BEEP BEEP BEEP-

Kai woke up with a blaring headache.

Bloodshot eyes slowly cracked open as she vicioudly glared at the alarm clock making some loud profane sounds that assisted to assult the throbbing head.

"Aaghhh" she moaned outloud as a fist slammed down on the alarm clock for the upteenth time in her life.

Kai begrudgingly slinked out of bed in a foggy haze and zombie-walked into the tiny adjacent bathroom.

"Another fine mornning" Kai muttered to herself as she slowly gazed at the bloodshot puffy eyes staring back in the reflection.

A somewhat serious night of binge watching shows while slinging back booze and chips didn't seem to have helped Kai's situation now in the slightest.

Kai ran some cold water through the tap and proceeded to do the basic necessities that required her to look relatively sane.

Fixing up her awfully cut and synthetically dyed tangled green hair, applying the most basic amount of eyeliner, Kai decided to finally execute the plan she was thinking about for ages... today.

"Time to hunt for my little lovelies" the mirror seemed to chime back at her as she gleefully talked to the reflection from within the hangover daze.

Kai exited the tiny shithole of a washroom and started to pack and repack her supplies for the day, looking forwards to go on a mission to forage for some edible wild delicious plantlife.

As she was packing, she kept on repeating the mental checklist over and over. "Knife? Check. Mesh bags? Check. Flashlight? Check. Granolas? Check. Water? Check..."

This went on for a while as she seem to scour the apartment, looking at various personal items strewn around the place.

Kai barely managed to dress herself over all the excitement.

She packed a rain poncho as an after thought and a light camping skillet and pot among other items.

"Wooo i am so glad i was able to pull a few vacay days. That damn job kept me tweaked on adrenaline!"

Those words flew out of Kai's mouth as she really needed to mentally check out for a few days at the resturaunt job.

Slinging food had its ups and downs and she really hated being a line cook.

Kai dreamed of heading her own team however at this stage she felt that it was nearly impossible.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Low on cash after helping her family pay their debts and going halfway on chef school left a sour taste in her mouth.

"Haaawwwkk... Putooie"

She spat in the kitchen sink, trying to literally get the bad taste out of her mouth.

Kai almost still felt a little drunk from the night before and her nauseous feeling still lingered.

Her stomach started to grumble and blub loudly at that moment, which left an awkward period of silence afterward in the tiny apartment.

"Alright maaan! I'll freaking feed you. Its not like i really starved you for days..."

Kai leaned down and said that silly dialogue to her own stomach.

She trailed off knowing the sad truth that she indeed have not given that exact stomach anything worthwile as of late.

Kai decided to use up what she had in the fridge and whip up some simple dishes that she could eat for now and later on the trip.

""Hmmmm lets see. Ham? Arugula? Eggs? A tomato? Slightly stale bread? Garlic? Awe the avocado went bad...Cheeeeeeesee!"

Kai examined and called out all these ingredients happily, quickly pulling the aforementioned contents out and getting more excited as a recipe started to form in her mind.

She quickly reached over the pot rack from above and yanked out her beautiful cast iron skillet, gently placing it on the stove, and clicked the gas flame to high.

She started humming a random spice girls song as she artfully washed, prepped the ingredients, and assembled them on the heated skillet to cook.

The song started to pick up in volume as the delicious smells started to waft around the room.

Even the cat, Maomao woke up from the smell and stretched out in anticipation of getting fed.

"Me first you fatty!"

Kai exclaimed cheerfully in his direction as the dish became more and more complete by the second.

She brushed the bread with fresh chopped garlic and olive oil.

Then scrambled the eggs in a bowl and poured it in the oiled and heated skillet. It made a satisfying sizzling sound which then alerted her to turn the heat down a smidge.

She then plopped the single piece of bread, garlic face down into the runny egg batter and proceeded to chop the tomato into thin slices.

As this was going on, Maomao decided to grab Kai's attention by slinking between her legs, causing her to trip up and almost drop the freshly sliced cheese.

"Shaizahh"

Kai breathed outloud as she managed to grab hold of him and place the wiggling feline on his kitchen perch.

She quickly turned around and got back on task without missing a beat. She flipped the bread with the egg side cooked in, facing up.

She then plopped the cheese in the cooked eggy center, following with the ham and arugula and tomato. Kai used the flappy egg sides to curl onto itself, forming a perfect square fold on all sides like an envelope.

"Ta daaaa!"

Kai said proudly to Maomao as he looked unimpressed.

"Mrraaoolll"

He purred out as his paw smoothly poked at his food dish.

He desperately wanted her to know he was hungry and required the tasty vittles which was locked up from him in the fridge.

"Okay okay"

Kai protested at his scowling cute fluffy face while maintaining eye contact.

She reached in and grabbed out his favorite flavor of the week: friskies, ocean whitefish and tuna paté.

"Be glad that we got a few more cans of this for you because they sell out fast, so savor it. Okay fatty?"

Kai reminded him as he seemed to have understood and nodded at her.

She plopped half the can of mush on his cute little kitty plate and presented it to him mockingly with a noble flair of the hand.

"breakfaaast is served".

He immediately tried to dive into his dish however Kai requested a paw shake from him, one of the few party tricks she was able to teach him as a kitten.

He seemed to do an eye roll as a paw slowly reached out and tapped her hand.

"Goood boiii"

Kai chirped happily at him while finding her own way to the hot breakfast.

They ate happily in peace, unaware of what was waiting for them later that day.