Trapped in a corner, the animal's face contorted maliciously. It's emerald eyes narrowed, and it's ears folded back against it's black furred head. It's mouth curled back in a mean snarl, revealing menacing, yellowish fangs. It's dark fur stood up on end, and it's tail shot high up into the air. It's efforts to feign largeness did not deter it's harassers in the slightest.

"Aww, look at the itty bitty kitty," cooed one boy. There were about three other boys standing behind him, all chuckling evilly. They were all prepubescent and nasty, and grass-stained.

"What should we do to it?" asked another boy. He reached his hand out toward the black cat, and the creature growled warningly. The boy retracted his hand immediately in surprise.

"I say we kick it around a bit," one boy suggested.

"How about throwing it in Jimmy's pool?"

"I vote firecrackers up the butt!"

They laughed shrilly.

Well, almost all of them did.

Behind them all was a fourth boy, named Elliot, who hadn't said anything. He was huddled slightly, and nervous sweat shone on his forehead. He blinked rapidly as he stared at the helpless cat, which still tried to scare away it's enemies in vain. One of the other boys pretended to kick at the cat, making it jump in fright. It hissed, low and deep. The sound made Elliot's breath hitch. His face came to mirror the cat's, and he snarled and narrowed his eyes into a glare. His fingers curled into claw-like shapes, and his hands raised a bit involuntarily, making it look like he was ready to choke someone.

One boy happened to glance back and noticed the change. "Hey, what's wrong with you, Ell?" he asked. As he spoke, the boy in front, Jimmy, made to kick the cat for real, his foot flying fast through the air.

Elliot's side hurt.

It took him a minute to realize that he had run and protected the cat. The creature turned-tail and ran away into some nearby bushes as Elliot lay gasping for air on the ground. Jimmy looked shocked, but it soon faded into anger.

"You stupid idiot! Why'd you do that?!" he yelled. Elliot just stared at the ground. The other boys groaned and moaned about how their fun had been ruined. "I said, why'd you do it?!"

"Is it so wrong to want to help a defenseless cat?!" Elliot snapped. He looked up at the other boys defiantly.

"So the pussy wanted to help the pussy?!" the Jimmy shouted. The rest of them gasped in shock at the foul language.

"Hey, you can't say that!" said somebody.

Jimmy kicked his foot violently, and it made contact once again with Elliot's side again. Elliot screamed and fell to the ground, clutching at his side. There was a terrible silence, and then they all heard someone's mother calling for them. The boys all scattered instantly, not wanting to be blamed.

Elliot started to cry. His side hurt so badly.

"Was it really so wrong to want to help...?" he whispered through the pain.

A few minutes passed by and Elliot still laid on the ground. He stayed there, crying quietly, even though the pain had long since passed. Suddenly, the bushes next to him rustled, and he looked over. He was surprised to see the same black cat from earlier staring cautiously back at him. It walked toward him slowly, oh so slowly, and when it realized that Elliot wasn't going to leap up and try to shove explosives up it's behind, it sat down next to his face.

"Hi...?"

The cat licked his tears with it's rough, wet tongue.

Elliot smiled.