What's the Opposite of a Fairy Tale? | ONC 2024

6. The Cat in the Window

After I finished my note, I turned and warily made my way to the edge of the desk. I was trying to decide if I could jump straight down to the floor, or if I'd need to hop into the chair first. I know, I know— cats jump down from things like desks all the time. But you try staring down at a drop more than five times your height and telling yourself that it's totally fine to jump. The knowledge that it would be ok did absolutely nothing to spur my muscles into action.

I was still staring down at the floor when I heard a knocking on the window. I turned my head and was more than a little shocked to see that black cat from Friday night was sitting at the windowsill staring at me.

What was he doing here? Had he followed us? And here I'd always thought cats were kind of dumb.

"Evan!" the cat called. His voice was muffled through the glass, but I could still hear him, no problem. "Evan, open the window!"

I shook my head. Not a chance in hell.

"This is important," Comet insisted. "Evan!"

I froze, continuing to stare at the weird cat outside as something dawned on me. He'd called me Evan— a couple times, actually. How did he know my name?

"How...?" I asked slowly. I tried not to get my hopes up as I waited to see if the cat could understand me. No one else could so far. But then, no one else had been a cat, either.

"How what?" the cat asked. "How did I find you? I followed that human... Although, it did take me a while to figure out which room was hers..."

Well, that was something. Though, I'd kind of figured that. But more importantly, he'd understood my question. At least, the first word of it. He hadn't waited for me to finish. I shook my head and asked again, "You...know...my...name?"

It was the longest sentence I'd said in three days. It sounded a little stilted, and it was kind of hard to get all the words out together. Still, it was a question, and it was definitely understandable.

"Oh." Comet looked surprised. "The humans were calling that when they were looking for you. Is that not your name?"

"It...is," I said, nodding.

He regarded me quietly for a minute before asking, "You're a...normal human, right?"

"Now?" I asked, glancing pointedly down at my front paws.

"I meant before. You were of average intelligence, weren't you?"

I hissed before I could stop myself. It seemed to confirm whatever suspicions he'd had.

"Perhaps the transformation affected his mental capabilities," a feminine-sounding voice said.

I watched as a short-haired cat with white fur and brown paws jumped onto the window ledge, apparently from the room next door. I wasn't sure if she'd been there the night they'd cursed me, but it seemed like a pretty safe bet.

"Those kind of effects should only last a day or two," Comet scoffed.

"And what day is this?" his friend asked, matching his tone. "Day two."

Seriously? Did I really have two cats standing outside my window debating how stupid I was? Well, at least I wasn't dumb enough to sit here and listen to this!

I turned away from the window, ready to jump down onto the floor. At least having the two of them standing there watching me helped solidify my resolve to bypass the chair.