The Girl With Cat Eyes (BEING REWRITTEN)

Prologue

"I have to do this," her voice cried. I couldn't see her face in the dim light, but I recognized her voice. Her usual silky smooth voice now shook with pain and fear. Even though I couldn't see her, I could practically hear the tears in her eyes. I couldn't place where I knew it from, but I knew it all too well.

I reached out towards her. I had to stop her. From what, I didn't know, but I knew it was bad. I knew that much. Tears began to form in my eyes.

"No, there has to be another way," I reasoned. "You can't." I couldn't stop myself. The words slipped from my mouth without thinking off it. It was like I lost complete control over my own words.

"What other choice do we have?!" she cried. I could now see her lip quiver. Her crimson lipstick is smudged onto her cheek. A cheek so pale it looked as if it belonged to a ghost.

My hand found hers in the darkness. It was ice cold, so cold it didn't feel human, but something felt familiar about it. It felt as if her hand was meant to forever remain in mine. It fit perfectly in my own, and I never wanted to let her go.

I didn't know why I was so attached to her, but all that mattered was keeping her safe. I wasn't about to let her give up so willingly.

"We'll find a way," I reassured her, pulling her ever closer to me. I wrapped my arms around her thin form. Her hands found the back of my arms. "We have to."

She took a deep breath and pressed her forehead against mine. "How?" she murmured, her voice barely a whisper.

"I don't know yet, but I know that together we can figure it out," I told her. I wasn't going to be able to let her go; I cared about her too much, this stranger whose name I didn't even know. I tucked a lock of her dirty blonde hair behind her and traced my fingers along her the soft skin on her cheek. She leaned into it. Her gaze met mine. But something about her eyes were strange, abnormal, confusing.

They looked like they were from a cat. Bright, glowing, and emerald green. It was like they weren't real. They must have been fake. I must have misseen it. Something. Anything but what I was seeing. They couldn't have been her's.

Her eyes drifted down as she pulled out of my grasp. She peered up. Tears were in her eyes and streamed down her face. Her lip quivered. "There's no other way."

And it was too late.

I awoke with a start, my heart was still racing with fear. It was all just a dream. I mean it couldn't have been real. I didn't even know this girl and her eyes... were too strange to be real. They must have been contacts or something. Or a figment of my imagination. There could have been a million explanations.

I ran a hand through my messy hair as I tried to calm my breathing. It was just a dream. It was only a dream.

My head began to ache. I winced. At first, the pain was a dull ache. Annoying, but not painful. But it didn't stay that way forever. Within seconds, the ache turned into pain and it only got worse. My head felt like it was on fire, burning it's way from the inside out. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't get even a sound out of my mouth.

The pain was so unbearable that it began to cloud my vision. Black spots began to take over my bedroom. Moving in swarms, the number of black dots only seemed to grow.

I needed some water.

I tried to stand, but when I did, I stumbled forward. I had to grab onto my dresser to stop myself from crashing into the floor. I stared at the ground for a long moment. I took a deep breath. Followed by a few more and that's when the aching stopped. I sighed in relief.

Lifting myself off the dresser, I regained my balance. I took another deep breath. Even though I was feeling better, I still wanted a glass of water.

So I pulled open the top drawer, pulled out the first shirt - a solid white tee shirt - , and threw it over my head. Then I pulled the door open and made my way towards the kitchen. I grabbed a glass out of the cabinet. I reached towards the refrigerator.

"What are you doing up?" came a voice. My breath quickened. I turned to face the person. My mom. Under her sparkling cerulean eyes ran dark circles. Her chestnut hair was pinned behind her in a messy bun. She wore an apron, a work apron from the diner she worked at. She took the late shift again. No matter how many times I told her not to, she would. I could see how it affected her, but she claimed the money was more important than time to sleep.

She had dreams about moving out. She wanted to work so she could save enough money to move out of her parents' home and buy a house of our own. At times though, that dream seemed impossible. As much as she worked, a single waitress never made enough money, at least not to buy a house. But pushing ourselves for our family and a better life is what Masons do.

"I should be askin' you the same question," I said, my eyes dropping on her purse. Mom rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I know you don't like me to working so late, but I have to," she explained as she untied her apron. She then proceeded to fold it and place it on the counter. A half-hearted smile spread to her left cheek. Sticking her hand out to me, she reached towards my glass, taking it in between her fingers. "You thirsty? That's why you're up?"

"Yeah," I answered. A partial lie. I was thirsty, but that wasn't why I was up. It was all because of that nightmare, but she didn't need to know that. Especially about the headache.

"Alright," she sighed. She knew I was lying. I could see that in her face. Her eyes seemed upset. They kept searching my expression for anything that would give her a clue to what happened to me. I didn't let her see through me though. My gaze fell away from her's.

She reached past me, pulled open the refrigerator, and pulled out a jug of water. She poured some into the glass until it was half full. Then she put the jug back in the refrigerator and closed the door. With that, she sent me a light grin and handed me the glass. "Good night, Ben," she murmured.

I took the glass from her hand and said, "Good night, Mom."

***

The rest of the night was fairly normal. It didn't take me too long to fall back asleep. Only a few short minutes after my head hit my pillow, I was fast asleep. I know that because the last thing I remember was laying down on my side and closing my eyes to pitch black darkness. After all, it was only a bad dream.

.... At least that's what I thought at the time.

It just wasn't possible. I mean humans can't have cat eyes, at least not naturally. Why should I worry about something that isn't even remotely possible?

Oh how wrong I was.

Looking back at it, I should have saw the signs. They were right in front of my face. They were in my home, tearing my family apart, driving my grandfather into insanity. They wiggled their way into my brain, sending me dreams of what was yet to come. To warn me. To give us a chance, a small sliver of leverage.

And it took me too long to see it.

And lives were lost.

And now I'm left to pick up the pieces.

The pieces of complete strangers.

And the shattered shards of my heart. 

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Hey guys; I'm back with another chapter. Let me tell you Junior year is a rough year and because of that I haven't had much time to write lately, but today, I don't know I just felt like writing this. Let me know what you think of the book so far. I love to hear comments and feedback, even negative as long as it is critical and actually helpful. 

I actually had this book idea years ago and started writing but my writing has improved, if you can tell from my previous works and so I thought I'd update it and change some things. 

Let me know what you think! Thank you so much and see you in the next chapter!