Kats

Third Night

November 14, B 987 1935

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hastings," the nurse said haltingly. "But Robyn Hastings passed on giving birth... um." She looked hesitant to say more. Jared Hastings raised his hand and the nurse tried not to flinch: most loved ones got violent when they got news like what she just had to give. But instead of hitting anything, he squeezed his eyes shut and let his hand fall to his side.

"Thank you for doing your best," he said stiffly, and turned and walked away. The nurse was startled and followed him.

"W-wait, sir," she said quickly, catching up and standing in front of him. "You don't want to hear about your - uh, your child?"

"I know why you paused just now," he said harshly, rounding on her. "I know what it is. I'm a veterinarian. I know the baby's half feline." He continued to walk away.

"You don't want to see her? Mrs. Hastings named her Kai Melinda Hastings-"

"I don't want it!" he spat. "Put it up for adoption, I don't care! Just leave me alone. I have no connections with the little monster."

He left the clinic as fast as he possibly could while walking.

"I know why this happened," he said quietly. "When I met and married Robyn, the first thing I had to do was get approval from her cat, Kai. She adored him and gave him every second of her life that she wasn't giving to work or spending with me. Then, one morning, I came home to see the cat had died. Robyn was heartbroken. She was never the same after that. She never got a new cat.

"A year later, she got pregnant with a child. She knew what I had been studying at the lab, and didn't tell me that the cat had bitten her until the day she had her baby. I just knew it was going to be half-cat. That would be why she hadn't told me before.

"See, I had been researching the connection between humans that had been bitten by the feline seven years ago, when they went extinct... and the children these people had later. With a bit of research and background checking, I learned that every human that had been bitten that had a child was parenting a half-feline thing. Passing on their DNA through human blood was their only chance of survival... so the cats we so lovingly invited into our families cursed us before their time on this earth ended. The domestic term for the new generation is 'kat', I am aware."

The audience applauded the end of his speech. He stood in silence before the visiting veterinarians and students at the local university. Eventually the crowd digested all of what he said and started to ask their questions. He pointedly ignored all the ones about his wife and what was to be his child. After another two hours, they dispersed.

Jared collected his things and contemplated what he would eat for dinner that night. Only one person remained in the room besides him.

"Hey, Jared," his old friend Ricky approached him, smiling. "You know, half-cat kids are just like normal ones. It's like you said, I think: I got bitten, I get a kid, and I named him Luke, after my old cat. He's the cutest little tyke, with his little cat ears and tail. You should come see him sometime. Hey, you remember Irma Porter? She had a cat kid, too. Named him Scott."

Jared just grunted and closed his briefcase.

"Ever wonder bout your kid?" Ricky said eventually.

Jared frowned. "No," he said shortly, and pushed past him. "Not at all."