him after me || dnf ✓

Chapter 13: Patches

They can see ghosts.

Animals that is, at least I know cats can.

Ive taken a liking to Clay's cat, Patches, although my affection may be highly unrequited. Irrespectively, I still find myself considering her a friend and one that I frequent my time with, that's if i can find her of course.

She's quite a pretty cat with an endless palette of browns and oranges, a white cotton chest and green eyes that are much like her owners. I would think her fur would be silky and velvety but I couldn't know for sure as every time I go to pet her, Im hissed at or ran away from. I honestly wouldn't expect less from moody cats.

I think I may have discovered the reason for cats odd behaviours like their pawing at the air and hissing at seemingly nothing, ghosts may be enticing them. 

I randomly found her basking in the sunlight one afternoon and now I usually find myself gazing at her and simply observing her strange behaviours in fact watching her now, from a safe distance, is calming. Just being around someone who knows your presence is a feeling I never thought I would profoundly miss.

I watch as she continues to bathe herself, as she does almost all the time, her tongue dragging across her coat. She occasionally glances up at me, making sure I keep my distance. The silence in the quiet corner of the house we were sitting in was disrupted by a slammed door and panicked shouting echoing down the hall. 

I pick myself up and wander towards the noise, Patches cautiously following from behind me.

After travelling down the corridor I find Clay pacing around frantic and George ineffectively trying to calm him. My confusion is only amplified when I notice Clay clutching something close to his chest.

A lifeless cat.

Almost identical to Patches, same fur, same emerald eyes and same pink collar with 'Patches' engraved finely in cursive.

Wait...'Patches' on the collar?

My eyes flicker between the lifeless cat gripped in Clays arms and Patches peering her head out in the doorway of the room.

Thats when I realise,

Cats cant see ghosts...unless they themselves are ghosts.

Patches is dead.

-

Clay has now, after 2 hours, fallen asleep in George's arms with his soft whispering words of comfort. They had gone to the vet with Patches' body and returned not too long ago. They dug a whole in Clay's backyard and buried Patches in an empty shoebox along with one of her toys. No one said a word, the silence was eerie yet not uncomfortable as Clay's occasional sniffles aired around.

Im not sure how Patches died, I didn't go to the vet with them but I know Clay loved her dearly and the feeling between them was highly reciprocated. Cats seem to know when their end is near and their fate is shadowing. They are notoriously good at hiding injuries, a survival instinct so if it was a preventable death it would have likely gone undetected and she would have likely met the same fortuity irrespectively. 

When cats are about to die, they will often find a private spot to quietly pass away as to not distress their owners. Clay must of found her body somewhere, long after it was too late. Quite a sorrowful thought.

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