The Cat With Only Eight Lives

Chapter 1

Hey guys! The prologue's finished! Hopefully you're still here...and yeah, enjoy the chapter!

"Who?" My best friend, Joshua, looked at me with absolutely confused eyes.

I sigh exasperatedly, thinking that he's joking. "Dude, the girl that I had a crush on, blue eyes, blonde hair, you know?" I knock on his head jokingly. "Hm...pretty hollow, I guess that's why you don't remember anything."

But he doesn't crack a smile. "Dude, you had a crush on a girl?! Since when man? Why didn't you tell me? And I swear I have not seen or ever heard of a girl called Angel. Dude you daydreaming too much man, how do you daydream and still get straight As? What's you secret man? C'mon, I'm your best friend..."

"Okay, dude, STOP. First, there's no secret and I'm not daydreaming. SHE'S REAL, and I have proof." I pull out my phone and tap on my messages, but where Angel's contact originally was, had just disappeared. "...wait what? One sec, lemme check her IG...deleted too?! Man..."

Joshua laughs, oh finally he admits he's been joking and just convinced Angel to delete her social media accounts. "Man, how many hours did you sleep last night? I think you've gone a bit loopy, my man."

"I've not gone loopy!" I'm getting frustrated now. "She's real! Why don't you remember her? The same science class remember?" 

However, Joshua just fakes a pitying look. "Listen bro, just go home, get some rest, and stop dreaming of the dream girl that doesn't exist in real life." Then he just, get this: starts leading me to the door!

"Joshua! I'M BEING SERIOUS! AND I WILL PROVE IT!" I storm to the teacher, calming my voice down and asking her, "Hi Ms. Parks, do you happen to know where Angel is?"

But, of course, the teacher's in it too. "Who?"

I grit my teeth. "The one, who sits in the back of the class, with Jamie and Ellie?"

The teacher gives a look of understanding, before speaking. "Ohh! You're talking about Amy!"

"What?! Who is Amy?" I groan mentally. 

Ms. Parks looks at me with uncertainty. "Charlie, Amy! The one you worked with last week!"

WHO? I'VE NEVER EVER HEARD OF A GIRL CALLED AMY.  "Uh....."

Ms. Parks shakes her head. "This isn't funny Charlie. Go back to your seat and stop pestering me with your ignorant questions."

IGNORANT? FUNNY? I'M NOT-I'M NOT TRYING TO BE-

"Charlie!" I'm so blinded by annoyance I don't even register who it is.

"What?" I turn around, irritated to see Joshua smirking. 

"I told you, get some rest, stop dreaming, and come back to school tomorrow, alright?" 

At this point, I'm just mad. "Whatever man." And I just storm out of the classroom and out of the building. On the way back home, I'm thinking about many things. Where is Angel? Why does nobody remember her? What happened to her? 

As I continue to walk, I get a feeling that somebody's following me. I catch a glimpse of a tall person wearing a billowing black coat through the pouring rain on the window reflection.

However, what I don't realize is when I look forward again, the person is somehow RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I gasp and turn around and run as fast as I can...only the person was in front of me again. I turn the opposite direction again, only to find that there are now a dozen people surrounding me and coming closer. I squeeze my eyes shut, holding my breath, cause after all, if I can't see you, you can't see me...okay okay I'll stop, I just thought I was gonna die.

 Then, after a few seconds, I open my eyes just a tiny bit, and see only one black coat man in front of me. 

"Wh-what..." I mutter.

The man walks towards me with loud thundering footsteps. I swing a punch at him desperately, but he calmly blocks it with his hand. He's wearing...a familiar glove...why have I seen that white glove before... 

"Hi Charlie." the man takes of his hat and gives me a smile. He's handsome, with a chiseled jawline, curly blonde hair, and not a day older than 25. He tugs at his long coat. "Man, this coat is REALLY not my style, I need to change. Mind if we walk while we talk?"

"Wow, I would DEFINITELY walk with a STRANGER that somehow knows my name, and can DO MAGIC without ANY CONTEXT AT ALL! I would LOVE TO!" I say sarcastically.

"Great! Let's get going!" He says, grinning and beckoning me to follow him. 

"Wait, wait, you DO REALIZE that was SARCASM, right?" I stutter. 

Mr. Blackcoat shrugs. "I know. But I ALSO know you'll follow me." And, with that, he snaps his fingers, conjures a portal, and walks in it.

I laugh, "Yeah, good luck with that." Before walking the opposite direction.