The Dream Thief
For Laura Pruett's "The Cat And The Machine" Challenge
Introduction
This tale of tails is for Laura Pruett's "The Cat And The Machine" Challenge that you can read about here:
The music is "The Dream's Dream" by Television from their album "Adventure"
The Dream Thief
The seemingly stray cat had no owner, but every house thought he was theirs, but he was deemed a stray by those who did not like cats. Some fed him, some did not, and so when they didn't, he surreptitiously crept into their homes when they were sleeping and stole their dreams.
The stray cat was a dream thief, and the stolen dreams were the currency the cat used to take its revenge on those who did not indulge the vengeful creature.
The shopkeeper was a spiteful old man and saw a vile like mind in the cat.
Then that cat gave him a dream, and he gave it a snack that he cursed to give whoever ate it nightmares based on their dream. The snacks were always something that people liked, an after-dinner chocolate mint or chocolate biscuit, or something.
The cat would steal back to the house and slip the cursed snack into their shopping or next to where they made their tea or coffee. They would pick up and eat the cursed snack, and then that night they would have their nightmare.
The one they loved would hate them, their dream car would skid off the road and end up a wreck, their dream home would burn down, their favourite team would be relegated, and whatever would go wrong would go wrong.
Then the shopkeeper died, and he was so nasty and spiteful that heaven would not take him, and neither would hell. His spirit had no place to go, but then he remembered the vending machine at the front of his shop, and he found a home there.
When the cat came back, he found there was a new shopkeeper who shooed him away, but then he heard a familiar voice coming from the vending machine; it was his kindred spiteful spirit.
That cat gave the haunted vending machine its latest stolen dream, the haunted vending machine cursed a suitable snack and dispensed it to the vengeful kitty.
The was going to run for a long time, the people of this town would have many more nightmares for not feeding the cat treats.
About the Creator
Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred
A Weaver of Tales and Poetry
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By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 7 months ago in Fiction
Logic and reason are not always explanation enough.
Logic and reason are not always explanation enough. Understanding is elusive He sat looking at the half empty glass but not seeing it, he was cold but not feeling it, he was in pain but not hurting from it. His mind was numb, his memory a jumble of conflicting events, as if from a nightmare but were in fact real. The phone rang for a long time before it gained his attention and then he tried to turn it off, an automatic reaction against coming back to reality. His mind preferred the numbness to anything else that was available. In this distracted state he accidentally accepted the call and put it onto speaker, the voice from the speaker jolted him into giving it his full attention. This was a call from the dead. The voice was full of concern, “where are you John, why haven’t you called, what is going on?” Even to his own ears his tone sounded subdued, defeated, “I am in the cabin, in the woods but I am OK will call you later” and he turned the phone off both ending this call and not accepting any other.
By Peter Rose4 days ago in Fiction
Comments (6)
I can see this expanding into something way more, Mike
Oh, thou are a vengeful little cat.
Loved this you sure are creative.
Ha ha, love it. Cats have too good a reputation based on the less-well known Darwinian notion of survival of the cutest. Though we all know that all machines are imbued with evil spirit, so that's no surprise. Great interpretation of the prompt, Mike. I will look forward to reading the winners' lineup and hope to see you in it.
I am allergic to cats after having one for 15 years. My daughter said because I took him to the vet when he was sick to have him put to sleep/death he cursed me and I would never have another cat!!😉😂 It was her cat to begin with. My kids told me they couldn't do it as they grew up with the cat. My daughter was supposed to take it with her when she left home, but she couldn't have pets. A convenient excuse.🤣 It's okay that I am allergic, or I would be one of those cat ladies or someone with a cat photo collection??
I love how the cat isn't just mysterious, it's vengeful. Typical cat lol!