By the Gate

The moon peered through the trees and into the window, providing a luminous glow to the room. Andi, paying it no mind laid still, trying to focus on whatever tv program had finally come through clearly. Since she had moved out to the middle of no where this seemed to be a nightly dance. She'd fuss with the tv in an attempt to find something interesting, get frustrated and finally settle on the first clear thing to come through, then force herself to stay interested out of hard headedness...even though it was never anything she had wanted to watch. The moonlight sent shadows dancing across the walls. Every leaf, insect, and tree was reflected against the pale, unpainted walls. Though she fought to pay the shadows no mind she had made a mental note - get curtains and paint walls.

The program began to go fuzzy again, but if this was a battle of how interested she was verses her putting up with a little static to keep laying in bed, the bed would win. Andi picked up her phone in a fruitless attempt to check any social media. "Damn the service out here! $50 a month you would think would get you at least something!" she huffed, tossing the phone to the middle of the bed. She received a chitter in response from her black cat, who had now perched himself on the arm of the chair in the corner of the room. "At least we're in agreement Charli" she noted. Charli, short for Charlatan (which is exactly what he was since she was sure he had a home originally before choosing her) had been with Andi for countless years now. He had picked the now twenty four year old woman well before her teen years. And picked her was the perfect description, whilst out on the edge of the woods playing he strutted up and just...never left. Andi never minded, they held a unique bond.

Charli had begun chittering at the windows, slowly at first but then gaining urgency. "Knock it off Charli, you can't hunt birds at midnight...I'll let you go out in the morning and you can have a ball" she mused, but the cat didn't let up. Andi turned the volume up, hoping to drown out the noisy feline. To no avail, she finally turned to him, "seriously! What is with you tonight?" she challenged the cat. Swiftly, Charli leapt from the arm of the chair to Andi's bed, placing one paw in the center of her chest. Andi stared down at him, his one blue eye had begun to rim with golden light. "Shit- not tonight" she groaned.

Andi jumped up and began briskly walking down the hall. She checked all the doors (more than a few times), "all locked" , she mentally noted. She began extinguishing any candles she had lit and started looking for any sheets or tapestries to cover the window so she'd get restful sleep tonight. Charli was right behind her, on her heels as she carried out this midnight quest. As Andi rounded the corner into the kitchen , SCHHHMACK , the noise sent jolts through her. She turned to see the broom now lying on the floor. With an audible gasp she whispered, "company is coming". Yes it was cliche, but it hadnt failed her yet.

Andi's pace hastened as she worked her way to the living room, covering the window and situating herself on the floor, back pressed against the couch. Charli settled himself on the corner of the coffee table, and together they waited. An hour had passed, maybe it was just a coincidence, she thought. Her thoughts must have been loud because Charli gave her a knowing look. "I know I know, there is no such thing as coincidence for people like us". She repeated the words which had been hammered into her for her entire life. Right as she began to wander back down memory lane, WOOOSHH, a fire had ignited in the fireplace. "Shit", she mumbled. The fire rolled and cracked for a few moments, Charlie's eye now brimming with gold light, then a faceless female voice rolled from the fireplace. "Andromeda....Andi,...are you there?"