The Cat

The cat was brought into the family by Allison’s older brother, Leo. It was a small calico cat, whose fur was white with orange and black patches. It had an adorable pink nose and the clearest blue eyes that Allison had ever seen.

From the first Allison didn’t like it, didn’t trust it. Why she didn’t quite know, it seemed ordinary enough, for a cat. It played with the string and feather toys for everyone in the family but Allison. She had tried to play with the cat when Leo had first brought it home, and it had bowed up its back, puffed up its fur, and hissed at her, spraying spittle everywhere.

Her parents just thought that the cat wasn’t used to its new surroundings. A week later Leo went on a trip with some of his friends, leaving Allison to take care of the cat, seeing as her parents had to go to work extremely early. When she had tried to feed it the cat had once again hissed at her, had even tried to scratch her.

She told her parents, of course, when they came home, but they just shrugged it off. Allison was never able to go near the cat without it growling and swiping at her legs or a bare patch of skin after that. She began to hate the cat, which her brother had deemed Prissy.

Prissy would purr and cuddle and play with everyone she met. Guests, neighbors, friends of the family, Prissy took to all of them, every single one. Everyone but Allison.

The cat ate, slept, and played like all cats. She even hunted, for she had dropped a mouse at the top of the steps one morning before she had trotted inside. Allison had thought it disgusting. She made no secret of the fact that she hated the cat and the cat seemed to hate her.

When Prissy would be laying asleep on the couch and Allison sat down to watch TV, the cat would instantly wake, hiss and leap away from her, running from the room. Allison done all she could think of to drive the cat away. It was a macabre game they played, the two of them. Prissy took to leaving all her kills at the entrance to Allison’s room, then at the foot of her bed so that they could be stepped on.

Allison was forced to throw away dozens of mice, moles, rats, and even a squirrel or two every week. In return the human girl would slam the cat’s tail in the door every chance she got, set mouse traps just so it’s paws would get caught in them, and even tried to lock it up in the basement once so it would be trapped and unable to escape. That didn’t work of course, the rest of the family heard the cat and let it out. It got so bad that Allison could barely bring herself to be in the same room as Prissy, especially when the rest of the family was out and the girl was home alone.

There was one afternoon when Allison had been in the family room, watching her favorite show and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, as if someone were watching her every move; stalking her. Allison had quickly looked around to find the cat staring at her, it’s blue eyes clear and alert. The marvelous orbs had gleamed and glinted with something, some hidden emotion before the cat had slipped out of the room.

Prissy watched Allison’s every move from then on, stalking the girl through the house when the family was gone.

Allison wasn’t able to attend public school, she was far too sick. She had a rare disease that limited her oxygen supply and so she always had to have an oxygen tank with her. She also had asthma, to top it all off. Prissy seemed to sense that Allison wasn’t a strong girl, and that it was likely that she wouldn’t have long to live.

She took to entering Allison’s room at night, jumping up onto the bed and watching the girl till she woke in a cold sweat and kicked Prissy off the bed. The cat would hiss when kicked off, then hurry from the room to avoid whatever Allison threw at her.

This carried on for two long years, and Allison’s health slowly deteriorated. The cat seemed to sense this too, for she moved an inch closer every night. Prissy gradually stopped hissing and spitting at Allison and even started to come up to her and jump up into her lap, especially when company came over.

Allison hated this and wanted desperately to shove the cat away, but knew that such a reaction would upset not only her family, but the guests as well. They would always say as they left that Prissy sensed Allison’s sickness and only wanted to make her feel better again.

But Allison knew better. She knew not why Prissy suddenly came up to her and purred and sat on her lap in the presence of others, but she knew it was not because of what they believed.

On one particularly bad night Allison woke in a cold sweat as usual, only by this point in time she was too weak to bolt up into a sitting position. She felt a massive pressure on her chest, and to her horror she saw Prissy sitting on top of her, face just inches from her own.

The girl choked back a scream as Prissy seemed to take a deep breath in, eyes turning from a clear blue to blood red. Allison suddenly felt very weak and tired, drained of all her energy. At first she thought she was having another one of her attacks, for they had been growing increasingly frequent. She reached for her inhaler on the desk, hand groping blindly in the darkness of the room.

Prissy’s eyes flashed with something unreadable, and her paw lashed out, claws unsheathed as she raked them across the girl’s wrist. Allison tried to call out, tried to scream for her parents. But nothing would come out. It was as if her throat had constricted, closing shut. Allison’s eyes widened as she realized the truth.

The reason for her attacks and deteriorating health was not her disease, it was Prissy! How this was so Allison did not know, but she what she did know was that Prissy was trying kill her. She reached out for the cat, intending to strangle her or snap her neck. Prissy growled, raising her paw and extending her wicked claws once again. The cat knocked aside Allison’s hands and decided it was time to end it.

Prissy stood up, delicately stepping forward as if she were afraid she would stain her beautiful white paws on Allison’s night gown. Do it. Do it now. NOW. A voice seemed to whisper in the cat’s ears. She twitched them backwards, shoving her face fully into Allison’s. She used a front paw to pull the oxygen tube from Allison’s face and placed her pink nose against the girl's.

Allison’s heart stopped a moment later. Prissy stepped back, savoring the moment, feeding off of the life force she had drawn out of the human. The cat that was not a cat at all smiled and leaped down off the bed, trotting from the room.

Prissy sat on the windowsill of the older brother, Leo’s, room on the night after the funeral. The life force of the girl, Allison, wasn‘t enough for the demon. It needed more. It wanted more. The boy would have to do. Smiling, Prissy leaped onto the bed and climbed onto Leo’s chest.