• I woke up not from a nightmare but to Sebastian's yowls to alert me that someone was at my door. He yowled in my face and kneaded at my lap, insisting that I get up. I shoved him off and watched his white butt flee down the hallway.
    I got up and shuffled towards the door. There were a couple of knocks still sounding, and then it was silent. "I'm coming!" I yelled as I shuffled to open it. In reply, a few more knocks came, in a way that sounded like... Like she was the one knocking.
    In hope, I opened the door quickly, hoping greatly that she was there, that what had happened had never actually happened. But when I opened it, nobody was there.
    Silent, I closed the door, hurt more than curious. But then again... She was gone. Forever. I sighed and bent to pick up Sebastian, who had fled the bedroom and had been weaving himself in and out of my legs while I had been searching for who had been knocking at my door.
    The cat meowed and demanded to be petted. I sighed again, remembering whose cat he had been before.
    Hers.
    I still had her picture, too. Her cat and her picture, and I'm sure I had some more stuff of hers lying around somewhere. Hell, her picture was in the living room, to the left side of the TV, in a beautiful gold frame with a black velvet background. Black in order to frame the gorgeous hair of red that she had. Her blue eyes shone out from under the head of hair, with the large brown birthmark on the right side of her face slightly hidden from her profile.
    Sebastian jumped out of my arms, and I went to go put my sheets back on the bed, trying to forget. Corner to corner, straightening out the sheets, making sure they were perfect, not because of OCD or any such thing; it was a force of habit. From- No. Not going through that.
    Perhaps I needed to go out. Away from home for a few hours. I hadn't been out in awhile, after all. Maybe Shett and Jessica would want to meet me somewhere for coffee. With that in mind, I grabbed my cell, my wallet, and my keys.
    "Seba, don't destroy anything while I'm gone." The cat meowed an acknowledgement (or maybe just to hear himself), and, after making sure Sebastian had food and water and the AC was set to 70, I locked the front door behind me and began to dial Shett's number.
    I thought I noticed a figure in my living room window as I began to walk down the sidewalk, but a double take produced nothing. Oh, yeah... A break away would do some good.