Ella and the Ten Keys

Chapter 1: Cat Nap

Ella's bus dropped her off at her house, and as she walked up the steps she could hear the voices of her peers yelling at her. This was nothing out of the ordinary. At school Ella was your typical bookworm, keeping to herself and not socializing with real people any more than she did the characters in her books. However, this behavior had granted her the titles of "strange" and "mysterious", though she didn't believe a word of it.

"Weird girl!" shouted a voice from the bus that was driving off to its next stop. Although she refused to believe the words, that didn't stop them from hurting.

Her parents were both working so no one was home but her cat, Oreo. Knowing that he was incapable of unlocking the door for her, she pulled out her house key from her backpack. Once inside, Ella set down her bag and put her key back in her pocket.

Oreo casually walked over to her and brushed up against her legs, glad that she made it home safely. He purred when she started to stroke his back, and circled her feet as she walked. Throughout the house, all the lights were off so the only way they could see was by the sunlight protruding from the windows.

Ella didn't bother to turn any of them on, as she was too tired to stay awake anyways. After a long day at school, she was ready for a nap. Oreo could sense this, and made himself right at home when Ella let him into her room.

Ella let out a deep, overdue yawn. School was full of hard work, mean kids, unreasonable teachers, and harsh grades. "At the end of it all," Ella thought to herself as she remembered the homework assigned, "they even try to take away the time that should be mine to relax."

"It's really unfair, Oreo." She said aloud to her cat, who was currently examining her heavily shelved bookcase for a place to squeeze in. Quickly realizing that he was not the small kitten he used to be, Oreo gave up and joined Ella on the bed, giving a sympathetic head bump to her arm. "You silly cat; of course I'll pet you."

They lay on the bed for a short while as Ella slowly drifted off into a much needed sleep. Oreo stayed curled up into a ball, snuggled into her arms like a fluffy little baby.

"Scraaatch...scraaatch" Ella awoke to find Oreo clawing her bedroom door.

"Huh? How long was I out?" she thought to herself. Getting up, Ella shot a disapproving look towards her cat. He looked back and released his claws from the wooden door, leaving thin lines in their place. Oreo knew he wasn't supposed to do that anymore; however Ella figured that if he hadn't, she might not have woken up to let him out at a decent time, so she let it slide just this once.

"Alright," said Ella to her cat. "You want to go outside, don't you?" She opened the door and Oreo casually walked over to the door frame, and sat down. He was seated neither in the room nor out of it, but right in the middle. Ella couldn't close the door on good conscience, as she knew his tail would get caught. So she looked at him again and said "Pick one Oreo, in or out? What will it be?"

In response the cat only tilted his head to one side. Ella let out a deep sigh of frustration and gently nudged him out the door. She closed it once again and walked back to her bed. Without looking at the clock, she tucked herself back under the blankets in an attempt to return to her nap. This plan was going well, until she was about to finally fall into a deep slumber.

"Scraaatch...scraaatch." The cat's claws were once again disturbing her. The first time she opened the door for him she'd thought that it was because he needed to exit. This time he had no reason to reenter her room, so Ella tried to ignore him and go back to sleep. "Scraaatch...scraaatch...scraaatch...scraaatch." The sound continued for what seemed like a never-ending torment to her ears.

"Oh who could possibly sleep with all of this ruckus?" said Ella. Once again she rose from her bed to tend to the cat. She grabbed the handle and flung the door wide open, causing Oreo to fall onto all four of his paws, and again be half in the room and half out. "So? What do you want this time?" she asked the cat, not expecting any response of course, but she felt that if she didn't say something, Oreo would think she was being rude. Not that she cared what he thought of her.

The cat turned around in a circle two times, and this greatly confused Ella.

"Oreo, how many times do I have to tell you? You are a cat. You are not a dog, so stop chasing your tail like that. Now answer me, do you want to come in? Or did you simply want to keep me from my nap? That's very rude you know."

"Meow." Was Oreo's attempt at a reply. He really did want to talk, but he just couldn't find the words, so all he could think to say was that simple sound. At least this could prove that he really was a cat. Being called a dog is quite the insult in the cat language, but Ella didn't understand a word of it, and had no knowledge of what she had said to him.

He may not seem like it, but Oreo is a very intelligent cat. Knowing that actions speak louder than words, he bounced over to the other side of the hallway, where another door was waiting for him. There were no scratch marks on this one, but Ella feared there soon would be if she didn't go and stop him.

Just as Ella was approaching the door, it suddenly sprung open with a loud "Creak", and stayed like that without bouncing off the wall or anything. Oreo was quick to run inside, and as soon as he did he turned around and sat facing Ella.

"Come with me." said the cat, in an alluring voice.

Ella couldn't believe her ears. "Um, did...you just talk?"

"Of course. Now, please follow me." To this, Ella didn't know whether to trust her cat, or to scream. This was not normal. She'd wished many times that Oreo could talk, but she never thought he actually would. He didn't seem like he wanted to hurt her or anything though, so she decided to follow him. He was still her cat after all.

"Very good." Oreo said. "I know this must be a shock to you, but I'm glad you're here."

"Okay, so how long have you been able to talk? I've never heard you do it before."

"Oh I've always been able to. I just didn't have anything important to say. Now I do."

Ella wasn't sure what was so important, but was generally glad her cat was capable of speech. After the two of them walked through the door, it shut behind them, just as suddenly as it had opened, although no one had touched it. "Creak...click."

The lights came on and the stairs leading up to the attic looked as if no one had climbed them in years. Just then, a thought crossed Ella's mind. "Why was her cat taking her to the attic?" she wondered. Oreo ran up the stairs and looked back at Ella once he had reached the top.

"Well? Aren't you coming?" he asked.

"Oh, uh yeah." Ella responded. She climbed the stairs and entered the attic. It occurred to her that this was the one room in the house in which she had never been. She'd never been told that she wasn't allowed in the attic, she just never had the desire to go in. "So you said that there was some important reason for taking me here? Said Ella.

"Yes, but not here.The place I want to take you is through here." Oreo walked over to one of the many boxes in the dusty attic. Jumping inside, he really looked like the typical kitten. Ella thought that maybe he just wanted to play, something they could do together besides taking naps. She was fine with that idea, but she'd rather he wait till her nap was over.