George's Lucky Night

George came to work at the lab. He was very nervous for a number of reasons. First it was his first night on the job. Second it happened to be Halloween. And if that wasn't bad enough, George was extremely superstitious.

He reported to the guards control room. He met his supervisor. And he was assigned to Rebecca, a seasoned and heavy set woman. She grinned at him. And cracked her knuckles in her fist as if she were imagining crushing his head. But George was fearful for a completely different reason. Rebecca was wearing a brooch with a symbol he associated with death.

George was so full of panic and fear that he only heard half of what Rebecca said. And despite her knuckles cracking she turned out to be a nice co worker.

Finally George was left to patrol the west wing of the lab. Once Rebecca left he felt a little better. But then he saw movement in the dark corridor. He tried to capture the movement in his flashlight. Suddenly two bright eyes shone in the dark. George froze in fear. Then he pulled his gun and killed the creature. Upon examination he realised it was a black cat. He felt relieved that he had killed it as it had crossed his path.

Later that night he came upon another cat. He shot it too. And when he examined it, it turned out to be the same cat. With the same distinctive white pattern on its belly. George feared the cat has come alive and knowing that cats have nine lives all he had to do was shoot another 7 cats.

So through out the night George desperately hunted the cat and each encounter spelt a messy death for the cat. Finally in the wee hours of the morning, George found and killed the 9th cat. He was so relieved. He felt triumphant. Like he had just hunted an evil creature and saved the world from it.

In the control room as the shift change was happening, George was sitting in one of the chairs relaxing after such a harrowing night. The other guards were here to take over. Just then a cat came into the room and jumped on George’s lap. 

The other guards turned around to pet the cat. What they found was something that will live on in their memories for some time. George has such a severe panic attack that he passed out right then and there.

The supervisor cheered when he saw the cat. He picked it up. “George buddy! You found the cat. You’ll get a bonus for that. If only we had found the other 9. That would have been a super bonus. The lab scientists will be so happy to get their cloned cats back.” But George didn’t hear that in his comatose state. The cat sat on George’s lap sniffing his pant pocket affectionately.

The End