Scaredy Cat

When I was young, I used to scare the cats in my neighborhood as I return home from school.

This has become an ordinary routine for me. The different colored patterns of fur made me familiar of them. There was this white cat that would flee the moment it sees me. Another was orange and it would slowly back away as I approach it then finally run as I shout "Boo!" There were several others too of varying degrees of cowardice.

I'm not sure why I enjoyed scaring them. Perhaps it was a taste of power at a young age that got me. Fear is powerful after all.

One day, I saw this cat with gray fur and black stripes. It had blue eyes, one was scarred and only half a tail. It rested on top of a wall staring at me. I haven't seen this one before. I went on with my usual antics; I tried to scare it.

The cat however just stared at me as if puzzled. Perhaps it felt too safe up high on the wall it stayed on.

I tried other tricks like pretending to jump to reach it or even raising my voice a bit. Nothing.

"You're one brave cat" I told it.

The cat stood up and jumped off the wall to the other side.

"Hey!" I called.

I found an old rusty gate left wide open. I could see an old house inside surrounded by untrimmed grass. The cat suddenly appeared before me and meowed.

"Boo!" I tried to scare it. Didn't work.

It gave me one look then walked away. Normally, cats would run in panic. This didn't satisfy me. I kept trying to scare it as it paced off. As if deliberately ignoring me, the cat just kept meowing loudly.

"Get back here, stupid cat!"

I followed it all the way to the old house. My desperation to scare it did not let me realize in time that the door was already behind me. The cat sat and looked at me.

"Boo!" I said. The cat replied with a hiss.

The door closed with a loud shut. I rushed trying to get it to open.

"Help!" I whacked the door. "Let me out!"

The cat just meowed behind me. I was feeling nervous. All that trouble to scare a cat.

Light was beginning to fade inside the house. The windows were closing on their own. I yelped as the darkness covered me save for a bit of light from a few cracks.

The cat meowed again.

I sat down in a fetal position by the door crying as the cat stared at me. The shadows grew thicker. The cat's eyes began to glow. In the darkness, I see many more glowing eyes staring at me and slowly approached me.

In a voice like that of a choir, I heard them say "Boo!"