Black Cat

Creepily, this was before I even read Poe's version, but it's got the near same quality of driving the main character mad. So yeah. This was from a while back. Haha.

Black Cat

            I didn't mean for it to follow me. It just....did. That cat that I handfed, with one eye missing and the other a peculiar orange color. It just looked so sad. I didn't mean for all of this to happen though. That cat is a curse.

            The normal Monday morning walk to the bus turned into an odd one when I fed the strange black cat with the missing eye a piece of my sandwich. I continued to walk. I didn't notice it until my friends pointed out that I had a stray following me, to which I turned and there it was. Watching me with its one good eye. I smiled and told it to shoo and go back to wherever it may have come from. It continued to stare, seemingly in a trance as it gazed at me. The bus came, and I watched its head move to exactly where I was sitting. Always watching me.

            Classes came and went with little to no trouble, and I soon arrived at my bus stop once again to walk home. I froze and realized with a creepy feeling that the black cat was still sitting there, motionless, before it turned its dark head and locked onto my eyes. Without restraint, I had shouted, "Go home, cat!" Very panicked for a reason I couldn't understand, I took a tighter hold of my binder and raced home, past that cat with the staring eye. I could feel its fiery iris burning into the flesh on my back as I ran.

            After that, things got....weird. I started having dreams about it following me, where I would wake up in a cold, clammy sweat. My grades deteriorated rapidly, for all I could think about was that stupid cat. That orange eye soon dominated my brain, my dreams growing worse as I felt claws slash into my skin, blood flowing freely as it continued to agonize every living moment of my existence. I knew this had to stop soon, to save my sanity.

            I woke up that fateful day, tear tracks streaking my cheeks as I felt the puncture wounds of bites still lingering on my shivering flesh. The hard gaze of that cursed black cat never wavered as it rendered me helpless. Walking to the bus was achingly slow, since I went earlier than normal. It seemed like hours, the hammer in my hand already covered in sweat as I fingered it nervously. I had worked out my plan after getting ready, sneaking my father's hammer inside my coat. It was time to fight back.

            The work had been messier than I first believed. I had carried the lifeless, mutilated cat to a Dumpster, promptly throwing it in and sighing in relief. I had finally released myself from that evil eye. I threw the hammer in there too, knowing my father hardly ever used his tools. I wiped the blood splatter off of my cheek as I was taking off my jacket and storing it inside my backpack, the front stained with crimson. Then I continued to the bus stop, a merry smile on my face.  

            Tossing and turning, my head pounded fiercely as the cat chased me with alarming speed. I could hear its paws. It wasn't supposed to be like this. The nightmares were supposed to stop, but this one topped the list. Why weren't they stopping? Was I supposed to have done something? Did I feel guilty? I felt a hard shove on my back, and I went tumbling as I groaned in agony. The cat was there. Toying with my mind again. I looked up at it, my eyes widening as I looked at empty sockets.  

            Salty tears coursed down my face as I tried to scoot back, but to no avail. The cat seemed to grow larger and more monstrous with each step it took. I tried to scream. I tried to scream. The cat's jaw widened, and I saw massive teeth, each one razor sharp. Then it came to take my life away.

            My eyes snapped open, the room still dark. It had been a dream, just a dream. My pupils adjusted to the dimness, and my blood froze as I looked on in horror. On the wall, dripping, it read, "YOU KILLED ME." in what seemed like black ink. I blinked, thinking it was an illusion of my tired mind, and then it was there, at the end of the bed. Watching me. With two flaming red eyes. Then I looked down, no sound coming out.

            My chest had been torn open.

END

Author's Note

KARMAAAA AT ITS FINESTTTTT. What did you think of it? :3

Reviews

[Douglas Marsh]

Nicely creepy. It would be an interesting exercise to expand it, maybe to novella length, and expand the nightmare section to make the motivation for killing the cat more insistent. Then the aftermath post catricide (is that even a word?) even more devastating.