The One and Only

It’s 7:00pm. The sound of high heels clicking through the hall keeps time with each excited pump of blood in my veins.  A young voice seeps through the old walls, a new realtor, desperate for the first sale.    

“You’ll really like this one, it’s very spacious and very low priced!” My claws dig into the carpet and anchor me down as a shadow at the center of the empty room. I am ready.   

The key slides the lock back with a satisfying click and the door opens with a loud creak. The silhouettes of an older couple with the young realtor stand in the doorway. The realtor gasps. They do not step inside.

Hissss!!!!

The elderly woman babbles a sound of panic and the couple stammers away. “No! Wait! It’s just a cat!” The realtor says, chasing after them, unaware that her luck is about to get much worse. I turn in a circle and purr, the thrill powering me like an engine. 

Just as the door begins to close on its own weight, I freeze as I catch another shadow in the doorway. A silhouette, a girl, young, with large headphones. I see nothing but her eyes, a kind of deep blue, almost purple. She is a statue as the door closes by itself with a click. How did I not hear her approach? After a moment, her footsteps fall away down the hall and into the walls. Perhaps I am too excited for the night to come. It is October 31st, after all. The greatest night of the year. 

With a bounce in my step I make my way to the window of apartment ‘M’ on Friday street and scan the city scape. The sun has set and the night is a blanket of dark clouds with a dark yellow crescent moon. A good omen indeed. I look down at the street below, bustling with life, energy and vigor. I swing my tail like a pendulum as I lick my nose, my senses sharpening. Time to go have some fun. 

I exit through the hole in the window screen and make my way down the fire escape and onto my hidden perch atop the closed dumpster. 

Now, I wait. 

After a few minutes, a young couple stops at the edge of the alley. The man is wearing a dark gray night coat and sharp black jeans, while his date sports a flowing blue dress, with sparkling pearls around her neck. After a moment of hesitation on her face and the insistent smile and reassurances from her man, she clutches his arm and they make their way towards me. I crouch silently, not moving an inch, letting the shadows do their work. Then, at the purrfect moment, I pounce forward and cut them off, glaring deeply into their eyes with the yellow of mine, curl my back and let out a sharp hiss. The reaction gets me every time. They gasp then stumble backwards, tripping on their own surprise. The man falls directly into a pile of trash while the woman falls on the asphalt, her pearls unraveling from the string and bouncing away in all directions. I watch as the man shamble to his feet to save his date, and then they hurry away, neither one going back for their one missing shoe. My heart fills with an ethereal glee, knowing that for the next seven years they may never leave their home. I add the shoes to the pile I have growing beside the dumpster.

My night carries on splendidly. One after the other, unsuspecting victims are caught in my trap. That group of young gang members better steer clear of any dangerous situations, less their weapons jam or slip out of their hands. The young man, securing a lucrative overseas deal, will no doubt miss his meeting with the Swiss bankers and his phone will have no service. The elderly woman, most likely looking to get to her Rotary Club meeting across the way, won’t be winning at bingo anytime soon. 

With each victim, a shoe is added to the pile, and with each shoe, I exhale delight. 

As the clock chimes three times and the pedestrians begin to dwindle in number I yawn and lick my fur, observing my bounty of shoes next to the dumpster. A very good night indeed. But just as I am about to jump back up the fire escape, a girl in a black t-shirt and jeans begins to make her way down the alley. The girl is glued to her phone with big headphones on her ears. A strange tightness clamps my gut for a moment. Headphones? 

She is close now, get it together. I take my position atop the dumpster and wait. This is going to be great. The thought of her phone slipping from her grasp and the screen shattering on the ground makes my heart beat like a wild drum. She arrives within range and I jump out, stare my yellow stare, and hiss loudly. 

She walks right past me.  

I am in shock. This has never, ever happened before. I consider the possibility that she was so glued to her phone that she missed me altogether. Not to worry. I’ll get her. I run towards her, brushing against her leg just enough for her to feel my presence, look up at her with my cursed golden gaze and hiss. She takes one quick look at me, then smiles and simply walks by. What is this travesty? She hasn’t lost her balance, dropped her phone…and she still has both her shoes. I have never failed to get a shoe. Ever.

I double my efforts. I dart in front of her, jump up on nearby tables and newspaper stands, meowing and hissing relentlessly. Others around us flee, some losing their shoes in the process, but I pay no attention to them: I thirst only for hers. But still she continues to walk, and continues to ignore me. An itch grows in my skin. Who is this woman? Curiosity begins to overtake me. I slow my pace and approach her, swaying left to right behind her feet. I try to catch a sniff, and she smells oddly…distant. As if she isn’t even really here.

Finally, she sits down on a bench at the edge of central park. I sit across the street, watching her. Then, she looks up at me. “Here kitty.” I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but my legs move on their own. I cross the street and jump up beside her on the bench. She puts down her phone and turns her eyes towards mine. They’re dark, the darkest I’d ever seen. She put her hand upon my head, petting me softly. “That’s a good cat. Thank you for your hard work.” Her touch is warm, comforting. I find myself beginning to purr. But then, I also begin to feel drowsy. My breathing becomes quick, and my chest tightens. Everything goes sideways as a numbness comes over me. Then, the world becomes very quiet. With the last ounce of strength that I have, I take one last look into the eyes of a ghost, the one and only.