2014 Prompt Responses - 2. Prompt 303

“How did you get into my room?”

Ethan looked in exasperated wonder at the little orange tiger kitten sleeping in a pile of his underwear. Somehow the little shit had managed to open one of his dresser drawers and have a bit of a free-for-all with his unmentionables. “Stupid kitten.” He grumbled.

The cat was a couple years old now; not so much a kitten anymore. He was a gift from Rick for their one-month anniversary. The cat was a little spitfire and Ethan never ceased to be amazed at the predicaments the little animal got itself into. Ethan sighed and shook his head. He thought he had shooed the cat out of his bedroom before he left for work this morning, but apparently it ran back in when Ethan opened the door to retrieve the jacket he had forgotten. The reason he didn’t want the cat in his room was readily apparent. His box of Kleenex was shredded all over the room, the lamp on his nightstand was knocked over (but thankfully not broken), and his aforementioned underwear was strewn about the room and currently serving as a cat bed. In addition, everything that was on his dresser was now either on the floor or batted around the room. Ethan gave a sigh of relief. The carnage could have been a lot worse. The only casualty appeared to be the murdered box of Kleenex.

Ethan started cleaning up the mess the little devil cat created as the orange fluff-ball yawned and stretched, then wove between his legs, purring. After tripping over the cat for the third time, Ethan picked it up in frustration and turned to deposit it outside his room so he could straighten it out in peace. “It’s a good thing you’re cute.” He told the cat.

Ethan took one step towards the door and heard a loud crunch. He set the cat down to look at what he stepped on. It was a framed picture of Ethan and Rick on a Florida beach, taken a year ago. The glass was shattered. Ethan made a small noise and slid to the ground next to the dresser. He picked up the picture with shaking hands and gently removed the photo from the broken frame. He closed his eyes and clutched the picture to his chest. It had been six months since Rick left. Six months since Ethan found out that his boyfriend of two years was just using him as a placeholder until his “real” boyfriend was back in the States after studying abroad. Ethan had truly loved Rick. He had thought that they were making a life together. When he told him that, Rick laughed at him saying “you knew what this was.” Then he walked out the door.

The past six months had passed in a bit of a blur for Ethan. He woke up in the morning, got dressed, went to work, ate his meals, went to bed, and went through all the motions. He felt like such a fool. His friends told him how they never liked Rick and thought he was just using him. Ethan snorted. It would have been nice if someone had told him that! Not that he would have listened. He looked at the glass shards in the frame and scowled. He thought it was a perfect metaphor for what his life had become. Ethan gasped with the realization of just how much of a hold this prick still had on him. He threw the remnants of the frame against the wall with an anguished cry. He looked at the picture in his hand one last time and crumpled it up before it re-joined its former home. He wondered what he ever saw in the asshole.

He was suddenly glad that the cat got into his room. The little animal crawled into Ethan’s lap and head-butted his chin. He stroked the cat’s soft orange fur and smiled. For the first time since Rick left, he felt like he could move on.