Fortune

Chapter 1:
Lady Luck

Here we set our hidden cards.

She recalled waking up from a dream where she was a princess, a common dream for a six year old kitten who wasn’t getting as much attention as she wanted. It was drowsy at first, the blurred darkness causing ethereal glows to stretch eerily across her view. However her state of being in between sleep and awake didn’t last long as the sound that had caused her to stir sounded again, louder this time. A bang against the door in the living room followed by another in a loud crack, people screaming loud enough to scare her into clinging into the blanket she been tucked into by her mother a mere two hours prior. Not a breath passed her that wasn’t forced, not a sound cam from her as she stared intently at her own door through the creeping shadows of her room. Monsters in the closet and under the bed were nothing to the heavy footsteps against her families hardwood floor, the roar of thunder was a weak mewl to the muffled yells of alien voices in other parts of the house.

Do we play or do we fold?

After the initial barrage of sounds came the silence, a terrifying silence that when mixed with the darkness of her room rivaled any bad dream she had ever had. Tears started to form in her eyes making small sounds in her throat as she started to think of all the terrible things that could have happened outside her room. For hours, an eternity to a frightened out of her wits six year old cub, she sat clutching at her blanket and stared intently at the door. People were still outside her room, moving through the house quieter than before, saying things in hushed voices just outside her door.

Light from the hallway flooded the room as the door opened slowly, causing the little kitten to throw her blanket over her head in hopes that whatever was entering the room would mistake the lump on the bed for nothing special. There was an acute silence that hadn’t been in the room before as she hid under her blanket, holding her breath as she felt a presence float over her. A sudden shrill cry from her spring mattress sounded in the thick air as a heavy weight sat on the bed next to her. It would have been appropriate for the kitten to squeak in fear, but she just held her breath more hoping that whatever was on the bed would pass her up.

Do we stare our opponent down?

“Jessica?” A soft voice came; it was obviously a trick, a slobbering monster poised just outside with an aversion to eating blankets.

For what it was worth, Jessica stopped holding her breath fur on end as she muttered something incomprehensible through the blanket.

“I’m not here to hurt you Jessica, my name is Sally Winters.” She continued in that soft voice. “I know you’re a little frightened sweetie, but its ok, you can come out whenever you want, I’m just here to tell you what happened. Ok?”

Jessica was silent for a moment before finally squeaking. “Okay.”

“This may not be easy to understand honey, but your parents have done something bad and they had to go away to jail.”

“Mommy and Daddy sold drugs.” Jessica said flatly.

Sally didn’t answer at first, shifting on the bed. “Now I want you to know that you aren’t in trouble for what your parents did sweetie, but you can’t stay here. When you’re ready, we have to go to a special place where you’re going to stay for a couple of days. I’ll help you pack up your suitcase and let you take whatever you want, is that okay Jessica dear?”

Do we call for luck?

Pulling her blanket from over her, Jessica’s fur tingled as a wave of cool air swept through it, looking directly at the golden furred canine in a black suit. Jessica noticed that she was wearing glasses and had a heart shaped earring in her left ear. By all accounts she looked nothing like the snarling monster that she had imagined wanted to her eat her a scant few minutes ago. Still she couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about the situation, she could still hear people moving around in the house and she caught the movement of police out of the corner of her eyes.

“Can I see my Mommy and Daddy before I go?” Jessica asked looking directly into the hall where two police were snooping around.

Sally looked a pit crestfallen. “No sweetie, I’m afraid you can’t. They were already sent to jail.”

“But that’s not fair!” Jessica retorted. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye!”

“You’ll see them again sweetie… Just not tonight.”

“I don’t wanna go!” Jessica started to tear up angrily, the fear that had been grasping her starting to cause her to feel hurt and betrayed. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair!”

Sally remained silent for a moment, knowing full well that arguing the point wasn’t going to get a six year old to settle down. She slid off the bed gracefully and kneeled down to eye level with the kitten. “I know its not fair sweetie, but don’t you think that staying here alone would be a bit scary?”

Jessica stopped throwing a tantrum for a moment to think about what was asked to her, she couldn’t cook, couldn’t get things by herself, and she couldn’t buy the stuff that she wanted without someone to take care of her. The sudden fear of being alone in a house without her mother or father washed over her and she looked to the golden furred canine thoughtfully before pulling her blankets away and sliding off the bed. She was still crying, but not angrily, instead she just stood and wiped her tears still eye level with the older woman. Before she could do anything else however she was pulled into a gentle hug, a warm hug that seemed to tell her that she would be alright. It didn’t work as well as it should have however, Jessica still felt on edge.

She favors the bold.

Packing as efficiently as she could, which it turned out was not efficient at all without Sally folding the clothing she picked out and placing them into the suitcase. Jessica couldn’t help but avoid the pull-ups that were in the closet, she knew that she would need them, she also knew that ever since waking up she needed to change out of the ones she had wet either in her sleep or in fear. Unfortunately she knew she couldn’t hide them as she always wore one of her dads t-shirts as a night shirt and that she wasn’t allowed to cut a tail hole out of it so her tail lifted it in the back giving a clear view of her pull-up. Still she pointedly ignored it and the pack in the corner of her closet as she retrieved clothes, toys, and books that she wanted to take with her.

Nearing the end of her packing, Jessica couldn’t help but to fumble for time as she tried to avoid saying she was done. Sally for what it was worth humored her for a bit, kneeling behind her suitcase as she politely denied bringing a giant box of crayons or a toy chest full of dolls for fear of over filling the suitcase. It was only at the point that Jessica began going over the same items she had presented before that Sally had to finally interject.

“You know sweetie, I think it would be a good idea if you take these. Don’t you?” Sally reached into the closet she had been kneeling next too and pulled out the case of pull ups.

Jessica stopped dead in her tracks and lowered her ears, pulling at the front of her night shirt in hopes that she might hide her wet training pants. “I um…”

She cares not for boon or bust.

“And I think it would be a good idea if you change into another one before we leave, we’re going to be on the road for a while sweetie.”

Blushing under her fur, Jessica could no longer deny that she was wet, nor that she did want to change out of her wet pull ups. Despite her best attempts to be a grown up, she hadn’t had any luck, both on the front of wetting her bed and with wetting herself during the day. For all intents and purposes she was potty trained; she just had accidents, so she was often wearing a pull up to compensate for the times that she did have an accident. It didn’t help that everyone in her class made fun of her about it; it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she wore them after having so many accidents at her desk in class. Needless to say she wasn’t all that popular with her peers, and even if she had been, there was the fact that her parents wouldn’t let anyone come over to her house.

Tail twitching as she approached the case of pull ups she pulled one out and slipped off the wet one, not caring that she was doing it in front of Sally. It wasn’t like she was showing herself off, she had her long shirt covering her for the most part, and it didn’t take much effort to slip on the new pair. Without further ado the wet one was thrown away and Jessica helped the woman in the business suit close up her suitcase, at Sally’s suggestion she carried her blanket and a pillow with her while the older woman wheeled the suitcase out of the room.

Only those who take the chance.

Without a word they passed a lot of police officers in the living room, her parents were nowhere to be seen. Instead she saw a few gathered around the coffee table where a few guns had been placed, as well as sacks of the stuff that her daddy sold to people who came to the door. She didn’t dare look into their eyes, most of them seemed intent not to look at her and Sally either. Out the front door and into the brisk night, Jessica noted that most of the mobile homes that lined the street had other families out front staring at all the cars that had parked semi circle around her own home. Most of them had their lights flashing and she wondered if her parents were in the back of one of them. However she didn’t wonder long as Sally opened the back door of her black car, where a booster seat was placed.

“Alright honey, as I said, we’re going to be driving for a while, so I want you to go ahead and sleep if you feel like it. Okay?” Sally asked as she helped Jessica into the seat, buckling her up before putting the pillow behind her head and covering her lap with the blanket.

Jessica nodded, she was tired, and unsure how to react to what was happening. Part of her was convinced that this was just some scary dream where she was being taken away. Another part of her felt as though maybe her parents didn’t really love her, they certainly never spent a lot of time with her. Only barely noting that the car was starting to move, Jessica tried to summon up a feeling about everything that had just happened. However she only knew that she was tired; as the scenery passed she started to fall in and out of sleep. It only took a couple of minutes before she was sleeping fully.