“You let us escape after it was your fault that Maori was captured!” I yell at her as she shrugs about ‘details.’ “What’s in the bag?” I grab it, aiming to look through it. And low and behold, in there are the papers Susan was telling me to get to help my tuxedo kitty.
The experiments may as well be written in gibberish with how much I understand them. And her journals, five of them to be specific. Thick bound leather, some having seen better days.
“I figured you’d be here. And it likely won’t be safe to be here later on. SO I decided to see if I could intercept and convince you to go to my place.” She grins coyly. She does that and still thinks I’ll get with her?
“I can take care of myself.”
My voice may not sound as confident as it feels as she eyes me up and down. “Are you sure about that, Cat? You can’t go home; you can’t go to your day job. You can’t even show up to HQ with the right stuff without my assistance. I don’t really think you have many options here. Come with me, and you can have Susan’s stuff to delve through as you please.” She had me right where she wanted me.
Chapter 21
Maori
I wake up, lying on the ground groggy. Feeling a cool breeze on my face.
“Were by the stream. I brought you here after you passed out.” I guess I needed to listen to my body’s needs more. “Maori, you can’t help your human if you’re working yourself to utter exhaustion each day.”
“There’s a bird I caught by you, so you can chow down on that.” Its insides are bloody. I feel slightly queasy looking at it first, while a more carnal instinct has me chomping at its bits. The internal struggle of whether I should or shouldn’t. It tasted off compared to what I was used to consuming. Buying huge bags of cat food on the regular was likely out of Cat’s budget, though.
“Feel better?” Tiger asks as I’m done with the meal. And while my stomach is sated, I still felt the slight need to purge.
“I guess.” I mutter, my stomach in a haze. Just avoid talking, and keep it down. I didn’t want to seem weak to the other creatures out here by not keeping down a meal.
“You’ll get used to it.” He nods. As I couldn’t imagine doing so, but I guess when in Rome. “It gets easier. I’m not sure if you remember when we lived together, but I was an indoor cat as well.” That part was fuzzy; we didn’t exactly warm up then. Only tolerating each other when we had to. Sometimes partaking in cat games.
I don’t want to get used to it. I want to plan for when I’m spending my nights curled up next to Cat again. “What about you see if Cat could try to fix you as well?” Tiger frowns: it does not look like something his emerald eyes want to entertain.
“I don’t think I could leave here. I feel like this is where I belong.” That would be sad to evidently eventually have to part ways. Maybe he would change his mind in time. I deny saying more on that, though. I didn’t need to be on the outs with the only other creature of my type.
I couldn’t see really belonging here. But to each their own. The fish in the stream are bigger than any I’ve ever seen. They were the size of nearly two Charming’s. A thought occurs to me. Was Susan part of an organization? Even with her out of the picture, would this still go on? I couldn’t shake off the possibility. Memories begging to let themselves be known that are in a clouded fog. Fuck those drugs. I said she was the brains of the operation, after all. I couldn’t voice it aloud, though, because who could I really trust out here?
“What do you do to pass the time out here?” I look at the sky, it is now pink, orange, and yellow ombre lighting up the sky.
“Chase things. Sleep. Typical life, except monsterized. I think if you damaged a bird’s wings without killing it, that could be a good thing to bring Cat.” Hopefully, she could find the information on the concoction that made me this way so I could change back. And change Tiger back if he was willing.
Chapter 22
Cat
The ride made to Raven’s place is made in complete silence. Her eyes slit at me every so often, looking in distaste of me reading Susan’s journals. Jealousy, maybe? Unlikely as she hardly knew me.
“Finding anything interesting in those?” I shrug, brushing off her move of trying to make some light conversation to pass the time. I really didn’t want much to do with her after the Maori situation. “The sky is purple.”
“Neat.” I answer without really paying much attention as she groans in annoyance. Muttering things about how I wasn’t listening.
“Cat. What’s the plan?”
“The plan is to get the information to HQ tomorrow afternoon along with one of the species from the wooded area so I can be let back. Then apologize to my game store job, and see if HQ can help fudge papers for me on that.” There had to at least be one doctor on staff. Several actually. During these missions, sometimes someone would get hurt, and due to the circumstances and unexplainable conditions, it was better to have their own.
“I’m going with you.” She tells me, not really offering me an opinion on the matter. “I have more pull than a traitor at the moment, so it would be better for me to go with you.” Ha. She’s one to talk shit. They probably wouldn’t have seen me as a traitor if she didn’t give them the info to label me as one.
“How did you come across them?” I don’t know why I bother asking, as she makes a habit of lying about everything anyway. I guess I was just passing the time.
“That’s a story for another day.” So cryptic about it.
She’s pulling up to an apartment. It a nicer one than I would have expected it to be with what we talked about. “Are you even taking college classes?” I pique an eyebrow at her.
She just shakes her head, getting ready to unlock the door. We make our way into the apartment; it’s sparse. Looking barely lived in. A bunch of pictures on the floor of her, a husband, two kids. “Was anything you told me the truth? Who are these people?” I don’t realize that my tone is accusatory until it’s too late, seeing by the tears in her eyes.
I almost feel bad about interrogating the questions of the placebo family. Were they real? Did something happen to them, or was it just another complex lie that was Raven? My heart yearns to one day have something like that, but I’m not completely sure it’s in the cards. I’m troubled with a capital T. I was sweet but wasn’t one to let shit slide.
“I’ll explain that when you someday think I’m capable of telling the truth.” She snaps, indicating I hit a rough spot. “I’m going to bed; when you get tired, you can crash on the couch; there are extra blankets in the linen closet.” She goes into what’s presumably her room, slamming the door shut. I must have hit a chord there.
“I think you upset her, mommy.” Charming notes, scratching at the walls of the bubble in the bookbag to be set free.
“Human relationships are complicated Charming.” I take him out of the bag so he can roam. Feeling slightly bad as I look into the kitchen and see she set up a makeshift litter box for Charming, expecting to have to shelter me here. This was no doubt not going the way she intended it to. She couldn’t expect me to snuggle her and make love to her after everything?
“She seems nice.” He runs over to where food is set out and water. Because Raven trying to pull a fresh start with me was by taking care of the kitten butt. We could talk things out after the meeting with HQ when they accepted me back. I say when because I didn’t want to stress about dealing with the consequences of not being accepted back.
It must be easy to be a carefree kitten.
“She helped us go to Maori and stuff.” His young brain is not getting the concept that she started the issue to begin with. “She-” He stops mid-sentence tasting the food. “This isn’t the same as the stuff you have at home, mommy. But it is good. Not as good as what you eat.” Yes, Charming eating human food. While it was cute, and I was one to spoil him too much, it was a habit I should break sooner rather than later. Maori was easy in that aspect; her nose turned up every time a human food crossed her path. Or in ot
her cases like blueberries, they got swatted around. When I switched couches, I found a pleasant surprise stash of smashed blueberries and Maori nowhere to be seen.
Seeing as I have nothing better to do, I try to wrap some sense around the experiments that look like gibberish, flipping and reading through the pages of her journals. Who really was the woman that I loved?
November 15th,2016
Dear Diary,
It’s weird spending my nights alone after being so used to having someone curled up in my arms, or vise versa. It just feels empty. I spend most of my nights on the couch, so I don’t have to be reminded of that pain. That just reminds me I’m not as young as I used to be, though.
They keep promising me some type of revenge, but it never happens. Having me run around like their Arab lat, to just deal with this. I knew I needed to just practice patience better, but it’s so hard. Hiding while seeing your parent’s lives be ripped away at the seams. Maybe if I made a move or wasn’t stuck there, I could have done something. Doubtful, considering I was only six at the time.
Susan
xxXxx
November 30th,2016
Dear Diary,
They had me start testing on lab rats to see how the procedures are going. Trying to get past my bais on that, knowing it’s for the greater good. The first one was horrific. He bloated up like a balloon and then popped. Rat intestines everywhere. And let me tell you, that is a bitch to get out of your hair. Would not recommend it.
I feel gross and almost like I need to shave my head. Bye.
Susan
xxXxx
October 29th,2018
Dear Diary,
I broke down today. Had a moment of weakness. Called Cat to tell her Happy Birthday, then hung up as soon as she answered the phone. I had too many drinks after a failed experiment and called her.
In between entries being measurements for her experiments. Or a good estimate of it anyways, I knew how. Somehow my eyes slipped shut to a lovely abyss.
“Cat, can you hear me?” I hear a voice intruding upon my dreams. Susan again. I thought the last time would be the last I saw of her.
“What are you doing here?” I try to clear my eyes, thinking she couldn’t be here. At least not like this in full form, after her body was torn to shreds.
“Checking on my cute little fugitive.” She smiles, giving me a wave. God, first tells me to move on, then enters my dreams like she owns them. How the hell was I supposed to let her go with all that? “Did you find the stuff?”
“Eventually.”
“Eventually?” She repeats, not seeming completely satisfied with that answer.
“Raven beat me there.” Her face falls. “She tried to blackmail me into getting it from her, but that resort wasn’t one I was willing to walk. So I found other means to get it.”
“That bitch.” She shakes her head at the situation. “Should have never let that conniving minx around.”
I raise a bemused eyebrow at Susan. She wasn’t one to like getting beat at her own game. “Jealous much?” A thought that shouldn’t be entertained, as Susan was dead. A frown pulling up at the corner of my lips. With these meetings, it was easy to forget such fine details.
How much did I really know about Raven, though? Other than tidbits of information from her that may or may not be true.
“I just don’t want you trusting someone else so easily. You practically wear your heart on your sleeve when you have interest in another human.”
No. Impossible. “Lies.” I shove her away. Not needing to get life advice from the one who ditched me the day of my proposal.
She pulls right back, though. Proving she’s more than just a figment. “Please don’t push me away, Cat.” Terror in her eyes, such a foreign reaction to being drawn on her face. “Let me spend my last few moments here before I have to go back there.”
“Where’s there?” I cock my head to the side, wondering what she could be talking about. I was always one who thought death was final, that there was no afterward. Maybe flirting with the idea of reincarnation, but no heaven or hell other than what I read about in my stories. Figuring those were more so things to scare people into trying to be decent, not that it did much good. Humans were the world’s real monsters.
“I don’t want to worry you.” She shakes her head, but at the same time, it’s like her skin starts to crack away. Or the image she’s portraying isn’t valid anymore. Covered in third-degree scars all over her body. She was the art of hell. “I didn’t want you to see that.” She disappears without a trace before I can say words to lend comfort.
She was in hell?
Chapter 23
Cat
Sleep was useless after Susan decided to take a detour through my dreams. It wasn’t that that was so much chilling; it was the departing scene. Seeing her scared to the bone and expression that was never painted on her face. Her pretty skin falling away. Was it even her, or some creature just messing with my head? Either way, even the Trazadone couldn’t fight it.
I decided to take the opportunity to look through Susan’s experiments. The experiments that I could swear were written in another language by looking at them. My mind comprehends it as well as I would comprehend Japanese. And I have two words for what I know about that, jack shit. So as you can tell, I’m well versed in the language she has written here. Maybe HQ can help declutter it when I go there next.
Phone? Oh, that thing that I plugged in last night they didn’t bother taking a look at.
Fuck.
Missed calls and texts from work through that and social media.
“Cat, are you okay?” - 10:30am, 30 minutes after my shift should have started.
“Did something happen?” - 11:15. Causing them concern because the last time I was a no call, no show, I was in the hospital. Failed suicide attempt. Though my lover at the time was supposed to alert them of that, not that he could be bothered.
“You’re brother stopped by the store and didn’t know where you were either.” - 5pm; guess I would have to shoot him a message about rescheduling. Felt bad but couldn’t drag him into this.
I shoot a text to work about something along the emergency lines, knowing I’ll have to dwell on that more later. Heather is quick to call, but I don’t know quite what to say yet. I guess it could be considered a family emergency in a way. A family emergency, as in my cat being the size of a mutant. That may seem like I’m having more of a mental crisis, though, then. And I couldn’t risk the news about Maori getting out to those bastards. They’d be quick to lock her up and test on her until her kitty heart couldn’t take another shot. Hence bringing someone else along.
“Mommy!” I hear Charming’s chipper voice awake and ready for action, making me jump from where I was sitting. I wasn’t prepared for his morning pounce.
Ugh. I wish I had even a bit of the energy that he did; I was tired as fuck. And had an afternoon meeting with Maori for today. “I’m hungry.” The stinker ate through the mound of food, being the growing kitten he is. I rummage around the kitchen, seeing if I can find something suitable for a cat to eat, spicy chicken, leftover burritos. No, I didn’t hate myself enough to give him something that would make him a shit factory all day. Oh, win tuna. Hopefully, he wouldn’t feel so spoiled by that that he refused to eat proper food. That was doubtful, though, as he would try to eat anything you put in front of him at the time being. Kittens.
I look around the kitchen more, seeing what human food is available, and decide to make some omelets. She may appreciate that, and even with her lies, she didn’t have to protect me from HQ or even let me sleep on her couch.
“Hey.” Raven comes out of hiding from her room, last night’s argument seeming to simmer down as a smile is on her face. Deciding to take a seat at her small circular dining table. “What’s that smell?” She hums, smelling the food and coffee I made. Perfect timing.
“A thanks.” I put the food and coffee in front of her. The mug is one of those cat ones, One Cat of
Crazy specifically.
“You didn’t have to do that.” Susan’s papers feel like they’re burning a hole in my pocket, as I have the urge to see if she knows about them. But it was first thing in the morning, and the timing didn’t feel right. “You look like you slept like hell.” She tells me bluntly, seeing the dark circles under my eye. My hair is likely an arrayed mess. “After we eat, and shower we can go to the woods if you think your kitty cat can find something to show HQ earlier in the day.” I shake off the thought of showering with her, as I’m sure that’s not what she meant. Even if she did, it was a tease, and that wouldn’t be the most productive way to get things done.
I guess that could work. If the mutant spiders weren’t so potentially deadly, they would be the obvious choice after trying to make Charming into a cat kabob.
“Mmm.” I shrug, agreeing.
“Is there any more coffee?” She looks in the pot, but it’s nearly empty as I’ve been downing it like it was the air I breathe. The jitteriness feels like it wants to explore the walls of my mind. “You okay?” She notices the slight tremors going through my body.
“Yeah. Is it okay if I take a shower now? Sorry about the coffee?” Maybe the hot steam would help wake up my sorry, sore bones.
“Sure, you can borrow something of mine from the closet if you want.” I don’t know...I wince at the idea. “Your clothing is a little worse for wear.” She says before I can refute it. Yeah, they did smell of the damp woods and cat. Along with a spicy smell of spider blood, somehow, I had doubts that would ever get completely out of my clothing.
I look in her closet—clingy, tight-fitting, sexy. I take out a T-shirt and leggings, thinking that would be good enough before walking to the shower. Cat caper shirt and rainbow leggings. They may not match, but I wasn’t looking to get crowned; I just needed to prove my innocence to HQ. Immediately welcoming the warm pellets washing over my body as I get lost in them.
Dr. Susan's Reign: Cat Johnson series (Cat Johnson Chronicles Book 1) Page 10