Home

She reached out to Julie, her spine curling up when she saw her potential new friend, her speckled brown and orange fur expanding as she stretched back legs to the front, her somber blue eyes lifting from her downwards gaze. She rubbed her back against Julie through the bars. They seemed to belong together. 

“Who’s going to go home today?”

Her plastered cat smile seemed to have lifted somehow. She let out a soft mew as she was pet softly from the top of her nose to the damp bottom through the confining cage.  

“Nutmeg, huh?” Julie asked looking down at the cat’s description, “Well Nutmeg, I am going to spoil you once you come home.”

Nutmeg purred once more before Julie left to talk to the adoption center manager. Her smile curled as Julie walked away.

Soon after, Julie walked back like she had no weight holding her down. Nutmeg felt a shake all around her, then a weight lifting off of her too, feeling herself being suspended in the air. Julie was ever so careful while holding Nutmeg’s cage, making sure not to shake her around too much, after all, Julie doesn't know her past. Nutmeg could lash out for being shaken for all she knows. She let her out of the cage once they arrived in Julie’s blue Ford Fiesta. Nutmeg stayed peacefully sitting in the front seat, only occasionally getting up to spin in a circle and lay down again. As Julie turned down the volume on her radio station, Nutmeg was drifting into a dreamy state. Julie thinks to herself sweet dreams sweetheart. 

Purple. Bright purple. The kind that is so royal that even  Queen Elizabeth II cant live up to that level of royalty. Banners drape across the hall, a woman in all forest green stands at an altar down a dimly lit hallway.

“Nutmeg. I’m glad you’re back.”

“Nutmeg, Nutmeg,” Julie says softly, trying to awaken her new beauty.

Nutmeg rises from her spot, stretching out her boney spine as she gets up. Julie reaches out for Nutmeg and stuffs her back into her cage and then to pick it up. It feels a bit heavier now to Julie, but she figures it must be because the excitement has toned down a bit from her time at the shelter.

Nutmeg- 

“Nutmeg, you’re going to love it here. You’re going to have to get used to the other cats, but I’ll make sure they’re sweet to you. This is your home. With me. With us.”

Nutmeg-

“Oh Nutmeg I’m so excited. Here! Here is your new bowl, I got it while looking around the store after talking to the manager.”

Julie bounces back to her car where the cat food, bowls, and litter box are. She heaves the 40-pound box of litter in first, letting out heavy breaths as soon as she unloads it to the ground. The air seems to be stuck between her lungs in her mouth every time she breathes. She pulls out an inhaler from her purse that she left next to Nutmeg on her couch and takes some time to inhale and exhale the medication. She drops it back into her purse, which slightly scares Nutmeg, making her ears turn backward and whipping her head towards the purse. 

“Oh I’m sorry sweetheart, I didn't mean to scare you. I would never want to hurt you.”

Nutmeg-

Julie strokes her multicolored toes, varying from brown to black to grey. 

Wandla!

Nutmeg sharply turns her head away from Julie.

“I’m so sorry. Please don't be mad at me.”

Nutmeg turned her back on Julie, collapsed her body on the couch, and fell asleep. 

Wandla. Do you hear me?

Yes.

Do we have a new recruit?

Yes.

Good. I expect her by next week. 

Done.

Julie sits there petting Nutmeg as she sleeps, and Nutmeg does not seem to mind. At least until she springs up out of her slumber. 

“Nutmeg! Are you okay sweetheart?”

Coax her. 

Nutmeg stretches out again and rubs her small yet defined cheekbone against Julie’s arm. They embrace in a cuddle and sit there for hours before Julie gets up to make dinner for herself. Nutmeg jumps up onto the smooth cool marble counter, trying to pick up scraps of what Julie is making. She picks up a piece of onion with her mouth and immediately drops it, her fur spiked, and she ran away. 

“Oh my goodness Meg! That’s an onion! Not a treat!”

Does she think she’s funny?

I think so.

Yikes. 

She runs after Nutmeg trying to calm her down. Julie manages to pin Nutmeg down between her overly expanding and contracting chest and a soft chair. Nutmeg meows for help hoping it will signal the other cats to come, but no one does. Julie reached under her to grab nutmeg around her stomach and picked her up. She brings her over to the water bowl and has her drink from it for a bit.

“Now that’s better Sweetheart, isn't it?”

Now isn't it Nutmeg sweetheart gooey face?

Stop.

Okay fine. Just go along with it. Grouch.

Nutmeg turns to Julie and rubs her ribs against her leg, giving Julie the okay to pet her on the back. They get along once more. 

There is a knock at the door. Julie stops her cooking again to see who it is, but when she swings the door open there is no one there. Just a flyer for a church group that was a bit crumpled and yellow. Julie starts to ball up the flyer and walks towards the trashcan.

She’s throwing it away!

There is the booming sound of a pot hitting the tile ground in the kitchen. Julie rushes to see what it is and she finds Nutmeg licking up the chili she was making on the floor.

“Dammit Nutmeg!”

Nutmeg scrunches her face back and looks down at the mess she has made. 

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I didn't mean it. I was just frustrated in the moment. Can you forgive me?”

Nutmeg walks up to Julie and licks the bottom of her pant leg to her ankle

Nice save.

“Thank you sweetie.”

While Julie is cleaning up the chili on the floor, scrubbing between each grimy brown stained tile, Nutmeg goes back out to the living room to find the flyer. She picks up the flyer with her teeth and brings it into Julie’s bedroom. She looks around before she places the paper, taking in the soft pink walls and the peach bed sheets, the polaroid pictures of her and her friends out in the town, some framed pictures of her cats, and a picture of a woman in a heart frame. Underneath has the letters M O M. 

What an easy recruit this will be.

Nutmeg jumps on top of the bed onto a soft, pink pillow. She places the flyer on top of the pillow next to her and lays down on top of it, going back to sleep.

The purple ground lays beneath my feet. My sister is playing with another child that lives nearby. We are all in our true forms, all of our scales and feet included

Nutmeg-

Hera! Come back here! I chase her to our space, almost catching up when-

WANDLA!

What?

Do you not hear me when I call for you? How close is the victim?

Nothing has happened yet as you know. I’m going to try to give her the flyer again tonight. 

Do it. Tonight.

Okay.

Don’t make me wait too long.

“Nutter butter, hello.”

Julie smiles down from the bed she just plopped down onto, giving Nutmeg a couple of pets. 

Go.

Nutmeg moves from her place and walks over to Julie and sits down on her rising and falling stomach. Julie sees the flyer out of the corner of her eye.

“What’s this?” She asks as she sits up, relocating Nutmeg to her lap.

The flyer reads

Join us! Church group every Wednesday and Friday nights along with Sunday services! Come to us, neighbor!

Nutmeg paws at the flyer, purring at it as she looks up at Julie.

“Ah, Nutmeg. I’m not really into church groups. I’m more of an Easter-Christmas Christian.”

Nutmeg paws at the paper again, looking up at Julie with wide eyes.

“Fine, fine, I’ll go. Just this once and just for you, Nutmeg.”

Success.

Nutmeg paws at the paper again, digging her nails into the Wednesday night text.

“You know what, you're right. I'll go tonight and get it over with. Love you Nutty.”

Julie folds herself over and out of the bed. Her body stacked from her lower back to her head, holding herself up high but tiredly. She jammed on her shoes and walked out the door. Nutmeg and the other cats could hear the submissive annoyance in her steps, they are soft yet loud. 

Congratulations Nutmeg, you’ve got our next victim.

The church is beautiful, white with stained glass windows everywhere. It almost seemed to shimmer, it is enticing, new, exciting. She is drawn to the building, and with every step her heart pounds a bit louder. She swings open the grand, carefully carven door and steps into the church. The lobby lived up to the standards of the outside, flowers were blooming, benches were soft, even the donation box was full of sparkling coins. 

She felt a rush of joy as she walked through the next set of doors into the nave. It is absolute serenity, a safe haven, a glamorous home. The stained glass was pink, blue, red, and beaming with light. The pews are soft purple, the color of her native Colorado columbine flower. Banners of royal purple are draped from the ceiling, but not too far down as to block the glass. Plants are hanging from the ceiling in orbs, their roots seeming to try to connect with her from their floating state. Julie breathes and feels herself sucking in the fresh oxygen the plants produced. Magic is the only word she can think of.

A woman dressed in a green flowing dress walks up from behind the altar. Julie doesn't even notice her until she is softly tapped on the shoulder because of the trance she was in. 

“Hello neighbor, have you chosen us?”

“Yes.”