Midnight in Montgomery

Jake Clawson looked out of the window of the Silver Eagle bus he was riding in. He had left Megakat City with a heavy heart, as he had for the past few years. The skinny brown kat was hoping to stay away from Montgomery. Bad memories were heavy in that small town.

The bus travelled down the long, lonely road to Mobile. Jake was on his way to take some of his inventions to a scientific convention in that city. He took all kind of robot models, but nothing from his past life as a SWAT Kat.

Jake looked at his watch. 11:50 pm, December 30th. He sighed and continued to stare solemnly out the window as the bus approached the small town of Montgomery.

The bus stopped by a gas station for a refueling, and Jake decided to see his old friend while he was in the area. Stepping off the bus, Jake flipped the collar up on his brown leather jacket, to keep out the chill  and the strong wind.

He slowly walked towards where his friend currently resided. He  stood there a moment, as a fog started to rise from the ground around him. The wind slowly died down, and Jake looked up at the full moon.

Jake suddenly turned around, hearing footsteps behind him. A large, burly kat with golden fur was standing there. He wavered from side to side, obviously drunk, his flight suit tattered by the arms.

He stared at Jake with haunting eyes.

“Buddy, it’s good to see you. It’s nice to know you cared,” he said in a gruff voice, as the wind began to slowly pick up again.

Jake blinked and shook his head in disbelief. When he looked towards the kat, he had disappeared. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, wondering of he actually saw what he saw.

The clock in the center of the city started to chime midnight. Jake turned and headed towards the bus. The clock chimed, and the lonely cry of the whippoorwill. Looking up, Jake stared up at the sky, the bright stars twinkling in the purple sky.

The smell of whiskey drifted through the chilled air. Jake  shivered and zipped up his jacket. He glanced back towards where his friend now rested.

“Rest in peace, Chance,” Jake whispered, climbing back aboard the  bus.

The shadow of the bus rolled across the ground, passing over stones and dead plants. A midnight train slowly chugged parallel to the bus, its lonely whistle piercing through the night’s silence.

Jake tried to hold back his tears of loneliness, as the bus continued on it’s way to Mobile, letting Montgomery and Chance retreat back into  the night.