The Alley In Between

Midnight walks through the streets of Paris were the best way for me to relax, even during the most stressful times. I sometimes went out when I did horribly on a test or when my parents and I got into an argument. But tonight was different.

I looked down at the envelope I held in my hand. I had just received it this morning, but it wasn’t signed…

So what did I do? Go to the listed address at twelve in the morning when almost no one is out and about to hear any screams of help. 

I took the letter out of the envelope again, but instead of the neatly written cursive I squinted at trying to read earlier…

…it was blank…wait what?!

Suddenly, I felt soft fur slide against my skin. I looked down to find a tail wrapping around my leg as a black cat looked into my eyes, picked his paw up, and motioned for me to follow. Then he started walking ahead and paused to look behind to see if I had followed. I stared at him wide-eyed and thought: How did he just do that? 

Having nothing better to do, I started following the black, superstitiously unlucky cat. 

How very smart of me. 

After every ten seconds or so of walking, his glaring green eyes stared into mine expectantly, waiting for me to catch up. After a few minutes of aimlessly wandering around, we stopped at the wall that marks the edge of town. I shouldn’t have been surprised at where he led me, but I laughed at how naive I was.

~

There used to be a wealthy family that lived in an elegant, white townhouse right next to the border. They raised many generations that had followed suit and kept the family legacy going. They were content with their lives. No one complained. 

But all good things come to an end.

About a hundred years ago, the last couple of the family decided they didn’t want children, as they believed raising children would hold them back from pursuing their dreams. Instead, they wanted to travel the world and explore the wonders outside of the safe, comfortable, boundaries of their little french town.

Of course, their parents were appalled by this idea and thought it was selfish and insulting to the legacy. In response, the couple ran away and never returned.

Over time, the estate has turned to ruin, abandoned after the parents passed away. It was rumored that the parents haunted the place, waiting for their children to return…

This story has been told to everyone.

Everyone except me.

~

Of course the cat took me to a dark alleyway in the darkest, creepiest side of town. What was I thinking? It would take me to the end of a rainbow?

The cat paused in front of the alleyway. I shook my head and said, “No, I’m not going in there.”

Really? Good job, Ariel. You just talked to a cat as if it could understand you.

But instead of heading straight into the darkness, the cat walked towards me, took the envelope into his mouth, and turned away to walk straight into the alley.

I rolled my eyes. Yeah right, like I’ll follow it…

~

They say curiosity killed the cat.

The alley was much longer than it seemed from the outside. In fact, it seemed like it never ended…

I must’ve been walking for at least ten minutes down the same dark narrow path in between the abandoned, dull, gray townhouse and the border that supposedly kept the evil things out.

The time spent walking through the alley (painstakingly) grew to twenty minutes…then it turned to thirty…was it now forty? I lost track of time, but I had gone so far, I didn’t want to turn back now.

I squinted my eyes as I started seeing a small white circle in front of me. Was this it? Had I finally reached the end?

I put a hand to my forehead as I continued following the black cat to the bright white light. When I stepped into it, a blinding light flashed into my eyes, making me cover my face with both hands. Then when I peeked through to make sure the light was gone, I couldn’t believe what I saw.

I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming, but it felt so real. I was in a snowy forest, with snowflakes gently falling and the moonlight shining down onto the snow that reflected perfectly so that it had a little glimmer to it. There was a tree-lined path in front of me that led to an elegant white townhouse…

Wait, that looks just like…

Suddenly, I started smelling smoke. I didn’t see anything burning in front of me, but when I turned around, I found that there was no strange white portal and the forest behind me was in giant flames…

Wait, the forest is on fire!

The fire was spreading to the trees surrounding me, so I only had one choice…to run to the white townhouse at the end of the path. 

Trees started appearing out of thin air behind me. Without any time to question the physics of this new world, I sprinted towards the townhouse. It didn’t seem like a long distance, but the more I ran, the further away it seemed to become…

C’mon Ariel, hurry! Don’t let the trees catch up or you’ll burn to death!

I looked back at the trees behind me, but suddenly, they stopped growing?

That’s when I heard a meow and looked down to find the cat sitting on the steps going up into the townhouse.

I’d seen many action movies where the main characters are running for their lives, but I didn’t think I’d be experiencing it myself.

Panting, I just glared at the cat. Really? I’m over here running for my life and you’re just sitting here peacefully?

As if the cat could hear and understand my thoughts, it stood up and walked towards the door to the townhouse. Then it started scratching the door as if it was begging to be let in. Suddenly, the doors opened inward and the cat just strolled in like everything was normal. With no other choice, I followed.

The inside of the house, despite its fancy exterior, was just like it probably looks in the “real world” after a hundred years being abandoned. It felt like I walked into some creepy, horror movie. The wallpaper had an old-fashioned style, but it was covered with dirt and stains, and there were many tears through it. There was little furniture, which was dusty and had plants growing around the legs. There was no artificial light. All the lamp posts were covered with cobwebs. Even some of the lightbulbs were shattered. The only light source shining through the room was the moonlight coming through the broken windows, which weren’t broken when I looked at the house from the outside… 

All of a sudden, the light from the moon went out, so I was just staring into darkness. Feeling suspicious, I turned around to where the door was and tried to open it.

But of course, it was locked.

Now I was getting worried.

I slowly turned around with my back against the door. Then I heard the annoying meow. I slowly looked down and jumped when I just saw two glowing green eyes staring right into my soul.

Don’t panic, Ariel. It’s just a nightmare…right?

Again, as if the cat heard me, it closed its eyes so I couldn’t see anything…

Ow!

It bit me…but I didn’t wake up…I’m still stuck in this stupid nightmarish world where everything seems nice and pretty but just isn’t…

Why can’t anything be as it seems?

Becoming frustrated, I shouted at the cat, “What do you want from me?! I followed you here to this awful place, walking for forever through the darkness, running from fire, and now stuck in a haunted house. What is it you want?”

There was a long pause. I thought I would hear the sound of an object moving or the cat meowing again, but I didn’t.

Then I heard a voice, “I wanted you to return, Ariel, my lovely, backstabbing daughter...”

Even though I had no idea what he was talking about, I screamed at the top of my lungs. Then tears poured from my eyes. My worst fear had come true. I really was in a haunted house. 

I was done. I wanted to get out. I just wanted nothing more than to be snug in my bed sleeping peacefully and having sweet dreams.

But no, I decided to follow some random cat to wherever I am now.

“Please take me home…” I eventually squeaked after my anxiety attack.

“Don’t you like fire? After all, you couldn’t come back to me because you burned your house down and couldn’t escape,” the voice continued. “I thought the tree burning would be a reminder of that. At least you escaped this time…”

I slowly started sinking to the floor. When I reached the floor, I curled up into a ball and hoped that whoever was talking to me wouldn’t hurt me. 

“I’ve been waiting for a hundred years for you to return to me. Now it’s finally time to take you home, to where you belong!” the voice shouted with many years built up of anger and frustration.

I looked up to find multiple white glowing figures floating in mid-air surrounding me. They had dark circles for eyes and triangle indents for sharp teeth. 

They inched closer to me…and closer…and yet still closer…

I curled up again, ducking my head and covering it with my arms, awaiting the worst. Are they going to kill me?! Take my soul?! WHAT WAS GONNA HAPPEN?!!! AM I GOING TO-”

Then I heard a deep ARGHHH!!! as a final small tear fell down my cheek…

~

I waited for my fate, but I didn’t feel anything. Was I dead?

I slowly lifted my head…

…only to find myself sitting on the cobblestone road in front of the dark alleyway.

I thought the border was there to keep the evil things out.

Now I know it was to keep them in.

The black cat was staring at me with its bright, glaring green eyes, still holding the envelope in its mouth. Then it turned around and headed straight into the alleyway in between the abandoned, dirty, run-down, haunted gray townhouse and the wall that bordered our lonely little town.