Calico

by Annaliese Purrington

  “Cali! Can the twins and I go pick some berries?” I recognize the sweet childlike voice instantly. Aurelian. I look behind me and see the sweet freckled face of my little sister.

  “Yeah. I’ll come too. Last time I let you all go by yourselves mother got mad.” I say and yank my spear out of an old oak. Our mother doesn’t like the young ones going berry picking alone either. But we can go when she or our father aren’t home.

  “Okay. Plus, we are older now, so we can go alone, you know. We won’t sneak off to the beach again.”

  “Yeah right.”

  “Just saying.”

  Chapter 3

  We walk back to the house together to put my spear away. Aurelian puts on her pink sneakers, which match her salmon colored jeans. How can she wear shoes? I can’t stand wearing shoes. I can’t go outside and not feel the cool earth beneath me. I stand here watching my sister tie her last shoelace. Once she’s done, the twins walk out from the front door carrying three baskets.

  “I said get four! What’s Cali supposed to use now?” Aurelian says, sounding annoyed.

  “Chill! I’ll go get another,” Jericho says. He walks back into the house as Jayce hands out the three baskets. A few seconds later Jericho walks back out holding a wicker basket.

  “Okay. Let’s go.” I lead them to the right side of the house. We walk along in the woods. I feel freer as I walk with bare feet upon the ground and a basket in my hands. We walk towards the ocean except more towards the northeast. There is a meadow/field there. It was once a farm many years ago but got abandoned. The barbed wire farm fence still stands around the massive field and the rusting metal gate still hangs on its rusty hinges. We like to go here a lot. It is overgrown now and each year the berry bushes produce more and more blackberries.

  We reach a place where the trees thin out. A path leads down the tall grass to the gate. We reach the gate and the twins go first and run to the gate and climb over. I help Aurelian over since her hands are full with a book and a basket, then I go. I feel the rough texture of the rust under my hands and feet. I feel and hear the hinges shake. I’ve been over this gate many times and not once has it broken or hurt any of us. I just hope it stays like that. I jump down to the rocky ground and follow my siblings to a large blackberry bush that coated with huge ripe blackberries. They pluck the berries off. I, however, go to a smaller bush a few feet away and pluck that one free of berries. The abandoned farm was not a berry farm before. Wild blackberry bushes began to grow around just recently. I think it was originally just a family farm with cows and other typical farm animals, but I don’t know what happened to the family.

  As I sit on the withered grass, I hear a rustling in a bush beside me. I look to my left and see a small fox. Its fur is thin, so she looks fragile and hungry. I look into her large black eyes. She stays there, not even afraid of me. She looks young. I see her look at my berries and lick her muzzle. She is a few feet away, so I grab a large handful of berries and toss them to her. She eats them quickly and puts her nose in the air while licking it. She looks at me for a few seconds then trots away from the direction she came from. I look at my basket. Only five berries remain. I pick the berries off the bush again. There’s hardly any left now. I glance back up to the direction the fox and swear I can see blue smoke coming from the bushes over there. I shake the thoughts out of my head and continue with the berries.

  I hear the three playing and laughing behind me and smile. I hear another meadowlark and see the brightly colored bird fly across the field. This time, I’m positive I spot blue smoke waft out of the tree the bird goes into. A few minutes pass.

  I get up and watch my siblings run and play in the dried, withered grass. I look across the field and see the old broken farmhouse and barn. The wood panels on the sides of the house are water stained and falling off onto the grass. The shingles on the roof are moss covered and the windows are dark with dirt. The two buildings look tiny from the place I am at. I’ve been over there before in the barn. For about a year. I was raising a kitten I had found. It was injured with a cut on its paw, and I was helping it back to health. I still see the slim black cat around. He was about my age in human years when I was taking care of him. He was around four or five. He wasn’t really a kitten, but I thought of him as one. He always had those round kitten eyes and that playful personality.

  No one knew that I was caring for a cat. I always said I was going berry picking. I always came back with at least a few berries every day that summer. When the cat had healed, it was like losing a dear friend. I still see him around and play with him every time I see him, but I don’t see him much anymore.

  I focus my attention on the present moment. My siblings come to me with baskets full of berries hanging from their arms.

  “Are you ready to go?” I ask.

  “Yeah,” Jericho says.

  “Okay,” I pick up my half-filled basket and walk back to the gate. We climb over and walk back home. I’m thinking of the fox now. How innocent she looked. How vulnerable.

  When we reach the house, the twins take the baskets inside with Aurelian. I sit on the steps again and think. Just think. About the sweet little fox. About what I think I saw after the fox disappeared. About the cat. About my secret. I look at the sky again and see the sun going down a little. It must be around five, so I get up and walk inside the house. I sometimes make dinner. Our mother does much better than me, but she had a meeting today and our father is upstairs typing some report all day.

  I make some simple pasta for dinner. I’m not a very good cook either, but at least I can make something without turning it into ashes; like my sister. I set the ready plates on the dining table in the dining room and call for everyone. We eat dinner in silence. The forks on the plates are the only sound.

  I get up once I’m done and set my plate in the sink. Once the twins and Aurelian are done eating, they go upstairs and get ready for bed. Our father does the same after giving me a quick hug. I, however, stay in the living room and sit on the tan couch. I watch the sunset from the enormous window in front of me. Our mother comes in a few minutes later.

  “Have a good day today?” She asks setting her bag on the entryway bench. I nod then she goes upstairs for bed. I watch the news on the television screen. Nothing but boring stuff mostly from the Southern City. About the mayor of both cities. Blah, blah, blah. But after the weather comes on, there’s a few minutes of stuff that catches my eyes and ears. I turn the volume up and listen to the reporter. “Senior pranks or is it a threat to the city? More people claiming, they have seen blue smoke occasionally around both cities. This is worrying both cities and is becoming a mystery to Guards. Could it just be the end-of-year pranks, or could it be something more serious? More as we gather more information, this is Linsey Salem, reporting to you live.”

  A few commercials come on, but I put the TV on mute. Blue smoke? I think, it can’t be. I shake the thoughts out of my head and watch a commercial for dog food. After a while, my eyes close but I jerk my head up. Finally, after an hour, I give up on trying to stay awake and get up. I turn off all the lights in the house, leaving only the entryway light on and go to my room.

  It’s cold in here. I had left the window open all day. Now that the night has come the cool breeze whips through my room like winter breezes. I get dressed in my favorite fleece pajamas and jump in my bed. The smooth sheets are freezing but once I’m in the bed for a while it becomes warm. I fall asleep quickly dreaming about my secret, life, and what the News had said tonight.

  Chapter 4

  I wake up with a beautiful bright yellow meadowlark sitting on my windowsill. He sings loudly and charmingly. I smile and sit up. He flies away quickly. I get dressed in my white shorts and a brown belt and my peach tank top. I put my hair up in a simple French braid and run downstairs. No one is up, and my parents have already gone to work. I grab an apple and go outside, but I notice something on the counter. It’s a small brown box with my name on it. I open it and find a small not
e inside. I read, “Dear Calico, thought this would look nice one you. We know how much you love cats. Love mother and father.” I look in the box and find a silver necklace with a small silver cat charm on it. I put it on and make a promise to myself to always cherish this necklace.

   As I eat the apple on the front steps, the sun shines brightly. The birds sing loudly, and the wind slowly blows. What a pretty day, I think. Once I’m done with my apple, I walk to the shed and grab my spear. I then go to the clearing in where I always practice at. I twirl the spear in my hand. I spin around. I feel like I’m in a battle or something. I spin and run around like I really was. I throw my spear and it jams into a tree. I run and get it and chuck it to another trunk. I do this for a while. I throw the spear and watch it. But right before it hits the tree, it nearly hits a small young buck. I yelp as the spear flies by its head and wedges into the trunk of the tree beside the deer. I stand there motionless and breathing fast. My hands cover my mouth. The buck looks into my eyes. I see his small antlers majestically upon its head. His sturdy legs standing tall.

  “Oh, my gosh!” I whisper through my fingers.

  The buck bows his head and ambles away. I stand there watching the creature leave. I slowly walk to my spear and yank it out of the trunk. I look around carefully before I chuck it to another tree. I look in the direction the deer swear I can see blue smoke from behind a bush, but I shake my head and look way. My heart is racing. It feels like it is about to leap out of me. To think I nearly killed an innocent buck makes my stomach drop. I stick my spear into the ground and pin my hair up messily. I don’t care if it’s messy at all. I just want my flaming orange hair out of my face. After a few more throws, I stop. When I walk to the shed to put my spear away, I see Aurelian sitting on the front steps.

  “Hey,” I say.

  “Hi,” she replies in a faded voice.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask sitting next to her.

  “There’s just nothing to do.”

  “There’s plenty to do,” I say. “Do you want to go berry picking again?” Aurelian shakes her head.

  “I wanna go to the city. I want friends.”

  I don’t know what to say. I’ve always wanted friends too, but since we are kind of poor at the moment, we can’t afford to go to school or live in a city where there’s lots of people to make friends with. We could go to the city with our parents each day, but none of us want to get up at four every morning to leave and stay until late in the evening. I’ve always heard the school in the Western City is great. Expensive, but great. Or that’s what our mother always tells us. I’ve also seen the Southern City school. I watch the children sometime. Imagining me there. I can watch because of my secret. My secret. It flashes through my mind. I wish I could tell Aurelian it. She would love it. But I don’t think I’m ready to tell someone about it yet.

  “Have you had breakfast yet?” I ask breaking through my own thoughts.

  “No,” Aurelian says.

  “Let’s go get you something first. Then we can decide what to do.” I get up and help my sister. We walk in together and find the twins walking down the stairs. “Morning,” I say. They just look at me. “Okay, let’s see what we have.” I open the cupboards and only find a small amount of random things. “Looks like I need to go shopping today. Here, have some toast. That’s pretty much all there is.” After breakfast, I get ready to leave. I’ll go to the Southern City because it’s closer than the Western City. “Okay, you three. Be good and do not go outside until I get home! Just stay in the house with the doors locked. I’ll try to be fast. Bye!” I leave and walk around to the back of the house. It’s a long trek up to the city, but I do it a lot so it’s not so hard for me. The trees seem so tall around me. I feel like I’m a small and vulnerable creature. Instead of a human girl. The moss-covered trees rise to the sky and the ferns and plants on the forest floor spread out like fans. A stick snaps. I raise my head up and look around. An owl flies away a few yards away from me. My hearts pounds from fear, but I try to ignore it. I’m too far away from the city to do my secret, but I have an urge to do it, so I won’t stand out so much. But now that I’ve seen the owl, my mind locks on the thought of staying myself. Just until I get to the city.

  Finally, I arrive at the city’s boundaries. There’s an invisible wall around the city’s territory. I never knew why they have a wall - which would probably kill you if you touch it - around them. It’s obviously there to keep people from coming and going, but I never understood why no one can come and go. I get around it though. Closer to the gates of the city you can see the wall. The rest of it is invisible from the outside. I’ve marked a few trees around with small dots of paint. Small enough so the city can’t see it. I get to one of my marked trees and look around and find a small rock. I toss it in my hand and throw it in front of me. It flies, hits the wall, which lights up blue, then flies back towards me. I duck then go to another tree towards my left. It’s a low hanging oak tree with thick branches hanging over the wall. This is the tree I always used to get in and out of the city. I walk to the tree and climb its rough trunk. I pull myself up to the thick branch, which droops over the wall. I crawl on the bark, constantly looking down, until I get to the part where I can’t go on top of because it’s too thin. I jump down and look behind me. I can see the wall now. It looks like aqua blue water. Rippling like water and constantly moving.

  This looks like a good place to do my secret. The city is only about half a mile away, so no one will see me. I look around to make sure no one is here, then rise my arms above me. Dark blue smoke surrounds me. I feel myself getting smaller and smaller. The smoke gets thicker and thicker. Suddenly, the smoke clears out and I walk out of it on four paws.

  Chapter 5

   Yes, I can turn into a cat. A calico cat. Weird, right? Well, being a Morph - Morphs are people who can turn into animals like me - is common. They are everywhere, even in the Southern City, which is the most dangerous place for them to be in. Some people know about Morphs, but some don’t. We try not to tell anyone, but some Morphs just can’t help it. It is cool to just turn into an animal anytime you want. Even I have trouble keeping my secret from my family. But I know it’s safer for all of us Morphs, if fewer people knew.

  I gather my thoughts together and trot towards the city. Tall glass buildings rise from the tips of the trees as I get closer. I can hear sirens, honking-horns, cars. People talk all around. It is exciting to be in a city.

  As I get closer, a smell comes to my nose. A strong smell that reminds me of the color black or brown. It’s claustrophobic and gets stronger the closer I get to the city. I finally reach the road. Yep. The smell of the road always makes my little cat nose wrinkle up. The smell of gas and concrete; I’ve never liked it.

  I put one of my paws on the firm concrete and feel it rumble under me. I quickly lift my paw and run behind a bush. A large car flies by and I get a gust of wind blown on me. I think I’m safe. I put my paw on the road again and feel nothing. I sprint as fast as I can across it and stop on the other side. My heart pounds with excitement and fear. I never enjoyed going across the road. Even if no cars are coming, I still feel like I’m being watched, or that I’ll get hit one day.

  I shake the thought from my head, but really, in my mind, I’m shaking off the smell from the road. My spotted body weaves in and out of the undergrowth and over the crackling leaves. I can hear the noise getting louder with every step I take. I run, knowing that my younger siblings are waiting at home. Waiting for me to bring them the food they’ve been looking forward to all day. Our mother would typically buy the groceries, but I do it sometimes. It gives me an excuse to transform and be my cat-self.

  I reach the city’s edge a few minutes later. Cars fly by, people walk in formal ways. They dress everyone in black and red. That’s the city’s colors, and if you don’t wear those specific colors, you would be arrested for disloyalty to the city. Dumb, right? Their outfits are so elegant and bizarre looking. Some people have their ha
ir up in odd curly ways, make-up is plastered on every face, shoes are nearly as tall as the buildings and the casual clothing. Well, let’s just say, the casual clothing is definitely not my style. To formal on some and some outfits are too short or too tight. There are always guards walking about making sure no one from the city had come in disguised and that everyone is wearing the city colors. That’s why I come as a cat. Cats and dogs wander around sometimes, and since I come here so often as a cat, people just call me a stray. The nice people give me scraps and as I’m grateful for that, what I really want is their big bags of food they have on their market stands. On the main road, a market is always open. People walk all about while stands of many things, such as produce, and merchandise sit about on the sidewalk.

  I run past a few buildings that tower high into the clouds and jump over a few parked cars. When I reach the center of the city, I walk down the main road, receiving many stares and gawking expressions from the little kids. Seriously, it’s like the little children have never seen a cat before. In my mind, I roll my eyes and jump onto a crate by a stand selling green apples. I purr loudly and rub my body against the wooden pole supporting the stand. I hate being all cute and innocent looking. If I didn’t have younger siblings, believe me, I would not be here right now.

  “Aww! Mommy look at the cute kitty!” a little girl around six says to her mother. She too wears a red and black dress. She points to me with big eyes. Did she just call me “kitty”? She walks up to me with her hands out. I crouch down and hiss, but she doesn’t get the picture. I swipe my paw, but she still comes. Just get away! You’re distracting me! And drawing attention to me! I think in my mind. A few other kids around the girl come over too. Great. I jump down from the crate and hide until the crowd of black and red are gone. When it’s clear, I jump back up and look at the stand keeper. He looks away. This is my chance! I grab a bag of apples and chuck it on the ground. I jump down from the wooden crates and clench my mouth around the bag’s handle and run. I weave in and out of the many tall legs of people and run back to the oak tree.