Hoody of Mine

The night is dark and fuzzy, the air feels dry and thick as the nauseous fumes engulf your very being. It makes you feel sick as usual. It’s less foggy than normal tonight, so you take the chance and get out of the house while you still can. You’ve been dying to get away from the people you know.

You aimlessly wander the disgusting and polluted streets of your home town, mindlessly kicking the broken bottles and scratched up cans out of your way as you walk.
As you stomp angrily away from your apartment, you can’t help but let out a small whimper as you sniffle.

Your once beautiful _____ eyes were now puffy and red. You tug your black hood on lazily as your vision blurs. You can’t feel anything, not sympathy, not sadness, nothing. The most you could feel was rage.

You were angry. You were angry at your parents, you were angry with your friends, you were angry at everyone!

…Even yourself.

You push these devastating thoughts away as you continue down the road. You feel a cold drop of water hit your nose as you hazily look up.

Rain. Great.

You dig your hands into your jacket pockets as you search for a cigarette, but all you could find were a few gum wrappers and your now useless lighter.

“Shit!” you shout as you let it fall to the ground. You let out a desperate sob, secretly hoping that someone will hear you and come to your aid. You don’t want anyone to see you, you hate everyone you come into contact with, but you want to be loved, you need someone to hug you, you need you know that there’s someone out there who cares –

But alas…there’s no one. Not even the crickets give you their sympathetic chirps of understanding tonight. No one’s there to comfort you. There’s no one there to help you up, dust you off, and tell you that you matter. No one.

Your body is shaking, and you feel as if every single breathe you take is a struggle.
You can’t take it anymore, you inhale jaggedly before letting it all out.
You collapse on the cold hard ground, feeling the small stones beneath your palms cut into your fingers as you wail out.

Gravity pushes you down with a painful grip as your knees give in beneath you. You fall to your side as you scream. You scream as loud as you can. You scream until your own two lungs burn with the abuse. You let out all of the pent up frustration in you as you claw at your own knees, leaving small streaks of red on your skin that aren’t deep enough to seep blood or become permanent scars that will remind you of this day.

Despite the pounding rain and the whirling wind, a small noise catches your attention for only a split second.

“Mm…” the small whimper comes from a cardboard box just inches away from you.
You think you’re going insane and don’t pay any mind to it until the noise repeats itself, followed by a small sneeze and a weak sniffle.

You inhale sharply as you slowly lift your head up to peer at the box in front of you.
You watch it intently as you sob, eyesight still burning and mind still blank as you hopelessly try wiping some of the tears away.

The package trembles as you watch it, as if it knows you’re irritated.
Your eyes narrow darkly. You get up, suddenly feeling the need to take your anger out on something.

You stomp on the ground once before sending the box flying with one swift kick of your laced boot.

You hear a small cry as it topples over upside down, accompanied by a dull thud as it lands.

Your eyes widen, what the hell was in there? Did you kick a puppy? Or what if it was a cat? Oh dear God your life would be over if it was a poor defenseless cat trying to get away from the rain!

Suddenly filled with panic and concern, you run towards the beat up box on the ground. You lift it up carefully and watch as a small yellow object tumbles out.

A small hooded child sits there, his jacket soaked with water and his head spinning. He sobs as he looks up at you, his most alarming feature is the cloth hiding his face. It has a small frowny face on it and two huge red eyes that almost look cartoonish.

You cautiously take a step towards him, but the closer you get, the more he backs away. Your heart feels heavy as you realize – he’s afraid of you…

You wouldn’t blame him. The poor thing! He must be freezing out here all alone!

You stand there, dumbstruck as you stare at him in awe.

He shivers under your gaze as he shrinks back, curling into a ball.

Suddenly, a small smile begins to melt itself on your face – he’s adorable! You’ve made up your mind, he’s coming home with you. It might not be the most rational plan, but you’ll just call the police station in the morning when this little guy is better.

You remove your hood and strip yourself of your jacket. You kneel down to his level and allow your expression to soften as you chirp, “Hey there little guy, you okay?”
He looks up, shocked at your reaction. He begins to twiddle his thumbs shyly as he looks down.

You hesitantly reach out to him, watching as he begins to tremble from the cold. You pat his back gently, trying not to spook him.

“It’s pretty cold out here…do you wanna go inside, maybe I could get you something to eat…does that sound okay?” you ask, tilting your head to the side a little in wonder. The smile never leaves your face as you speak.

He looks up, unsure of what to say. He sniffles and nods his head, deciding once and for all that you don’t seem like much of a threat.

Your smile becomes wider as you bite your bottom lip, trying to keep from yelping in complete and utter joy as you wrap your jacket around him.

You help him up as you zip up your black jacket. It almost looks like a dress on him. You giggle, it’s too big for him. He looks about five or six, definitely no more than that. The sleeves hang limply by his sides as he snuggles into your hood. You lift it up over his head and almost start crying again once you feel his tiny arms wrap themselves around your neck.

You grab him by his waist and lift him up gently. He nuzzles his head into your neck as he coils his legs around your sides. You can still feel him shivering.
As you begin walking you can’t help but feel all giddy inside. You can’t wait to get him home.

But before you do that, you realize that it’s a pretty long way home, probably more than this kid can stand unless he falls asleep.
Something clicks in your head as you stop. You reach into your jean pocket and pull out your IPod.

You search through all of the rock and metal until you come across some gentle music for him to listen to.

You slide an ear bud into the boy’s small palm and let him tuck it into his ear. You then place the other one in your own ear as you let the music play.

The song you chose was ______________. It was gentle enough for him – or anyone to fall asleep to.

You could feel his breathing slow as his grip around your neck loosened. Behind his thin cloth, you could feel him smile against your shoulder.
After a while of walking, you finally reach your destination. You sigh in relief as you take out your keys, rattling them until you finally find the right one.
You opened the door slowly, stepping inside the building cautiously as you closed the door behind you.

You gently shook the hooded child awake, “We’re here now little guy, when we get up there, you can’t say a word, alright? At least not until we get up to my room.” You told him sternly.

You feel his tiny nod before smiling, “Good.”

You march straight up the stairs until you reach your apartment room. You silently tug on the handle and watch as the door gently slides open.

You inwardly cheered at your small accomplishment as you gingerly step inside. Once you realize the lights are off you grin. Good, nobody’s home.

All of the sudden, you feel something rub against your leg in the darkness. You yelp as you leap onto the couch, hooded little boy in hand.

You chuckle when you realize it was only _______, your cat greeting you. You reach down with one hand and stroke _____’s fur, tangling your fingers in his/her ______ coat.

When he/she satisfied, she/he runs off into the kitchen, not even bothering to say hello to the guest in your arms.

You roll your eyes, ‘what a rude cat.’ you think as you hurry into your own room.

You place him on your bed and pat his head as you take the damp jacket off of him.

You throw it to the side and pat your knees once as you lean towards the hooded boy, “So, what’s your name? Don’t want me to call you ‘little guy’ for the rest of the night, do you?” you ask.

He looks down again and rubs his knuckles together. It kind of reminds you of the beloved character called Butters from that show South Park.

You watch as he shrugs and crosses his legs from underneath him. You blink in surprise.
“No name? Well….uh...” you bite your lip, “Do…do you want me to give you a name?”

He looks up at you and nods frantically, kicking his legs out and swinging them at the edge of the bed.

You smile warmly at him for the umpteenth time that night, “Alright, so I’ll give you a name, and you decide if you like it or not, ok?”

He nods, urging you to continue.
“Hm…how about…Matt?”

He shakes his head no.

“Ok…how about…Rupert?” You thought that a British name would be just right for –

No.

“…Sammy?”

No.

“Toby?”

No.

“Shaun?”

No.

“Andrew?”

No.

“Luis?”

No.

You squint your eyes as you sigh, as a last attempt to give this kid a name, you decide to throw out the most obvious pet name in his case, “Hoody?”

He stops for a second, then nods happily. He claps his tiny hands together, cheering as he bounces up and down.

You giggle as you sit down next to him, “Hoody it is.”

You sit there for a few seconds, silence rains.

All of the sudden you hear a small gurgle come from Hoody’s stomach. He looks up at you hopefully.

You blink once before nodding and smoothing his hair from underneath his hood, which he doesn’t seem to mind much.

“Stay right there, I’ll be back as soon as I can with something to eat.” He nods as he reaches out to touch his toes.

You run over to the kitchen, greet your cat again, and put a few dozen chocolate chip cookies on a plate. You pour two glasses of milk for you and Hoody, then run back to your room.

“Here you go Hoody.” he smiles as you hand him the plate. He nibbles away at the cookies immediately as he sucked on his fingers and licked his palms. He was a messy eater.

You had done some babysitting before, so you knew how to handle this. You grabbed a napkin and tugged at the edge of his cloth. Without stopping, he takes off his mask completely and throws it to the side.

His hair was dirty blond and short. His eyes were sapphire and looked almost too big for his face as he gobbled down his food, almost choking twice.

“Whoa there kid, slowdown will you?” you chuckled as you wiped all of the muck and chocolate from his face. He just looks up, smiling as he swallows a mouth full. You began eating some too, and he gladly shares, even handing you some cookies which you politely refuse since you are content with the one in your own hand.

After finishing the entire plate together, you watch as Hoody falls back sleepily onto the bed, snuggling into your pillows as he licks his lips.

You smile and hand him his glass of milk shortly before drinking from your own.
“Happy?” he nods as he drinks.

He hands you back the empty glass as he sighs, laying back down contently and snuggling into his own jacket.

You lay down next to him and wrap your arms protectively around his small body, pulling him close. He presses his cheek against your shoulder as he begins to lightly snore.

And for the tinniest moment, you couldn’t be happier. Nothing had ever made you this glad to be alive. There was finally someone who depended on you (besides your cat), someone who loved you, someone who you could hug for comfort.

You sigh as you wrap yourself and Hoody up in a blanket and drift off into unconsciousness.

The last thing you remember is _______ jumping on your bed, curling up at the edge, and flicking his/her fluffy tail once before joining you both in your nocturnal slumber.

For once in your life, everything was perfect, absolutely perfect…