“You’re affectionate, huh?” I gave a watery laugh as the cat rubbed its face madly against my jaw, its purr vibrating into my chest.
Something rustled at the end of the garden, which seemed to startle it. Tiny claws dug into my chest for a second, making me wince, before the cat was leaping down and meowing madly. It raced for the open back door.
“No, you can’t go in—”
But it didn’t. It stopped dead at the doorway, mewing pitifully, again and again. It began to pace, back and forth, its tail lashing.
There was another rustle at the end of the garden, followed by a creak that sounded like the wooden fence. I glanced over but saw nothing in the darkness, then looked back at the cat.
Jet-black eyes looked back at me, big and mournful as it mewed at me again. I stared back, something like dread churning my stomach.
Those weren’t normal cat eyes. Cats didn’t have black eyes, did they? This wasn’t like when a cat was about to go into turbo mode and its pupils expanded impossibly wide. They were solid black. As black as its fur, if not even darker.
Another rustle, this one sounding closer. My breath caught, and I looked away from the cat again to stare into the garden, but it was too dark for me to see anything.
I jumped when the cat shot back towards me, meowing madly, before running back to the door. Then back to me. Back and forth between me and the door, but it never set foot over the threshold.
I stood up abruptly, my skin tingling. I needed to get inside. Was that what this cat was trying to tell me? Somehow? Was it… warning me?
My breaths were escaping me in panicked spurts, like my body was aware of something that my brain was still struggling to grasp.
Another rustle in the garden made me jump again. This one was closer. Louder. The cat’s tail bristled, puffing up. With one last pitiful look at me, it vanished into the darkness.
I took a step towards the back door, unwilling to take my eyes off the still darkness of the garden. Nothing was moving, but I could fucking hearsomethingmoving.Something was there. Close. Something I should have been able to see, but couldn’t.
I finally turned to run inside. Long, icy cold fingers wrapped round my ankle and yanked me off my feet before I could take a single step.