The Crazy Cat Lady: Part Two
This is part two of seven of a serialized horror story about Evelyn the neighbourhood crazy cat lady and her peculiar cat Mister.
Every town has folks who are a little bit odd, and regardless of their eccentricities, neighbours can’t help but talk about them. It was this type of persistent chatter that had captured the attention of a few of the neighbourhood boys in Evelyn’s cul-de-sac, one of them being the sticky-fingered Tommy Mattheson.
By all standards, Tommy was a fine kid, but he had the nasty habit that many young boys experience when growing up in tired small towns—boredom. As a handsome and charming kid, Tommy often got away with his thrill-seeking five-finger discounts at the local convenience store. Being the son of a police officer helped some, too.
For the past couple of months, the adults in the neighbourhood had been whispering about Evelyn Norris. Tommy’s gang of friends called her “the crazy cat lady,” and while the grown-ups looked down on the nickname, they too, used it during their hushed conversations.
Evelyn had a bit of a reputation. Folks considered her odd for never marrying and instead devoting her life to her cats. Her latest endeavours to care for the stray she called Mister had attracted some attention; there was only so much roadkill you could bring home before the neighbours started talking.
Rumours floated around that maybe the crazy cat lady had picked up a taxidermy habit. Tommy’s friends like to take it a step further and claim that she was pickling the dead animals or Frankenstein-ing them together into freakish creatures. The latter often made the girls at school squeamish, especially when Tommy revelled in all the gory details. He lived two houses down, so most of the kids believed him without question.
But tonight, while the rest of the cul-de-sac slept and Mister snored in the spare room, Tommy decided he would bring back some evidence of the crazy cat lady’s experiments to show off at school.
He tested Evelyn’s front door. Few people left their doors locked in Kitfield, so there was a good chance he could waltz right in and make himself at home as he’d done several times before. But this time it was locked.
Tommy puffed out a few obscenities and smacked his flashlight against his thigh; he didn’t like having to try hard to get what he wanted. Rounding the house and scaling the short fence, Tommy made his way to the crazy cat lady’s back door. This time, he was in luck; Evelyn had forgotten to set the lock before settling down for the night.
He pushed the back door open, stepped into Evelyn’s house, and began snooping around, looking for signs of all the roadkill the adults had been gossiping about.
It didn’t take long for Tommy to explore the single-level bungalow and find the spare room with all the deadbolts. It made sense to his rumour-filled mind that the monstrous treasure he was on the hunt for would be locked away. He checked up and down the hallway for signs of life. It was then that a bedroom door opened just enough for a tabby cat to poke its head out and take a peek at Tommy. He flicked the flashlight off and shooed the animal away before anyone inside the room could be awakened. With the cat gone and the house quiet, he returned his attention to the locked room.
One by one, Tommy unlocked the deadbolts. When the final bolt slid home, he pressed his fingers against the door, letting it swing open before stepping inside.
No moonlight shone through the windows, and even with his flashlight, Tommy couldn’t see much. He inched his sneakers further inside the room and sniffed the air; it smelled like old meat and cat piss. Tommy felt his stomach flop. He pinched his nose and tried not to taste the air.
The flashlight scanned the room as Tommy searched for treasure, finding nothing. He double-backed to some empty dishes, shining the light on them once again as his brain caught up with what he was seeing.
Bright yellow eyes reflected on the bottom of a large, metal mixing bowl. The sides of the bowl were coated in browning streaks, but the eyes cut through the grime. Tommy felt himself transfixed for a moment, unable to move or breathe. He was locked in Mister’s gaze, in the same way a mouse freezes before a lion.
Tommy could not understand the eyes reflecting up at him. By the time he managed to process that they meant he was not alone in the bedroom, Mister had made the first move.
Giant paws slammed into the teenager’s back, knocking the wind out of him and sending him down to the floor. Tommy rolled over and struggled to suck in a breath. Choking on empty lungs, he watched as a bear-sized cat pressed a paw down on his chest, pinning him in place. He could feel ribs pop and crack one by one as the weight of the monstrous animal crushed his sternum.
It was only when the cat tilted its head back and unhinged its jaws that Tommy realized this wasn’t a nightmare.
The commotion in the other room startled Evelyn awake. She pulled the comforter off the bed and instinctively slid into her slippers. The temperature in the house had dropped, making her worry that one of her babies might have gotten out.
Calling out to her three cats and Mister, Evelyn moved into the hall and turned the light on. In seconds, she spotted that the door to the spare room was ajar and the back door was wide open. Her stomach dropped. What if Mister had gotten out? What if he got hurt? She bolted to the door, panic beating in her chest.
Inside, Mister and her other cats were licking the meat off a dead boy’s body. The flesh tore layer by layer with their sandpaper tongues, exposing the white fat and pinkish muscle. The big cat gave Evelyn a Cheshire grin between slurps, purring hard enough that even the air seemed to rumble.
Relief flooded her system, and she slumped against the doorframe, thankful that her pets hadn’t wandered out for the night. Mister and the gang would make quick work of the kid. Evelyn figured the brat deserved it anyway; he must have broken in, how else could Mister have gotten hold of him?
But Evelyn was also curious. She had never fed Mister something alive. Years ago, before her mother had died, she had visited the city zoo and learned that the big cats preferred live chickens. Frozen was fine, but they had thrived on being able to pluck and destroy the poultry. She wondered if these same rules of nature applied to Mister, but Evelyn would have to wait and see.
Thanks for reading my first serialized story! I hope you enjoyed it. The next part/chapter will be out shortly, so be sure to subscribe so you are notified when the next part is published. If you enjoyed this story, please drop a comment or share it with your friends. It means a lot to me. <3