Clowders

by Vanessa Morgan

  He remembered a true story from a convent in France, during the middle ages, where one of the nuns inexplicably started to meow like a cat, soon leading to the other nuns in the convent also meowing. Eventually, all the nuns would meow together for a period of time every day, leaving the surrounding community astonished.

  Aidan pondered for a moment and said, “Okay. I believe you.”

  “You do?” She sounded surprised.

  “Yes, I do believe you're feeling something strange around here.” He tried to be as understanding as possible. “It's okay to be influenced by the superstition of others. But that's all it is – superstition. And I get it. When you hear something often enough, it becomes your reality. And you probably saw hints of the supernatural all over town, which made it worse. It's understandable to start doubting what's real in such a situation.”

  “So you think I'm impressionable? Great.” Though the words were addressed at Aidan, she just whispered them to herself, her gaze turned away.

  “Aidan, listen to me for a second.”

  What was the point of listening if she always repeated the same thing?

  He listened anyway.

  “What I'm trying to tell you is...” She paused.

  “Yes?”

  “I think there's something really wrong here.”

  “I agree,” Aidan said. “People in Clervaux are superstitious. They're weird.”

  “It's more than that. I believe there's a presence in the house, in this town,” she said. “We have to get Eleonore out of here. We have to find a way.”

  He almost scoffed at her reasoning. “Imagine that I did indeed want to leave right now... Without any money there is nowhere we can go.”

  “We could take the train. Stay in a hotel somewhere,” Jess said. Her voice quaked. “It's getting worse. There's something wrong, Aidan. I know there's something wrong.”

  “We don't have the money for a hotel, Jess. We barely have the money to eat.”

  “What about your friends and family? You know people all over Europe. Couldn't Eleonore and I stay with one of them, just for a while?”

  He shrugged. His wife was right. Jess and Eleonore could indeed stay with one of his friends. Except, he didn't say it out loud. He couldn't say it out loud.

  “Let's go to sleep,” he ordered. “We'll talk about it another time. I'm too tired.”

  ***

  Jess was trying to wake Aidan up in the middle of the night. It was probably a false alarm, as usual, so he decided not to give it too much attention and fell asleep again. But Jess kept tugging at his shoulder, and he noticed from the tone of her voice that she was getting angry. “What is it?”

  “I believe Eleonore is on the street,” she said. “I heard her calling Avalon outside. We should go now.”

  That remark was enough to get Aidan out of bed and on his feet in under a second. He grabbed the bathrobe that was hanging on the back of the door, put it on, and immediately went into the hallway where he found the door to the common parts of the building wide open. The front door downstairs was also unlocked.

  Eleonore was indeed sitting on the street. She had put some of Avalon's favorite food into a bowl and was calling his name.

  Does my daughter ever sleep at night?

  “Eleonore, come back inside,” he ordered.

  “You shouldn't be out there by yourself,” Jess said, and she knelt down beside her.

  “But I'm trying to lure Avalon back in with the chicken,” Eleonore answered. “I thought it was better if we put it outside so he could see it.”

  “You're a smart girl, Eleonore, but you know you're not allowed to do that by yourself,” Aidan said. “Come on, let's get you back inside.”

  “Aidan...” Jess' voice trailed away.

  He looked at his wife. Her eyes were wide in panic. He followed her gaze, but the trees at which she seemed to look were still, and no matter how hard he tried, Aidan didn't spot any shifting shadows behind the vegetation.

  But then he saw what she was looking at. A shadow lurked behind one of the bushes. It was too dark to see what it was, but it had glistening eyes and was larger than a cat. He didn't dare look too long in its direction in case it rendered them more vulnerable to attack.

  “Do you believe me now?” Jess half-whispered.

  Aidan swallowed the lump in his throat. Before he had the chance to ponder what this creature might be, Jess had already taken Eleonore by the hand, tugging her back toward their apartment.

  When Eleonore bent down to pick up the food bowl, the beast jumped from behind its hiding place and attacked her. Eleonore screamed her lungs out, her arms waving every which way as the animal bit her in an attempt to get to the bowl of food that she was holding onto for dear life.

  “Let go of the food, Eleonore!” Aidan shouted.

  “No, it's Avalon's!”

  Aidan managed to push it out of her hand, and as soon as she let go, they sprinted toward the front door as fast as they could.

  As they looked back through the window, Aidan could see that the creature that attacked them was a wolf. They had been extinct in this part of Europe, but he heard that over the last couple of years they had been back in small numbers.

  At least it wasn't a monster.

  ***

  Jess put on a pair of yoga pants and a black sweater and wrapped Eleonore in a blanket, making sure not to touch her wounded arm. Aidan hefted his daughter up and stepped outside.

  Apart from the cats, not a soul was on the streets in Clervaux, not even the tourists, which was understandable considering there wasn't a single club or night bar in the town.

  Jess fished the car keys out of her purse and unlocked the doors, while her husband put Eleonore down next to the car. When she finally slid behind the wheel, she sat quietly for a moment while Aidan helped their little girl into the car seat. When he got in, she started the car and slowly rolled out of the parking lot and onto the street.

  Half an hour later, they arrived in the nearby city of Wiltz, in front of a hospital with a pink façade. Eleonore had already fallen asleep in the backseat, so Aidan hefted her up and brought her inside, where he took a seat in the waiting area of the urgent care section, with Eleonore still on his lap.

  After registering at the front desk, Jess joined them in the waiting-room, which, in spite of its cheerful Egyptian blue seats and stuffy temperature, felt nothing but cold. Jess took a seat next to Aidan and Eleonore and picked up an old copy of the magazine Ciné Télé Revue. Not only was everything written in French, she quickly realized she didn't know any of the local “celebs.” Even the Belgian queen, whose best and worst outfits were rated, was unknown to her.

  Across the room, a little boy with jet black hair sat next to his father, munching on a cake, while making loud smacking noises. His mother was in front of him, scrolling through her phone. A 14-year-old boy wearing a flower-patterned shirt, paced up and down, holding a giggling baby in his arms. Next to Jess, a woman in her fifties was on her cell phone, informing a family member that her husband had tried to commit suicide and was now in a coma. “We'll probably stay the night, but I'll call you,” she said into her phone.

  “Eleonore Burns?”

  A nurse clutched a clipboard against her chest, her free hand holding open the heavy door that led to their assigned examining room. Jess tossed her Ciné Télé Revue onto the pile of other magazines, gathered her purse, and tried to wake Eleonore up by tickling her leg and talking to her. When that didn't work, she held a bag of candy under her daughter's nose. The smell was a good enough incentive for her to open her eyes.

  Jess motioned for Eleonore to get up. “Come on, E. It's your turn.”

  Eleonore reluctantly pushed herself from her father's lap and took Jess' hand.

  “Dr. Schmitz will be with you in a few minutes,” the nurse said, as she showed them into the examination room.

  Jess flashed the nurse a terse smile and stepped through the door, followed by Aidan. Eleonore let go
of her mother's hand when Jess tried to drag her along.

  The examination room was even stuffier than the waiting area. Jess took a seat while Aidan plopped Eleonore on a padded examination table. Her attention was immediately drawn to the doctor that walked into the room.

  “Hi, folks. Well, first things first, I'm Dr. Schmitz.” He extended a hand to both Jess and Aidan before turning his attention to the little girl sitting on his table. “Hi, Eleonore,” he said. “How are you feeling today?”

  “Sleepy.”

  “What happened?” Dr. Schmitz asked, looking first at Eleonore and then turning his gaze to Jess and Aidan.

  “Well...” Eleonore hesitated. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and bit down on it before replying. “A wolf bit me in the arm.”

  “You want to tell me how that happened, princess?” Dr. Schmitz asked Eleonore.

  When she didn't reply, he tried again. “Where and when did the wolf attack you?”

  “Tonight. Just before we arrived here. In front of our house,” Eleonore said, her voice a little whiny.

  “What were you doing outside so late?”

  “Feeding my cat.”

  “And were your parents with you?”

  Eleonore shook her head in denial.

  Dr. Schmitz furrowed his eyebrows at Jess and Aidan. The look he shot them was one of reproach. Jess was sure he must be wondering how an animal could have attacked this little girl in the middle of the night.

  “So,” he said. “Let's see what we can do.”

  Dr. Schmitz rose to his feet and went to his cabinet where he prepared several injection needles. “I'll be giving your daughter shots against rabies and tetanus,” he explained.

  Eleonore didn't utter a sound while the doctor administered the shots. However, a single tear rolled over her cheek when the first needle entered her arm.

  Dr. Schmitz went back to his desk where he wrote something on a prescription form, which he then handed over to Jess. “Your daughter was lucky. The wound isn't deep,” he said. “If she starts getting a fever in the next few days, or if the wound becomes infected, you'll need to see a doctor straight away.”

  Jess nodded in agreement. “We will,” she said. “Thanks again for seeing us.”

  When they got out of the doctor's office a few minutes later, Aidan kneeled down in front of Eleonore. “So what did we learn today, E?”

  “That I can't go out alone to give Avalon food at night,” Eleonore answered in a timid voice, her head bowed.

  “That's correct. And we also learned there is no such thing as monsters, just wild, hungry animals that you shouldn't feed.” Aidan looked from Eleonore to Jess, as the message was directed to her as well.

  Judging by her face, Jess didn't like the defeat.

  Aidan rose back to his feet. “I'll be changing the locks on all the doors and windows tomorrow,” he told his wife. “That'll be safer.”

  “Thank you,” Jess said. “You know, I could have sworn I saw something else in the shape of that wolf.”

  “I know. For half a second I doubted my own vision,” Aidan admitted. “Let's forget about it from now on, okay?”

  As usual, Jess agreed.

  CHAPTER 20

  As if she'd forgotten about her nighttime adventures, Eleonore came busting into her parents' bedroom around seven o'clock in the morning, landed on the bed, and jumped up and down. “It's today! It's today!” she shouted. She could hardly contain her excitement.

  Aidan turned on his back and stretched. What day was it? Oh, yes. Saturday. No sleeping in allowed. Not with a kid running around the apartment.

  This weekend, Clervaux celebrated La Fête des Chats. Jess and Eleonore had told him about the carnival, the feline dressing-up, and the ghost tour. Usually, he would be looking forward to this type of family activity. Today, however, considering he and Jess were on the verge of breakup, it bothered him they had to go together and pretend they were a happy family.

  “It's today!” Eleonore shouted again, this time louder than before. “It's time to wake up! The cats are waiting.”

  ***

  The center of Clervaux was buzzing with day-trippers from all over Europe, and a festive atmosphere prevailed. Lorenza heard a lot of Dutch in the streets, but also French, English, and German. Everywhere people were disguised as cats. The children were getting makeup and had fun on the merry-go-round. The stalls on the town square and in the streets sold all sorts of trinkets with cat drawings and photos: printed T-shirts, mugs, lighters, postcards, magazines, books, figurines. Even the shop windows bore signs of the cat: cat magazines at the stationery's, dietary kibble at the pharmacist's, and Pinot Meow at the wine merchant.

  Lorenza tried to focus on her job of promoting awareness of the cat shelter for which she fostered. She had a little booth on the main square where visitors could stop by to ask information, look at pictures of the shelter pets, and, hopefully, make a donation or adopt one of the homeless cats currently in her possession. She also tried to persuade each passerby to purchase a gift card at the local pet store, which she could then redeem afterward to buy food for both the strays in town and the foster cats at her place. Though most of the gift cards were between one and 20 euros, they quickly added up. Thanks to the carnival, she usually managed to assemble more than two-thirds of the food and money needed to provide for the cats in the year ahead.

  Maybe this act of helping out the cats would spare her somehow. At least, she hoped so, although she also feared that having been at the place of the accident and having an emotional attachment to Aidan would probably prove fatal for her. Meanwhile, she tried to focus on the joys that the festivities brought, and she hoped it wouldn't be the last time she would experience them.

  Though it was morning, she was already on her third glass of Battin Extra. When she was a teenager, she'd thought adults were insane for drinking beer. Today she welcomed the extra amount of alcohol. She had many reasons for not being sober.

  As soon as she spotted Aidan in the crowd, she knew she would need more than four glasses. His wife and kid were with him. His gorgeous wife held Aidan's hand firmly in hers and looked at him lovingly.

  Lorenza felt a pang of jealousy go through her. Or was it anger. Yes, it was definitely anger. The sweet sense of victory she had felt over the past few days, melted away in a mere heartbeat of space. By seeing the competition, all those nagging black feelings she had worked so hard to bury, came flooding back. She once more felt what it was like to have been cheated on and remembered how ugly and insignificant she felt whenever her past boyfriends chose another girl whom they believed was better than her. It didn't matter that she now knew how these other girls were using mind tricks or that Aidan had already kissed her. It still hurt to think that he could easily replace her if she didn't play her cards well.

  Not anymore, Lorenza thought, and she put up her confident face. She hadn't been a victim in a long time, and she wouldn't let that feeling overwhelm her once again. Lorenza was a winner now. She was hell-bent on keeping Aidan's attention. He didn't deserve his wife's love anyway.

  ***

  Jess squeezed through the sea of people, letting her nose lead her to the stalls of carnival food. Since she'd recognized Lorenza's ridiculously loud cackle from within the crowd, she'd taken Aidan's hand in hers as a sign of possession. Aidan, however, had taken it as a sign of forgiveness and had reacted with tenderness. To the outside world, they looked like a worry-free, happy family. For a moment, she even tricked herself into thinking that they still were a tight unit and that they would always be there for each other, no matter what. She surprised herself with how skilled she was at faking it, but half a second later, the pain of betrayal seared through her guts, and she could barely hold her tears.

  Eleonore, all dressed-up as a cat, was jumping around by their side squealing with delight: “I love the cat fair!”

  “Why do you like it, E?” Jess asked.

  “Because I get to wear a glowing collar. It's fun
.”

  “What else do you like about the cat fair?”

  Eleonore had to think. “Dressing up and getting candy.”

  “You like candy like this?” Jess asked. They stopped to look at a busy stall. The vendor wore a faux fur costume, including a sewn-on tail. He smiled eagerly, mentally ordering her to make a purchase. Rows and rows of tiny candy jars lined the table top, each one decorated with glitter and cat gems. Eleonore picked up each one of them. Some lollipops on display were cat-shaped, with chocolate eyes, noses, and ears.

  Jess joined the queue, dug around in her purse, and exchanged a fistful of notes for one of the lollipops. “Have you ever bitten a cat before?”

  Eleonore looked as if her mom said something naughty. She smiled. “No!”

  “Well, you can now,” Jess said as she handed her daughter the lollipop. “Go ahead and bite an ear off.”

  Eleonore grabbed her treat and immediately took a large bite out of it. Jess was happy that her little girl was enjoying the carnival.

  As they made their way through the crowd, they passed a massive, inflatable black cat with glowing, orange eyes. Its head moved back and forth, and it looked as if it was ready to pounce.

  “Hey, Eleonore,” Aidan said. “Don't look to your right. I don't want you to get scared, but you have a giant cat next to you.”

  Aidan hoped his daughter would look up and jump, but instead her attention was drawn to several kids that were caressing a clowder of cats in front of the entrance of Hotel Koener. Eleonore immediately joined in the fun. “Oh, my gosh. They're beautiful. Oh, my gosh.” She lay down on the ground, next to the cats.