Midnight

“The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.”

The fog surrounded the Vanish Estate where Hollow cabin still stood. Wet fingers of mist gently closed over and gripped the decaying wooded structure in a fist. Six-year-old Tabatha and her good friend Marsha had been playing in the nearby cemetery. They loved to play hide-n-seek at dusk because there were endless amounts of places that a person could hide behind. However, now they both stood with their mouths open as the light flickered ominously in the cracked panes of the window. Then, the howling started. It was an eerie whiny high-pitched long howl that struck their hearts with fear. They ran as fast as they could back to their homes.

No one knew the real story of Mr. and Mrs. Hollow who had lived all their lives on Vanish Estate. It was called Vanish Estate because it literally vanished whenever the fog crept in from the lake. They were a private and recluse couple, and when Mr. Hollow died, he left Mrs. Hollow all alone except for one tiny gift that he had ordered upon his death. Midnight showed up on the day after Mr. Hollow’s death. Midnight was a pure black kitten with long silky fur that Mr. Hollow had paid an exorbitant amount of money to the expensive pet store to deliver a male kitten with life expenses and health insurance paid to be delivered to his wife as soon as possible upon his death. Mr. Hollow did not want his wife to be alone.

Midnight was a spunky kitten who kept Mrs. Hollow company all day and night. But nighttime was extremely special for them. They had a routine that they strictly kept to. However, sadly, a couple years after Midnight came to be with Mrs. Hollow, Mrs. Hollow passed away in her sleep. Distant relatives came to claim and divide the Vanish Estate. Midnight was captured and taken away to the local animal shelter where he was placed in a cage.

The parents of Tabatha and Marsha were concerned when the girls showed up frightened and scared. They decided to investigate Hollow cabin. They formed a search team. The mothers brought brooms for weapons, and the fathers brought baseball bats just in case. They carefully walked through the eerie night up the overgrown weed filled path that led to the cabin with their flashlights guiding their way.

All of them could hear the awful howling and high pitch screaming as they carefully picked their way towards the cabin. Tabatha’s dad decided to go in first and he carefully pushed in the creaky door. The howling abruptly stopped. Their flashlights pointed at the chair next to the window, which should have been empty, but the chair was not empty. There sat on the chair, with glowing yellow eyes, an adult black cat who was now 3 years old, and his name was Midnight.

Tabatha gazed into the cat’s eyes which mesmerized her. Suddenly, the cat placed a paw firmly on the button that snapped on the old candle’s light while still staring intently at Tabitha. Simultaneously, Tabatha felt a cold wind and chill as a rustling movement came from her jacket pocket. Tabatha reached into her pocket as she kept her gaze fixed into the little cat’s eyes. She felt a clover leaf object that she was certain had not been there before. Carefully and very slowly, she took out the object and she realized as she looked down upon it that it was a cat cookie treat, and she knew at once intuitively that she was supposed to give this treat to the cat sitting in front of her.

Midnight had come back to where he missed his mistress. Every night, Mrs. Hollow would show the cat how to turn on the battery powered flickering candle in the window and say “okay, time for a treat before we go to bed!” Midnight would receive his treat and then he would curl up next to his mistress in her arms. Midnight had learned to turn on the candle by pushing the little button so he could get his treat. Midnight had escaped the animal shelter, and he returned to Hollow cabin where his mistress was supposed to be. Midnight was howling and mourning his mistress.

Tabatha immediately bonded with the little cat, and Midnight found a new home that night. She decided that Midnight should keep his routine, and even now, when Tabatha is 12 years old, she encourages Midnight to push the electric candle in her window sill, and she gives him his treat before they curl up together on her bed to sleep.