Cat

by Alex van Chestein

I used to be like you. Yeah, you know, average grades, average teen, average clothes. God, I wished to be different. To make something of myself. To not be like everyone else at my high school. But hey, you knew me - mister ordinary.

You know the deal - shaggy brown hair, t-shirt and jeans. From the looks of it you could've called me a bum and gotten pretty close to the truth. Only thing that set me apart from the rest of the blokes were my sky- blue eyes. No one in the planet got the likes of them. Anyway, eye color was nice, but in life it got you zilch.

I always DID like cats, though. A lot of people I knew called me that. You know, "Hey, where's the cat?" or "Hey cat, I've got something you oughta see." I always hated these guys anyway.

Thing is, my mom was allergic to cats. Bummer, you say. Sure. Dad'd gone away with some cocktail waitress a few years back, so mom always was on edge. I'd think she'd cracked up by now. Probably did anyway.

I met strays on the way home from school about every day. You know, I think I counted at least a couple dozen different ones. Wonder where they all gone. Anyway, t'was nice to have some other poor soul with me on these few blocks.

Not counting Alice. Pretty face, dark green eyes, long flowing blond hair. Only other soul besides the strays that ever paid attention to me. She was also the only other soul who liked cats as much as me. She was kinda nice - still is. Anyways, she sometimes made the way back to my house, which was two doors from hers, at night when we came back. One day she was reported missing. Her parents never found her.

Then one night no feline friend was there to wait for me at the bus stop. Strange, I thought. Anyway, it was strange enough to have a cat wait for me every night as I got off the bus so I didn't think much of it.

Then I made a wrong turn. Funny, I thought that way led to my street. But no, just solid concrete waiting for me ten feet in front. THAT was strange. I went up to the wall, making sure I wasn't dreaming or anything. No, solid wall. I turned around, and there they were. All thirty of 'em. Sitting there. LOOKING STRAIGHT AT ME.

One of them up in the front, took a step forward. As those deep dark green eyes stared at me, I took a step back. And another one. Soon I was crawling all over the back wall, trying to get as far away as I could. These kitties didn't have some playful pet & purr on their minds.

I fell down.

Not because they were hurting me or anything, but because they were all staring at me - eyes open wide, shining in the darkness. No matter how I tried, even closing my eyes, I couldn't GET THOSE EYES OUTTA MY HEAD! It was like a soul vortex spinning, sucking my soul in...

Ha, ha...

They never did find my body.

Those mindless fools, just searching for clues in all the wrong places... I could've died in the middle of the street and they wouldn't've found me until I was just a rotting pile of bones. Mom didn't recover. She just stood there, in front of her kitchen stove, boiling some water of something. All the while trembling, weeping, and saying my name. Whispering, shouting - all the like. After a few months with her shrink she was better, I think. Mostly 'cus they got married.

She never noticed me when I grew up.

She never noticed anything.

Even now, when the pack of strays walk by her house, and trailing after a small one, with blond fur and dark green eyes...

She never notices the one cat that stay a second or so watching her through the window.

The brown cat with sky-blue eyes.

Cat copyright 1996 by Alex van Chestein.