Scout Stories: Bruised Beginnings

A Cat Of Many Colours

The town had the quiet stillness of the early morning. There was no sound except for Keefe's feet hitting the ground and his heart pounding in his chest. Peigi wasn't calling after him anymore. He was sure that she was still chasing him, but he couldn't rick looking back and loosing sight of the cat.

It didn't climb onto any buildings or disappear into any cracks too small for Keefe. It ran along the road as if daring him to catch it. Keefe was determined to do just that, to catch it and wish for Peigi to be back to the way she was.

It wasn't quite sunrise yet. The whole was covered in half-light that made the white cat's fur almost blue. The lightness of its coat made it easy for Keefe to track. It ran into the square and headed towards the tower. Despite not to loose it, Keefe tried to speed up. It still had enough time to glance back at him before jumping in a hole. Keefe stopped at the tower. The hole the cat had jumped in was large.

It should be large enough for him to fit through.

"KEEFE!"

Keefe didn't even look at Peigi. He climbed through the hole.

Inside wasn't as dark as he was expecting. There were holes in the wall and gaps between stones that didn't sit together perfectly. He could see the cat next to the stairs.

"Don't you dare," he said.

It looked at him and blinked. Instead of going up the stairs, the cats followed the curve and vanished around the back of them. Keefe ran after it. There was a hole in the wall that revealed another stairs, leading down. It was clear that it had been purposely blocked off.

"Keefe!"

Peigi was at the hole now. She would be through it in a second. Keefe ran down the stairs.

At the bottom was the darkness he had been expecting. He saw the cat sitting in the middle of the room, in one of the few spots that wasn't completely hidden in shadows. Even then he only saw its eyes at first. After a few moments his vision adapted to the light and he saw that it was licking it's paw and cleaning itself.

It could see him. That much was clear from the way it stared, but it didn't move as he inched closer.

There was a noise behind him and someone slapped the back of his head.

"Don't ignore me!" said Peigi.

Keefe rubbed the spot she had hit and glared at her.

"What do you care what I do?" he asked. "You're the one who's leaving."

"Oh grow up," said Peigi.

She looked around the room and shuddered.

"Come on, let's go", she said. "This place is giving me the creeps."

"Not until I catch that-"

Keefe turned to the spot the cat had been. It was gone.

Someone started to laugh. The sound bounced off the walls, echoing in a way that made it hard to tell where it was coming from.

"What's so funny?" asked Peigi.

"That's not me," said Keefe.

The laughter faded.

"No," said a voice. "It's not you."

Peigi grabbed Keefe's arm and started to drag him back towards the stairs. There was a swishing sound-like the kind you got from swinging a stick through the air too fast. Peigi cried out and dropped to the floor, clutching her leg.