The Black Cat That Watched

Molly was no stranger to the woods. It was her favorite way to navigate her tiny town in Maine. It did not matter what time of year, if it was light or dark out, the trails and pathways through the woods brought her a sense of peace and security. She had always been a bit of an outcast and it only felt natural to spend any free time in solitude. While most found it strange that a 14 year old girl wanted to spend the weekends alone, Molly's parents encouraged her to explore and be the free spirit that she wanted to be. Molly did not have the heart to tell her parents that she was teased at school daily. Her lack of friends was not because she was a free spirit but because no one liked her or wanted to be around her. She was more comfortable among the trees and animals than people because she did not bother them and therefore they did not bother her.

It was a crisp morning in the fall of 1998. The leaves, on and off the trees, were a beautiful array of reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. Her favorite spot to sit and think was about two miles from her house. It was a little clearing with a large rock that just begged to be sat on. Molly laid down her small blanket onto the flat topped rock, pulled out a thermos filled with hot apple cider and her journal and started to doodle. She was not sure what she wanted to write about this particular day, When this happens she just lets her pencil do whatever it wants until something or anything comes to mind.

A twig snapped just behind her to the right. She continued to doodle and only acknowledged the sound in her head. Molly had always been very intuitive with sounds. How different animals walked, the sounds they made, and could even differentiate between different breads. Another snap now almost directly to her right, and another right in front of her, but wait was it behind her again? To keep herself calm and from scaring whatever was lurking just outside of her peripheral vision, her pencil started to write down what was going on around her.

"I think something or things have surrounded me. It feels like something is watching me. I don't hear breathing so it has to be an animal and it is moving entirely too fast to be another person. I cannot make out any shadows so it must be something small. I'm not scared, I don't think, just curious what is out there..."

Just as that last statement is written, Molly hears some kind of movement in front of her again. Slowly lifting her head up, she sees something that looks like a cat. She has never seen a cat out here before and definitely would have remembered a black cat. It just sat in front of her, mostly hidden by some low laying bushes. It did not move so Molly went back to her journal. She continued to describe how she felt after seeing the cat and knowing that it was watching her, wondering if it had a home and was just an outcast like her.

As the light began to fade, Molly packed up her stuff and tried to decide which path she wanted to take home. She set out on a path that would get her home sometime after dusk. Taking in a deep breath, she noticed two things: it felt like the cat was still watching her and it had been unusually quiet all day. All the birds, bugs, and usual forest animals that she would catch glimpses of here and there were no where to be found. It was like all the other sounds just got put on mute when that cat appeared.

Molly got to the edge of the woods, finally feeling that the cat was no longer watching her, she turned around to say good night to the trees, silently of course. No need to give any of her classmates who could be near by any more reason to tease her. Making her way through the next few streets, she finally made it home. She put her things away, washed out her thermos, and popped a plate of left overs into the microwave for dinner.

As she was getting ready for bed, Molly got that feeling again of being watched. No one else was home yet and after checking that no one was hiding in the closets or under the beds, she looked out the living room window and there was the black cat. It was closer this time so she could actually make out its face and not just its general shape. She covered her mouth to smother her cry. This cat had no eyes. How could something with no eyes make her feel like she was being watched? It did not make any sense.

Before she could get the curtains closed and head back to her room, the power went out. She glanced outside and saw all of her neighbors had power but the cat...it was gone. Somewhere in the house she heard a door slowly open and the sound of someone breathing filled her ears.