New Cat in Town | Night Cat #0.5

New Cat In Town - Chapter 1

Mourning

I hated wakes.

Always did. Even when I was a kid, I used to beg my parents not to take me to wakes. Don’t get me wrong, I understood that it was a way for the people who cared about the deceased to come together and honor his memory. But I honestly thought that, if you were going to honor someone, you swap stories with the people who really cared about him.

Not with his old college buddies who only remembered his name when they needed to borrow money. College buddies like Henry Geoff, who stood in front of my mother, whispering half-hearted condolences.

 “Thanks so much for coming, Henry.” My mother said shakily, as she wiped her eyes with her white handkerchief. “We really appreciate it.” Nodding at the man in front of me, I reached out and took her hand in mine. Squeezing it gently in silent encouragement.

She smiled at me through her tears and I had to work hard to blink back my own.

I turned away, choosing to observe the multitudes of people that had come to join my mother and I in mourning my father’s death; rather than look into the heartbroken eyes of one of the very few people who truly loved him.

Loved.

God, I hated saying that in the past tense.

I wanted nothing more than to leave. To escape the bubble of sadness that had enclosed my house and just be on my own for a while. I felt trapped in the suit my mother had made me wear. Trapped in my own garden, greeting strangers who pretended to have known my father intimately. Trapped in my own skin…

Tugging at the collar of my shirt, uncomfortably, I turned to my mother. “Mom, why don’t we go inside now? It’s getting kind of hot out here.”

It wasn’t a total lie. Yeah, my discomfort was the main reason that I wanted to go into the house, but the heat was also starting to get to me. Summer was drawing to a close, but it didn’t change much in Wilson Hill. Even in the winter, the weather was cool, at best.

“Sure, honey.” My mom nodded, sniffling ever so slightly. She tried to hide it, for my benefit. She always seemed to forget that I inherited my observant nature from her. “I should probably find Bill. He said he needed to speak to me.”

I nodded once, ushering her gently into the house through the patio doors. When we stepped into the house, I smiled, grateful for the air conditioning.

“Kathy!” a loud, insanely high-pitched voice yelled from across the room, forcing both my mother and I to turn around, cringing. Okay, fine. I was cringing, my mom had a fake smile plastered on her face.

“Pricilla!” My mom said through gritted teeth, still feigning the smile. I, meanwhile, was trying to figure out who on earth she was. The name was slightly familiar, but I couldn’t for the life of me, place her face. “You came.”

 “Of course I came, darling.” The irritating redhead fake-gasped. “Timothy was a dear friend of mine.” It took a lot of effort to keep me from rolling my eyes. Dear friend? Please. I bet should couldn’t even tell me how old he was.

While Pricilla, whoever the hell she was, was oblivious to my internal scoffs, my mother was not. She elbowed me in the ribs as, out of the corner of her eye, she shot me her signature “Behave yourself, young man” look.

This time I did roll my eyes. I wasn’t going to say anything. Out loud.

“Oh my God” The woman named Pricilla cried, her eyes falling on me for the first time. “Xander, is that you?” Eyes wide, I shot my mother a wary look as Pricilla walked up to me and, standing on her toes, grabbed my face in her hands and pulled me down to face her.