The Hipster Who Leapt Through Time (The Hipster Trilogy Book 2) by Luke Kondor

she pulled the handbrake up and let it click into place.  
    “Gary’s not sure.” The cat was in the passenger seat. His good paw was up on the car door beneath the window and his stub, now all healed, was tucked beneath his front. His head bobbed left and right, scanning the darkness outside. Stopping for a second on each window, a few lit up like lanterns.
    “One day you’ll tell me how you even heard about this so-called kid in danger. I don’t understand how you would know about any of this?” she said, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel. Duh-duh-drum. DUH-DUH-DRUM.
    Gary turned to look at her, his eyes scrunched up. He looked pissed off.
    “Sorry,” she said as she picked her hands up and placed them in the pockets of her chunky winter-coat.  
    “Gary is chipped,” he said, as he turned to look outside again. Across the road, there was movement by the lamppost. A couple of youths in hoods. A trail of smoke drifted upwards from a floating hot ember and Luna’s throat felt dry. She hadn’t smoked since the parasite. The youths soon moved on and disappeared down an alleyway.
    “What do you mean, you’re chipped? Like, micro-chipped? Like, if I were to take you to the vets they’d know who your owner was? A lot of cats have that,” Luna was talking to herself — thinking aloud. “I guess I would love to know who actually owns you because you’re sure as hell not my pet.”
    “Quiet,” Gary said as he as he spotted something. His tail perked up, pointing to the ceiling. “We are too late.”
    “What?” Luna said, trying not to look at Gary’s bum. “What do you mean?”
    “Open the door for Gary,” he said as he pawed at the window and meowed.  
    Luna sighed. Her coat scrunched as she leaned over and opened the car door. He jumped out of the car and ran into the darkness.  
    She did her best to watch as he ran, climbing beneath a parked car, and then onto a driveway. She saw his shadowy mass disappear into one of the houses.
    “Shit,” she said. She looked at her eyes in the rear-view mirror and shook her head. “I don’t think I can do this.”
    She took a deep breath before climbing out of the car. Her coat was a fluffy red, cumbersome thing. Cheap from the supermarket. Half price. Every movement was paired with the rustling of synthetic fabric. She was like a cow with a bell.  
    As Luna crunched her way over to the house, she thought about how her body ached. No, not just her body, her mind ached. She was tired. Since the event at the farm, she’d felt like her soul had been zapped. She hadn’t been herself since then. Every morning had been a task to climb out of bed. Even to raise the toothbrush to her mouth. It was all too difficult. She’d noticed more grey in her hair than ever. The lines around her head and eyes had deepened. The bags under her eyes heavier. At forty-three years of age, Luna had realised something. She was getting old. Like, really old.
    And what did she have to show for it?  
    A cat?
    Gary wasn’t a cat. Not really. He was something different altogether.
    In through the nose, out through the mouth. The air was cold against her nostrils and inside her chest. She neared the perfect garden and even in the dark felt a pang of jealousy for it. Why didn’t she have a house like this? She’d saved the world. Where was her goddamn house? Where the fuck was her—?
    Suddenly a noise came from the house. She took another step onto the driveway and the security light came on. A shock to her eyes. Gary was right: they were too late. She could see the door of the house was open. The wood around the handle singed and smoky. Inside, the house was still enveloped in shadow.  
    Her coat rustled as she stepped inside.
    “Gary is upstairs,” he said from the first floor.
    Luna took another step forward and walked right into a glass table, nearly knocking it over. She grabbed it before it toppled and found a small lamp on the top of it. She pulled the string