CatNap: The Smiling Cat

Chapter 5: CatNap

The next day, Theo was taken to a different room, away from the other children. He was told that he had been chosen for a special game, a final game, a reward game. He was told that he had to wear a special suit, a white suit, a clean suit. They told him that he had to lie on a special table. He was told that he had to stay still, calm and quiet.

He was not told the truth.

He was not chosen for a game, but for an experiment. He was not given a suit, but a uniform. He was not put on a table, but on an operating table.

He was not going to play, but to be played with.

He was going to be experiment 1188. He was going to be turned into a monster, a mutation, a shadow of what he once was. He was going to be cut, stitched, and implanted. He was going to be changed, altered, and transformed.

He was going to lose himself.

He did not know any of this. He did not understand what was happening. He did not realize what was going to happen.

He only felt scared.

He saw the scientists, the staff, and the guards. They wore masks, gloves, and coats. They had tools, machines, and devices. They looked at him with curiosity, excitement, and greed.

They did not look at him with kindness, compassion, or love.

They did not care about him.

They only cared about what they were turning him into.

They hoped that Theo would become better than the other experiments, better than the prototype.

They didn't want a repeat of Experiment 1006.

Theo did not know if the prototype was his friend, or whether he was even alive.

The prototype was still in the lab, locked in a cage. It had not escaped, but it had not given up. It had a plan. It was risky, but he was desperate.

At that moment, dark red gas blurred Theo's vision, he couldn't see where it was coming from, but knew it was near.

It put Theo to sleep, to see what was hidden from him.

He felt a wave of calmness, then peace, then happiness.

He appeared in a room filled with that red smoke, and he couldn't see his surroundings.

"Hello?" Theo whispered out to the smoke.

A whisper curled through the air.

"You're still awake..."

In the corner, the shadows shifted. A figure stepped forward—purple fur, wide grin, empty eyes. CatNap.

Theo tried to move, to scream, but his body was sinking, trapped in the mattress. A sweet lavender mist filled the air, thick and suffocating.

"Time for bed."

The bed dipped as CatNap climbed closer, his grin stretching wider.

"Close your eyes."

The child's vision blurred. Sleep pulled him under.

Theo wakes up, but not where he fell asleep – but instead in a large field of poppy flowers.

He felt his face and was relieved that his death was just a dream.