章節 11: 11 - They Are Only Insects

It was then that, out of the corner of his eye, Hector saw a black shadow. He jumped on the bed and quickly looked away, and when he turned back, there was nothing there. At that time, he could only hear the howl of the wind coming through the window. It felt like the boy was alone in that house.

Hector curled up on the bed, the blanket almost covering his face; only his eyes were peeking out. He looked at every corner of the room and suddenly he started to see black shapes running around the room, until one of those shapes hit something and knocked it over. Hector looked at where the sound was coming from and realized that Ataz's bed had no one. His body froze for a moment. He stood looking intently at that corner, until he noticed a huge black shadow rising on the table and-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Sebastian ran out of his room and opened up Hector's door. "What's up, Hector?" He said startled, turning on the bedroom light.

Hector opened his eyes and there was nothing wrong with the room. Ataz was lying asleep soundly in his bed. "D-Dad, there was something here in the room. I- I think Cutie is not a normal cat," he said looking at the sleeping feline.

"Are you kidding me? You watch those little online horror game videos of yours and you are scared to death afterwards. Stop being a dumbass!" Sebastian said, expressing contempt in his eyes.

"What is all this shouting about?" Dona Rosa appeared at the door with her pink pajamas and small slippers on her feet.

"Your grandson is afraid of the dark," said the man, crossing his arms.

Dona Rosa entered the room and said, "Poor boy! Do you want to sleep with Grandma?"

"No grandma, that's something only kids do," complained the boy.

"Go to sleep with your grandma now, kid!" Sebastian said, taking the pillow behind Hector and making sure his son would go to Dona Rosa's room.

Hector got up from the bed and accompanied his grandmother towards her room. Ataz stood up as they left the room and followed them with his head as they walked. The cat, happy now with his goal complete, turned his head to the bed and walked majestically back over toward it. He climbed on top and lay stretched out across it as if he were the king of the world.

"Tomorrow, they will leave. I think I will be able to find out how that object works. I just cannot use all of its mana or it'll destroy the cabin of these commoners," Ataz said, snuggling a little more and finally sleeping.

---

While he felt true hell on earth, it looked like someone was holding him tightly by the arms. Someone shouted desperately in his ear, "YOU CAN'T... PLEASE... NO!" Chains could be heard being dragged across the floor...

---

Ataz jumped out of bed, startled, taking a deep breath. "What the fuck are these dreams?" he thought puzzled.

Hector opened the bedroom door with excessive force, not even noticing the cat on his bed, and started desperately looking for something. He looked under the bed, in the corners of the room, inside the drawers of the closet, but did not find what he wanted.

'What are you doing?' thought Ataz as he stood up and walked slowly towards the boy.

Hector was crouched on the floor at the end of the bed. Ataz snuck up to look at what he was looking for. When Ataz's head was staring down at him, the boy got up and looked at Ataz, getting scared and going back.

"What the heck, cat!" said the boy, leaning on the floor to get up.

Hector's father appeared at the door, holding a cup of coffee in his hand and asked, "What are you doing, Hector?"

"I'm looking for something I'm missing. I NEED to take it to school; my friends have to see how cool it is and-"

Even before he finished the sentence, his father cut him off and said, "You know that today is Saturday, don't you?"

"But Grandma told me to get up early because of class...", Hector looked confused, taking his backpack off.

"Yes, but your grandmother is already old. For her, every day is Tuesday and there's no use trying to explain it to her since she won't accept it," Sebastian said as he took the cup from his hand to his mouth. "Come on, get ready. Today we're going for a walk in the park." He finished wiping his dirty coffee mustache and turned to leave the room.

Hector put his backpack on the floor and headed for the door to the bedroom. Before leaving completely, he looked back at where Ataz was and stared at him with a suspicious look, thinking that Ataz somehow knew where the object was. He realized somehow that this cat was not just a stray cat. Then he turned and continued on his way.

Ataz didn't care much whether or not Hector suspected him. He knew that, being only a child, nobody would easily believe him. He would have to prove it somehow, and for now, it was impossible for him to do so. The cat then went down the stairs after the boy, and arriving in the main room, he saw Dona Rosa serving Sebastian with a piece of cake and Hector going to sit down across from him.

"Today we are going to that big park that you like, Dona Rosa," Sebastian said, taking the piece of cake to his mouth.

Dona Rosa raised her eyebrows and looked at him with an animated expression. "That big park? With the colored trash cans?" she said.

Sebastian gave a little laugh and chant and said, "That's right! So hurry up and we can go enjoy it."

Dona Rosa went to the bedroom to pick up her things and found Ataz on the way. "Did you hear Cutie? Today we are going to the park. Aren't you happy?" she said looking at him, and then went up the stairs to the bedroom.

"A big park? What's so fun about that? It's not even a complete forest," he thought, moving toward the kitchen table. He jumped on the chair near the counter and jumped on the counter, going directly towards the food. Sebastian put his hand in front of the cat and said, "Get down! Your food is there on the floor," nodding where Ataz should go.

He looked at the floor and felt disgust from seeing that strange thing in his pot. It was some sort of cat mix with a bad smell. Ataz looked at Sebastian and tried to do one of the spells he used so much in the past, trying to push the man away from his path, but no matter how much the cat repeated the words and how much he concentrated, nothing worked. The man just kept looking at him, like the cat was going crazy.

Ataz then slowly lifted one of his paws and tapped the man's cup, spilling it all over Sebastian. "Damn, unhappy cat."

He took Ataz by the neck and dropped him on the ground nearby in the food dish. The cat stood beside the food, refusing to eat.

Dona Rosa came down the stairs with the suitcases in her hand, saying with a smile on her face, "Hey, we're going to the park! Come on, I'm really excited! I want to stroll around and see the colorful trash cans right away!"

Sebastian got up from his chair and went into the living room to find a key that was on the small table in the center.

"I'm going to get Baby's box," Dona Rosa said as she headed for a small closet near the laundry.

"Baby? Who is that?" thought Ataz, following the lady with his head.

Dona Rosa returned to the kitchen, heading towards Ataz with a pink and flowered transport cage in her hand. She crouched down in front of the cat and said gently as she opened the cage door, "Here you go, Cutie. This box belonged to my old cat, Baby, but now you can use it to come on our walk with us." She started to make a sign with her hand for him to enter. "Look in the back, little one, there's a gift for you," she said smiling.

"And what would that be?" Ataz thought. He could see something very small in the bottom of the cage, as if it were a small stone. Slowly, he approached to see what it was until he put a little bit of his head inside and was quickly pushed in fully by the old lady into the cage and locked inside without mercy by her.

"What the fuck is going on?" He repeated meowing loudly and struggling inside the box to get out.

"Wow grandma, that was quick," said Hector, looking at her in surprise as he held a cup of coffee.

"Yeah. Even though I loved Baby, that kitten was a devil. I had to always push her into the box," Dona Rosa laughed as she said. She picked up the transport cage on her lap and left the house with the others. Ataz struggled inside the box and loudly meowed in protest. He tried everything to get out of there, except for the magic he not longer had.

Their group approached the monster that Ataz had seen at the beginning of the first day he had found himself as a cat. Large and noisy, it had seemed to run very fast. This time it was still and silent; it now seemed harmless. Dona Rosa went to the front of the monster and opened something as if it were a door.

"You're not going to walk me around, are you? My God, you're going to kill me! I can't believe I'm going to die to an elderly woman in the stupidest way there is!" he thought desperately as he started meowing and kicking the cage rail. "Cutie, stop despairing; we're just going to go for a drive. I'll get you out of there," said Dona Rosa as she got into the 'car' and placed the transport cage between her legs.

Sebastian and Hector had gotten into the car along with the two of them. Sebastian sat next to Dona Rosa. He put the keys in the car and started it. The car started to make a noise like a loud growl in Ataz's ears.

"Yeah, this is going to be my death. I'm going to be known as the wizard who died the most stupid death ever." Ataz felt as if the 'monster' had started to walk and the noise increased as he closed his eyes, waiting for his slow death as he would be chewed up by the monster, however, after a few minutes, nothing had happened and Ataz was getting calmer about what was happening.

"Do you see Cutie? It's not so bad to be driving. You aren't being a scaredy-cat anymore," Dona Rosa raised the cage a little to look at Ataz as she spoke.

"Fucking old lady, I'm only in here because you pushed me in!" He watched her with an angry look.

"Dona Rosa, drop the cage and put on your seat belt. Let's get on the road," Sebatian said shortly after checking the street for traffic. Dona Rosa put the cage down and fixed her seat belt.

After a few long minutes, Ataz began to sense a strange feeling. It was as if he felt a premonition of something that was going to happen. He felt very weak, but Ataz managed bizarrely to realize that someone or something was going to die soon. Suddenly, he heard a slight noise on the bumper of the car.

*Plec*

It was as if a very small stone had hit. Ataz got scared and ended up moving the cage a little.

"It's okay, Cutie. It's just some insects that ended up hitting the car," Dona Rosa said, trying to calm the cat down. At that very moment, Ataz's pupils started to grow, and he felt a small trail of energy entering his body...