I feel my phone vibrating beneath me. I check the time; it's 2 in the morning. I realize Elis is calling me. So, I pick up the phone, groaning.

"Pierre speaking. If you need something, please say it now. I'm on the verge of passing out."

"It's urgent."

She speaks in a whispering tone, which makes me start to worry. I start to wonder if she's in trouble.

"Are you okay?"

"No, Mr. Shitz heard us talking yesterday about my cat ears."

"Wait, he didn't know about your ears?"

"Yeah, I didn't want him to try to expose me. I'm sorry. I guess I am a 5-year-old after all."

Her laugh was more of a disappointed one. My heart dropped. I felt like this was all my fault. If I just wasn't so curious.

"No, you're not. If anyone is the 5-year-old here, it's me, for being too damn curious. I apologize. Where are you right now?"

"I'm at some old building. He said that in the morning he's going to drive me to some type of cult and sell me off."

My brain starts to rush, and my eyes fully open. I try to rush around.

"What the hell is going through that dumbass' brain? Describe what your surroundings look like?"

"There's a lot of fluff around. It looks like something you would put into a bear?"

"Oh, good. Don't worry. I know where you are now! I'll be over as fast as I can!"

I grab a bat out of my closet, which I hadn't used for years now. Got some gear from some other stuff and ran like there was no tomorrow. It wouldn't be the first time I've had no tomorrow either. I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited and having fun; it would be even better if she wasn't in danger. By the time I reached the factory, I was out of breath. It wasn't too big, and it was quite empty, so it was easy to navigate. There were tons of leftover fluff from all the teddy factories. That reminded me of the time my friend tore up my old teddy bear. I finally found her tied up on the floor next to her phone. I look at Mr. Shitz, who is still asleep. He seems to have a paper attached to his hand. Like someone glued it to him.

"How in the world did you get that? And how did you get my phone number? Are you okay?"

"I-"

It looks like she was about to say a joke, but she stops herself.

"I- Don't know..."

I get really worried and continue untying her. And I hear a voice. I look at Mr. Shitz who was taking his eyes off the paper and looking at me.

"Now I remember who you are! You're that dumbass kid and his cat that cost me my job!"

I was confused for a second, but what he said next made me pissed.

"If your stupid fucking cat hadn't jumped into the road, I wouldn't have to be doing all this tedious work!"

My hands went numb. I was on top of him, pounding his face in and screaming at him.

"How about now, huh?! How does this dumbass kid's fists feel, HUH?!"

He never threw a single punch. I didn't want to stop. I was pulled back by Elis.

"That's enough! He gets it! I called the cops already and told them to come and get him. Tie him up, and let's get out of here!"

I throw her off me and walked away. I went upstairs and checked my messages. I looked at my messages with Elis, and it looked like we were talking about going to the park. I don't remember that happening, but I just chalked it up to me being mad, so I fell asleep in my bed. I was tired of it, tired of missing my old best friends, tired of trying to deny my cat was dead, and tired of suffering. Without even realizing it, a few days had passed, and I didn't go to school. It was harsh, but I decided the next day I would apologize to both. I felt like if I did this, a weight would be lifted off my shoulders, and I could try to live normally. And the next day, that's exactly what I did. Forres just laughed at me for saying something so lame. Elis, on the other hand...

"Hey Elis."

"Huh? Oh, Peiris. Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, I just came here to apologize."

"For what, might I ask?"

"You know... I've been an asshole to you since we first met. I've felt bad for hurting you, so I just wanted to apologize."

"I would've scolded you for how you behaved the other night, but it seems that you've done enough of that. So, I formally accept your apology, and I hope we can become better friends."

"Friends, huh? Sounds nice."

"Question time! There's this competition for FFR coming up. I was supposed to go to with my manager, but if you couldn't tell, he's now gone. So... Wanna become my new manager?"

"...HUH?!"

"And if you're worried about your mom or my parents complaining, my parents already know about you and how you saved me from my manager. So they're fine with it, and your mom actually told me she wanted you to."

"Oh, thanks, mom... What's FFR anyway?"

"It's a rhythm game also known as Freedom Fighting Mutators. It's really popular. This contest is to make a song for the game. It's a 2-week-long event where we're supposed to make like 4 tracks for the game. And the best one gets put in!"

"I guess that's pretty cool."

"And we get to go to a luxury resort with a beautiful city and beach."

"Count me in~!"

"I knew you would say that."

We both laughed and went our separate ways for the night. She never came over to my house again since the kidnapping incident. And I haven't seen her with her ears out like that since that night too.