Meow

There was no moon to guide my steps as I shuffled down the city street well after midnight. The neighborhood was ruined, the street lights broken and busted years before. I shouldn’t have been in this part of town, at this time of night, and certainly not alone. My mother would have a stroke if she knew where I was.  The party I’d been drinking at earlier had started out with music and laughter, but as usual a fight broke out. A few of the older guys had begun hitting each other, spitting and upturning furniture. I tried to avoid the ruckus while I looked for Shannon.  An ashtray flew by my head, someone yelled the cops were coming and Shannon, my supposed best friend, had taken off with some random townie. I remember thinking fuck this, I’m out of here.  I hadn’t wanted to go to this stupid party anyway. I felt uneasy as I had lied to my mother, telling her I was sleeping over at Shannons with a couple other tenth graders. I checked the time on my cell phone, and made my way out of the smoky apartment to the front steps of the rundown building. The noise of the party faded behind me as I started hoofing it towards home.  There was a cold drizzle and I wished I had brought a jacket. 

I knew the route, had walked it a hundred times, but the rain and the darkness of the late hour had me feeling anxious. This wasn’t exactly a safe neighborhood, even before the disappearances. Drug deals, prostitution, even some rioting now and then. All the store fronts had barred glass and the police hardly bothered to patrol the area. Most of the folks who had turned up missing weren’t really missed at all. Not at first. They were street people for the most part, living out of backpacks and sleeping in doorways. Last spring, a girl from my school who had gone down that way to buy some molly, never returned home. The cops found her jacket  with small traces of blood on the sleeves, but nothing else. No witnesses and no leads.. Hers was one of the few faces that plastered the telephone poles in town.  

The battery on my phone was at 21 percent, not enough to waste using the flashlight. I carried on, counting my steps to distract my fear. When I reached the corner, still counting, something alive snaked itself between my Chuck Taylors. I stumbled, cursing as I used my hands to break my fall. My jeans were soaked through immediately. I knew only a few seconds had passed as I tripped and fell to the wet cement, but I sat stunned for what seemed much longer. 

I heard the cat before I saw the cat. A pitiful meow. Crawling to a standing position I saw what had tripped me up while I’d been preoccupied counting my steps. A cat, no it was a  kitten really. Alone, wet, and rubbing against my ankles. He was black, with green eyes that reflected quickly in the headlights of a car that slowed down as it passed us under the broken street light. The unconcerned driver, after pausing to look me over, sped up and disappeared down the street. 

I glanced at the time again on my phone. If I hauled ass, I could make it home before my mother finished her shift at the print factory. I’d lie and tell her I got a ride home with Shannons dad because of a non-existent stomach ache and she’d never have to know I was drinking at a party with older guys in a part of town I was absolutely forbidden to hang out in.  I shoved my phone into my back pocket, and turned left onto Union street, I could cut across the train yard and shave ten minutes off my walk.  I picked up the pace, lighting a cigarette as I half trotted through the silent and still bones of abandoned freight cars. A lot of homeless people hunkered down here once September passed and the tents they sometimes resided in did little to keep the wind and rain at bay.  I inhaled deeply, so quiet it was that I could hear my heart beating away in my chest, even though this was the quicker way, it was also an unnerving detour.  

Meow.

Meow.

Meow.

I stopped looking down at my feet, surprised to see the little black cat was keeping pace with my steps, purring loudly.  Jesus H I thought, as I leaned over to scoop him up.  He was frail, scrawny, I could feel every bone. I knew Mom would flip shit if she came home to another mouth to feed. I apologized to the little fella and put him down in the weeds. I heard laughing coming from my left, and forgetting about the kitten I half jogged the rest of the way through the shortcut. I was hoping to put space between myself and whoever was chatting and laughing, but the voices, seemingly menacing now, followed me.  Even in the cool crisp damp air I had begun to sweat, my hand trembled a bit while I took a deep pull on my Marlboro. I was really bugging out now.  Scared and alone. I finally hit the sidewalk on the other side of the rail yard. I checked the time and chanced using the flashlight just long enough to get my bearings. I could see, in the distance, the green sign of my street. Still I heard laughter. Laugher that mimicked a growl. A growl that mimicked nothing I had ever heard before. I dropped my smoke and began to sprint towards the safety of my street.  The sound of whatever the hell was clearly chasing me grew louder and louder no matter how quickly I booked it out of there. I neared the sign, the toe of my sneaker catching the curb, I skidded to a stop, dropping hard to the pavement.  Slamming my knee on the concrete, and the palms of my hands were scraped and raw with pebbles and bits of glass. I rolled onto my back, bending my arms to shield my face, as the figure loomed over me. No longer laughing, I listened as the black beastial thing was heaving with every breath.  I had enough time to register that whatever this was, it was not human, nor was it like any animal I had seen or imagined. It towered over me, six, maybe seven feet tall. In the dim light only his teeth stood out. Rows and rows of triangular sharpened fangs dripping with wet thick drool. I managed a scream as the creature bent to silence me. 

Meow.

Meow.

Meow. 

The kitten, who I had reluctantly left behind, was now at my side.  I scooched into a sitting position, still using my arms to protect my head. The creature let out a howl, a howl that resounded in the silence of the night, echoing off the dark and empty buildings that once housed successful mills. The noise sounded like the failing brakes of an old sedan.  Terrified I screwed my eyes shut, and prayed death would be swift. 

Meow.

I felt the kitten climb into my lap. I heard his pitiful meow. I opened one eye. The little black and sickly kitten was standing on my thighs, his back hunched, his tail straight out on high alert, he began to hiss. I dropped back onto my elbows, in awe.  

What happened next was nothing short of incredible. The creature, a hundred times the size of the little black kitten, took a swipe at my midsection, and the little cat posed there. 

Meow.

The creature's attempt was clumsy and he missed by a long shot.   His roar was fierce and guttural as he once again tried to pounce on me. 

Meow. 

Meow. 

The thing that wanted nothing more than to kill me and probably eat me, suddenly flew backwards at an alarming speed. His spine crunched as he was slammed against the brick building behind him. He tried to stand, and instead he doubled over moaning.  

Meow.

The creature, wounded, tried to raise up again, eager to feed, but this time there was no bravado in his stance. This time, he shrunk with fear. He gave one last growl, which was met with one last ‘Meow’.  He turned on his heels and slunk away in the night like a lamb delivered from a slaughter.  

As I climbed to my feet, I scooped the kitten up, and tucked him into my shirt. I half ran to my street, not sure what the hell I had just witnessed. The kitten was purring when I unlocked my door and flipped on the kitchen lights. Even having faced certain death only moments before, I managed to beat Mom back to our apartment.  I threw on some dry sweats and wrapped the kitten in a purple bath towel.  I was opening a can of tuna when I heard my mothers keys in the lock. ‘Stay put little one’ I said to my kitten.  I met mom with a half smile, trying to block her view of the kitty until I had a chance to charm her into letting me keep him.  

Meow.

Meow.

Meow.

My mother’s exhausted frame slid into one of the chairs and I knew I had lost the element of surprise. Mom, let me just tell you what happened, I plead.  You know how I feel about pets…she started to say, ready to launch into the speech I had heard time and time again throughout my lifetime. I knew the whole trainyard creature story wasn’t going to fly; Shit I was still grappling with the absurdity of the tale. My mother was aggravated, she was pissed, and she was in no mood for my bullshit. 

I said only the word please. She raised her eyebrow and tisked at me, her way of dismissing me. 

Meow. 

Meow. 

Meow. 

My mother reached for the boney and still slightly damp kitten. 

My heart lurched into my throat. 

Meow. 

Something flickered instantly in my mothers face, for just one second, there was pure uninterrupted terror. As quickly as it arrived, it was gone. 

OK she whispered.