Chapter Text
Splash… Splash…
Cheng Xiaoshi runs through the rain, his sneakers leaving behind trails of waters splashes all over the path he crosses. He could've used his umbrella and walk in ease while admiring how the crystals falls from the sky. Funny thing is he just have to forget to bring his umbrella today, on this very day, on a rainy season.
Amidst his suffering, cheng spots a familiar looking district in the distance, without thinking much about it, he changed his sprint direction to that place in a sec. His home was still far from near but at least this place could shield him from the rain for some time.
The roars of thunders were starting to get frequent in it's intervals, which means this rain could develop into a thunderstorm in just a matter of minutes.
Just as his foot stepped onto a building's roof's shadow. The light rain he used to run under just seconds ago, evolves into a massive showers of waterfall. The sudden change of temperature makes him shiver that he hugs his jacket harder.
Cheng stares at the scenery and sighs heavily in relief, white puffs of fog emerged as he breathes, "One second late and I would've been soaked wet." he mumbles to himself.
He took in his surroundings, he was In front of a small empty shop, there are also numbers of empty shops left and right to it. This shops has long been abandoned since the fire accident that occurred 2 years ago, he used to frequently visit this area with his parents whenever they have time. The shops in here were very well-known for it sells many variety of sweet foods.
He remembered that the streets here were always full of the smell of freshly baked honey breads, scents of hot brewed boba milk teas, The fun and colorful displays of macaroons- He cuts his train of thought as it makes him feels hungry…
As he traversed through the abandoned shops, Cheng tried to recall the names of the shops by reading the shop's brands on the walls. His efforts were proofed in vail thought, as he could barely make out any of the writings. Most of it were burned into ash while the rest that didn't were either torn-out or missing some letters.
Cheng noted that the store he passed by this time had round-shaped window frame, and there's only one shop with that features, so that one must be xx café, beside it was a pink themed shop that sells ice creams, Oh, and there used to be a large flower pot here too-
BANG!
Cheng jolted when he hears a loud bang from an alley he just passed, it shouldn’t be a surprise considering how strong the wind is blowing and how hard the rain was, but it still managed to caught him off guard. Cheng also thinks he heard some other sounds.. But then again, It could've only been his imaginations.
However, he stiffens once he was sure that he did heard a faint whimper coming from the very same alley behind him where he heard a bang. No, can it even be called a whimper? it sounds so... Inhuman… he's not sure whether that sound can even be described.
Overwhelmed by his curiosity, Cheng turns back to check the source of the sound. And what meets him, was a very dark alley. He did heard that narrow alleys like this one were common places for ghosts and bad spirits. Kids were prohibited to play in areas like this past curfew because tales has it that when the night has come, there will be monsters lurking in there waiting for naughty little kids who didn't listen to come by and eat them.
…Not that he believe any of that, of course. Plus he never did bad things so he's been a good kid for sure!
Just as he was debating whether it was really worth it to check it out he heard that pitiful whimper once again.
He can't just ignore it like this. What if it really was someone In need of help? What if they were so badly injured that they can't even move a finger? W-what if they are.. Actually at the verge of dying when he was thinking about all this right now?!
With renewed determination he took a deep breath and steps into the alley, illuminated only by the limited light from his phone, he walks closer and closer to the source of the sound…
And so he searched, and searched. Moving his phone up and down, his eyes glint in the darkness searching for any slightest movement that meets the light of his flashlight. But no, what Cheng found was none from anything that cheng had imagined.
What he found instead is a small, light brown colored, ball of hair (a breathing fur ball??) curled up on the ground on the corner of the alley. It kept on shaking and whimpering, It looks like it was freezing and in a lot of pain.
Cheng Xiaoshi scoots closer to it to observes it's features, he could tell that this thing was a cat, a very small one in fact.
"Woah, hey..!!" Cheng flinched when the cat starts hissing and squirming violently that he almost dropped the cat, but thankfully he was able to put the cat down again. He felt some kind of wet texture as he held the cat earlier. huh, did the rain reach it here by any chance?
Cheng frowns because the texture feels sticky on his hand. the cat must've felt uncomfortable all this time too.
"I-I'm sorry…I just wanna help you, alright..? I have no intention to hurt-" Cheng Xiaoshi's eyes widen once he finally observes the warm liquid on his hand. It was very dark and there's barely any lightning in this alley because he dropped his phone somewhere, but there's no way cheng would mistaken it, the smell and the texture…this liquid …it was blood.
Alarmed by this newfound discovery, his eyes frantically bouncing here and there to find something.. Anything! It was then he successfully spotted a box not too far away from where he is crouched and dashed to it, fortunately the box was empty and the inside were pretty spacious, it could probably fit the cat's body without having it to fold it's arms or legs.
"Sorry, I'm sorry…"
Cheng Xiaoshi whispers string of apologies as the cat continued to squirm under his hold. He lifts the cat gently and carefully, squeezing it's body a bit so it doesn't fall from the way it keeps resisting, and finally he put the cat inside the box.
It was once Cheng Xiaoshi let go of his hold did the cat became quite and still again, thought it didn't give Cheng some sense of relief as it's breathing was still uneven, not to mention that it's body was skinny that he could feel it's bone and very light as a feather. Cheng could tell that the cat was suffering from malnutrition.
Cheng Xiaoshi picks up the box carefully and begin to speed-walk through the heavy rain, sometimes he made sure to walk as slowly as possible as to be careful not to jostle the box too much, or It may result with the cat getting more injury than it already has.
He hugged the box close to his chest, his tiny little frame was slumped down slightly to cover the box, resulted with his clothes and hair that are now soaked wet. His visions were blurry and he could barely see anything, but he paid it no mind. His priority right now is to get home and cure the cat.
"Please Hang on.. I'm going to save you little cat!"
===