The Haunted Cat

Introduction

Dark clouds, that had blanketed the dark sky and blocked out the stars, raced off, leaving a shining moon. From behind a clump of tangled brambles, snarls and whimpers rise from the darkness. A cat, with fur usually as white as snow, but now splashed with the bright red of blood, races from behind the shadowy clump of brambles and into a moonlit clearing. The gash on its right flank causes blood to flow down the side of the cat and onto the grassy floor. Collapsing onto its left side, it whines in pain, eyes rolling as it gasps for breath. The brambles swish wildly and are forced apart to reveal a larger cat, with a short tail and claws gleaming with blood. Its mouth is wide open as it reveals its sharp white teeth. Staring down at the fallen cat, it already knows it's won its prize this time.

Lunging forward, it had its jaws closed around the other cat's throat within a few heart-beats. The white cat let out a yowl, filled with pain, and struggled desperately to get away from the larger cat. Its yowl was cut short as the other crunched down, breaking the neck of the bleeding stray. Snarling in contempt, the black shadow spun around and stalked towards the tree-line. The scent of death rises from the corpse of the cat, a stench that even rosemary and lavender can't hide. The only sound that can be heard, other than the paw-steps of the victorious murderer, is the rustling of the leaves on the trees and the creaking of branches in the wind. The trees that edged the hollow seemed to be almost trying to grasp the dead cat in their branches as they moved with the wind. From a large holly bush, a pitiful cry rises from the shadows.

Two small shapes leave the safety of the bush and stumble towards the dead cat. Reaching her, they bury their noses into their mother's fur. Almost the same colour as their mother, grey and white fur seemed to merge together. The movement hadn't gone unnoticed by their mother's murderer. The coal-black cat narrowed its ice-cold eye as it stared at the kits. Stalking back in the direction of the dead cat, it began to advance on the kits without them realizing. At that moment, one of the kits, a pale grey female, lets out a grief-filled cry, and then buries its head back into its mothers' fur. This seemed to snap the black cat out of its slow pace, causing it to lunge at the closest kit.

It's jaws closed around the fragile body of the small kit, and violently shaking its head and biting down, the kit was killed. The other kit let out a horrified cry and tried to run back to the safety of the holly bush. A thud behind the fleeing kit told it that its sibling had been dropped to the ground, dead. Before the grey kit could take another few steps, teeth ripped through flesh, and it collapsed to the ground, whimpering and bleeding. The black cat snarled and bit the kit again, killing it. Spinning around, the adult cat ran off, blood dripping from its mouth. Soon it had disappeared in amongst the undergrowth that was growing at the base of the trees.

From the holly bush, the sole survivor of the family stared in shock at the bodies of his family. Horror coursed through his body, and he didn't dare move from the spot that he was in, in case the other cat was still around, waiting for him to the make the same mistake his siblings had. His green eyes stared sadly forwards at the body of his mother.