Chapter 4: P2: THE BLACK CAT WITH GOLDEN EYES
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀╔······························································╗
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀┋ P2: THE BLACK CAT WITH GOLDEN EYES ┋
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀╚······························································╝
The next day, it was already obvious, but his body was extremely heavy. He was extremely tired and thirsty.
As he got up and yawned, Jhon was able to remember everything he had done last night; to which he avoided trying to make a big deal about the last thing he had done.
"What the heck am I doing with my time and money...?"
With a cooler head, he realized that, in his wallet, there was barely enough for two more days' worth of food. Without realizing it, he had spent more than he needed to last night, which made him frustrated.
As he thought about finding an ATM in town later to withdraw money from his debit card, he looked at the time on his watch, which finally left him with a dry voice.
10:00 A.M.
Jhon could feel the nerves coursing through his entire body, remembering after all that had happened the reason he had managed to return to his hometown in the first place: college.
His classes had already started a couple of hours ago, and not only that, but it would take him a while to get to the university, trying to find a car to take him there.
He tried to rush to the bathroom to wash his face, not noticing the missing plank on the floor and falling on it, tripping and falling to the floor, where he felt his foot fill with some splinters.
No, correction, several splinters.
Holding back a cry of pain, he stood up with a trembling body and started to clean his wounds, remembering in turn the reason why the floor was broken.
<<The broken floor, the abysmal expenditure of money and the fact that I am extremely exhausted... All that, all the consequences that I have to pay the next day, were in vain.>>
Jhon stood still for a moment as he cleaned his leg. Then a while. And finally, it was several minutes before he pulled himself together again and wiped the tears from his eyes.
He carefully got up and tended to his wounds with alcohol and bandages, then sighed heavily in his bed.
<<...>>
Jhon's mind was empty.
Exhausted, tired and worried. And now, hurt and penniless.
Jhon briefly remembered his last attempt to find his friend, and began to laugh lightly.
At this point, he felt pathetic.
Almost all of his money had gone on feeding stray cats, and now he wouldn't even make it to his classes or have much to eat himself. He had hurt his leg and felt he just wanted to rest.
If he could pass out, he would gladly do it so he would feel less guilty about not going to his classes that day.
...
...
<<What am I thinking?>>
With the room a mess, Jhon clenched his fist and stood up, despite everything.
It wasn't the first time he had lost something valuable to him such as time, money and his health; he would simply start over again. And he would make sure he was in a better state than before; or, at least, that's what he told himself to feel better and renew his energy.
He changed into his school clothes and packed a few things into a backpack, and just as if nothing had happened, he stood in front of the mirror in his room and smiled.
"Don't let this happen again."
He said to himself, with a heavy look on his face. He slapped his face a couple of times and lifted his chest to fill himself with confidence.
He walked out of his room with a slam of the door and looked around his living room.
........................
........................
<<...Ah>>
His mind took a few moments to synapse as he saw before him how, not only the dining room or the kitchen, but also the living room and what he saw in the background, the remaining rooms of the house, had been cleaned of all their dust that he had when he first arrived.
<<........>>
<<What? >>
He froze, trying to figure out the situation, but, there could only be one. A thief.
A thief....a good-natured...?
Klink
At that moment, and as if someone was trying to alarm him further, he could hear the sound of a frying pan coming from the kitchen.
As quickly and quietly as he could, Jhon searched for something to defend himself with. He nervously searched the floor, keeping a watchful eye on the kitchen for any apparition.
Finally, and to his luck, he found something heavy: a bat.
Holding it in his hands and observing it more closely, he dropped it instantly, becoming tense and breathing heavily. That was the bat from the same day he had left home with his father; holding it had brought back bad memories.
Jhon preferred to look for another weapon to defend himself with, something that wouldn't hurt him too. He had to, before the thief tried to strike first.
He attached himself to the wall opposite his room and reached for something with his hand outstretched towards the wall while he had his gaze focused on the kitchen door.
<<Something, anything.>> Jhon asked worriedly.
And finally, he felt something hard and heavy, and something warm, in his hand.
He turned to see what he had grabbed, and held his gaze to the figure in front of him.
It would be little to say what Jhon was thinking at that moment, as his own words could never quite describe it, however, one could understand from his facial expression the shock and fright that would stop his heart for a moment.
Standing just over six feet tall, a black cat held out a plate of rice, egg and potato stew with mayonnaise in front of her hand.
The strange feline's gaze rested on her gaze into the concerned eyes of Jhon, who was already backing away with the plate in his hands.
Jhon turned quickly to look around the kitchen and then at the feline who stood still in front of him.
"Meow~" the feline smiled letting out a tender meow.
Jhon, however, was terrified. Or so he wanted to convince himself.
His mind was telling him to be scared, worry and seek to defend himself; however, his heart was telling him otherwise.
<<Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run,>>.
The feline could sense the fear in the boy in front of her, so she backed up a little. This one did not show any sign of wanting to harm him, moreover, she raised her soft paws showing that her claws were not unsheathed.
"Meow... Meow, meow."
Clearly, Jhon couldn't understand her.
He watched the dish carefully, as he tried to make sense of the situation.
He swallowed saliva, still with a dry throat. He could feel a great sea of sweat running all over his body and his trembling hands gripping the plate tightly.
It was then that, trying to calm the situation, the cat gestured with her paws to tell him to eat the food. With one paw placed in front of her chest and the other pretending to serve herself food, then bringing it to her little mouth pretending to eat, she closed her eyes at the end as she licked the paw.
Jhon placed his right hand between his eyebrows and crinkled it tightly with his eyes closed and his teeth clenched, still holding the plate of food in his other hand.
<<Mieeeeeeeeeeeeeeerda...>>
<<It's-It's...extremely tender.>>
He had to be terrified. Terrified. Terrified and frightened.
However, the gentleness of her actions, her gentle gestures and the attention she paid to not worry him led him to doubt whether or not she represented a threat. Perhaps it was even a ruse to attack him by surprise, he thought to himself.
The feline pointed to his plate again, insisting that he eat. Nervous, John decided to obey and take a bite of the food.
Suddenly, he had the feeling of being in Valhalla - as if he had tasted a delicacy from the gods themselves! The taste, so warm and inviting, flooded his mouth with the stew, rice and potatoes as if he was in a heavenly culinary symphony.
He put aside his current situation, because, come on, that taste catapulted him straight into an imaginary and delicious journey, a comic pause in the midst of the chaos.
Mixing the mayonnaise with the rest, he felt as if he were about to engage in an epic battle between Vikings, as if he possessed the treasure of the gods. The taste turned out to be incredibly good, so much so that it literally left him drooling!
Just when he noticed that his saliva was threatening to run away, he came to. But by then, the dish was completely empty.
The cat put her paws together and let out a happy meow, with a beaming expression, stretching out both paws to ask for the dish.
John stood still, trying to understand what was going on. He didn't feel that the food was dangerous, but he couldn't accept the strange situation so easily either.
He looked at the time on his watch and found the cat in front of him, which had crept up on him. John jumped back a little, but the cat continued her advance.
His hands were shaking, full of doubts about the intentions of this sort of mutant that had invaded his home. With each passing second, the cat came closer, leaving him against the wall, limiting him.
The feline smiled at him and gave him a gentle lick on the head, creating a strange whirlwind of calm and terror within him. When he tried to push her away, placing his hands on her chest to push her away, he was paralyzed by the softness of her fur.
Dumbfounded, almost frozen by the amount of thoughts he was trying to process, the cat backed away and looked up at John, placing her paws behind his back and hugging him, beginning to purr loudly.
John was trapped under the feline's dense, soft fur, experiencing a wave of relaxation and happiness at the feel of something so soft and fluffy as if it were an expensive designer stuffed animal.
Nevertheless, he resisted the temptation and tried to pull away again, but the cat hugged him tighter, with a smile that left him with no escape.
His face was pressed against the cat's fur. If this were a dream, perhaps he would let it pass as an opportunity to relax, but he felt as if he were being attacked by a strange beast.
Despite having trained his muscles in case of need, the strength of the cat's paws was enough to hold him, leaving him with no choice.
He tried to break away once more, but the cat proved to have more strength to keep him trapped, so he finally gave up.
His mind clouded over for a few minutes, a strange heat tinting his face a deep red; perhaps it was due to the heat the cat was emanating, he told himself.
Slowly, his mind faded again, plunging into a blank scenario. There were no memories, no presences - had he fainted?
As if he had forgotten he was in a strange time and place where nothing seemed consistent with what had been happening moments ago, he simply began to walk. He began to look for a way out, one way or another he had to find it sooner or later. As strange as it sounded, he had left behind any sense of danger being in that place.
After a while, and to his luck, he managed to find a black spot that stood out from all the white of that place. She approached it, step by step, believing the spot to be somewhat small. It was the size of her friend, of that little girl she had cared for so dearly and had done some crazy things to find her.
The feeling in her chest increased, and the spot didn't seem to come any closer even though she walked as far as she could to it. So he started running, taking a deep breath and getting out as fast as he could.
"It's you, isn't it!" He exclaimed excitedly, stomping loudly on the earthy ground that was beginning to lighten under his shoes.
The black blob turned its head as it heard him, and began to walk towards this one.
Jhon paused for a moment to breathe a little shakily, and began to notice how, from the steps the puss took, the scenery began to come to life.
A dark sky adorned with hundreds of stars, a cold blizzard that blew the place and a house behind him that took him by surprise.
And after standing a few steps away from each other, and with their form blurred into an ambiguous memory, a pair of eyes appeared in this one, staring at the boy.
Jhon looked around and quickly knew how to recognize the moment and the place where they had moved to.
"...I know this isn't real. This is my house, or it was when I lived with my father, right?"
The strange dark blurry figure that closely resembled her dear friend nodded, and opened her little mouth.
Jhon sat for a moment, and watched as nothing seemed to move around him. The breeze stopped, as did the feline's footsteps. The whole place had taken shape and color, and so they had returned to that exact moment that reproached the mind of the young man, who began to get a little headache.
"I left you. I left you alone here, to your fate. I didn't... I didn't mean to, because I was forced to."
The feline stared at him without saying anything, but closed her little mouth.
"I want to find you. I... I feel like I won't be able to be calm if I don't make it. I've made sure I'm not as weak as I used to be, but I still break down at times like this. Where my mind gnaws at me for thinking what would have happened if I had been smarter and taken you with me before my father forced me into the car."
Without noticing due to her gaze to the ground, the feline began to take on more form, moving closer to his legs of this one until she climbed into his lap.
Jhon stood watching the feline closely, seeing her as he expected to find her. Healthy, beautiful, and more grown up as an adult cat, still wearing the collar he had given her.
She gave him a lick on his nose, and without holding it, she began to tear up amidst light laughter. She closed her eyes from the strange enthusiasm, not noticing how her surroundings were filled with people, as if she could smell the garbage aroma of an alley, and then returned to the courtyard where everything had happened.
She grabbed the hair near her forehead and pulled it down to calm herself. She wiped away her tears and looked the feline in the eyes, feeling a soothing feeling inside.
"My life... it feels like it's flashing before my eyes. My strongest wish is being fulfilled, and my sorrows are being set aside to let me rest easy once and for all."
The feline fell silent and lowered her ears, cocking her head to the side at the boy's words.
"Have I died?"
From one moment to the next, the background filled with trees and bushes returned to the white scenery from before, however, both of them were the only ones present in the place.
"I feel like... I'm trapped here, like I can explore my memories freely. But I don't want it to be that way."
With both hands, he held and stroked the feline's fur, who let out a slight meow at the sight of him with a joyful expression.
"I want to wake up. I don't know what this is...but I've had enough of false memories. Why I know none of this happened... or will even happen."
Placing his hands on her collar, he began to remove the clasp that allowed it to hold it steady, and hearing a click behind her neck, he began to remove it.
"I am not your owner, and I never claim to be. Nor until these strange moments between life or death, or who knows what you are living, I do not intend to let an illusion win me. And I can only rid myself of my sorrows if I do this."
He took the necklace from her, and laid it on the floor.
"I want to see you... in real life. Just as you are. I want to be real, and wait to meet you again. So please... come find me."
Running out of the collar, and shrinking her pupils as she shared the boy's emotions, the feline returned to her blurred form and retreated, growing larger and larger.
Jhon stood with his mouth closed as a line, and watched his friend grow giant. More, and bigger than he thought he would ever see her.
And when his form finally began to clear, Jhon closed his eyes and sighed. And for a moment, he was breathless.
.....................
The air returned to his lungs after a great gulp of air, slipping out from under the feline's paws to leap back from it, breathing raggedly.
<<After all, if he was close to death>>, he thought to himself, watching the feline beast lower its paws and take a big gulp of air, shaking the whole body completely.
Jhon was able to back up enough to get close to the door of the house, but his eyes remained steady to the movements of the beast, who lowered its ears after turning to look at him.
The cat meowed in a melancholy tone, stretching out her paws as if asking for another hug, but John refused with quick shakes of his head.
He had to get away, and fast.
He opened the door and noticed the picture of his beloved kitty on the floor. He picked it up as he watched his distance from the intruder.
He couldn't deny what he saw, though he didn't want to accept it either. Now, being farther away from the cat, he could observe it more clearly. Those golden eyes, bright and cheerful, were identical to those of her friend. The calmness it conveyed was familiar, but she tried to be realistic and deny it outright.
In his world, there were no beasts or mutants; he was sure of that.
Whoever she was, she lacked evidence to confirm his suspicions. With a somewhat necessary ruthlessness, he refused to consider the possibility.
It was not because he disliked the idea of seeing her that way, but because he did not want to be deceived. All his life he had been the butt of jokes and he didn't want to fall into a trap. If someone had decided to disguise himself in a perfect costume to play with his morals and well-being, he wouldn't have the hesitation to get him in trouble.
Whoever you are, if you don't get out of my house when I get back, I'll call the police," he threatened.
The huge feline lowered her ears and tried to approach, but John had already run out of her house, heading in a hurry towards the school.
He emptied his mind and simply ran. He decided not to take any buses or cabs, he wanted to leave all his doubts behind on the way, allowing the commotion to dissipate in the wind. He opted for the hard way and ran until he reached the gates of his school, even if at several points he found it hard to breathe.
He needed a break from all the turmoil he had endured. And without further ado, he left his home behind.
On the other side, the huge feline, with the dish between her paws, observed that it was empty and smiled complacently. She wagged her long tail and swallowed saliva, shaking her head to avoid shedding any tears.
She walked to the kitchen, washed the used plate and silverware, and refreshed her face with water. Finally, he looked at himself in the reflection of the window, staring at his own face.
His look turned from warm to cold said it all.
He contracted his paw as if making a fist and gave a stern look. He approached the door and carefully closed it, watching to make sure no one was near, making it squeak a little without realizing it.
After that, no noise was heard for the whole morning or afternoon.... Ignoring the commotion caused by the new neighbor.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone