Cat Scare

The cat was still there when I looked out of my window that night. I was confident that it was the same cat due to its radiant yellow eyes. A black cat with yellow eyes. I have seen other black cats, cats with yellow eyes, and some black cats with yellow eyes; but this one was different. Its fur was darker than the typical shade of black and its eyes were brighter than regular feline eyes.

I had seen the cat earlier in the morning when I stepped out of my house. It was seated across the road, staring back at me. Something about it caught my attention and the way it looked at me, made me uncomfortable. Instinctively I waved my bag in its direction, but to no success. The cat did not move. I clapped my hands and threw a few pebbles in its direction, again, to yield no response. Its unmoving gaze was unsettling. After wasting several precious minutes, I decided to move on.

I had a normal cat-free remainder of the morning. The various client visits kept me busy. After a long day, as I walked into the basement parking, I noticed the same cat sitting on top of my car. The sight made me panic. Animals were not allowed inside the basement parking. Moreover, my house was some forty kilometers from my office. It was unimaginable that the cat, monitoring me in the morning, had walked the distance, entered the basement parking, located my car, and made itself comfortable on top of it. It was unbelievable.

I turned around and rushed past rows of parked cars, to find the security officer. It took me some time to convince him of a cat inside the parking lot. When I was able to convince him to accompany me to my car, we were not able to find the cat. There was no one over, under, or beside my car. I bent down to look under the manifold rows of cars; the cat could not be found. An irked security guard mumbled some indistinct sentences about my intentions to disturb him as he walked back to his post. Was I hallucinating?

I sat inside my car, put my purse on the passenger seat, and pushed the ignition on. As I drove to the exit gate, I reached out for my purse to pull out the identity card. Looking at the way forward, I was not looking at my purse as my hand searched through the various pockets, expecting to find the card. During that search, my hand landed on some thread strands. I could not think of any item in my purse that would leave thread strands or feel like thread stands. Aggravated, I glanced at the purse as I pulled out those thread strands from my purse.

I pushed my legs hard on the brakes as I saw what I held. Clutched in my fingers was black hair. These appeared to be of the cat. I lifted my purse and was struck with shock. There was cat hair on all over the passenger seat. I turned around to check the back seats. There was cat hair on them as well. It was becoming scarier every moment.

I walked out of my car, still holding the cat’s hair. There were a few cars held up behind me, headed for the exit. I recognized one of the drivers, who was a colleague. I waved my hand to call him for help and showed him the cat hair. Thankfully, he did see the cat’s hair. I wave of mild relief flowed over me, as I was sure that I was not hallucinating. Few others had also come out of their cars to help. They helped me look for the cat inside the car but all we found was more cat hair.

With an hour’s delay, I rushed back home. I had forgotten to charge my phone and the battery had died. I couldn’t call back and check if my daughter – Anna was fine. I prayed throughout my journey for her safety. As I cautiously opened the entrance to my house, Anna ran into my arms. I hugged her back. Tears rolled down my cheek. She was safe. She told me about her day at school as always. Luckily, she had had a cat-free day. We shared a meal and then played some games. I tucked her into bed. It was then that I stared out of her window and found the cat was sitting exactly where it did in the morning.

Several thoughts crossed my head. Most of them involved the use of a car and were discarded immediately. I decided to deal with it in the morning. I shut all the windows and doors and drew all curtains. I slid into the bed with Anna and held her close to me.

A good night’s sleep had put the cat out of my mind. I woke up, hoping to start a new day. It took me a moment to realize that I had slept in Anna’s room. Then I remembered the cat. Immediately I looked down, hoping to find Anna still sleeping but she was not there. I looked around the room, looking at it clearly. The curtains were torn and the cupboards were raided. There were clothes and toys all over the floor. I went outside. The rest of the house had been ransacked as well. The furniture was torn and chewed upon. I ran from one room to the other, but couldn’t find Anna. I opened the main door to check outside. Anna was not there. The door had also been locked from the inside. Another thing that I noticed was that the cat was gone. There was a black paw print on the doormat. I lifted the doormat to find a lot of cat fur, a torn piece of Anna’s frock, and some scratches made on the floor.