The Cat in the Portal

“Come on,” Darrel said, looking under the couch, “where is that darn cat; he was meowing here just a minute ago.” He stands up and looks around the living room. “How can I not find him?”

Darrel searched his entire home and found no trace of his black goofy cat, Whiskers. Most of the time, Whiskers would approach Darrel and bother him constantly. Whiskers loved food and wanted it every second, but today was different. Whiskers didn’t come for food; in fact, he didn’t show up at all.

Darrel slicks his hair back. “Ok, maybe I left a window open. No. That’s not something he would do. He’s not an outdoorsy cat.” He sits down on the couch. “God, where could he be?” He thought about all the places his cat could be. Then gold struck. He forgot to look inside the closet underneath the stairs.

Darrel stands up, walks to the stairs, and approaches the closet door. “He’s got to be in here.” He knocks on the door. “Whiskers,” He whined, “I got some kitty snacks for you.”

No response.

“I can add a bit of catnip if you say something.”

No response again.

He grabs the door handle and pulls the door open. “Whiskers…What the…?”

A blast of air hits his face, as behind the door lies a white portal surrounded by a purple lining. The void shot out sounds of wind chimes, blowing blissfully in the wind and lightly pulled anything within its vicinity.

“I didn’t know a portal came with the house?” Darrel said. He looks closer at the portal and sees a blue sky. “This leads somewhere?”

Suddenly, a green hand grabs his torso. “No! I don’t want to explore the portal. It’s not that cool!” he said, as he was dragged into the portal.

Darrel looks around to see an old village filled with tall green monsters. The monsters were dressed in brown tunics with a hint of metallic battle armor. They had tusks coming out of the side of their noses and eyes of pure yellow. They all looked at him with disgust and Darrel felt unease, he just wanted his cat Whiskers, not stranded in another dimension.

The monster lifts Darrel up to his ominous yellow eye. He opens his big mouth to speak, releasing a breath of rotten fish and onions. “Pesky human, are you the one responsible for bringing the beast into our village?”

“I-I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Darrel said.

“I’m talking about the beast you call, Whiskers.” The monster said.

“W-Whisker’s!? But he’s only an itty-bitty kitty, he couldn’t even harm a fly.”

The monster stretches Darrel out towards a demolished building.

“That’s not Whisker’s. He’s only a small cat, I swear! How could he possibly do that?”

The monster lifts Darrel up to his yellow eye again. “I don’t care if he’s your itty-bitty kitty. You are responsible for giving birth to this monstrosity and now you must fix this!”

“Me? But I don’t even know where he is.”  

All of the monsters point to a dirt path exiting the village.

“Oh. Well, I don’t have any…”

The monster opens his other hand to show Darrel a full suit of armor and a silver longsword. “Leave, you’re wasting my time just being here. Quick, before the portal to your world ceases to be.” He drops Darrel, the armor, and the sword onto the dirt floor.

“Ow, couldn’t you have gently placed me on the floor?”

“Now’s not the time for kind gestures. You must leave, as the villagers are disgusted by your presence.”

Darrel sighs and puts on the armor. He struggles and grunts, as he feels the heaviness of the armor anchoring him down. He picks up the sword and struggles; it’s as if he’s pulling Excalibur from the stone.

“You are so weak. It’s almost funny how weak and stupid you are.” The monster said.

“Um, thanks?” Darrel said. “Shouldn’t I train first? You know, before I fight my cat?”

“No.”

    “Can I at least…”

“No, you cannot have my name. Our friendship shall not kinder for too long.” The monster walks away. “Goodbye, I hope you have fun slaughtering your beast.”

Darrel rolls his eyes, groans, and drags his sword towards the dirt path. The journey was long and treacherous. Hills upon hills of many different factions in many different places. He passed through the fairies of the forest, the wizards of the blizzard, and the dwarfs of dwarf land. Each settlement was more treacherous than the last, and yet he managed to surpass them all.

Darrel finally reaches a vacant grassland, where he hears a loud meow. He takes off his armor, drops his sword, and runs over to the other side of the hill. “Oh, thank god I’ve found you! You don’t know how far I’ve…”

On the other side was a cow that meows like a cat. “Meoooooow”

“A cow that meows like a cat!” Darrel laughs. He flips out and kneels on the floor to angrily tear the grass to shreds. “How. Does. This. Place. Work!”

“Meooooow”

“Shut up!” Darrel groaned. “I can’t believe I wasted all that time fighting witches and dwarfs and fairies just so I can see a cow that can meow! Unbelievable.”

The cow meows and runs away, while another, louder, meow echoes behind him.

Darrel turns around to see Whiskers looking down at him.

Whiskers was huge with paws and teeth that can kill anyone the size of Darrel.

“W-Whiskers!” Darrel said. “ You’ve found me!”

“Meow!”

“How did you get so big!?”

“Meow!”

Darrel stands up and backs away from the cat to get a better look.

“So, what have you been up to?”

“Meow!”

“Huh, I see…” Darrel walks up to stroke Whisker’s leg fur. “Well, I’ve had a rough couple of days.” He lovingly pats Whisker’s leg. “So, want to go home and forget about this awful place?”

“Meow!”

Whiskers bites Darrel’s shirt and lifts him onto his back. Suddenly, Whiskers eyes widen as he hisses and moves into a defensive stance with his tail wagging from left to right.

“Whiskers, what’s wrong?”

In the distance, Darrel saw the trees from the other side of the grassland bristle and shake, as the crows fly away. Whiskers hisses and growls at the moving trees.

“Whiskers,” Darrel clenches onto Whiskers head hair, “what is that?”

“Meow.”

The trees began to fall to the side and out came a giant sphinx cat. It was naked and angry with battle scars all over its body. The sphynx had engaged in several fights and was ready to pick up another one. The sphynx looks at Whiskers and hisses.

Darrel’s face scrunches “Aw, gross. Have you been fighting this cat this whole time?”

“Meow.”

Whiskers pounces and lands in front of the cat. He scratches the sphynx’s face and makes it fall to the floor. Whiskers hisses and repeatedly whacks the cat with his paw.

The sphinx does the same by whacking Whisker’s hand away.

“This is so cute, yet so terrifying” Darrel said.

The sphynx stands up and pounces onto Whiskers. The cats roll on the grass, causing Darrel to fall off Whiskers back.

Darrel watches, as the cats continue trampling and scratching one another. The sphynx was determined to win by any means necessary.

“Whiskers! You can do it!” Darrel said.

After a while, Whiskers started getting tired. He was too vulnerable and open to the sphynx’s attacks.

Whiskers took one final scratch to the face and fell to the ground.

“Oh no. Whiskers!” Darrel runs across the grassland and trips on his armor. He turns around and sees his longsword. He grabs the hilt of the sword, stands up, and drags it to the sphynx. “Don’t you dare hurt my cat!”

The sphynx looks down at Darrel and stretches his claw into the air, ready to strike Whiskers.

Darrel approaches the sphynx’s naked paw and raises the sword. “Woah, I must be the chosen one!” He strikes down onto the sphynx’s paw and backs away from the wailing cat.

The sphinx stumbles away from Whiskers, hisses, and runs back into the woods.

“And stay out! See Whiskers, he’s not that tough.”

           “Meow.”

Whiskers stands up, grabs Darrel from the floor, and places him onto his back.

“You ready to go home, Whiskers?”

“Meow.”

“I thought so. Hey, when we get back home I promise to give you a treat and some catnip, ok?”

“Meow.”

Whiskers runs through the woods, as they venture through the long journey home.