The winner of our current Short Story Competition is published in the Mar|Apr issue of Irish Country Magazine, out now. This beautiful story came in second place and was written by Anthony O’Brien Bedford, living in Co Wicklow
She has spent weeks living in darkness, both literally and figuratively. Each day she awakes and leaves her small flat in the early hours of the morning. The sun far from rising, she walks her daily commute to an office job she neither loves nor hates. Her cubicle has no window, so her day is spent surrounded by grey plastic and felt, every surface uninviting and dull.
Her boss, an unfortunate by-product of the Wolf of Wall Street generation, seems to think his big business break is always just on the horizon, so he works his employees hard. She rarely leaves her desk, just working through file after file as the minutes run down. Most days she eats a soggy sandwich with one hand while typing with the other. Each day, when she emerges from her grey corporate world, she is welcomed yet again by the darkness, for the sun has long set.
Her life hasn’t always been all grey, all dark. Up until a month ago, she had spent two blissful years with a man. He had been charming, smart and loving. Having grown up with an absent father and an emotionally distant mother, she was wary of relationships. However, he had been patient with her. Eventually, she opened up to him and for the first time in her life, she felt truly loved. That was until he betrayed her, confirming her initial theory; love is scary and should be avoided.
She moved to the city for career opportunities, which she’s now convinced will never materialise. Not knowing anyone in a new place can be scary and making friends as an adult is much harder than people like to admit. Most people are locked into long-term friendships as early as college, and as such, have little time to entertain new friendships in adulthood. She had left the small number of friends she had behind, along with her apathetic family. When she met him, he opened her heart and also introduced her to a wider group of cosmopolitan peers. Not only had she found love, she had also gained access to friends. She should have known it was too good to last. He left her for one of the “friends” and she had since been shunned from the group. Clearly, they never liked her for her, just engaged with her because of him.
The monotony of the day-to-day is starting to wear on her. She starts to think what’s the point of it all.
She wakes up to another morning of darkness. A Friday. She opens her curtains, which is almost a redundant act in itself, letting the lack of light from outside coalesce with the darkness inside. To her surprise, she notices a furry black mass wedged into the corner of the old granite windowsill just outside the thin pane of glass separating her from the outside world. Her initial thought is ‘rat’. Anyone living in an urban environment always thinks ‘rat’ when they see something small with fur, but on closer inspection, still separated by glass, she can see she is mistaken. The furry mass is shivering, more violently by the second. Without thinking, driven only by instinct, she opens the window and lifts the creature up. The shivering stops, the animal goes rigid with fear. She turns it to face her and stares into the vibrant green eyes of a young cat. The cat is male and not, in fact, black all over, sporting a heart-shaped patch of white fur that perfectly frames his face. He doesn’t seem frightened of her, more surprised to have been unexpectedly lifted from his perch. He is young, thin and freezing cold. She quickly shuts the window and grabs a small blanket from the selection she keeps on her bed to wrap him up.
Surprising even herself, she calls in sick to work. Her wheeler-dealer boss doesn’t take it well, so she plays the Covid card – even he can’t work his way around that. It is the first time in her life that she has called in sick for work.
Her unexpected feline visitor is enjoying the warmth of the blanket and is curled up beside a plug-in heater she had bought out of necessity during a recent cold snap. Now that she has called in sick and brought a wild, uncollared animal into her home, she is wondering what on earth she might be thinking. At that moment, the little cat opens his eyes and looks at her, slowly blinking away a yawn. She feels an instant affection for him and decides she will do three things; take a photo of him for “Is this your cat?” signs that she can put around the local area, get him warm and healthy and then if nobody gets in touch with her, she will bring him to an animal rescue shelter.
The cat is left alone for just an hour on their first morning together, while she goes out to stick up signs and visit the pet shop. When she returns, he is waiting by the door, and proceeds to follow her every step. Over the course of the long weekend, she discovers that the cat is now attached to “his” blanket, has a particular flair for finding unexpected places to sleep, adores tinned tuna and when she is sleeping, he likes to curl up on the pillow beside her and place his paw on her shoulder.
As the weekend comes to a close, she fervently hopes nobody responds to the signs she has put up because she doesn’t want the cat to leave just yet.
Nobody gets in touch. Days go past and he soon becomes part of her everyday life. She finds herself looking forward to coming home from work, excited to see his little face and for him to curl up on her lap, a comforting ball of love and affection.
Days turn to weeks and the cat grows healthier, perfectly settled in his new home. Although she still tells herself she will bring him to a shelter when he is better, she knows deep down that she never will.
She rubs her eyes open on an unremarkable Tuesday morning and notices that she feels different. For the first time in a long time, she feels happy about opening her eyes, about what the day and future might hold for her. Her feline friend rests his head on her own and a smile comes to her face. She notices a subtle hint of dawn shining through the curtains and realises that for the first time, in a long time, she has woken up in the light.
You can read the winning story in the Mar/Apr issue of Irish Country Magazine, in shops now. Follow us on social media @irishcountrymag to find out how to enter for May|Jun!