Chapter Text
Credence was eleven when they’ve found an envelope in front of their door. He thought it was weird, because it had been raining all night, yet the cream colored paper was dry.
It was addressed to Credence, and Ma… Ma had been furious.
He’d never seen her like that before; she looked at the envelope and her features turned twisted, ugly. She picked up the heavy candlestick on the little side table and hurled it at Credence, screaming at him.
He didn’t know what was happening, all he knew that he was scared. He was scared and confused and he was… he was sorry. He didn’t know what he did, but he was so, so sorry.
Ma didn’t want to hear it.
Credence had always taken his punishments like a good boy should; without a fuss, without crying. But now was different. Now Ma was unrecognizable, throwing things at him and chasing him around in the small, one-room apartment that was their home for now.
Credence had been terrified.
He ended up curled under the desk by the window, but Ma was still raging, she grabbed him, her fingers digging into his arm like claws. Credence cried. He cried and he kept saying that he was sorry for whatever he did. He might have been eleven, but in that moment he knew that Ma was going to kill him.
Credence thought about the little black cat that lay on the side of the road yesterday. It had been hit by an automobile, maybe. He remembered that its fur was wet, sloppy with rain and that its belly had been open, the dark insides spilling out onto the pavement.
He wondered if Ma will do that to him.
She raised her hand, holding the candlestick she must have picked up from where it fell.
Credence closed his eyes.
***
When he opened them again, he was on the pavement. His feet hurt, and everything… everything looked huge. It was still early and the street was empty, but when he looked up, he could see Ma in the window, sneering down at him. As soon as she disappeared from sight Credence ran.
Running felt weird. His body felt weird, but his heart was beating too fast, his blood racing in a panic. All he knew was that he couldn’t stop.
A man came down the street. Credence thought it was a giant at first, but when he got closer, he realized that it was Mr. Arlton, who lived a block away and worked at the newspaper stand.
Mr. Arlton didn’t get big. Credence got little.
***
He had never been this terrified in his life, he didn’t think. Did he… did he do something? But nobody looked at him the way they would at a shrunken person. People didn’t pay him any attention as he ran and rand and ran until he was in a completely unfamiliar part of the city.
Finally, Credence had to stop, his legs unable to carry him forward. Everything was… too big, and too loud and too smelly. He ducked into an alley to catch his breath.
When he looked down, he saw paws.
Paws and fur.
Credence jerked back in surprise, but instead of a frightened shout he… he meowed.
Credence was a… a cat now.
***
He spent long, miserable days on the street. It was cold and he was hungry and he kept getting wet, because it wouldn’t stop raining. He drank from dirty puddles and ate things people dropped under the table at the cafe nearby. It wasn’t enough - just a few morsels a day - but there were bigger, meaner cats in the alleys where the trash was and he was scared of them.
He saw his Ma once and he hid behind a crate of vegetables until she passed. She was looking for him, he knew.
That was when it hit Credence; he would never be able to go back. Maybe he would never turn back to being a boy either. A part of him knew that… that Ma had not been what others called a good mother, but she had been the only one he knew and he... And he loved her.
It hurt. He wished he could go back, he wished she would forgive him, and cut his hair and read him stories from the Bible.
But he knew it was never going to happen now.
***
Credence didn’t know how much time passed. He felt weak and couldn’t fall asleep from being too scared of everything. One of the big cats chased him around the day before, and a vendor hit him with a broom when he tried to steal a fish.
Stealing was bad, but his belly kept hurting and cramping with hunger.
But then everything changed.
There was a family passing by. A mother, a father and two daughters. One of them was Credence’s age, the other around four. They looked very elegant, and some people kept looking at them, maybe because they were black.
Ma didn’t like black people very much and Credence never understood it. Weren’t they all supposed to be the children of God?
But, most importantly, the woman was holding a cream colored envelope, just like the one Credence got. At first he had been scared, remembering what happened so clearly that his breath turned short, but then his curiosity won out and he snucked after them, listening.
“Do we have everything, darling?” the man asked.
The woman examined the letter and nodded.
“I think so,” she told him, but the older girl seemed to disagree.
“No! Mom, you promised!” she sounded petulant. Credence’s Ma would never have tolerated something like that, but this woman just sighed.
“Gloria, I said we might , but I don’t think you’re ready for a pet. You will have enough on your plate in your first year without worrying about an animal,” she said. She sounded patient and kind, but the girl didn’t seem satisfied. Still, she didn’t argue anymore, kicking a stone as they walked.
The smaller child was holding her sister’s hand, walking a bit slower and almost fell. Her sister held her up, and they stopped for a second.
Credence had nowhere to hide, and the girl - Gloria - noticed him.
Her dark eyes grew wide.
“Kitty,” she whispered, then quickly glanced after their parents, who haven’t noticed anything yet.
“Come on, here, kitty! Come on,” she said before grabbing her sister’s hand again and starting after them. She kept looking back over her shoulder to see if Credence was still following.
For some reason, he was.
***
They went all the way to the train station. There were a lot of people milling around, and Credence almost lost them a couple of times as he hed to zig-zag between so many feet, worried that he would get trampled on.
The train they were heading for was standing on the very last pair of tracks, and most people didn’t even glance at it. Credence couldn’t understand why, when it was much more beautiful than the other trains with a large, flower-like crest at the front of it. There was a luggage compartment, and that’s where they headed first, letting the people working there pack away the three full suitcases they arrived with.
“Well, here we are,” the woman said. Her voice was a bit clipped, like she was holding her emotions back. Even Gloria looked a bit miffed.
“Yeah.”
“Promise me you won’t get into trouble,” the man said, picking her up easily and squeezing her tight.
“Dad! I will be fine! And I will write you as soon as I’m sorted, okay?” she said, but she didn’t look like she wanted to let go of him either.
The train whistled and the woman kissed Gloria on the forehead. The little girl started to cry.
“Could you just... “ Gloria said, her eyes shiny with tears. “Could you just go now? I don’t want people to see me crying,” she said, sniffing. Her father laughed, and nodded. After another round of hugs and kisses the family left, leaving Gloria alone on the platform.
Credence was watching the exchange from behind a column. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do, but she had been the only person to notice him and… and not be cruel.
Gloria watched after her family for a long time, then looked around, searching.
Credence was scared, but still. He meowed.
The girl’s face lit up, and she crouched down, holding a hand out.
“You came! Come here, kitty, come on, cute little kitty,” she said. She was smiling, and Credence couldn’t stop himself from slinking forward carefully.
“That’s it! That’s a good kitty, come here,” Gloria cooed, and when Credence was finally in arm’s reach she reached out very carefully, running her fingers over his head.
It felt nice. Scary, but nice.
He gravitated closer to her, starved of contact, butting her hand with his head, brushing up against her.
“You are the cutest kitten I’ve ever seen,” she whispered.
Before Credence could object she picked him up, gently. It was jarring and made his fur stand on end, but then Gloria cradled him close to her chest.
“Want to come to school with me?” she asked.
Credence didn’t know what that meant, but he meowed again. He wanted to… to go somewhere.
Gloria smiled, bright and happy.
“I’m gonna call you Tux.”