A Cat Called Trap

Chapter 3

Virtual Reality? Who would believe in such a scam? If it was possible then at least a few people would be bragging about it in order to monopolize the sales.

Ghosting someone away with a thin metallic helmet, that is not even borderline realistic.

The only realistic avenue of thought is that this must be a dream.

If this was a dream shouldn’t Kit have woken up by now?

The door to the house opened, a woman bustling her way in. It was Piper’s mom, Which made sense this was Piper’s house after all. “Oh Kit dear, You came alone again?”

She glanced down at Kit her expression soft, a motherly instinct telling her that something was wrong. “Kit dear, are you alright?”

He tried to explain the situation but it came out as an incomprehensible mishmash of gibberish’s less understood counterpart.

She gave the same smile Piper always wore on her face, a nice calming smile. “Calm down honey, It’s alright you can tell me.”

“Pi-Piper, Piper she-“ Kit immediately felt as if something was wrong and tried to stop himself from continuing that statement. The words Piper’s mom had used rained down on him like a freshly used guillotine. His thoughts where sporadic. What did she mean by came alone? Has he ever come here without Piper?

The answer he did not want to hear came so smoothly at of her mouth one would never guess it to be bad in any sense. “Piper? Is that one of your friends?”

Kit swallowed, the world forming a single block of white noise. He stood up his knees shaking, grasping the helmet Piper had given him. Neither Piper nor her Helmet existed in this dream.  He nodded to Piper’s mom, putting on a false smile, “Thanks for having me over like always, I’ll be off now.”

Piper’s Mom tilted her head slightly to the side, crossing her arms as if she understood he was hiding something, “Dear, are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah,” he lied, walking past her out the door and into the street. The night had been fast approaching and the only light was from the lamps on the sidewalks. Kit’s breathing was deathly calm, his brown hair neatly covering his eyes, the tears hidden from sight.

This was too much for a nightmare, he wanted to wake up, to call his childhood friend. Kit wanted to hear her voice speak to him in that cheerful tone of hers. He wanted to see her fumble with her silver earing that matched his.

He wanted to wake up from the nightmare that persisted against him.

He groggily moved his hand to his cellphone, typing out a message to all his listed contacts. “Do you remember Piper?” He sent it silently, sitting by himself on a park bench waiting for a reply, or for this nightmare to end.

Each time his phone rang his heart sunk as he read the received reply. His mother, his sister, his classmates, all replied to his insane message.

“Piper? Are you staying up all night with your games again?”

“Brother, you should really get some sleep playing to many games is not good for your health.”

“Nope, never heard of her.”

“Sorry DX”

His phone rang once again, an unknown symphony playing smoothly without error. Only one person Kit knew would bother to steal his phone to change the music of the call. Kit picked up the phone.

“Cederic?”

The voice was dreary, Kit’s insomniac friend yawned before speaking. Kit gnashed his teeth, at least finish yawning before you call someone!

“*Yaawn* Cat, we need to talk.”

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that!”

The reply was quick and practiced, “I will when you stop sitting like one, stop drinking milk all the time, and stop getting distracted when someone plays with a laser.”

Kit remained silent, unable to refute any of the above points.

Cederics voice was wavering slightly, “Piper was forgotten wasn’t she? Where is she by the way?”

The cat-like boy didn’t know how to reply, “Is that normally something you ask? Do you know something?”

Kit could picture Cederic giving off another yawn, his expression carrying one of annoyance. “After I tell you, meet me at my place alright?”

“Ok?”

“For one, you sent me a Text asking if I remembered Piper. This means that someone must have forgotten her. I don’t know who but it must have been someone close to her for you to react that way. For two, that text was sent to multiple individuals showing a sense of insecurity or fear. You are afraid she has been forgotten. For three, I questioned individuals of my own, all of which did not know who Piper was. Is that simple enough or do I need to bring a hammer to really beat it into you?”

Kit was quick to reply, if it was Cederic he probably would go so far as to use a hammer, “I understand.”

“So where is Piper?”

“I don’t know.”

Cederic was silent for a second, “Cat, hurry to my place. You won’t get lost right?”

 

Cederic ruffled through the papers on his desk, while preparing a cup of coffee. He viewed himself as an intellectual, and everyone else as an idiot. The insomnia he displayed was something he forced upon himself. He did this in order to converse with people on the same level. Most people took it as insulting when they found out, and it was one of the reasons why Cederic was not liked by others.

The coffee was not normally needed, but it was necessary to temporarily bring himself back up to his normal IQ. This situation was interesting enough to require such a thing. A goodnights sleep would be a more permanent solution, but he lacked the time.

Cederic spun the silver earing on his right ear, the same design as Kit and Piper’s. Although he always wore his on his right side, a saving grace for those two who were too afraid to admit they liked each other.

He sorted through the information in his head, while finishing making his cup of coffee.

Piper was indeed forgotten, he had no reason to deny this fact. He had no reason to disregard such a situation as a dream either. If it was a dream, then this could not even be considered a waste of time.

The fact of the matter was the knowledge of Piper being forgotten nearly as much as the two of them remembering.  If he could understand the situation that caused her to be forgotten, then he can probably drag up a few conclusions on how the memory remained and how to bring the memory of her back to others. However as it stands he was lacking sufficient data.

He clicked his tongue, swerving on his chair and chugging the coffee down black. He needed to think properly even if only temporarily, he could crash afterwards for all he cared.

The memory of Piper was not forgotten between him and Kit, so it stands to reason that the reason for the memory remaining would have to be due to a similarity between the two individuals.

Was it because of the silver earing they both wore? No, that would not work or any individual wearing the earing would not be affected. But what other similarities are there? Besides being male, he could not think of a single thing. Nor can he compare the actions between the two of them without questioning Kit. Cederic could not clarify what actions he took at the time, unless he knew at what time Piper was forgotten.

He rubbed his hands together, an evil smirk spreading across his face. This is so interesting!