"Quiet, get off my stack of books, please."
"Okay."
"Quiet, stop sitting on my laptop."
"Okay."
"Quiet, for the last time, get away from the fish bowl."
"Okay."
"Quiet,"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Most people dislike black cats. They say bad luck comes to you if you cross their path, or if they cross yours. I don't believe that. I love my black cat, and he loves me. We are alike, you know.
I try not to, but I almost always do what I want where I want when I want.
Cats are the same. But my cat is different, in a way.
He's a cat, he does what he wants, when he wants, where he wants, but does as I tell him too.
Other cats never do that.
I ask him and he tells me he listens because he loves me.
My black cat, who sits on my book stacks, who truly loves me,
And brings nothing but good luck.
Geoff and Naomi are dead, and they're depressed, but when Geoff's cat Bernie dies as well, they embark on a wild journey to find it in the underworld.
*****
When Geoff dies, alongside his girlfriend Naomi, they end up sharing an apartment in the Underworld as skeletons. But after a few years, Geoff starts suffering a mid-death crisis. What's the purpose of going through the motions as a skeleton if you can't really live? Then he gets word that his cat, Bernie, just died and he can collect him and bring him home! Geoff and Naomi hurry to get Bernie only to discover that, due to a clerical error, their cat has been lost. With the hunt for Bernie giving new purpose to Geoff's un-life, he and Naomi begin a quest to get back their cat. Battling skeleton pirates, climbing the sky ladder and facing off against the villain who took Bernie, Geoff is determined to find his purpose - or die a second time trying!
[[2018 Wattys Winner - The Originals]]
[[word count: 30,000-40,000 words]]