The Cat?

That morning, when my alarm woke me up, everything seemed normal. But something was off, and I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

Getting out of bed, putting on my slippers, and grabbing my robe, I headed to the kitchen to let out my dog. As I stood on the porch, the morning seemed extra chilly. A slight breeze rustled the leaves on the ground, and the stars seemed extra bright in the still, pitch-dark sky. I got the distinct feeling that I was not alone.

As I stood there, shifting my weight from foot to foot nervously while waiting for Peri to take care of her business, I looked all around. Hoping I wouldn’t find anything, I tried to see if there was anyone—or anything—watching me. But I couldn’t see anything in the darkness beyond the porch light.

Once Peri was done and we were back inside, I fed Peri and my cat, Jinx. I turned on the light above the sink and turned up the heat to ward off the chill of the morning. I made my coffee—it turned out just right this morning—and then started to get ready for the day.

As I did my hair and makeup, I felt as if I were in a fog, like I was moving in slow motion. I was unusually exhausted this morning, too, for some reason. It was unusually quiet in the house, too. Something just didn’t feel right, but I went on with my morning.

After getting ready, I sat on the couch and watched some TV like I normally did until it was time to leave for work. Normally, I would open the curtains before I left so my pets could look out the windows throughout the day, but something in my gut told me not to. I had the strange feeling that someone might be standing outside the window, staring back at me.

I was unsettled about going outside to get to my car, but I had to go to work. I knew I was overreacting. The scary movie I watched last night must really be playing on my mind. That had to be it. Right?

Grabbing my bags and snatching up my keys, I tried to calm my nerves. It was still eerily dark for that time of morning. Looking all around, I saw no one as I walked to my car. I laughed at myself with a big exhale of nerves.

Then—

SNAP!

Whipping my head around, I saw a black cat slinking around in the overgrown weeds in front of the garage, watching me as I unlocked my car.

Letting out a shaky breath, I threw my bags into my car and jumped in. I locked my doors behind me, just in case, and left for work.

I arrived early, like I always did, usually one of the first to arrive—but never the first. No one was there yet, and all the lights in the school were off. Deciding to wait in my car until some other people arrived, I looked at the time on my dashboard.

It said two o’clock in the morning.

Confused, I looked at my phone. The time said seven o’clock.

I sat there in confusion. I checked my phone again and watched as the time jumped back to two o’clock.

Even more confused, I put my car in drive and started to leave when I saw a black cat pacing back and forth in front of the main entrance of the building.

Getting that strange feeling of being watched again, I made my way home as quickly as I could, going far too much over the speed limit.

Pulling into my driveway, I put my car in park. I left my things in the car so I could try to get into the house quicker. As I put the key in the lock, I heard something behind me.

Jumping, I braced myself and gripped my pepper spray tighter. I turned around to find the same black cat from earlier.

Growling to myself in frustration, I turned to unlock my door.

But the key would not go into the lock.

The cat was now weaving in and out between my ankles. I was still trying to unlock my door when the cat jumped up onto the porch railing, staring at me so intently that its eyes seemed to do that glowing thing only animal eyes do. He was focused on my every move.

When I finally got my door open, the cat jumped down and dashed into my house so fast that it was as though he had timed it just right. It actually took me a minute to register what had just happened.

“Hey, get back here!” I yelled into the house.

As I entered the house, it was still dark, but the warm glow of the orange lights I had put up gave some light. Peri was barking, and I could hear Jinx hissing. Turning on the lights and going through the house, I couldn’t find the cat anywhere. Peri was now growling loudly, and Jinx was hiding somewhere.

Entering the hallway leading to the bathroom and bedroom, I turned on the light.

From behind me, I heard a deep voice say, “I finally have you alone.”

The scream that came out of me was horror-movie-worthy.

Spinning around, I aimlessly sprayed the pepper spray I still had in my hand—and missed completely.

Standing in front of me was a tall man. He was pale and well-dressed, wearing all black. His hair was long, smooth, and black as a... cat’s fur?

His eyes!

His eyes were the same as the cat I had kept seeing all morning.

“Who... who are you?” I asked sharply, trying to sound brave and failing miserably.

The man just tilted his head to the side, very cat-like, and kept staring at me. His same bright eyes did that shining thing and followed my every movement.

Peri came between us, growling and barking. The man slowly looked away from me and toward Peri and loudly hissed at her, causing Peri to hunker back and whimper.

It made me flinch, too.

I raised my hand to spray him in the eyes with the pepper spray, but he caught me by the wrist and slowly shook his head.

“Prrrrr... meow... brrr.”

Jinx, the traitor, was weaving through the stranger’s ankles.

While I was distracted by Jinx, he took the pepper spray from me with his other hand. I tried to pull away, but he moved in closer, backing me against the wall.

Then he smiled, revealing sharp canine teeth.

“Do you know how hard I’ve worked to get you alone? I almost had you earlier when you were leaving for your job.” He tilted his head to the other side. “I even changed the time to try and get you alone. Then, at your work, if you had just gotten out of your car and gone to the doors...”

He slowly shook his head as if disapproving of my decision.

He was so close now that I could feel his warm breath against my face, and his voice had a feline purr to it.

Trying to pull away, I found myself with nowhere to go as he stepped closer, leaving no space between us, my back pressed against the wall.

“Your morning routine was easy enough to learn.” I snapped my head up in shock. He said this so naturally that it made my blood run cold. “It was just about timing to get to you, but I just got tired of waiting.”

When he pulled back to look at me, that’s when I noticed his ears were pointed like a cat’s.

Shaking my head, trying to clear my thoughts, the only thing that came to mind was to knee him where it counts. Taking a deep breath, I counted down in my head.

3... 2... 1...

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

My alarm was blaring.

I sprang up, breathing heavily and covered in a cold sweat.

I grabbed my phone off my dresser and shut my alarm off. Still breathing heavily, I shook my head, trying to clear the grogginess. Sitting in bed for a minute, I tried to think of what I had watched, read, or eaten that could have caused such a crazy dream.

Getting out of bed, I headed to the kitchen to let Peri out for the morning.

But I heard something in there before I rounded the corner.

Slowly, I peeked around.

And there, on the table, sat the black cat from my dream.

He was smiling at me.

Those same eyes stared back at me, making my blood run cold