A Universe of Home: The Journey of Doobie

Doobie the cat was just minding his own business, sleeping in the sun, when he heard a deep voice and some rustling. "Get outta here you dumb excuse for a cat!" Doobie's eyes fluttered open as Scraps had dumped him from the warm spot in the kitchen. "You can't even catch a bird, how are you good enough to live with us?"

Doobie slowly sat up, ignoring Scraps. He loved it when his brother was gone, especially since Doobie liked to sleep next to the warm heat vent. But it wasn't always like that. Doobie had known misery at the hands of his older brother ever since they were kittens.

"Ugh, I don't know why they let you live with us," Scraps said smugly as he walked away. Doobie looked at him and then shrugged it off. He didn't feel bad about himself, not really, because he wasn't stupid, just...lonely. He hadn't thought about leaving until he could see the other ships in space. He had never been there when Scraps took them on trips to other planets to steal things or find something to eat.

Doobie went back to sleep and dreamed of chasing mice around the house and having fun like all the other cats on their ship did.

He woke up again a few days later and hopped onto the counter, where he was almost able to look out of a window and see what was outside of their ship. A loud clang startled him and he nearly fell into the sink before turning around to see Scraps storming toward him with something big in his mouth. "Get down here, Dooby! You're gonna be my lunch today!"

Scraps ran toward him and Doobie tried to jump off the counter but slipped instead, landing on his side on the floor opposite from Scraps. His heart thumped loudly in his chest as Scraps took another step toward him before stopping abruptly and looking up at something behind him.

"What are you doing?" their older sister asked as she watched them from her seat at the table with their parents hovering over her shoulder. "Leave Dooby alone." She looked at their mother who nodded her head before sneezing under her scarf-like hair coverings. Her eyes were watering as she held her nose closed with one finger while rubbing her eyes with another hand covered by an oven mitt-like glove with thick black rubber gloves underneath it.

Scraps turned around and gave Rhea an angry look before turning back to face Doobie who finally managed to get back on his four feet after recovering from his fall earlier. "This cat is useless," Scraps said angrily before throwing whatever he had been holding at Doobie's face, barely missing him as he started running away from Scraps across the kitchen floor and under the table where Rhea was sitting seconds ago. Scraps grabbed the object he had thrown off of the floor and headed back toward their parents, only stopping once he reached Rhea's chair, where he placed the object down on top of Rhea's plate before walking away again without saying anything else. He still shot a glare at Doobie from a distance before disappearing through a door behind him.

Rhea then returned her attention to her meal, picking around the unknown object with a questioning look on her face. It seemed like despite everything that had just happened, the siblings didn't acknowledge or discuss the issue openly. The family atmosphere seemed tense yet oddly routine, as if this occurrence reminded Rhea of the times they had on Earth before leaving it behind. Could it be that she missed those days and the familiarity of home?

"I'm going outside now," Loy said casually, as if nothing had happened earlier between Scraps and Doobie. He left the room without another word or any sign of regret. Perhaps Loy understood best how things were within the family dynamics, choosing not to dwell on the conflict that had occurred.

The rest of the family sat around the table, each immersed in their own thoughts, knowing what had transpired between Scraps and Doobie but seemingly choosing not to address it. All left to wonder if confronting the issue would provide any satisfying answers or just deepen the unease they all felt.