When I arrived at her house, I hopped off of Ryu, and knocked on the door. When Shae opened the door, she was greeted by Ryu shoving her face in hers. 

     “What the-you brought a cow!?” Her voice was filled with surprise and confusion. I tried to sign that I had ridden her to the house. Shae only looked at me with a look of utter confusion. Hearing the commotion, Andromeda’s head poked around the side of the door frame. Her only reaction was to start laughing, and Shae shot her a glare. She quickly stopped, struggling to keep from bursting out again. Giving her a sheepish look, I took out a pad of paper I had stuffed in my bag at the last minute. I quickly explained why I had a cow and a cat. Shae’s face as she read it just got more and more confused. 

     “So, you found a kitten in a bag of grain, went to the vet, then rode you cow here?” I nodded, knowing how weird that would sound. I motioned to Shae for her to let me in. She quickly moved aside but stopped me as soon as I put one step inside the house. She pointed to Ryu, who was about to follow me into the house. I quickly tied her up on a tree outside the house. I pet her head, letting her know I would be back for her. 

     When I stepped into the house, I felt the warm air flood over me, a big difference from the coldness of outside. Shae grabbed a blanket and took the kitten from me. She then proceeded to wrap the small animal up with the clean one, discarding the snow covered blanket. 

     After I brushed off the snow, I grabbed the small sleeping bundle of blankets from Shae. “Let’s get you by the fire, it’s important that the little kitty stays warm.” 

     After Andromeda showed me to the fire, I sat down with my back to the crackling flames, warming up from the outside cold. “Now then,” Shae clapped her hands, getting everyone’s attention. “What’ve you named the cat?” I realized that I had been so busy, I didn’t even think to pick out a name. as I looked at the small, crème colored cat, I instantly knew what I wanted to name her. 

     Reaching into my bag, I grabbed the notebook and a pencil. Writing the name down, I excitedly showed Shae and Andromeda the name I picked for this fluffy feline. 

     “Choux? Like the pastry?” I nodded eagerly, beaming under the white surgical mask. 

     “That’s sweet.” Andromeda cooed. While I had my bag open, I dug through for my more comfortable mask. The one I had on was not a quality one, like mine was. As I slipped off the white one, I felt both Shae’s and Andromeda’s eyes on me. 

     Putting on my mask, I felt a sense of relief wash over me. I had gone through a lot of trouble to get this mask. It was one I managed to save from when I had lived in the city. Me and Rei had gotten matching ones at a concert. They were the special edition skull teeth masks from our favorite band. Even though the edges were a bit burnt, I still wore it on most days. 

     “Milo,” This time it was Andromeda’s voice I heard. “Why don’t we get you settled in the spare room. It’s been a long day and you need to get some rest.” I nodded again, and let her take Choux from my arms, who had woken up and was now staring curiously at Andromeda’s face. I internally chuckled, thinking of how she would fit right in my small house of oddities. 

     After giving Andromeda the cat food, I went and got settled in the spare room. Just as I was crawling into bed, I remembered that Rei was still outside. Running out of bed, I hurriedly signed to Shae that Rei was still outside in the cold. 

     “Don’t worry, I was just about to put her in the shed on the side of the house where it was warm.” I quickly hugged her as a thank you and went back to bed.

     As I drifted to sleep, my thoughts raced back towards the fire that had disrupted my life. All I could hear was the horrible screams of the people who had been burned to death on that night.