Paws

Chapter 3

 I made it home, when the moon was high in the sky. As I jumped through the window, I saw Henry sitting at the table with his head resting on his arms. He had tried to stay awake for me, but was unable to fight off sleep. I felt bad about making him worry. I knew that I shouldn't wake him, but he looked so uncomfortable sitting there. I leaped on to the table and raised a paw to wake him up. Just as my paw was about to come down on his hair, a noise diverted my attention away from him.

My neck jerked towards the window. I stepped away from Henry and made my way to the windowsill. Sitting on the ledge, I gazed outside and saw leaves on a bush moving. I crotched down low and listened closely to the shrub. I could hear a heartbeat and some tapping. My eyes widened as I recognized the sound of the tapping. Concentrating on my nose, I used my sense of smell to see if I could pick up a scent. I was able to smell past the natural scent of the forest to get the creatures scent. The scent of pine and cinnamon were familiar to me and without hesitation, I was air born. Soaring through the air towards the beast, l landed right in front of him.

Looking into his yellow eyes, I searched through his emotions passing happiness and excitement. Still not breaking eye contact, I dropped my body to the ground. He copied my movements as he got done to my level. With both of us just lying on our stomachs, we gazed into each other's eyes. I broke the connection by closing my eyes. I breathed in his scent of pine and cinnamon. My eyes shot back open widening in realization.

Pine and cinnamon was the odor that I had been following the whole day. It led me through the flowery clearing and to the stone house. It was the scent that had changed into one with aftershave. Jumping back up and backing away, I kept my eyes on his. He slowly got up and took a step towards me, which made me take a step back. We seemed to dance for a while as he would move towards me and I would move way. It was like the Tango, our paws moved together as if they were familiar with each other.

The back of my furry paw hit the roots of a tree, causing us to loose our rhythm. I stumbled backwards into the source of the roots. It wasn't very cat like of me, but I had backed myself into a tree. I had nowhere to go. He would for surely catch me, if I would try to go around him. Leaning back against the tree, his face seemed to come closer to mine. I held my breath as his nose touched mine. His bright eyes looked into mine unblinkingly.

Without warning, I felt the same pressure on my head that had occurred last night. It wasn't as bad as last night, though. I didn't get as dizzy as before, but I did have a major headache. Then, there was a feeling like a rubber band snapping back into place. My mind felt like it was opened to everything. I could hear different voices yapping back and forth. They all sounded far away except for one. It sounded familiar, but I was unable to place it.

The voice was saying, 'Come on. Come on. Answer me, Kitten.' My head swiveled left to right as I tried to find the source of the voice. The only one who was near me was the mysterious cat. He was still looking at me, but now it was in a pleading way. I tilted my head as I wonder if it was possible. No, it couldn't be. Katie, stop thinking that way. It is not possible, I thought to myself.

The yellowed eyed cat seemed to perk up and look at me with pure happiness. Then the voice seemed to think to me again, 'It is possible. Just like being a supernatural creature is possible.'

I freaked out after hearing that because my conclusion was right. I rammed my back against the tree. The bark scrapped my skin, leaving a tingling pain behind. The cat's eyes widened and thought to me, 'don't run! Please, I wish to help you. You and I are the same. I won't hurt you. I swear!'

Get out of my head! I yelled. The cat winced for the volume of my thought.

'Just calm down and let me explain. I can help you.'

No, there is nothing you can help me with.

'Don't be so sure. Can you change back at all or has it been to long?'

I didn't respond because I wasn't sure. I haven't tried to switch back in a long time. I can barely remember the last time I was human. It had to be when I was around five years old. The first memory of my childhood was running around and playing with my dad. He was smiling and chasing me as I ran giggling and laughing. While we were playing, my mom would sit on the porch and watch us. I came out of my memory and finally answered, I don't remember how.

'I can show you, if you want?'

I thought this over for about a minute and then replied. Fine tell me how, but if you try and hurt me in anyway. Then I won't hesitate to kill you. I knew it was an empty threat, but he didn't. I could never kill someone. I just didn't have it in me. He stepped away from me and stopped between two trees. I walked towards him and stood about two feet away. Then the male cat started to instruct me, 'Okay, first you want to picture yourself human. Think of what it would feel like and how you would look. Once you have that picture in your mind, you should change back almost immediately.'

I did what he said and felt my bones start to break and reorganize. I let out a yelp as the first five bones broke. After that, the pain dulled down. I felt myself grow taller and I was now only on my hind legs. The fur that once covered my body had sunken into my body to reveal a lightly tanned skin-tone. The top of my head seemed to sprout locks of brown hair. My teeth became blunt and my tongue became smooth. My nails became short and stubby. My back straightened as I pulled my shoulder blades back. My ears moved to the side of my head and became round and unmovable.

When all the movement stopped, I looked down and saw the yellowed eyed cat staring up at me. I gazed down my body and saw that I was wearing a calico printed leotard. The cat tilted its head and ran his eyes up and down me. Giving me a slight nod of the head, he then grew and changed into a human. Although, I heard his bones cracking a rearranging I did not see him flinch. His black fur disappeared into his skin and his head grew blonde hair that came down to his eyes. His eyes shown brightly in the moonlight and I could see that they were blue. Unlike what I appeared to be wearing, he had on blue jeans and he was shirtless.

I recognized him instantly. He was the dude from the grocery store.