Ghost Cat

Edge of Humanity Magazine

6 months ago

It was nearly dark.The door creaked open revealing a long forgotten room. “How did a cat get in here?” Aaron asked nobody. Paw prints were nearly an inch deep in the dust of the dying daylight. The only light came from one long, narrow, vertical window. Dust motes circled up from the prints on the floor to the top of the window.
The cat prints started in the middle of the room and circled round, ending at the fireplace. It looked like the yellow brick road of the Cat Goddess. How did it get in? How did it get out? Where was it now?
Aaron hated to disturb the pristine prints, very few things in the world were that perfect. He took a picture before going in to investigate further.
Aaron’s footfalls were silent and deep as he traced the footsteps to the center of the room then back to the fireplace. The pawprints began in the room’s dead center. He’d heard of a ghost cat, a grey one that was nearly invisible when the light turned to twilight. The apparition would almost appear, shove something valuable off of a table or shelf, watch it shatter, then vanish just when you thought you saw it. Aaron was in its lair. He felt the vibe.
At the fireplace, Aaron felt more than a vibe, he felt something wrap around his leg and he jumped. Sure enough, a small grey cat purred and wrapped itself around his leg, the vanished.
Aaron walked back to the door, turned, and the cat’s yellow brick road to the fireplace was perfect once again. He took out his camera to get another picture of the ghostly evidence and sneezed.
There were no pictures on his phone at all. Not a single one.

Text © Devonne Parsons