Whispers

Melissa was out with friends celebrating the new position she had just got at work. Promoted to VP of operations after only being at the company for a year was impressive but Melissa always went the extra mile and was filled with ambition. It had been a while since she had a night out with friends, so she made sure to enjoy it. They were all drinking at a bar called The Whispers that was in downtown New Orleans. Melissa, who was originally from Bay Harbor Michigan had moved down to New Orleans to get away from her family, she loved them, but they could be overbearing. The type to drop by unexpectedly or give advice that wasn’t asked for.

               Her friend Barbara really loved tequila, the only thing she loved more than it was getting other people to take shots of tequila with her. After having the third shot of tequila imposed on her by Barbara, she decided to take a breather outside. The bar had a nice patio decorated with lights that could give her a quick break from Barbara.

               “I need a little fresh air” Melissa said walking towards the back door.

               “Ok but be back soon, this night is all about you” Barbara screamed as she started dancing at the bar.

               Melissa stepped out onto the patio and could feel the cool night breeze move across her face causing her long brown hair to puff up and flow with the wind. She looked out across the patio, and across the street into the river. The water reminded her of home, she hadn’t been back to visit since she left, all her focus she had poured into work. Her mother had asked her if she was coming home this year for Christmas to which she replied.

               “Maybe, I’ll see what I can do” Maybe was always Melissa soft way of saying no.

               As she was thinking about her family she heard the meowing of a cat. Looking over the patio fence she saw a black cat walking along the fence. The cat continued walking towards the edge of the patio then stopped, turned around and looked back at Melissa. The cat’s yellow eyes felt like they were piercing right through Melissa as it sat there with its eyes fixated on her. She started to walk closer to the stray cat.

               “Hello there, and what’s your name” As soon as she spoke out loud, she couldn’t help but think how ridiculous it is to ask a cat what his name was. But then the cat began to purr as she placed her hand on the patio fence. Something inside of her told her to open the patio door, which she did and started walking towards the cat. When she was within arm’s length the cat started to walk away, not as if it wanted to get away from Melissa but like it wanted her to follow it. The cat walked down the street and turned left into an alleyway where Melissa followed, she could hear the meowing again as she walked behind it.

               “And where are you taking me little guy?” Melissa asked.

               She thought to herself I don’t want to wonder off too far. As she turned around, she saw a shadowy figure standing at the end of the alleyway where she entered. She couldn’t make out a face, she could only tell that he was standing directly in the middle of the alley, not moving at all. She tapped her side pockets looking for her cell phone, then remembering that she left it on the bar. She took a selfie with Barbara and two other girls who came out from the office to celebrate with her. From behind her she could hear the meowing of the cat again; she decided that maybe going with the cat would be the safer route. She could come out to another street and go back around to get back to the bar. Following the sound of the meowing cat she saw sitting the same way that it was outside of the bar staring right at her with those yellow eyes.

               “You like some kind of guardian angel?” Melissa asked.

               The cat simply turned around and continued walking down the alley and Melissa followed. She could hear a scraping sound behind her as she moved down the alley and as she turned to look back the cat let out a loud hiss. Surprised, Melissa turned back towards the cat to see it sitting once again staring at her.

               “Ok, I’ll go your way” she said.

Following the cat out to the main street, it walked towards the fence that stood in front of the river and then jumped onto the railing. Melissa walked to the railing placing both hands on it and looked out to the water. The cat sat simply watching the water and reminded her of when she was little. Her father would take her to the river, they would grab a soda and admire the boats that sat there while the sun would set. It was one of those special memories from her childhood that she hadn’t thought about in a long time. As she stood there it made her start to reconsider how she would spend the holidays this year. She was going to go back to the bar and call her mother, tell them that she would be there this year, she would catch another sunset on the river with dad.

She looked back at the black cat with a smile on her face and said, “Thank you little guy”. The cat let out one more meow and jumped from the railing, this time it ran off down the street through a crowd and was lost. Melissa followed the main street back down to the whispers and walked through the main doors to see Barbara laughing with a guy that she met at the bar.

“There you are you know you left your phone. I was playing security guard for you, but I started to get a little distracted” Barbara said smiling and handed her the phone. Melissa opened the phone to see that she had three missed calls from her mother. She called her back to hear her mother’s voice sound shaky.

“Melissa” Her mother said.

“Hey mom, what’s wrong” she asked.

“It’s your father. He had a massive heart attack, the medics tried to save him but he’s gone” Melissa mother said through her sobs.

Melissa fell to one of the seats in the booth.

“Are you ok?” Barbara asked.

“Can you come home?” Her mother asked.

“I’ll be on the next flight”

“Ok, let me know when you’re in town. I’ll get you from the airport.” Her mother replied.

Melissa hung up the phone and told Barbara what had happened.

“I need to go home” Melissa said.

“Of course. Do you need anything?” Barbara asked.

“No, I just need to go thank you” Melissa walked out the bar doors. Her apartment was not far, only a ten-minute walk. As she walked back towards her apartment, she thought about the cat that had guided her to the river. How it made her think of her father shortly after he had just passed. She wished she had gone home to see him one last time but, in her heart, she had felt that she had seen his spirit one last time. Maybe as her father had moved from this realm to the next, he took the time to spend a few more minutes with his daughter the way that he used to when she was little girl. Although she was heartbroken, she couldn’t help but feel some warmth around her, because no matter where her father was, she was always his little girl.