Horror Short Stories and Scary Urban Legends

Grinny Cat

I remember the first time I saw him.

I went for a walk around the neighborhood that night, just like I did every night. I wasn't afraid of the dark, and my neighborhood was pretty peaceful. The worst crimes that had ever occurred there were shoplifting, and some drivers going over the speed limit. I was walking around the park, and decided to sit on a bench under a streetlight. Suddenly, a strange red and black cat with red eyes appeared in front of me. I heard him purr and he didn't seem aggressive, so when he approached me I started to pet him.

He started purring more, and started to rub himself against my leg. How cute! That cat looked like it had a huge grin on its face...but that was obviously impossible, I told myself at the time. Then something made a rustle in a bush up ahead, and he bolted off.. That really annoyed me but it was getting very late anyway, so I decided to just head back home. I got to my door, and when I put in the key... I heard a meow behind me. I turned around and there he was: The same cat, sitting on the ground, looking at me directly. I knew it wasn't a good idea to feed stray animals...but I couldn't help myself, he looked so hungry.

I went inside, quickly grabbed a small plate and put a bit of ham on it. I then opened the door to give it to the cat but he was no longer there. He had vanished once again. I decided to leave the plate with ham in front of my door in case he decided to come back. It was about 11:30 pm, so I went straight to bed. That night, I was jolted awake by something that hit my window – it was a loud hit, so it really scared me. I turned around to see what was happening...and I saw the cat again, sitting on the right side of the window. This time he was definitely grinning. He was waving his tail happily, and he wouldn't stop staring at me for a second. I usually close my curtains at night but weirdly enough, this time around they were open for some reason.

I was completely disconcerted...but after a few hours of tossing and turning in bed, I finally fell asleep. The next day when I woke up, I was so sleepy that I forgot what had happened. I got ready for work, and went out of the house. I drove for the 30 minutes that separate my house and my workplace, while thinking about that strange feline...and just when I arrived, right in the parking lot... there he was again, sitting and smiling, looking directly at me. It was then I knew something strange was going on. I called animal control, and the cat was taken away. I went home after work and tried to calm down...although I couldn't stop thinking about that weird cat the entire afternoon. And just before falling asleep, I heard a weird sound. I thought it must've been the washing machine, or another one of those common sounds at night. And so, I immediately went back to sleep.

However, that morning, I found out it hadn't been just a "common sound" – I froze in shock when I saw that damn cat laying at the border of my bed, covered in blood, with the same creepy smile on his face. That was enough: I grabbed the cat by the neck, threw him into the backyard, grabbed my shovel and beat him up to death. And during the entire process, the cat didn't make a single sound. Once I finally came back to my senses, I saw how the cat was now completely unrecognizable: His back legs were broken, his right ear was cut, his ribs were shattered, and his face had turned into a gory and mushy hole. I couldn't believe what I had just done...I was a monster. I had to go to work that day, so I put the cat's mutilated body in a box, went to the other side of the city and buried it near a forest at the other side of the road.

I was very troubled about what I had done. How did that cat get to my house, let alone my bedroom? I tried not to think about it but I was so perturbed that at work, I asked for permission to go back home. I threw myself onto my bed. I just wanted to forget everything. I woke up confused and, remembering what happened, I looked outside my window once more. When I did, I saw something that left me scarred for the rest of my life: It was the cat again, with his body still completely broken and a grin bigger than ever before, looking at me directly without blinking. As he glared at me, he did the unthinkable and spoke: "I want your flesh and blood.". I screamed, and ran out of there and to my car. I got in, and drove as far away from the city as I possibly could.

Now I'm trying to start a new life in a new state. I did some research online to try and find out what the damn cat was and I found a strange story that sounds like it's connected. The story goes like this: There was a scientist named Dr. Goodworth, who created a serum he believed would increase the intelligence level of animals. Dr. Goodworth tested this serum on his cat, Oscar. At first, Oscar was calm. When he smiled, the professor was pleased with the serum result, but not for long. The cat began to change. His smile became frightening, his fangs became razor sharp, his once green eyes turned blood red and he gained an insatiable bloodlust. He attacked the professor and killed him. The page I found this story on give him the nickname "Grinny Cat" or just Grinny for short.

To this day I'm unable to look out of any window, since I live in constant fear of seeing Grinny Cat once more...