It was broad daylight when this strange string of events took place. I woke up to the loud screeching of my alarm that was sitting on the top of my night stand. I reached over with my arm still heavy from a relaxing night’s slumber and hit the snooze button. I wait for the satisfying silence after the click of the button.
Shifting, I reached up and rubbed my forehead. I, for some unknown reason, had a pounding migraine. This was quite common though, especially when I was suffering lack of sleep or had proceeded to over sleep the night prior to the migraine.
Regardless of the horrid pain stabbing at my temples, I sat up in my bed. I proceeded to fully open my eyes to be greeted by a beautiful ray of sunlight pouring into my small bedroom from a slight crack in the curtains.
The sunlight bothered me slightly but nothing more than usual so I continued pushing through the tortuous stabbing pain living within my skull as I slid to the edge of my bed and got to my feet.
The carpeting beneath my feet was rather refreshing as I adjusted my shorts and drawstring. “Much better,” I sighed as I raised my arms above my head, interlaced my fingers, and extended my body in a stretch. I heard my back satisfyingly crack and I released my hands from one another.
I looked around and noticed I did not see my cat anywhere which was strange because she always sleeps near my feet or behind my back if I lay on my side. “Here kitty, kitty, kitty,” I called out to her. I didn’t hear the familiar little jingle of her bell.
Worriedly, I approached my bedroom door and turned the knob. I stepped out into the hall and once more called out, “Kitty, kitty, kitty,” this time a bit louder than previously. Still, no sign of my cat. I walked out to the living room and was immediately broken by what I saw. Slowly, I approached my unmoving cat and saw she was not breathing.
I dropped to my knees and cried. The hot tears streamed down my face. She was in perfect health! I didn’t understand what could have caused this. I gently picked her up in my arms as I continued bawling.
Hysterically, I dialed the number of my best friend who lived in the same neighborhood as I did. Being that I had no family really close to me, she was the only one I could turn to in an emergency or just in general.
Quickly, she answered, “Hello?”
“Azi, it’s me, Chrystal, I need you to come over,” I sobbed into the phone. “Give me eight minutes I’ll be there as soon as I can,” with that she hung up. I proceeded to drop my phone to the ground and clutched my precious cat closer to me.
She had been perfectly fine the day before, I didn’t understand what had happened to her. It made no sense.
As I cried, it felt like hours had passed before Azi arrived. However, when I heard a knock on the door and looked up I realized only ten minutes had passed. I set my beloved pet down on the couch and then walked over to the door and opened it for Azi.
“What’s wrong? I got here as fast as I could,” she seemed concerned as I stepped to the side in order to let her in. As she stepped inside the doorway she saw my cat, Gypsy, laying limp and still on the couch. The tears kept streaming like waterfalls out of my eyes. “What happened?” she hugged me in an attempt to comfort me. “I don’t know, she was fine last night,” I sobbed into her shoulder.
She released me and we said nothing for a while; I held Gypsy as she comforted me. “You need to bury her,” she explained to me. I wiped my tears and nodded sadly in agreement.
When I got to my feet, she did too. I handed her Gypsy and then slipped on my shoes. She handed her back to me when I was done and we walked out of the house. My tears had dried by now, but my sadness continued to progress.
Azi grabbed a shovel from the tool shed and then led me around the back. I thought I heard the faint sound of a child’s laughter originating from in front of us. I brushed it off I was horribly sad and depressed at the loss of my cat, so I figured it was my imagination.
In the absence of my conscious mind, Azi must have begun digging a hole as a grave behind the shed. She dug a hole about three feet deep and two feet wide in a surprisingly short amount of time. I stared at it not wanting to let the one thing I cared more about than life itself be swallowed up by the dirt.
“I know you’re sad Chrystal, but it will be okay,” she rubbed my arm and looked at me. “Okay,” I could only manage a one word response to her as I knelt down and set the limp body of Gypsy into the grave. Still crying, I proceeded to help Azi cover up the hole with the dirt.
When we finished, I hugged Azi goodbye and thanked her for coming over. “Don’t thank me, it’s all I could do for you considering all you have done for me,” she smiled at me sympathetically and hugged me one last time before getting in her car and driving off.
I headed back into my house to video chat my mom just as I did every night. I went into the living room and found my phone just where I had dropped it earlier except it wasn’t sleeping nor was it on. I hit the power button and it said that my phone was dead. I decided to call her on the house phone as I did my house work as usual.
I picked up the phone and there was no dial tone, “Odd…” I thought to myself. I was starting to get a bit paranoid now so I grabbed my cell phone once more and took it into my room to place it on the charger.
I walked into my room and to my night stand when I plugged it in. As soon as I plugged it in the house phone rang. I was now very confused. I rushed out to grab it off the arm of the couch where I had left it. I hit the green button representing answer and spoke, “Hello? Mum?” I heard familiar giggling on the other end of the call. I question once more, “Mum?” No reply.
“We see you,” a prepubescent voice said after aching seconds of silence, “We hear you. We even smell you. What are we?” I assumed this had to have been one of my other friends playing a prank on me during one of the worst times of my life. “Cut it out! I’m not in the mood for jokes! Who is this?” I yelled into the phone. “Wrong answer,” the voice’s giggling turned from a playful giggle to a blood-curdling scream.
Startled, I threw the phone down. “What the hell?!?” I felt myself shaking as I ran into my room to grab my cell phone. I rushed in my room and went to the night stand. “Where is it?!? Where is my phone?!?” I began panicking as I shoved things off of the small surface top of the black night stand. My phone was gone, so was the charger! I heard more familiar giggling as I looked around everywhere. It was no use, my phone was gone, so was my charger.
“I eat away at you every day, I help you live, yet kill you anyways, what am I?” a young child’s voice asked me as something was thrown down the hallway. “I DON’T KNOW! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” I screamed at it.
Dead silence spread throughout the house, but not outside the house. A screech of car tires could be heard outside. I rushed out to see that Azi’s car had apparently ran into a tall tree across the road. I didn’t even put on my shoes before running through the house and out the door to find that Azi’s car had ignited into violent flames before I could even race off the front the porch. This… this was just the beginning.
