As I sat there sipping on my beer and staring at the ceiling, my cat jumped up on the keyboard and starts typing. “What the f***?!” I yelled as she then proceeded to type in all sorts of random letters until it said “The End.” Then she turned off her computer. I got pissed that she had just ruined one of my favourite games. I went over to turn her off, but when I opened the door, I saw a message saying: “You have been killed by a cat.”
But then I realized that it wasn’t my cat that had killed me. It was something else, something lurking in the shadows of the old mansion I had been wandering around in.
I tried to figure out what was going on and found myself wandering around the mansion, looking for clues about how to get out. But every time I thought I was close to finding an exit, I was met with another dead end.
As I walked down a dark hallway, I heard a loud noise behind me. When I turned around, I saw a man standing there. He looked like he was in his thirties or so. His face seemed familiar somehow, but I couldn’t quite place him.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m your brother,” he replied. “We look exactly alike.”
He walked closer to me and started examining my body.
“I see we both have six fingers on each hand,” he noted.
Then he pulled out a gun from his pocket and pointed it at my head.
“What’s this?” he asked. “A secret room?”
He fired two shots into the wall, where the sound echoed throughout the house.
“There’s no such thing as ghosts!” he shouted. “This is all in your mind! You’re crazy!”
But I knew that there were ghosts in this house. I could feel them all around me, watching and waiting for the right moment to strike.
I ran after him, but I didn’t know which way to go. There were too many doors leading everywhere. It wasn’t very clear. Eventually, I came across a door that led outside. As I stepped outside, I realised it was nighttime, and there wasn’t anything around except for the stars above me. The only sounds I could hear were crickets chirping and the wind blowing through the trees.
Suddenly, I felt something grab onto my leg. At first, I thought it might be a snake, but when I looked down, I saw a huge cat glaring up at me. Its eyes glowed red in the moonlight.
“Help me,” the cat growled.
It let go of my leg and disappeared into the darkness. I followed its trail and found it lying dead on the ground. A pool of blood surrounded it. I checked the cat’s pulse and found that it was gone. I panicked and began running back to the house. But before I could reach it, I heard a loud bang coming from inside. Then I saw a bright flash of light. Everything went black, and I woke up.
“That’s not a dream,” I muttered as I got out of bed.
I took a shower and brushed my teeth. I wanted to get dressed but didn’t feel like putting on any clothes, so I just threw on a pair of sweatpants and walked downstairs. My cat was sitting next to the kitchen table, eating some food.
“Why did you do that?” I asked her as she continued to eat. “I don’t understand why you would kill yourself.”
She stopped chewing and looked at me with sad eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “But it’s time for us to say goodbye.”
Then she lay down on the floor and closed her eyes. She never moved again.
I stared at her body for several minutes until I finally lost it and cried my heart out right there in the middle of the kitchen.
I spent the rest of the day watching TV and drinking beer while trying to forget about what had happened earlier that morning. But no matter how much I tried to distract myself, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. The air felt heavy and oppressive, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched.
When I finished my second beer, I decided to take a nap. But when I went upstairs, I noticed the smell of burning flesh. It smelled like someone had burned bacon in my kitchen. I searched every corner of the room but couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. When I returned downstairs, I found my cat lying on the floor in the same spot where she had died.
“You can’t stay here anymore,” I told her. “You have to leave now.”
I grabbed her by the tail and dragged her outside into the backyard. As soon as I released her, she jumped up on top of the shed and scratched out “The End.”
“No!” I yelled. “Not again!”
I tried to pull her down, but she disappeared into thin air. I was alone in the backyard, surrounded by the dark shadows of the night.
I realized that I had to find a way to escape this nightmare. I ran back into the house, searching for any clues that might help me. But every room I entered was empty and silent, as if the house itself was mocking me.
As I wandered through the dark corridors, I heard a voice whispering in my ear. It was my cat, speaking to me from the beyond.
“You can’t escape me,” she said. “I am the ghost of this house, and I will haunt you until the day you die.”
I ran as fast as I could, trying to get away from her. But no matter how far I went, she was always one step ahead of me. I could hear her footsteps behind me, and I knew that she was coming for me.
Finally, I reached the front door of the house and threw it open. I ran outside into the night, hoping to find safety in the open air. But as I ran down the street, I heard a loud crash behind me. I turned around and saw the old mansion collapsing in on itself, engulfed in flames.
I knew then that I would never be free of her. She would haunt me forever, chasing me through the shadows of my own mind.
“The end,” she whispered in my ear.
And I knew that she was right. There was no escape from this horror. I was trapped in her nightmare, and I would never wake up.
- Arunavo Ray