Cursed Tales 8 - "Ghost-Walker"

The Cat.

Despite the scenery changing, the whole ordeal felt roughly the same. The Oxfordian style bridge, the benches made of old wood, the lamps barely standing at the edge of the sidewalk, and the very ocean underneath the whole structure. It felt as if he was dreaming a lucid dream. Jonny could only feel the sensation of this sudden change of places. Change having a key importance to this situation. It was not substantial but the change could be felt. Before, as he found the lady and helped her, there was not a monument created in her name. The stone structure that looked like a big cone, created with the sole purpose of gluing posters and different messages was now decorated with a sign for the granny. That little object was now there, which meant there was something more to it. Jonny was not very keen in those things, he was just a little lad who was still on his little walk before going back home to continue his study. He still had some time to spend before returning. Not to take away from the chilly season that had befallen the city a week ago. Being a child of rich parental figures, we was not allowed to go outside this often, being his young age and taking the awful weather for example. That however, did not slightly bother the young man who did not care if he was going to dirty his shoes or maybe wet his clothes from the snow gathered on the sidewalks in attempts to clear the way for the cars to cross the bridge freely. Jonny only wanted to experience what it felt like to be a normal person and feel the winter. Be there while it is snowing, which was a shame, since it was not at the moment. Regardless, he just wanted to have some time alone.
But at the back of his head, there was this still lingering feeling of something terrible happening. Ever since he saw that broken lady, and her ghost, he knew there was something going on. He could not peace it together though. He took a breath, taking in the cold air and feeling his whole body tremble. He then leaned on the parapet of the bridge's side looking down to the waters still not frozen, monotonously waving around. Staring at it, made his mind ease up a little. Before he knew it though, something approached him, walking gently with its furry paws. It was on the parapet, just as Jonny. He did not see it before, but that was okay. Jonny smiled at the feline and extended his hand in attempt to pet the lusciously looking black fur of the cat. Its eyes did not expand with fear; rather, they remained as if fixated on the boy. Producing a vibrating murmur, it let the boy scratch its ear. The cat meow-ed and Jonny smiled. He always wanted to have a pet or maybe adopt one. His parents...well you get the picture. They did not want anything resembling a normal household with a happy child and or even pets.
-How are you doing buddy? - asked the lad and looked directly in the green eyes of the black cat.
It did not reply for it could not talk, it only got closer to him, close enough to feel his warm breath of its whiskers. Jonny then saw a collar with a pendant with a name engraved on it. It read: Mercury. Turning it to its back, it then revealed the owner, or more precisely, their initials. "This precious girl belongs to the household of "J. N. T". "
-Are you lost little girl? - asked Jonny, while the feline purred with excitement.
Maybe it was the first time seeing a human in a long while. If that was the case, it was her lucky day. The young lad was here to save her. Although, he did not know where she lived. It was coming from the other direction, towards the other part of the city, the "not so brilliant part of town" as his father would say. Jonny proceeded to lift the cat up, with her not showing signs of aggression. It seemed Mercury quite enjoyed his company, even if he was a stranger.
-Let's get you home now, Mercury! - said the boy and started walking in the opposite direction of his house.
If he was the one responsible for the cat, so be it. He was going to help it. He passed the big cone with the monument, the benches and the trash bins littered around the area. Mercury was having an adventure, floating in the air to her destination. Jonny caressed her head gently, and then smiled genuinely, still walking through the layers of snow. Just as he was going to move past the middle of the bridge, Mercury suddenly jumped from his hands and ran into a pile of snow next to the inner side of the bridge.
-Hey now, do not go going in the snow...you will freeze! - He yelled after it, feeling concerned about her.
When Mercury did not emerge, Jonny legitimately got worried. Hurrying after it, he kneed and quickly spread the snow, only to find...the corpse of...the black cat. It was mangled and twisted in a bizarre and hard to look at position. Its intestines were spread around it, with its eyes, exploded and lifelessly hanging out of their orbits were in a way looking at the boy, looking at him while being dead. He quickly moved away, shocked and very disturbed about the scene, but his eyes could not look away. He was staring at the corpse; until the cat, or its ghost, just like last time with the granny, appeared out of it, as if it is, its last breathe. The contorted thing bellow it had melted with the snow around the glowing image of Mercury. Her eyes, green and seemingly happy locked with those of Jonny, the lad who had unintentionally shed a few drops out of his.
"Meow!"
Her cry was the last thing the last saw and heard before blinking. After that, the scenery was different again. The cat was gone, the gory corpse too. He was facing the monument, but it was once again different. On it wrote:
"In loving memory of the old lady and the cat".