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Our second place Middle School category winner was written by Catherine Liu of Bloomington, Illinois. Ms. Liu also won last year with her story The Midnight Cat. |
Hello. My name is Raven. I’m a female cat. A few days ago I didn’t have a name. Also, I was what you humans call a feral cat. A while ago, me thinking of lying on a fluffy bed in a cozy house would have been a dream. My life changed, of course. It all started on a somewhat normal day for me. It was a few days before Halloween.
Humans were standing in front of their houses, setting up decorations and talking with friends. They were having fun, while I was hunting for a meal, trying to survive. I was walking through a thick bush, carrying a freshly caught rat in my mouth. It was scrawny, but I was hungry, so it would have to do.
A small scraping sound to my left suddenly caught my attention. I sharply turned my head towards the noise and noticed a mouse on a nearby sidewalk, nibbling away at a morsel of food.
I slowly placed down my rat and turned in the mouse’s direction, my ears perked and eyes wide. This mouse would make a much more satisfying meal. Slowly and carefully, I lifted one paw up and set it down on the grass, barely making a sound. I quickly glanced at the mouse, hoping it hadn’t noticed me. Thankfully, the mouse didn’t seem to hear me approaching. I continued to advance, putting one paw in front of the other until I was close enough to the mouse.
Still partially hidden by bushes, I lowered my body to the ground, preparing to pounce.
The second before I was planning to pounce, the mouse skittered away across the street quicker than I could chase it, leaving me staring helplessly at where it had been a moment earlier. I hissed in frustration and looked around to see who had robbed me of my meal. I didn’t need to ponder for long.
Almost immediately after I had scanned the area, I spotted a human striding down the sidewalk, heading straight for me. I wasn’t sure if she had seen me yet, but since she was quickly approaching, I decided to jump into the bushes again. As I disappeared into the bushes once more, the leaves rustled around me and tickled my fur.
I expected the human to ignore me, like many humans had done before. She might shout and point like some, or maybe mutter to herself and move on. She might even shriek and run away, like a few humans had done in the past.
I was wrong.
The human paused when she approached the bush I was in, turning her head to look at me.
I felt like running away, but I stayed still. I felt like hissing, but I was silent. And then slowly, I turned my head in her direction. I looked back, returning the gaze, staring her in the eye.
When our gazes met, I felt a connection. A spark. She kept staring at me, and I continued staring at her, our gazes not faltering.
Then one of the decorations from a nearby house fell, and a loud bang echoed through the neighborhood, vibrating through my sensitive ears. I hissed, leaping away from the potentially dangerous situation. I heard a human shout something, but I didn’t turn back. I didn’t even look.
I continued to run, but started heading towards my den, a small eroded area under an abandoned building. When I arrived, I crouched down, my fur brushing up against a few broken bricks near the entrance. I slipped into the den and curled up on the mossy bed I had made a while ago. Before going to sleep, I licked my fur a few times. I have a silky black coat that can easily get messy and tangled when noattended to, so I like to give it a few licks now and then. When I was done, I placed my head on my paws and tucked in my tail, preparing to sleep until morning.
I closed my eyes and let myself sleep for the night. Only right before I fell asleep, I realized that I had left my rat behind.
***
I stretched, waking and opening my lime green eyes. The sun hadn’t risen yet, and the entrance of my den was glowing dark indigo. I sat up, my belly growling with hunger. I had forgotten to eat yesterday, with the thought of the human distracting me. I decided to hunt earlier that day to satisfy my hunger.
I scrambled out of my den and looked around, straining my ears to listen for prey. As expected, I couldn’t find any. Most rodents had already learned that I lived there. I had to go elsewhere to hunt today.
Silently stepping, I journeyed around the neighborhood, twitching my ears at the tiniest sounds and searching for prey. Soon, I passed by the place where I had hunted the day before and spotted the dead rat.
Unfortunately, it was already rotten and decaying. Small bugs were crawling in its fur and around its tiny paws.
I wrinkled my nose in disgust and continued my hunt, crossing the road. I began to search the area.
Suddenly, I heard the bushes rustle a little near me. Excited, I crouched down and slowly advanced towards the thick brush. Just a moment before I peeked between the branches, I smelled something odd. It smelled like danger.
Before I realized what was happening, a large dog leaped out of the bushes straight towards me.
I yowled, springing out of the way just in time. Frantically, I looked around for a tree I might be able to climb to safety.
The dog began to advance towards me, its long, flowing fur waving in the wind and its mouth open in a snarl that I couldn’t hear.
Without hesitation, I leaped onto the nearest tree trunk and dug in my claws. With the dog inches away from my tail, I quickly climbed to safety on a thick, rough branch, my heart pounding in my chest. How had I been so reckless? Normally, I would have recognized the scent of dog. Was the thought of the human clouding my mind?
The dog stared at me, and I took the time to get a closer look at it.
It had long, ghostly fur and dull, dark red eyes. Its paws didn’t make a sound as it leaped onto the grass below the tree. Except that its paws never touched the ground.
Shocked, I leaned closer. The dog’s paws hovered about an inch above the ground, fur waving eerily in the breezeless night. That’s impossible, I thought. Perhaps the dark lighting is playing tricks on my eyes. But inside, I knew that my eyes weren’t deceiving me.
The dog slowly opened its mouth, its dull eyes dark against its pale white fur. A small red glow appeared deep in its throat, slowly growing brighter and larger.
I took an instinctive step back, my eyes glazed with fright. I had never seen anything like that before. The red light began to float out of its throat, still growing larger and brighter. I tried to duck, then frantically searched the area for an escape.
The dog began to float towards me, flying somehow. I froze in horror, not knowing what to do.
Then the dog made a sound. It was the most disturbing and loud sound I had ever heard. It ran through my ears and my head, making a noise so painfully unsettling that I fell out of the tree.
I tried to stand up, but found that I couldn’t. The dog started to fly towards me. Then everything turned dark.
***
I slowly opened my eyes. I was in a bright place, surrounded by white walls. A human looked down at me. I blinked. The human blinked. It was the same human from before, the one with the spark in her eyes.
I looked down. I appeared to be laying on a bright pink bed, the same color as my tongue. I was wearing a strap of some sort around my neck. It was bright green with a square dangling from it.
The human slowly approached, then reached out her arm, her hand open. I leaned away. The human suddenly placed her hand on my fur and brushed it. She was petting me. I flinched at first, but then I actually began to like her petting me. It was soothing, and took my mind off the horrific dog.
Then I remembered the dog. I shivered. Had it been a dream? If it was, how had I ended up here? Did I faint? Did the humans find me?
I had so many questions, but I knew the human couldn’t understand me. I sighed, then curled up in my bed.
A yip from the corner of the room caught my attention. I sniffed the air, my eyes darting as I searched possible hiding places. Then I recognized the smell. It was a dog.
Hissing, I leaped up from my bed and ran to the opposite corner of the room. The human jumped a little, then turned around.
A small brown dog jumped out of the other corner of the room. He barked loudly, wagging his tail.
The human bent down and pet him. The dog panted, then spotted me. “I don’t recognize you,” he said, tilting his head. “Do you live here?”
I froze. I usually considered dogs as my enemy, but this one seemed so… different. He was curious, cheerful, perhaps even friendly. Compared to the dog I had encountered last night, this one was definitely more preferred.
He barked again. “Do you live here?” he repeated.
“I guess you could say that,” I replied. I thought about what I had just said. Did I really live here now? I didn’t mind having a nice, dry home to live in, but I didn’t want to exchange that for my freedom.
“Are you able to go outside?” I asked the dog.
“Of course, I go out everyday!” He began to ramble on about going on walks. I ignored him, and looked down at the strap around my neck. I had usually seen adopted cats wearing straps similar to the one I was wearing. “What’s this?” I asked the dog, gesturing to the strap.
“Oh, that’s a collar. It has your name on it in written human language, so the humans know who you are. My name’s Bark, by the way.”
“I don’t have a name,” I responded automatically. Bark seemed like a very queer name to me, but I didn’t ask.
“Of course you do, it’s Raven. I heard the human say it.”
I was both delighted and shocked that I had a name. I wasn’t used to names, let alone having one myself.
“Are you new?” he asked. “I’ve never seen you here before, though you do kinda look familiar,” he added.
“Well, it’s complicated,” I replied.
“Tell me.”
I told him the story about the dog I had encountered the night before, shivering a little at the end. He stared at me for a few moments before laughing hysterically.
“What?” I asked.
“Things like that don’t exist, silly. I’m not falling for that.”
I frowned, then decided to change the subject. “Do you know how I got here?”
“Well, Sarah walked into the house carrying you. You looked like you were sleeping or something.”
“Who’s Sarah?” I asked, confused.
“The human,” he replied, rolling his eyes. I ignored him.
“So that’s all you know?”
“Yep.”
I took a moment to think. “So are you a dog?”
“Yes, obviously. Are you?”
“No, I’m a cat.”
“Oh. I was hoping you’d be another dog.”
I sighed. “I can’t change what I am.”
“I know, it’d just be nice having another dog to talk to.”
“Who do you usually talk to?” I asked, hoping there would be another cat in the house.
“Sarah. I don’t think she can understand me though.”
I sighed again. “Could you show me around the house?”
“Sure, I was just about to do that!” He wagged his tail and began to walk towards the open door. In the corner of my eye, I saw Sarah sigh in relief.
***
A few days passed, and now, here I am. A normal, average house cat. I am very intelligent of course, so I eventually mastered the written human language. It was a bit difficult at first, but I did it. I’m busy writing this at night, while Sarah’s sleeping.
I haven’t seen the dog since the first encounter, and I’m starting to think I might’ve hallucinated or something.
Bark actually turned out to be pretty good, though he can be a nuisance at times. We’re friends now, and he still denies that I ever witnessed the dog that one night.
Sarah is nice as well. She gives me food when I’m hungry and pets me. I still yearn for a bite of fresh prey now and then. Sometimes I’m allowed outside, but sometimes I’m not.
Huh? I think I see something white near the window. It might be a cloud or something. Maybe a smudge. Let me go check it out. Be right back.
... It’s the dog.
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