Shifters (Feline english version)

Chapter 3-1

No need to mention, three hours of sleep was totally not enough to look good when you woke up! The unglamorous reflection sent back to me by the full-length mirror confirmed this statement without any difficulty, when I took a mechanical glance at my reflection, before my gaze drifted towards the rest of the room.

I had been in this guest room for several months now. Cassie had repeatedly told me that it was now mine and that I could decorate it to my liking, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. Maybe I was restrained by the deep fear, deep inside me, that it was too good to be true... Definitely actually. As soon as this thought had crossed my mind, the memories of the night came back in force, accompanied by a dull anxiety.

I hurried out of bed and rushed into Cassie's room, so what if I woke her up? The room was empty and her bed, covered with the patchwork blanket she had made, was untouched. Worry immediately turned to anguish. Did something happen to her? No, there was certainly a good explanation. I was feverishly checking my cell phone.

No new messages. I tried again to call her, but without success. What the hell was going on here?

As I became more and more worried, I went to the bathroom and mechanically glanced at my watch. Only ten minutes left before my night visitor arrives. With the hindsight that the night had brought me, this whole story seemed rather surreal to me. What if in the end, it had all been a particularly twisted dream? After all, I was so hoping to understand where this particularity came from, and for so long, that it wouldn't have been surprising if my subconscious had decided to play a little trick on me in its own way! Anyway, I would soon be sure, I thought to myself as I ran to the shower where I happily let the hot water drown all my questions and took advantage of these few minutes of rest to wake up completely.

Barely out, the bell rang. I looked again at the time: nine o'clock sharp. I hadn't dreamt after all. I stood still for a moment, not knowing whether it should relieve me or, on the contrary, frighten me? If that part of the story was true, the rest certainly had to be true, which was not particularly pleasing. I felt a long shiver of apprehension running through my body.

The shrieking and insistent sound of the bell rang again and I grimaced, drawn from my reflections. Couldn't she wait a minute? I took solace in remembering that this time she had chosen to ring the bell instead of entering like a thief. That was a first step.

- 'I'm coming, just a sec!' I shouted at her in an angry tone as she rang for the third time, while I was going to put on something in my room.

A pair of jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt would do the trick on this fall day. Not knowing where we were going exactly, I added a jacket, put on my favorite boots and went to open the door for Blondie, who once again had her finger stuck to the doorbell.

I unlocked it louder than necessary, before grabbing the handle with a sudden gesture, exasperated by her behaviour. As I was about to open the door, my doubts and concerns for Cassie overwhelmed me again and I suspended my action. What the hell was I doing?

This unpleasant girl was a total stranger. Not to mention that I suspected her ever more of taking a part of my friend's disappearance. That was so me! Once I made my decision, I never went back. I was rather spontaneous and thoughtless once I started and, let's face it, I was more than intrigued by our little conversation last night. I felt strangely incomplete since then, as if the idea of "maybe" soon knowing the reasons for my difference, had deepened an emptiness in me. An emptiness that needed to be filled terribly. So it was with my stomach tied by apprehension and a mind full of doubts that I opened the door with a more measured gesture than I had intended at first.

She stood on my doorstep in a pose worthy of the best Vogue covers, despite the fact that she was wearing the same clothes as last night. The only differences were her hair, which she had tied into a high ponytail, and the shadows she wore around her eyes, which were obviously not the result of sophisticated make-up. Did she spend the night here or what? Considering the disgusted pout she was making, it seemed quite plausible.

For a split second, I felt guilty that she might have spent the night in that unclean, tagged hallway, but it quickly faded when I saw her cold, condescending gaze. She looked at me in a heavy silence. The disapproval, written on all the features, expressed a hundred times better than words what she thought of me and my appearance. Even though I had had more than my share of this kind of look in my short life, I still felt anger overwhelming me.

- 'Well, since you're finally here, we might be able to go now!' she shut me up before I had a chance to express my thoughts to her. 'We'll take your car, I'll show you the way.'

- 'Not even a hello? It's not very polite,' I couldn't help but say to her.

It wasn't the murderous rant that spontaneously came to my mind, but a hint of sarcasm is always good when you're angry. Her sociopathic attitude was seriously starting to get on my nerves.

- 'I will not go anywhere with you until I know what may have happened to my friend,' I added, my angry gaze fixed on her.

- 'Your friend? No idea,' she replied in a tone of total indifference. 'But whatever happened, I had nothing to do with it. She wasn't even there when I arrived.'

Not there? What do you mean, not there? I frowned, lost. At this time of night, she should have been home and met Blondie. If this was not the case, it meant that she had left the apartment in a hurry. But in this case, why take the time to leave me a note and not a text? This was definitely not her style, unless...

- 'She's gone! And it so happens that the very same night you show up at our house uninvited to tell me that I'm "supposedly" in danger. I think it's a little big of a coincidence.'

- 'Yes, you have a remarkable logical sense, congratulations! But believe me, if it had been me, I would have used it against you last night, rather than having this long and boring discussion! Well, can we go now?'