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2008.
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OSCAR was seven in 2008, and he didn't know a lot at the time, but what he did know was that he hated cats.

And at some point in late October, one had found its way into his backyard; and it was sat on his fence, staring at him with round eyes that looked like little black holes of death.

"Dad!" Oscar had screamed, stiff with his hands to his sides.

Oscar's dad came running down the stairs, worried from the tone of his voice.

"What happened?" He asked as he jogged to stand behind his son.

Little Oscar only pointed to the animal outside. "It's staring at me!"

"Oh, jeez," His dad wiped a hand on his forehead. "You scared me, kid."

"I'm the one that should be scared," Oscar complained. "It's staring at me, not you!"

Soon enough, another pair of footsteps had sounded from the stairs of the house.

"What's all this noise about?" His mom asked as she found her way to her husband's side.

The man gestured at the black blob sitting on their fence. "Some cat outside. It's freaking him out," He explained with a huff. "I thought he died or something with the way he screamed."

After hearing his mom laugh slightly at the information told, Oscar had started tugging at his dad's hand. "Can we get rid of it?" He pleaded quietly, but his dad didn't seem to hear his begging words.

His mom walked forward and opened the screen door to the backyard, looking at the cat safely from the inside of the house.

The cat was black, with big yellow eyes and a pink collar with some sort of heart-shaped tag hanging from it. Perched on their brick fence, the cat was thin, and slowly blinking at him.

Why was it doing that?

Did that mean it was going to kill him?

Why was it staring at Oscar so much?

He doesn't want to die because of a cat. That would be, like, the worst way to go.

"Oh, babe, I think it's Olivia and Liêm's cat," the woman sighed before stepping out into the backyard.

"It's gonna scratch you," Oscar mumbled, and his dad crouched down next to him with sympathy washing over his face.

"You gotta get over this fear, mate. Cats are cute," he said, and the boy only shook his head vigorously.

"No, they aren't! They got sharp paws." Oscar made a motion with his hands, resembling claws. "They could kill me."

His dad chuckled at the action, and when Oscar's mom retreated back into the house, she had the awful beast in her hands like it was baby meant to be cared for.

"Don't bring it in!" Oscar yelled, holding onto his dad for dear life. His dad then scooped him up into his arms, and Oscar was suddenly at eye level with both of his parents. "What are we doing with it?"

His mom started to walk towards the front door as she explained, "We're gonna go and give the cat back to Mr. and Mrs. Hoang."

"Mr. and Mrs. Who?" Oscar asked, and his dad pulled open the door with him still in his arms.

"Our neighbors in front of us." His dad clicked the door closed behind them, and followed his wife's lead onto the front porch. "They've got a daughter a few months younger than you, you know."

Oscar made a little face that was a mix of confusion and 'I'm still thinking about the cat that could claw at Mom any second.' He then asked, "How come we're not friends?"

"You could be," his dad shrugged, looking at his son. Oscar noticed that they had similar eyes, and it made him happy. "Maybe you could show her your cars."

Oh, Oscar loved his cars.

He gave the older man a small smile and a big nod, enthused by the idea of the mystery girl wanting to race his RC cars with him.

The family crossed the street over to the light blue house in front of their driveway, and they eventually found themselves at a large, brown door that had a small window in the center of it.

His mom knocked twice, and it was followed by a quick response of the door opening.

The woman who answered the door had long black hair and pale skin, and was wearing a white shirt with some pajamas. She looked around the same age as his mom, and by the looks of it, they seemed to know each other well.

"Hey, Via," his mom said, and the woman—Via—gasped at the sight of the cat in her arms.

Via gasped and looked at his mom with glistening eyes. "Oh my God, you're my hero," she sighed, pulling her in for a hug. "We've been looking for her for–"

"Did you find her?" A small voice echoed through the house, and Oscar could hear small footsteps thumping on the staircase inside.

His mom and Via let go of one another, the creature getting transferred into the other's arms. As if by teleportation, a girl no older than him found her way to the side of the dark-haired woman, and she, too, had glistening eyes when faced with the dark cat.

"Suki!" She exclaimed, making grabby-hands towards the cat as she jumped up and down.

She looked just like the woman who hugged his mom, just smaller and her hair different.

"That thing's name is Suki?" Oscar piped up, and the girl gave him a death glare.

Via, who he had now figured out was her mom, crouched down and handed the cat to the scowling girl.

"She's not a 'thing,'" the child said with a lingering sense of offense in her words. "She's our cat."

"Your cat hates me."

"You don't know that."

Oscar's dad slowly lowered him to the ground, and Oscar's feet hit the concrete below.

From this perspective, he was able to notice that he was slightly taller than the girl, and also that her cheeks were really rosy, like what happens to his face when he runs around too much.

"I do!" He insisted. "She was blinking at me weird."

The girl, cat still in her hands, tilted her head and asked, "Blinking slowly?"

"Yeah," he nodded, and the girl scoffed—like, eyes narrowing and all.

"That means she wants to be your friend, not that she hates you."

Oscar recoiled at the thought of being near that evil little being. "Ew, no!"

The three parents standing in the front porch laughed at his response, and the girl began to smile too. She had a tooth missing near the far left of her teeth, but she didn't seem to mind.

"On the topic of friends," Oscar's mom had began to say. "How about you two go play inside while me and Maia's mom talk for a bit?"

No. Nope. Absolutely not.

His mom was sending him into the pits of the demon cat's lair with some random girl named...Mai?

Maia?

Mai.

"Your name's Mai?" Oscar asked, turning to face the girl.

She shook her head. "It's Maia. There's an 'A' at the end." Maia lowered Suki to the floor of her house and shrugged. "But you can call me Mai if you want."

Oscar pursed his lips as he watched the animal retreat into the house, then nodded affirmatively when it went out of his sight. "Alright!" He then turned his head to his mom and dad, who were skyscrapers compared to him. "So, I can go in?"

"As long as you don't let the cat bite you," his dad teased, earning a light smack on the arm from Oscar's mom. He said through a laugh, "I was joking!"

The boy smiled slightly and entered the house with Maia, and he walked through to see a lounge area to his left, the sofas being big and tables being taller than they needed to be, but it wasn't something he could control. That was how the world was to him, anyway. Everything is always too big and too tall when you're seven years old.

The girl walked confidently in front of him, the orange dress she wore swaying with her movements.

"My DS is upstairs if you want to watch me play," she said as she spun around.

Her hair was short, but it still managed to spin with her while she moved.

It was nice. He liked it.

"Sure. What games do you have?" He asked.

"I have-e-e," she thought, and Oscar took note of how she kicked off her sandals at the foot of the staircase. He followed her lead, taking off his sneakers. "Cooking Mama, two Animal Crossing games, the Legend of Zelda..."

"I like Zelda," Oscar responded. He had done so while carefully placing his sneakers to the side of the stairs.

Maia placed a foot on one of the steps. "I bet you haven't beaten the game three times, though."

And Oscar's head tilted with a smile he'd never made before, and the challenge made his heart race.

"I haven't, but, I bet I could right now," he taunted, crossing his arms.

"Really?" Maia's eyebrow quirked up. "Well, prove it to me. I'll show you my room!"

And when Oscar climbed up that staircase, he didn't know that after this one, random visit, he would find himself hanging around in the Hoang household every couple of days. He didn't know that he'd gain a habit of staying up late with Maia when they enter their teenage years, sitting on each other's porches talking about life and drama and homework.

He didn't know that he'd start seeing the stars in Maia's eyes, and that he'll realize the fact when they're both ten and happy and free. He'd start thinking about how amazing it is that her brain works the way it does, how determined and fearless she is, how nice she looks all the time, and when he eventually picks up racing, he'll really, really like the way she looks with his helmet on her head.

Oscar would start crushing on Maia when they're ten years old, but he doesn't know that right now.

Oscar was seven in 2008, and he didn't know a lot at the time, but he knew that he liked hanging out with the girl that lived in front of his house, and he had a feeling she liked hanging out with him too.

NOTES!

if oscar turns out to be a cat person just pretend this chapter doesnt exist because i only based it off of a tweet where he said he'd choose dogs over cats LMFAOOO

anyways flashback no. 2 🤗

xoxo, cas