Evil Nibbling at Toes in the Dark

Forever Friend lived just down the street with only one neighbor between our houses. Our lives couldn't have been more different. I had one grumpy quite brother, she had a rowdy brother and sister who were full of life to say the least. My mom worked and hers stayed home. My dad had moved on while hers was home each night bellowing with poorly masked love at his rowdy kids.

I had a dog and she had a cat. Granted, my dog was pretty mean to just about everyone, but at least he was honest about it and warned you to stay away. Forever Friend's cat Abby on the other hand was the catalyst that opened my eyes to real evil.

I remember when Abby arrived at Forever Friend's home. The quite and beautiful black kitten with orange and white flecks that almost looked like reverse tiger stripes was breath taking. I remember instantly loving the cute little fur ball... all part of its evil plan that was brewing since the time of it's conception.

After my first encounter with the purring motor boat sound of contentment as I gently pet the snugly fur ball in my lap I was in love. Then in the blink of an eye I'd somehow been lightly scratched and lightly bitten and the cat was no where to be seen. I stared in shock at my hand hardly believing the little ball of warmth could have done such a thing. Then from across the room I saw the yellow eyes gleaming from beside the TV. It was an awakening in me that this animal was not at all what it seemed.

Life went on, and as Forever Friend's mom was my babysitter all summer I could hardly avoid this creepy sweetness that followed Forever Friend and I around. I tried to share my thoughts on the scheming of Abby but the entire family seemed to think it is just what cats did. This broadened my distrust of these animals to include any cat I ran into... not just the sly Abby.

After so many bone chilling looks of malice, intent and general disdain I tried to steer clear of Abby. At least Forever Friend had a pool... and cats didn't like water. I'll admit, to my shame, I often dreamed of throwing that miserable cat into the pool... but to my credit I never actually did it. So what brought on these base desires to play dirty tricks on a mere house cat? I thought you'd never ask.

One of Abby's favorite past-times was, what I have dubbed the walking tree. You see, Forever Friend's house had a long narrow hallway leading to the bedrooms. Half way down this hallway was the guest bathroom which one must pass to have access to any of the bedrooms. Because the hallway was long and narrow there was no way to circumvent this bathroom. So to the delight of Abby, everyone had to walk past it at some time during the day. She would crouch right inside the door of the dark bathroom, her dark fur making it impossible to spot her and she would wait. Wait for me, or anyone else, to walk by. Once in view she would leap up onto your legs and proceed to climb you, much like normal cat would climb a tree, and when she reached your shoulders or head she would leap off and scamper away. I've mentioned that I spend the summers with Forever Friend right? Summers in Georgia where it was not uncommon to hit 97 degrees with 95% humidity.... but I began wearing jeans to her house.

Abby would also hide other places around the house and reach out and give you a good scratch just when you'd relaxed. I think it was her way of reminding you that no where in the house is safe. She even jumped out from behind the shower curtain one day while I was using the bathroom. I managed to bat her away as she sailed toward me and I instantly jumped up and opened the door a crack so she could run away. In truth, while in the house there was no escape from her.

As young girls love to do Forever Friend and I wanted to have a sleep over. Her mom agreed to make us some of her wonderful pancakes for breakfast and we'd swim in the pool at night! The evening was great, swimming at night was such a treat. Then we settled down in the living room with our sleeping bags and New Kid's on the Block pillows to watch a VHS of one of the their concerts. After the concert we decided to tell ghost stories till we fell asleep. I read from the book of scary stories I'd check out at the library and we soon had goose bumps and were clutching our pillows and flashlights.

Forever Friend fell quickly asleep and I began to wonder where Abby slept.. if she slept at all. I began to worry as I'd not seen her all afternoon. I hoped she'd gotten herself stuck somewhere and wouldn't be able to get out. I finally clicked off my flashlight, telling myself it was only a cat and slowly fell asleep.

I dreamed of hundreds of cats. All sizes and colors of cats swarmed like roaches around the floors, counter tops and table of my dream kitchen. I was perched on the counter trying to open a window and get out... of course the window was stuck and it was dark outside. Suddenly a light came on outside and the temperature in my dream hit zero. I peered out the window I was attempting to open and the yard outside the window was teeming with cats as well. Then to my horror they all turned their unearthly yellow eyes on me. I could see my breath on the pane of glass when I heard a sound... a large thudding sound. I turned slowly back to the kitchen, sure I was going to be attacked by the cats in the house. They were all looking at me too when a large entirely black cat spoke, "I think I'll start with the toe."

Frozen in place I didn't know what to do... there were cats everywhere... all eyes intent on me. The larger black cat moved closer and licked my bare toe. I wanted to scream... knew if I screamed they'd disappear. I could feel the scream caught in my throat and tried to dislodge it. The black cat licked a few more times then bit down hard on my big toe. Finally the scream ripped from my throat and I woke, sweating with my sleeping bag in disarray around me.

I breathed a sigh of relief that it was a dream then felt a painful throbbing on my big toe. I sat up and clicked on a flashlight. Shining that flashlight on my toe chilled me to the bone. There was blood and a bite mark. I quickly scanned the room with the flashlight searching for the big black cat from my dream. The flashlight caught the green glow of eyes as it rounded the room. I quickly flew back to the spot to see Abby dashing down the hallway.

To this day I'll swear that the evil cat named Abby bit me in my sleep. The next morning I told Forever Friend about the bite, not the dream, and said her cat was the devil. Abby slipped into the room during my accusations and began cleaning herself with her back to us. I decided to prove to Forever Friend that it was indeed the devil and called out, "Abby, here Abby, kitty kitty." and of course nothing happened, the cat continued to ignore us. A few moments later I said, "Lucifer, oh Lucifer." and at that moment Abby turned and glared at both of us. Forever Friend's jaw dropped and we both ran into the kitchen to the safety of mom and pancakes.

From then on I called that cat Lucifer and it never failed to turn in my direction..... and I never slept anywhere but behind a closed door at her house again....