Cat Magic

Millie waited by the door, her silky black pelt fluffed with anticipation. She could hear the patering of little footsteps and ringing laughter floating down the hallway. She whisked her tail impatiently. This was her favorite night of the year, Halloween was her human’s word for it, for this was the night that she would get to see Nyx again. She stood and mewed loudly to draw her human’s attention and scratched at the door. The footsteps were growing closer. Yet, Tom just lazed in his recliner as if he were deaf. Sometimes Millie wondered how this dense creature ever survived without her. She meowed again, this time her tone much higher and plaintive. 

Tom finally shot out of his chair and snatched for a large red bowl. “Trick or treaters here so soon, pretty kitty?” She blinked her luminos amber eyes at him once as if to say what do you think? Just then there was a resounding knock on the door and a spattering of giggles from behind it. Tom rushed over and shooed Millie back with his foot. “You behave now, Mills. We don’t need a rerun of last year.” She glanced up at him innocently and let out a sweet purr. Tom grinned and pulled open the door.

As soon as the yellow light from the hallway spilled into the dim apartment, Millie was off. She slipped between the skeletons legs and weaved passed a pink princess. She dodged a green goblins hand and ducked beneath a stroller. “Darn it, Millie!” Tom half-yelled, half-sighed at her retreating form. “Not again.”

Millie ignored her human and followed the hall to its end. She whipped around a corner and didn’t even pause to sniff before diving into another apartment, the one that’s door was always partially cracked. She stopped to catch her breath once she was inside. She parted her jaws to welcome the musty scent of old books, faded pages, and dusty shelves. The whole appartment was covered in thick shadows but she knew from her countless visits that the place was covered with things. There were tall stacks of books piled all over the room and a variety of objects lined the rows of shelves. From globes to gloves and bobbleheads to toy cars. It seemed that the whole world had been sucked into this small space. Including her whole world. 

The shadows rippled and Millie lifted a delicate paw eagerly as a black tom cat with striking green eyes padded from the shadows. With a rumbling purr she met him halfway, rubbing her cheek against his. His delighted mew sounded in her ear. “You came.”

“Of course I did-” she started to reply but her mew caught in her throat as she sniffed his pelt. “What is that scent?” She asked as she pulled away.

His eyes sparkled. “I can show you.” He responded with an air of excitement. Somewhat unnerved by the sharp odd scent clinging to him, Millie followed Nyx through the clutter.

Nyx halted in front of a recliner similar to Tom’s and Millie reeled back at the rank scent rolling off it. She peered closer and her eyes widened. She could make out the faint outline of a human sitting in it. “Nyx…” She breathed. “Your human… he’s not breathing….”

Nyx lifted his head and snorts, a proud glint in his eyes. “I wouldn’t expect him to be. I killed him.”

Millie gasped and cringed farther from him, bumping into a pile of books. One fell open close to her paws but she ignored it’s blank pages. “Don’t be scared.” Nyx mewed calmly. 

“How?” Millie tried to stamp down her yowl.

“Magic of course. Did you know that humans used to revere cats, even worship us?” He stalked forward. “Join me, Millie. We can make our species great again.”

Millie jerked her head “No.” She mewed even as her tail trembled. “I won’t do anything that could hurt my human.”

Nyx’s gaze turns icey. “Very well.” He hissed. And suddenly Millie felt her body growing tense and still. When she tried to move, nothing happened. When she opened her mouth to wail no sound emerged. Her throat closed and spot’s rose before her eyes until a peaceful blackness descended upon her. Her sightless stare glared from the no longer blank pages of the book. With a satisfied twitch of his whiskers Nyx moved to close it with a paw.

Tom never found his cat and Nyx disappeared, the book lay resting on the floor where it fell. It’s too bad no one looked inside.