I'm Trapped as a Cat?

When I woke up the next morning, the crumpled up drawing was gone, along with its artist. Stretching in true cat fashion, I casually observed the room for evidence of my new owner. As the fog of sleep left me I was reminded of last night and felt a chill run down my spine. Maverick’s dad was bad news, and I found myself too frightened to leave the bedroom. I jumped to the windowsill instead to observe the yard and was pleased to see Simon’s SUV was already gone. I was safe . . . for now.

After only one evening as a cat, I found myself growing more accustomed to it by the minute. The formerly difficult task of springing from one place to another upon four legs was now second nature, and I climbed down from the sill with ease.

With the door open I could hear the sounds of television downstairs and the heavenly smell of bacon cooking. I wasted no time and decided that with Simon gone I might as well explore the place. I ambled down the stairs and spotted Maverick on the couch, clad only in his pajama bottoms. A large assortment of paper and art supplies littered the table in front of him. I rubbed myself against his leg to announce my presence but he didn’t even look up. I was a bit miffed to be honest, but I decided to leave him to his own devices and made my way into the kitchen. There was Mindy, frying up those delicious little slivers of bacon. She was a bit preoccupied herself but I refused to be ignored.

“Meow.” I declared with gusto. Mindy looked about in alarm before her eyes fell on me.

“Oh! It’s you. So here’s the little fluff ball that got Simon so worked up last night. Well I have to say I understand why Maverick likes you. You don’t seem like the mangy, dirty cat that Simon made you out to be. Maybe it’s that chocolate coat you have; in the dark you must have looked absolutely filthy.”

Why is she defending him? He freaked out over nothing and I think I heard him hit her last night.

A quick glance at her face confirmed my suspicions. There was a large bruise on the left cheek of her face, though she had tried her best to cover it with make-up. Perhaps had I been human still, I would not have noticed it at all.

“Well, you’re here now and I made it clear last night that you are welcome to stay, whatever he decides to do.” Her eyes flashed for a moment but then it was gone. She grabbed a plate off the counter and started to lower it to the floor for me. My nose confirmed what I couldn’t yet see, it was bacon! I tore into it like a starving child; even the cat in me understood that this was a very special treat.

“Now, I don’t want you getting spoiled. Maverick told me you got tuna fish last night you lucky girl. I haven’t had a chance to go to the store yet today, but once I come back we are going to put you on a regimen of proper kitty food, so don’t get used to it.”

I ate my bacon with gusto, and after I was finished I was left with the uncontrollable urge to clean myself. I washed my whiskers and face with diligence, and spent the next half hour licking my entire body. It sounds gross and trust me it is. Every once in a while in the back of my mind I was like “Eeeeww, you’re eating hair you know!” But I couldn’t bring myself to stop. It’s over when it’s over, and that’s just it. My grooming finished for the moment, I went back to the living room to find Maverick in the same spot I left him. Determined to get a reaction this time, I pounced into his lap without warning, causing him to toss orange juice all over the living room. With a large splat I was soaking in orange juice, and reconsidering whether this had been a good idea. He narrowed his eyes at me but couldn’t exactly bring himself to yell, and once he saw me covered in orange juice he began to laugh.

“What are you doing Maya? Do you see what you just did? I’ve been working on this drawing all morning.” He pointed to the soggy page in front of him. It was the picture from last night, smoothed out so most of the wrinkles were gone. He had added more detail since I’d seen it last, and the whole piece had kind of an ethereal quality. It was a sketch of me in pencil, with very dramatic shadowing. The cool part about it was that only my eyes and the dress I was wearing were in color, making the brilliant green jump right out of the page. As I stared into my own green eyes I felt a pang of sadness. Would I ever become myself again? I felt even worse that it had been me that ruined his work, and that he would have to start over.

“Oh well, it’s only a doodle.” He crushed it up like he had last night and threw it into the trash. It felt like a little part of me went with it. He grabbed a towel and soaked up the rest of the orange juice and took a look at me and laughed again. “You’re gonna need some help with that aren’t you? Come on then.”

He scooped me up in the towel and brought me into the bathroom. He sprayed me off in the tub but I was yowling and spitting the entire time. I did not like water, and I assume water probably wouldn’t like me if it had a personality. I know if I was a liquid I wouldn’t want cats spitting in me all the time. I wouldn’t stand for the hair dryer; the noise put me in a perpetual state of panic. He tried to chase me around in the bathroom with it before giving a sigh of defeat and letting me out the back door.

It was a Saturday, which gave me a few days to fix this mess before more people would notice I was missing, like my boss, or the various school officials that seem more interested in truancy than quality teaching methods. It also meant that Arthur was off today, and now would be the perfect time to spy on him.

Hmmm, are we sure this is a good idea? Arthur said he would kill me if he caught me skulking about the house, and after last night I wouldn’t put it past him, that’s for sure.

I decided that I didn’t care if he found out or not, what was the alternative, spend the rest of my life as a cat? Mavericks’ cat? I would only live like 15 years, and that would be just enough to watch him get older, get married to someone else, have children-

Stop it Faylinn. You aren’t going to live the rest of your life as a cat. Arthur said there was a way of reversing the change. I just need to find out what it is.

I snuck around the corner of the house, determined not to be discovered. When I was a kid, I had a pet hedgehog named Spike, so original I know. He would always get out of his cage and climb under the house and get into the crawlspace. I knew from personal experience that there was a screen under the deck that led to this crawlspace, which in turn could lead me into the house. A cat is a bit bigger than a hedgehog but I knew it could be done. I was heading for that corner of the house when a push broom dropped a few inches ahead of me.

“Hello Faylinn.”

I didn’t have to look up to know who it was. I felt so stupid. Coming back the very next day?! Of course he would be on the lookout for me. And now he was going to kill me, probably in the worst way.

“Have a nice night Faylinn? I was shocked that you managed to get back here so quickly. Maybe a cat is a more fitting form for you, it seems to have served you well. Unfortunately none of that matters, because I still have a job to do, and you are not going to get in my way.”

I braced myself for the blow that was sure to come, but it was interrupted by the last person I was expecting to see.

“What are you doing to that cat?”

Marie! Thank God!

I ran behind her and hid from him, I wasn’t sure if he would still kill me in front of her or not.

“I was just trying to shoo it away, it’s some kind of stray and I don’t want it to come around here looking for handouts.”

Marie did not seem convinced. “Have you seen Faylinn today? We were supposed to meet at the park at noon, but she never showed up. Is she sick?”

Arthur made a big show of sweeping the driveway, taking his time before he answered. He looked right at me as he spoke, drilling into me with surprising ferocity.

“Nope. She wasn’t in her room this morning, and she didn’t come down for breakfast. I assumed she was with you on one of your many . . . escapades.”

He spit out the last word, as if it tasted foul.

Marie was undeterred. “But her car is gone. She never drives anywhere, you know that better than anyone. You are always giving her rides to school.”

Suddenly Arthurs’ calm exterior evaporated. “Look,” he seethed, “I don’t know where your stupid little friend has gone and frankly I don’t care. She has hated me from the beginning and I feel much the same way.”

Marie looked absolutely shocked by his outburst, but he paid her no heed. “Just get outta here and stop asking stupid questions. I’m sure she’ll come rolling in sometime, much to my dismay.” After that he said no more, and continued his deliberate sweep of the driveway. She opened and closed her mouth a few times like she wanted to say more but the murderous look on his face kept her quiet. She turned to leave, but thought better of it and picked me up in her arms as she went. I clung to her and hid my face, and she shushed me quietly.

“It’s okay baby. I won’t let that ass wipe hurt you.” She glared in the direction of my house and Arthur was still outside, glaring right back. It was times like these that I wished I could speak with my mind. I tried to make eye contact but she was looking ahead of her down the street. As much as it pained me I needed her to look at me. I dug my claws into her arm and she shrieked in surprise. She glanced down at me and I meowed as loud as I could.
“What is it? You don’t want to go back there do you?” I did the only thing I could think of that would make her understand, I shook my head. She stopped and stared at me, probably trying to convince herself she’d imagined it. This was hopeless. I jumped out of her hands and ran towards Maverick’s yard.

“Come back kitty! You need to stop trespassing, it’s gonna get you in trouble!”

I ignored her protests, in fact I wanted her to come in to Maverick’s yard so that she would know where to find me. I scratched on the back door until Maverick’s face appeared on the other side of the curtains. He opened the slider as soon as Marie came jogging around the side of the house.

“Hey Maverick! Is this your cat? I thought your dad hated animals?”

How does she know more about his family than I do? I’m his neighbor for Gods sake!
“Yeah. My mom finally . . . convinced my dad to let me keep one.”

If only she knew what Mindy went through just to see her son happy.

“Her name is Maya if you’re curious. I found her last night. I was getting a drink when I heard something running out on the deck and there she was. I think she’s a stray, but she looks too nice don’t you think?”

“Definitely. Now that I know it’s your cat I should let you know that that guy Arthur over there almost smashed her to bits with his push broom.”

“What! That guy has been nothing but a jerk ever since he moved in. I hear you and Faylinn complain about him all the time.”

“Meow!” I shouted when I heard him say my name. They both turned to look at me, puzzled.

“Well, I think I’ll just say a little something to this guy.” Maverick walked down to the fence that separated our yards from each other and Marie and I followed. He was still out there, I mean gosh how long does it take to sweep a driveway?

“Hey there Mr. Wiles, can you maybe be a little nicer to my cat Maya? She’s not a nuisance to anyone. If you hurt her-“

“You’ll what? Complain to mommy so she can get a few more bruises huh?”

There was a stillness that settled over us, and I could see Maverick’s jaw clench awfully tight. Marie looked shocked first, then embarrassed, as if she had walked in on something she shouldn’t have seen.

Leave it to Arthur to poke the bear.

“Look mister, if you want to be a sinister jackass that’s your problem. When it comes over to my side of the fence though, now we have a problem. Leave my family and my cat alone or I’ll call the police.”

Maverick turned to leave it at that, but as always Arthur had to twist the knife a bit more.

“So you’ll call the police because I threaten your cat, but you won’t call the cops on your pig of a father that knocks you both around? Sounds pretty hypocritical to me. Just keep her in your own yard and there’s no problem.”

He didn’t dignify Arthur with a response and kept walking, though I knew he was incredibly angry. I looked over my shoulder and hissed at Arthur, but he just he spit at me. As I walked up to the porch I heard the two of them talking on the stoop.

“He is such a dickwad! I asked him about Faylinn today and he was acting all shady, like he killed her and dumped her body somewhere. Have you seen her? She never dodges me like that, I’m kind of afraid something has happened to her.”

“The last time I saw her was last night when I saw her climb out the window and get in her car. She left right after whats his face.”

He saw me?!

“But her car isn’t here still. What if he did kill her . . .” The two of them looked across the way as he walked up the porch steps. Suddenly it seemed that the joke she just made could be all too serious. I mewled pathetically, trying to get them to understand.

Come on guys put it together! Faylinn disappears and suddenly a cat with the same eyes and the same hair color as Faylinn shows up the very same night? And you call yourselves fantasy enthusiasts.

“What is it Maya? Are you hungry? Come on lets take her in and get her some food. My mom just came back from the store.”

There was no discussion of what Arthur had said to us about Mavericks father. That’s what I love about Marie, she knows when to leave things alone.

"I'm sure he didnn't kill her. She probably is much closer than we think."

I sighed inwardly as they carried me inside. No one was ever going to figure this out. I was on my own.