The Lily Effect

    The house smelled like shit. The shower curtain was moldy and three of the rings had ripped through the plastic. The cat box looked like it hadn't been cleaned in weeks. The wall between the bathroom and the kitchen was half missing. Ross wrinkled his nose and pulled his scarf up to block out the worst of the smell. He hated the rat infested house around him, but he needed something from it and he couldn't put it off any longer.
    It took almost five minutes for Ross to pick his way through the entry way and up the stairs, every step had to be tested he couldn't trust them not to collapse under him. When he finally got to the top it took even longer to clear a path through the mound of crap blocking the path to the nearest bedroom. Luckily, for Ross's sanity, the bedroom door wasn't blocked and opened easily inwards. It had been cracked slightly and only needed a light push. 
    The inside of the room was completely different from the rest of the house. Where trash had been piled in the rest of the rooms, a book shelf, two dressers, and a set of bunk beds took of the majority of the space here. Two laundry baskets, one by the dresser immediately to his left, one by the book case across the room, still held sets of dirty clothes in them. The room was like a shrine. Nothing had been touched, nothing had been tainted by the filth in the rest of the house. It was a good thing. This room was important, the only reason Ross had forced himself to return.
    Ross sighed softly at the layer of dust covering everything, but didn't bother clearing it away. He didn't need anything from here. The girls who had lived in the room, both in college the last time they'd left the room, wouldn't be coming back for it. There was someone else there who did need his help, though.
    A shadow flickered around the far corner of the bunk beds. The blue curtains shivered in anticipation and then a small face appeared from behind the bed.
    "There you are," Ross said, a smile flickering around his lips. "I came to find you." 
    The face moved out farther from behind the bed and revealed the body of a skinny, but beautiful black and white cat. She meowed and sat in a patch of sun filtering in through the window. To Ross she looked like a princess who was upset she had been kept waiting. 
    "I'm sorry," Ross whispered, his eyes falling to the floor. A million other words pushed against his lips, but he swallowed them down. They didn't need to come out, not to a cat, not to anyone. "We should get you out of here," he continued after a long pause. "I'm a little surprise you managed on your own for so long." He snorted softly. "Not that you would run out of rats, though."
    Ross moved to the far side of the room where a blue cat bed, the same color as the curtains, and a few stray toys lay. He put the toys in the bed and shoved it into an old duffle bag he found in the closet.
    "Let's get out of here," he chuckled, picking the cat up and cradling her in his arms. Together they said a silent goodbye to the room, to the destroyed house, and then the left. Neither one looked back.