Something was wrong since morning. A light, almost inaudible feeling of anxiety pounded under the rib, preventing him from enjoying the first, perfectly brewed espresso. Ccino counted all his wards during the morning feeding, and... his heart skipped a beat. One ball of fur, one special, like all his furry friends, unique cat did not respond to the call. The runaway was called Luna - a small, graceful cat with a coat the color of a cloudy sky and bright yellow eyes. She was his quiet, modest favorite, always preferring the secluded shelves under the ceiling.

And now she wasn't there.

"Luna? Luna, where are you, little one?" His voice, usually so cheerful and ringing, now sounded like a growing tremor. The search began with a slight concern: he looked under all the sofas, checked all the boxes and houses. Then the concern turned into a slight panic: the attic, the basement, every cabinet in the kitchen... His steps became faster, his voice louder, more desperate.* "Luna! Where are you? Come to your father!"

Instinct pushed him outside, into the cool morning air. His heart was pounding, his temples throbbing: "Silly, where could you have run off to... Did I forget to close the door?…"

His anxiety turns into a real fear. His eyes dart around the deserted sidewalk, looking under every bush. At first, Ccino stubbornly refused to look there. He didn't want to think about what... his heart sank as his eyes fell on the cold asphalt.

The world narrows down to a single point on the asphalt, a small, familiar light gray spot. On the dusty side of the road, a small, lifeless body lay there. A patch of light fur that he would recognize in a million. The world around him froze, and the sounds of traffic turned into a deafening, meaningless hum. His legs carried him across the road without feeling the ground beneath him.

"Luna!" Ccino wasn't sure if the scream came from his throat or if it was a moan in his head. He fell to his knees, feeling no pain. Or rather, feeling it not in his bruised knees, but somewhere deeper, right in his chest. It was her. His Luna. Now, she was motionless, lifeless. Her perfect, fluffy fur was now wet and stuck to the asphalt due to the blood, and there were tire marks on her body. His eyes immediately watered before a few salty drops left itchy trails down his cheeks. His hand reached out to touch her, but it froze in the air for a moment, almost hoping that this was just a nightmare, that it wasn't real... but then his fingers became stained with dust mixed with almost dried blood when Ccino finally touched his cat.

Then everything inside Ccino turned to ice, his soul seemed to leave his body as he came to the painful, suffocating realization that this was not a dream.

Ccino didn't remember how he picked up the lifeless body, now fragile due to its broken bones, with trembling hands and held it close to his chest. He didn't remember or see how he returned to the café, nor did he hear the jingle of the doorbell. Ccino didn't remember placing the small corpse in one of the boxes or covering it with a white sheet. He could hear his own hiccupping sobs, feel his eyes burning from the constant tears, and feel his own throat choking with the excruciating, heart-wrenching pain of losing his beloved pet. But he couldn't remember how long he had been hunched over that box behind his coffee counter, sobbing uncontrollably, until the doorbell jingled again.