“Haven’t you ever heard of the witch’s curse?” the cat purred, winding around Ellen’s spindly, trembling calves. The girl swallowed, gazing at her hands, from which the faintest glow was emitting.
“N-no…what is it, kitty?” she whispered, her voice raspy and thick with tears. The cat paused, suddenly opening its maw, the cat laughed. The flickering candlelight caught the cat’s fangs in terrifying flashes that made the girl shudder. Finally the cat’s laughter subsided and he fixed his jaded eyes on her again.
“The witch’s curse…” he began, brushing an ebony paw over one ear, “Is your chance to get back at everyone who ever hurt you, my child.” Ellen’s eyes widened visibly, fire dancing through the pupils. Shoulders stiffened, she narrowed her eyes. Could she really trust a talking cat?
“…Really?” she murmured, excited beyond belief, but more than a little doubtful. The slinking animal at her feet was merely amused at her sceptics.
“Of course. And all you have to do is one little thing…” he licked his lips, rubbing a cheek against the trembling child’s leg, “Something…I’m sure you’d just looove…” he drew out the sound in a long purr, eyes twinkling with something akin to malice. Ellen waited rather impatiently for the cat to go on with his tirade, crossing her arms.
“Kill them.” He tipped his head to the two figures slumbering on the couch, man and women locked in a loving embrace, “…Kill them, and the pact can be completed.” Ellen gaped for a moment, beginning to shake her head.
“N-no I-“ she whispered urgently, before she trailed off. Wait a moment, why should she care for their wellbeing? They’d never cared for hers. She could come home in tears and they’d barely blink. The girl ground her teeth angrily at the thought, her gaze flinty. Heart beating wildly, she met the cat’s gaze, mastering her fear in moments. Left with a steady, determined resolve she inclined her head.
“I’ll do it.”
This was it, her last goodbye. She didn’t feel sorry for them either, glancing away from the match’s flame for a moment to study them. The blood was already beginning to drip from the couch, the soft splatter made Ellen giggle. Goodbye to every last sense of their being, to every last figment of their imagined love. It was in her hands now, whether they lived or died, as the cat determined.
A unhinged smile pulled at her lips as she held the flame up to the red curtains, “Scum…” she whispered under her breath as the flames leapt obediently onto the material, “Burn….burn in hell…” she hissed, throwing the match to her feet as hard as she could.
Surrounded by flames, a laugh built in her chest, growing and growing until she was cackling with all her might, the sound rising into the air.
The cat slinking along the red-hot windowsill stared at the child throwing her last halfway sentient tantrum, a grin very apparent on his whiskery face.
