uncomfortable. Looking around for food she spotted two big rats huddled around the drain. Anxious for a delicious meal, she approached the rats a tad too loudly, her hunger probably dulled her sharp cat senses and the rats turned around. Maybe animals could sense each others' emotions. The rats were somehow not afraid of Esmeralle. Behind the fierce looking green eyes showed hunger, weakness and vulnerability. Before long, the tables had turned on Esmeralle and more rats seemed to arrive as backup. Panic was evident in her steps as Esmeralle peered nervously at the pairs of rat eyes that greatly outnumbered hers.

So much for a delicious meal. She thought as she tried to fend off a bite from the leader of the pack of rats. The fast little devious rodents were quick to attack Esmeralle's blind spots before scampering in different directions in an attempt to disorientate Esmeralle. The rats seemed to grow bolder by the second and Esmeralle was truly fearful for her life. Wasn't she the one that was going to have them for dinner? What an irony it is now.

A sudden noise stopped the rats from their attacks on Esmeralle. The scent of humans filled every corner and the rats hurriedly scurried off to safety. Esmeralle clawed the floor in agony. She only hoped that the humans approaching were kind souls. However, her wish was not to come true. It may seem that what was coming next could possibly be her worst nightmare. A bunch of youngsters neared the bridge and they made loud noises. One of them, a young punk with green hair spotted Esmeralle and pointed. He turned his head, muttered a few words to his friends, and then laughed maliciously. Without warning, the group of youngsters dashed towards Esmeralle. She knew they were up to no good and began to run for her life. The boys picked up stones and aimed them at Esmeralle. One of it knocked her hind legs as she whimpered in agony, but she never slowed down. They say cats have nine lives; this whole day of 'adventure' probably took out 8 of Esmeralle's.

A sense of déjà vu hit Esmeralle as she escaped from the bridge and caught a scent. It seemed to be that of wild salmon. With renewed hope, Esmeralle eagerly followed the scent until she arrived at the backdoor of a restaurant. She clawed at the door and the same old man with the chef's hat opened it.

"Esmeralle!" He cried out in surprise. "You found us! You seem so tired, wait here; I will go get you some salmon." This, was truly heaven to Esmeralle.