Inklings 2025

Lost and Found Rylie Vento ’27 One day, I was minding my own business when a pesky little rat decided to enter my yard. The nerve of that sewer dweller. I leapt from my perch and chased him until he was well out of my neighborhood. At this moment I felt victorious, but my heart nearly leapt out of my chest when I realized my surroundings didn’t look familiar at all. My neighborhood had looming houses with perfectly tree-lined streets. Freshly manicured lawns and town ordinances made the neighborhood beautiful. This street was littered and smelled of garbage. Loud women in heels stomped around, music blared from speakers in all directions, people crowded every inch of the sidewalk, and cars honked at anything and everything. I cowered in a corner trying to collect myself when some lady yelled, “Oye! Mira, hay un gato!” I instantly thought to myself, first, I had a name, and it wasn’t “a cat.” Secondly, her breath should be illegal. I gave her a good scratch before she could take me to some place she called Doral and ran out of there as fast as I could. As if my day couldn’t get any worse. The next stop on my homeless tour was some neighborhood called Wynwood. The humans really liked their wall murals here. They paint everything they can find! I thought the last place was bad, but the music here was even louder and they were all doing weird movements with their feet. Stomping, swirling, clapping, and grasping at cups while screaming to each other over someone called “Bad Bunny.” Before I could even collect my thoughts, I was snatched off the street. Everything faded to black as I was shoved into some type of prison that smelled of hand sanitizer and spearmint. When my captor finally let me out, she blinded me with a flash and was calling herself my hero. She forced me to take endless selfies and do weird TikTok videos all week; however, one day, there was a turn of events. She came into the room shrieking and was ecstatic about us going viral. I immediately thought she was 27