Chapter 4 - Cleanup

After being gone from her home for around two weeks, Natalie decided to fix up her place. She came home from her part-time job as a cashier and started to get to work. There was trash everywhere, along with piles of dirty dishes, clothes, and dust. No wonder she had a cockroach living in her apartment. It was such a large mess, she probably had more than JUST ONE cockroach. Natalie started picking up all of her dirty clothes and stuffed them into her washing machine. While she waited for her clothes to finish getting washed, Natalie started to clean the dishes.

"I haven't seen Buttons in a while, maybe I should go and check on him?" Natalie mumbled to herself as she tiredly dried her hands. She slowly walked over to her room feeling her eyelids become heavier with every step she took. Once she finally made it to her room she fell onto her bed and quickly fell asleep, totally forgetting who she was looking for in the process.

While the 20-year-old girl slept, a certain feline stared at the girl. This certain feline slightly shook his head in disappointment towards the girl. Just as he was about to join her in bed, Buttons was lifted from behind. Out of shock, he tried to claw his way out of the person's grasp, but it was no use. They were too strong.

Buttons looked up at the mysterious person hoping to see who had made the poor choice of breaking into his home. Especially while his 'servant' was knocked out on her bed. All the fur-ball could see were the man's brown hair due to the lack of light in Natalie's room.

"So we have to live in this dump of an apartment now?" The strange man spoke as he carried Buttons over to the living room. As they walked towards the living room the lighting became better. Well at least good enough for Buttons to take in the man's face.

The strange man had brown hair, brown eyes, and a beauty mark underneath his left eye. The man was well dressed as well. Buttons kept staring at the man until he felt the stranger come to a halt. Buttons turned around and saw two other people in the room.

"You should be nice to our new owner! At least she seems nice!" The female with blue hair said defensively.

To be honest, Buttons didn't really care about what they had to say about Natalie, she is quite annoying. Especially when she whines and cries when Buttons would attack her for feeding the strays who live outside the apartment. Buttons never really liked the strays, especially this one cat. Boy did that cat get on Button's nerves! Plus, everything they're saying about her is true, she's really sloppy, but she tries.

"Also… what do you think you're doing with her cat! Put him down!" The blonde-haired man said to the man carrying Buttons. Although he was a stranger, Buttons didn't mind being held by him.

"Calm down, he's just a cat! Not like he could tell 'whatever her name is' that there are strange people in her apartment." The brown-haired man said, putting Buttons down on the filthy floor. This angered the thick feline. Whoever this blonde man was, better watch himself from now on.

"Can you guys just help me clean up the place?" The blue-haired woman said, already dusting and organizing the kitchen. Something about her and the other two people reminded Buttons of that night.

While staying at Claire's house, Buttons woke up in the middle of the night. He heard muffled voices coming from downstairs. He decided to go check out what the noises were but couldn't open the door to leave Natalie's room. That was when Buttons decided to go through the slightly opened window.

Natalie liked to sleep with the windows slightly opened so she could get fresh air from outside. The thick feline jumped up onto the girl's desk and climbed onto her window sill. He, by some miracle, managed to slip through the window and make it onto the roof. While searching for a safe way down from the roof, Buttons had accidentally slipped and fallen off the roof. Luckily, Buttons landed in some bushes.

After the small incident, he shook off some of the leaves that were stuck on his fur and went to the backyard of Claire's house. Once he finally made it over the fence and to Claire's backyard, Buttons went onto the porch and stared through the glass sliding doors. He could make out a figure or two wandering around the house.

Buttons could only see the dining room and the kitchen through the sliding doors. A few lights were on in the house which allowed him to make out one of the figures in the dining room. It was a girl with blue hair and green eyes. She looked exactly like the doll Natalie's mother bought as a gift. This freaked out the feline.

"Hey buddy, you alright? You seem a little frightened." The man with brown hair asked the Calico feline. Yes, Buttons is a Calico MALE cat.

The more Buttons thought about the dolls and the more he looked at the strangers the more it freaked him out. Buttons soon started to back away from the man slowly and cautiously.

"What's wrong with the thick cat?" The blonde-haired man said, walking up to the brown-haired man.

"Hmm… Don't know." The brown-haired man said standing up straight again, still staring at Buttons.

"Oh well, just ignore him and hurry up and help Mallory." The blonde hair man said with a smirk and walking away.

"Hey! What makes you think I'm gonna clean this crap up?!" The brown-haired man said turning towards the blonde with an angry look on his face.