#fictional writing

“Let’s get out of here,” he yelled into my ear. “We gotta see the shooting stars!”

He didn’t wait for me to respond. He was already weaving through the crowd holding out a hand for me. I grabbed my bag with one hand and his with the other, like I’d known him longer than 54 minutes, two drinks, and one shot.

——

“Did you know that cats used to have ten lives?”

“What?”

“Yeah, didn’t you know?”

“Hm mm” (no)

“Where’d you think the saying ‘Cats have nine lives’ came from?”

“I thought it was because cats don’t… y’know, die easy and it was believed they had nine lives because of that, where’d you hear that anyways?”

“Oh, Honey told me and yeah the saying comes from that but also that they gave their tenth lives to humans”

“How’d they do that?”

“It started when humans were being made, since the animals needed help being taken care of, especially the old and young”

“Right…”

“So, uhm, the animals around at that time gave humans their own parts yet the ability to adapt, like a regular animal”

“But why didn’t they make humans be kind?”

“Nature isn’t always kind so the animals didn’t know how to make humans always be kind”

“Oh”

“Mmhm, anyways, when it got to the cats turn, they couldn’t give their claws or their ears as the other animals already gave up those parts, so they settled for offering one of their ten lives, saying ‘We already have more than enough, the rest of you already only have one’”

“Hm… do you think that’s why animals go extinct?”

“What do you mean?”

“That they create something new but if cats aren’t willing to just give up their lives anymore, animals go extinct trying to create something else since new things need life”

“Huh, I never thought about it like that, that’s a good theory though”

“Well thank you”

——

“Do you think if cats are still that sentient, do they judge the names we give them?”

“Well I hope not, I named my new cat coins because he looks like a coin jar, like how his fur is colored”

I am fairly certain this would fix me. Days, weeks - yes, this would fix me.

The world wears us thin. This is by design. We're constantly being torn in different directions. Not by need, but through obligation.

We are constantly under the duress of daily responsibility, work, and life, all the while scrolling social media and imagining peace like this. It's an internal tug of war, one in which we all lose.

But imagine for a moment If this were true.

Imagine if we had the real opportunity to pause life and reflect, heal, and simply be?

How different would you be?

Frankly, when I think about solitude like this, it reaches the deepest parts of my soul. I imagine not having any anxiety, depression, or even a sense of loneliness. But instead, replacing that with creative energy, clarity, and meeting my higher sense of self.

Life doesn't allow us the authenticity to become who we are genuinely meant to be. We are not supposed to live, but rather sell our souls and sacrifice our time, health, and families, for hierarchies, agencies, and people, who couldn't give two shits about us, but rather reek the rewards of our loss.

Within these four walls, underneath the coldness of snow and early evening darkness, we would all find ourselves and our meanings.

Our lives would have definition and importance, and by the end of our stay, we would all have a firm grasp of who we are and who we are not.

The meaning of life would become apparent. Your focus changes from them to you. Suddenly, you find the answers to the internal questions you have longed for. You find closure, self grow, tranquility, and meaning, on your journey to authenticity.