Dark Cat, Dark Fate - Part 3

Rose watched the hole through bleary eyes.

Ever since she had recovered her backpack Rose had been keeping track of the time that passed. It had been two days. She had a small leather-bound journal and a few pencils, along with an eraser and a pencil sharpener.

She had also torn out some of the pages, written ‘my name is Rose. I am trapped in a cave and I need help’ on them, made a paper plane out of each of them, and sent them out into the forest, as best she could. Trying to get them to fly in different directions.

She had sent out ten so far. She could still see eight of them. The wind had picked up and blown the other two farther than Rose could see.

The light was suddenly blocked, and there was the cat, standing in the hole. Rose didn’t move. She just stared balefully at it.

That monster had caused her too much pain recently. And she couldn’t get revenge on it. She had already tried. And failed miserably. Nothing could touch that cat.

The cat came forwards and sat a few feet away from Rose.

They stayed like that for a minute, neither blinking. Just staring at each other, Rose with anger and the cat with innocence.

Finally, the cat blinked and looked away. Rose stared triumphantly after it. She had won the staring contest.

She sighed and slumped back. A staring contest with a cat. What is happening?

Rose knew she wasn’t thinking straight. She was hungry, thirsty, and tired. The cat left.

Bored, and thirsty, Rose opened her backpack and pulled out her water bottle. There was only the tiniest sip of water left. She stared at the bottle in despair. That sip was the only water she had. It had been two days since she had last drunken anything. She knew a person could only last about three days without water. Rose drank the last bit of water. It barely wet her mouth.

Rose set it aside after screwing on the lid tightly again.

Maybe it would rain soon? Rose crawled over to the hole and poked her head out, looking up as best as she could. She could see trees. Above that, it looked like blue sky.

Rose groaned and pulled her head back in. Something jumped in the hole and brushed lightly past her. It was, of course, the black cat.

Rose turned to watch it. It moved to her backpack. Rose didn’t think anything of it, and she turned back to looking out the hole at the trees and leaves and bushes.

Well, she didn’t think much of it till she heard something scratching across the floor. She jumped and looked behind her.

Rose moved forward, but once again, like when the cat dumped the water out of her water bottle, she was too late. She hurled herself towards the backpack just as it slipped over the edge… down… down… down. Into the hole Rose had originally climbed to get where she was now. Her backpack contained her last energy bar, her journal, pencils, and other things.

Weak as she was, Rose could not stop her momentum. She, just like the backpack, slipped over the edge and went down.

The whole way down she was sliding on the side of the hole, clawing for a handhold or foothold. Then she hit the bottom hard, and everything went black.

She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. Everything hurt.

Something soft was laying against her hand. Rose didn’t want to move to look to see what it was, but she had a fair guess as to what it was.

There was a faint light from above.

What happened? Where am I? Then a soft mew came from the soft thing at her hand and Rose remembered. ow. How did I survive that? I must’ve broken every bone in my body. It certainly feels like it.

Rose closed her eyes again.

The cat moved from her hand and curled up against Rose’s neck. Rose opened her eyes.

The cat’s tail fell across her face. Rose huffed at it. The tail twitched once then moved away. Rose closed her eyes again.

Drip. Drip. Rose awoke. Drip. A splash of water hit her face and she blinked.

The cat was gone. Water! Another drip hit her forehead.

She struggled up till she was resting on her elbows, head craned to look up.

A few more drops fell. There was a sound. It was familiar. Rain! It was raining! A dream come true!

The rain must be coming in through the hole and dripping down here somehow… Rose nearly leaped to her feet with joy. But she didn’t. Instead, she wormed her body enough so she could catch the drips of water in her mouth.

Ah, water! Glorious! But the water dripping into her mouth was slow. Drip. Pause. Drip. Pause. And so on.

Where’s my water bottle? wondered Rose, looking around. She reached for her backpack, thinking it might be in there, then paused, remembering her water bottle wasn’t down with her. It was at the top. And Rose was most definitely not going to climb up there again.

She groaned, then laid back under the water drips again.

Suddenly she heard an odd noise. She looked up again. The cat was approaching her, dragging Rose’s water bottle along with it.

“What!?” Rose shrieked. “Cats don’t drag water bottles around! Am I hallucinating?”

The cat turned and padded off through the tunnels.

Rose struggled to her knees, pain radiating through her body.

The cat paused and looked back at Rose. She managed to get to her feet and limped after the cat.

Before long Rose was in complete darkness. Not the tiniest speck of light anywhere. Rose just kept stumbling along in the darkness after the cat. Of course, she didn’t think of her penlight in her pocket. All that mattered to her right then was to get her water bottle back.

Eventually Rose realized she was outside, wandering through the forest. Bright sunlight streamed down through the branches and turned murky green through the leaves.

Multiple times trees appeared right in front of her. She ran into all those. Oddly, those trees were cold and felt like stone.

Suddenly they came upon a door. Just a random wooden door in the middle of the forest. Rose stared at it in surprise, then turned to the left to continue on her way. Instead, she ran into a rough stone wall.

Slowly the light vanished and Rose was in the tunnel again. There was light, though. And there was a door. A small window at the top of the door let in the light.

Rose could hardly contain her excitement. Her pain was forgotten.

There was a ring instead of a doorknob. She tried pulling it and pushing the door, but it didn’t budge. There was a lock above the ring. Rose tried to force the door open, but to no avail.

Finally, Rose gave up and slouched on the floor, her injuries, momentarily forgotten, returned.

The cat sat at Rose’s feet. She tried not to cry. Twice she had come so close, only to fail.

She looked at the cat. Something looked wrong with its mouth. It looked like its cheeks were bulging.

“What the heck…?” Rose reached for the cat. It moved closer. Rose, obviously not in her right mind, pried open the cat’s mouth. It let her. Out fell a small, gold key. Treasure. was the first thing Rose thought. Not just because it was gold but because it might mean freedom at last.

Her second thought was, well, that was unexpected.

She picked up the key and moved over to the lock. With trembling hands, Rose slipped the key into the lock. She turned it. The lock clicked. The door fell open. Rose let out a whoop, and fell outside, hugging the damp leaves on the forest floor.

Freedom.



“Hello? Miss? Can you hear me?”

Someone was speaking. Who?

“What’s your name?”

Rose blinked her eyes open. Something was clutched in her right hand. Cold and hard and small. It was the key.

She was in a parking lot. There were sirens and flashing lights. Is that an ambulance?

“Rose,” she replied.

“You’re going to be fine, Rose. It looks like you have a broken ankle, and you have an amazing amount of bruises.”

Rose snorted. No surprise there. She asked, “Who are you?”

“A nurse. Now just stay quiet and still, okay?”

Rose nodded.

She was safe.

At last.