The Cat

The Cat

Sally quickened her pace as she walked through the dark, dingy
alley-way. It was about two o'clock in the morning, and she was on her
way home from a night club. She stumbled in her red high heels and
almost fell. And that's when she saw it.
Large, brilliant-green eyes were staring at her from behind a bush at
the side of the path. The eyes blinked slowly at Sally. She froze in
terror, as she desperately tried to convince herself that the eyes
belonged to a cat. But these eyes were nothing like her own cat
Jasper's eyes. These eyes were much larger. As she stared into them,
they looked almost...evil.
She began to back slowly away, but even as she did so, she realised
that the alley was the only way home that didn't require her to walk
all over town, or cross mysterious, eerie wasteland. So Sally decided
that she would take her chances with the cat, if that was what it was.
She thought she could handle a little cat.
That was her first mistake.
Her second mistake was to try and sneak past the creature by backing
up against the far wall of the alley. She should have just run. She
might have escaped. The creature snarled and leapt out of the
bush.
The animal was much bigger than Sally had thought it was. It actually
was a cat. The cat was roughly the same size as a full-grown
Rottweiler, and looked twice as fierce. It had matted brown fur and
sharp, blood-stained teeth. Sally briefly wandered what it ate.
As the Cat prepared to pounce, Sally quickly removed a shoe and threw
it at the Cat. She missed. The Cat ran towards her-and shrieked. Sally
had thrown her other shoe at it and had hit it hard in the nose. The
cat backed away towards the bush. That's when Sally made her third and
final mistake. She tried to get her shoes back.
Being only nineteen and on a student's budget, she didn't want to lose
a pair of ?50 shoes. So she crept forward and picked up her left shoe,
holding it in front of her as a weapon. The creature just glared at
her, nursing its bloody nose and growling in a way that made her
question whether or not it really was a cat. She was just a few inches
away from her second shoe when the Cat attacked. It was as though the
Cat had planned it, so that it was impossible for Sally to get
away.
Sally had just managed to touch her shoe with outstretched fingertips
when it leapt at her. Poor Sally. She should have just run. Maybe she
could have escaped. Maybe.
But as the Cat dug its claws into her shoulder and bit into her neck,
Sally desperately tried to hit the cat with her shoe. But she couldn't
twist round far enough. She sincerely doubted she would ever see
daylight again.
Sally began to scream...
* * *
A few days after Sally's incident, Amanda sat at her kitchen table to
watch the morning news. She was horrified to discover Sally's death.
Even though Amanda had barely known her, they went to the same college
and even shared one or two classes. Amanda tried to concentrate on what
the newsreader was saying:
"...was attacked approximately three days ago. The police are saying
that the body was so badly mutilated that the girl had to be identified
by her dental records. They warn people to be on the look-out for
large, stray dogs and say not to go out alone..."
Large stray dogs? There weren't any large stray dogs in Queen's End.
Not with the nearest pound two miles away. However, Amanda was running
late. She quickly gathered her stuff and left the flat, not paying any
more attention to the news report that she'd seen.

It was only a week later, after Sally's funeral, that Amanda first
encountered the Cat. She was going into town to meet her friends and
she walked through the same alley that Sally had walked through. It was
five-thirty, and the sun was starting to set. Amanda had almost reached
the end of the alleyway. Suddenly, she heard a low growl. As she turned
towards the sound, something pounced on her back, causing Amanda to
fall.
She screamed and rolled over in an attempt to remove the creature.
Amanda heard something yelp and she jumped up to see the creature on
the floor. She didn't stick around. Amanda whirled around and ran as
fast as she could back to town.
She was sure the creature was following her. But when she turned
around, it was nowhere in sight.
* * *
"Yes, I'm telling you the truth!" Amanda cried exasperatedly, as she
told the police for what seemed like the hundredth time. She couldn't
really blame them though. If it was the other way around, she wouldn't
believe the tale either.
"So, basically, you're telling us that you were attacked by a giant
cat?" the officer sneered.
"I don't know, it could have been a cat or a dog. But I'm pretty sure
it was a cat."
Amanda couldn't believe that the police weren't taking her seriously.
Especially when Sally had been killed a couple of weeks ago. She told
the police just that.
"The cat you claim to have been attacked by has nothing to do with
Sally Henfields. If you read the papers, you will know that we found a
large, stray dog around the area of Sally's attack. We have evidence
that the dog was responsible for the death of the young woman that you
speak of. Her blood was around its muzzle. The animal has been
destroyed." Amanda stared at the officer and knew that it was useless
trying to persuade him that the Cat existed.
"Okay, fine. Can I go?" she asked. The officer nodded and she left the
police station. Her friends Michael, Marie and Steve were waiting
outside for her.
"So?!? What happened?" Marie demanded.
"Yeah, what did they say?" Michael asked.
"They told me to go home and forget about it." Amanda muttered.
"WHAT?!" the others yelled.
"Really?" Steve was gob-smacked. He was a great believer in the
law.
"Basically, yeah." She sighed. "Listen, I'm really tired. I think I'll
just go home and go to bed."
Her friends were sympathetic, although they insisted on walking her
home. Amanda showed them the alley where she was attacked, but there
was no sign of a struggle, or of the Cat. Safe in her own home, Amanda
went straight to bed.
She dreamed of the Cat.
* * *
She didn't see the Cat again for about a month after her first
sighting. By this time, Amanda had wondered if she had imagined the
whole thing. There had been one or two more deaths since Sally's, but
each time the police had found a suitable explanation that had nothing
to do with the Cat.
Her final sighting of the Cat was when she was camping in the forest
with Marie, Michael and Steve. Amanda had left the others to set up the
camp, while she went to collect some firewood.
"I'll be right back!" she called over her shoulder as she flounced
into the depths of the forest.
"Okay. but hurry up. It's getting dark." Steve warned.
Amanda brushed away his warning. She loved walking alone in the
forest. She found the natural sound that the forest made very tranquil.
Amanda collected firewood for a long time after the sun had set. Then,
hearing Marie calling her, she began to make her way back to the
clearing.
What happened next was all very quick and uncertain. Amanda was
walking towards the clearing when she heard a sound behind her. A
familiar, yet terrifying sound. Still carrying the firewood, Amanda
turned slowly around, already knowing what she was going to see. She
didn't want to look. But she had to.
The Cat stared at her from over the top of a large shrub. It snarled
at her and licked its teeth. They glinted in the poor light,
emphasising how sharp they were. Amanda gulped and tried to run. But
she was caught like a rabbit in head lights. Her legs seemed to be made
out of lead, and they refused to move.
The Cat slowly crept round the shrub and began skulking towards her.
Suddenly, hearing her name, Amanda snapped out of her trance and ran.
She could hear the Cat running after her and snarling. She could feel
its hot breath on the back of her neck as it ran after her, its paws
thudding on the ground.
It was catching her. Thirty seconds to the clearing. Twenty seconds
'til dinner. If she fell, the Cat would have her.
She fell. But it wasn't her fault. The Cat pounced on her. Amanda
shrieked as she went down. The Cat was heavier than she remembered. It
must have eaten since their last encounter. She tried to roll over,
like she did before, but it was no use. The Cat was way too heavy. She
could hear her friends running towards her, even as the Cat began to
tear into her flesh. The pain was intense. She could barely scream, let
alone try and get away from the Cat.
Everything was a bright, shimmering red and her vision swam in front
of her. She remembered the news report on Sally, and now she had no
doubt that the Cat was responsible for Sally's death. Three blurred
shapes suddenly appeared in front of her, as everything began to
dim.
"Aaarrgghh! Amanda! We have to help her!" she thought she heard Marie
scream. Amanda's vision faded from red to black, as she struggled
helplessly to try and stop the Cat from murdering her. She could still
hear though, although that was getting fainter. So she could have
misheard what was next said.
"We can't!" that sounded like Michael. "She's already dead!"
"No she isn't!" Marie shrieked. "She's still moving, look!"
"Who cares? She's as good as dead anyway!" that was definitely
Steve.
"Yeah, come on! Marie come ON!" and that was Michael again.
Amanda stopped struggling, and lay face down in her blood, mouth open
in disbelief. She heard her friends running away, but convinced herself
that they were going to get help. Yet, even as the Cat began to eat her
alive, Amanda Simmons still held out hope that her three best friends
would help her. Even as they all fled in different directions to save
themselves, she believed that they would rescue her.
It was too unbearable to think otherwise. Her last thoughts were of
her "friends."