What Matters
Title: What Matters
Prompt: Purple Stain, Tabby Cat, Worst Moment of Your Life
Current/Past: Current
Word Count: 501
Rating: PG-13
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any) None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con etc): Mention of blood, hopelessness.
Summary: He just needed to know what mattered
He knew that he had had enough.
The moment his cat scratched his arm, he knew.
He had left a mark, a deep gash that was now turning red.
It turned red slowly, and he lazily watched it drip onto the purple carpet.
It would stain, he knew that it would.
And he was glad.
Today had been the worst day in his life.
Everything he had worked for had been taken away.
‘Arbitrary marking’, his friends called it.
But what did that matter?
It had left a stain on his record, and that he could not forget.
As he lazily watched the red drip onto the purple carpet,
He wondered how many days he had spent trying
It was the futility of it all that got him in the end
It made him tired
Bit it also made him resilient
It wasn’t a matter of working hard
He knew he was working hard
But he had to let go of so many things to be there
He reached down to grab his cat
“Rat”, he said, “You’ve taught me something new today.”
“No matter how hard I try, some things just aren’t meant for me.”
“There are some things that I just cannot control.”
The cat purred, stretching out itself on his lap
He smiled, “Yeah, I should be more like you.”
His cat was lazy.
His cat was smart.
His cat knew when it wanted to eat.
His cat slept when he wanted to sleep.
His cat was different from him.
He did what others expected him to.
No.
He did what he expected himself to do
Who was he trying to please?
His parents were disaffected, busy with their own separation
His brother had his own life to maintain
The bite marks from when his older brother last fought him were still there
What had he expected?
One teensy mark down in his grade
And that meant the end of the world for him?
What kind of a life had he been living till then?
It had drained him, his life.
But now things needed to change
He placed his cat back on the floor
The purple carpet would stain, and it would seem like a drink had spilled over
He didn’t have to worry about that
He was glad there was something he didn’t have to worry about
Did he worry too much?
Was that his problem?
Was that the thing he had to consider?
But first things first, he needed to clean up the gash on his arm.
And he did that.
He disinfected it carefully, and let the water clean the blood away.
It felt good.
He felt good.
Like something bad was leaving him.
The pain had stung when he had first tried to clean it
But the pain was gone
That was it!
The pain was gone
That grade would pass, people would forget
No one really thought about anyone other than themselves
So what did it matter?
Nothing really mattered after all.
Prompt: Purple Stain, Tabby Cat, Worst Moment of Your Life
Current/Past: Current
Word Count: 501
Rating: PG-13
Original/Fandom: Original
Pairings (if any) None
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con etc): Mention of blood, hopelessness.
Summary: He just needed to know what mattered
He knew that he had had enough.
The moment his cat scratched his arm, he knew.
He had left a mark, a deep gash that was now turning red.
It turned red slowly, and he lazily watched it drip onto the purple carpet.
It would stain, he knew that it would.
And he was glad.
Today had been the worst day in his life.
Everything he had worked for had been taken away.
‘Arbitrary marking’, his friends called it.
But what did that matter?
It had left a stain on his record, and that he could not forget.
As he lazily watched the red drip onto the purple carpet,
He wondered how many days he had spent trying
It was the futility of it all that got him in the end
It made him tired
Bit it also made him resilient
It wasn’t a matter of working hard
He knew he was working hard
But he had to let go of so many things to be there
He reached down to grab his cat
“Rat”, he said, “You’ve taught me something new today.”
“No matter how hard I try, some things just aren’t meant for me.”
“There are some things that I just cannot control.”
The cat purred, stretching out itself on his lap
He smiled, “Yeah, I should be more like you.”
His cat was lazy.
His cat was smart.
His cat knew when it wanted to eat.
His cat slept when he wanted to sleep.
His cat was different from him.
He did what others expected him to.
No.
He did what he expected himself to do
Who was he trying to please?
His parents were disaffected, busy with their own separation
His brother had his own life to maintain
The bite marks from when his older brother last fought him were still there
What had he expected?
One teensy mark down in his grade
And that meant the end of the world for him?
What kind of a life had he been living till then?
It had drained him, his life.
But now things needed to change
He placed his cat back on the floor
The purple carpet would stain, and it would seem like a drink had spilled over
He didn’t have to worry about that
He was glad there was something he didn’t have to worry about
Did he worry too much?
Was that his problem?
Was that the thing he had to consider?
But first things first, he needed to clean up the gash on his arm.
And he did that.
He disinfected it carefully, and let the water clean the blood away.
It felt good.
He felt good.
Like something bad was leaving him.
The pain had stung when he had first tried to clean it
But the pain was gone
That was it!
The pain was gone
That grade would pass, people would forget
No one really thought about anyone other than themselves
So what did it matter?
Nothing really mattered after all.