Welcome to Dreadville (On Hold)

Chapter Five

I gently laid the young pup next to my pillow. He was wrapped in one of my green blankets that I used on cold nights.

He adjusted himself until he was in a comfortable place. Then he stopped moving and fell asleep.

I walked out of the room leaving a walkie talkie on my pillow. It had a rubber band tied around the speak button; my makeshift baby monitor.

Susan was in the kitchen drinking chamomile tea, her favorite, and reading something on her phone. I sat across from her and grabbed an apple.

"What shall we name him?" She asked me looking up from her phone.

I stare at her blankly. I had totally forgotten about choosing a name for the little pup.

I blink twice then ask, "How 'bout Blazer?"

"That sounds good I guess," she replies enthusiastically, but I know that she doesn't really like the name. "But I think I like Shadow."

"Well that's also a great name. Any more."

"Well there's Bandit or Beau."

I shake my head. "No I don't like the names. Maybe Rusty, Bingo, or Obi."

"No. I don't like them either."

"Well umm... I can't think of any more."

"We can name him after some dead person. Like DaVinci or Beethoven."

I smile. "How 'bout Mozart?"

"Mozart?"

"Yeah. I love Mozart. His music is so peaceful and calming."

She shakes her head. "No not Mozart."

I frown. "Well then what about... What about an explorer?"

"Sure! Like Christopher Columbus, Ponce De Leon, Amerigo Vespucci, or Francis Drake," she started.

"John Smith, John Cabot, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Marco Polo, Hernan Cortez, John White, or John Rolfe," I continued with her. "Or...," my eyes widened. "I know! Hudson!"

She smiles. "Like Henry Hudson?"

I nod. "Yeah. The one who tried finding the legendary Northwest Passage."

She shrugs. "I guess the name does sound kinda cool."

"Great! So Hudson it is!"

She nods and gets up from her seat.  "Hey Jade, I've had a busy day. I'm going to call it a day and go to sleep."

"Ok. Good night."

She leaves her cup in the sink and then goes upstairs to her room.

I finish my apple and then throw it away. I get a drink of water then head upstairs.

***

I wake up in the middle of the night. Hudson was squirming beside my pillow. I groaned, but got up and turned the lights on. I walked back to my bed and picked Hudson up.

"Shhh," I soothed him in a soft voice. "Be quite, Hudson."

He's probably hungry, I thought to myself.

I wrapped him in a blanket and then went downstairs. I went into the kitchen and warmed up some water in a bottle. When the microwave beeped, I got it out and dumped the formula into the water. I put the cap on the bottle and went back upstairs.

He has quieted down. Then I realized that Hudson and I weren't the only ones in the room.

***

Next to Hudson was a black cat. The cat was looking down at Hudson with what looked like a smile. I never knew that cats could smile. But they way the cat's mouth was formed made it look like it was smiling.

I was paralyzed. How did the cat get into my room? I wondered.

Hudson shuffled around again. The cat stopped looking down at him and looked up directly at me. The cat had the most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen.

It pounced off my bed and onto the floor next to me. He walked around me then rubbed himself against my leg. It purred then jumped out the window. I broke away from the trance I was in and rush towards the window. I was on the second floor. A cat wouldn't have survived a fall that high. When I looked out the cat was running down the street.

I take a step away from the window. I close the wind and close the curtains. Then I turn my bedside lamp on and turn the room's light off. I walk over to my bed and pick up Hudson. He starts drinking as soon as I put the bottle to his mouth. I lay in my bed still wondering how the cat survived the fall. Then most importantly, how it got in.