Piper Mullins is a senior in high school from Kentucky. They’ve been in creative writing for four years and have been writing most of their life but only started taking it seriously in high school.
Lovely, they’re massaging the dirt and grime away from loose furs with their alien paw. “D’aw, Kitty!” The voice coos. My head rubs against the furless digits that wiggle and scratch behind my triangular ears. This is bliss, I think as my nose tickles at the scent of fish on their fingers. But the hand moves away as I startle alert and bat my paw to beckon it back. Hiss! Betrayal! The hand that pets me is now covered by that awful woolen fur! Horrendous horror, the creature conceals themselves from me. With an awful, cutesy cackle, the faux paw dives at the divot near my neck. I roll onto my back and unleash my deadly claws, but the woolen hand backs and ducks wildly. “So aggressive! Do you not trust me, kitty?” Yes! Yes, strange cat! This sleeve has hidden your intention. Will you pet me with that? Or is it a ruse to attack! Begone, lanky beast! You and that wonderfully fishy smell, once trustful kind digits, and monstrous woolen sleeve! And to think I once waved my tail as you arrived… I will never trust again!