Leaves

We walked in the woods, the cat and I, on a blanket of red and orange, half lit in the twilight sun, leaves crunching under our feet, heading in no direction but away. The cold wind whipped past the barren trees, chilling my hands and the tip of my nose. Night would fall soon, but we still followed the trail, two vagabonds, different species, sure, but together at heart. I didn't even know why it was here but the company was nice. Who knows what happened in it's life, maybe it was a half-starved-stray wandering around looking for food, maybe it was tortured by petty devilish children, maybe it was driven out of it's home with a broom-toting housewife on his heels, but it probably didn't remember even it if it did. All it thought about was now. I wish I was like that. The wind picked up, making my ears numb.
I looked at the trees. They didn't make sense, the bark was painted on them haphazardly, the branches spread like cracks on a windowpane, a work of god's abstract art, and yet I could understand it. Trees don't have to make sense, and in that way make sense, but I had to, and how could I? I was only a refugee among a horde, a pilgrim in a flock, a pedestrian in a world where everyone was in the light.
The cat stopped and looked up at me, as if expecting something. I squatted down and pet it's white fur gently, and it raised its ears slightly and started to purr. I should join it's kind, take off my clothes and go follow the beasts, hunting and wandering, but without anything on I would freeze to death. All the sudden, I heard a voice behind me. “Hey look! Two points!” I turned my head. There were four kids standing there, ruffian types in dirty clothes, looking at the cat. One of them reared back and threw a rock past my head, grazing the cat's fur. Another two stones sailed by, hitting it square in the back, and it flew off into the woods. “Bastards!” I roared as I rose to my feet. The kids, seeing how big I was at full height, ran away frantically. I turned, walking off the trail looking for the cat. “Here kitty...the bad men are gone now...come here...please...” I hit a patch of briar bush, and couldn't go any further. I guess it thought that I had left it vulnerable there to the kids, I guess it thought I set up a trap, I guess it thought I meant to hurt it. I didn't. I wish it would come back.