Remembering Darkness

A Talking Cat

Melanie's POV

The night when your cat starts talking to you is the night when you start going crazy.

Ok I know what you're thinking, cats can't talk, but it turns out my cat isn't normal. In fact, he's not really a cat at all. But anyway, I'm probably confusing you, in fact I know I'm confusing you. So I'll start this story from the beginning.

"Melanie," I heard the voice of my best friend whine, "What was our history homework?"

"Jack you should have written this down," I scolded him playfully, "I don't know if I should tell you."

"Please," Jack begged giving me puppy dog eyes, "I'll love you forever."

"Darling," I said sassily, "You already love me."

"In your dreams," he replied, sticking his tongue out at me. I rolled my eyes at his childishness, before opening my homework diary and finding today's date.

"We have to read page seventy-five to page eighty, then answer the questions. It's something to do with how the Egyptians treated cats." I told him.

"Thanks, you're amazing," Jack said sarcastically, winking at me before dashing off. I watched as he jumped into his parents' car, before turning around just in time to see my sister run out of the school building.

"Sorry I'm late," she told me, panting slightly. The wind caused her blonde hair to fall out from behind her ears.

"It's ok, I was just talking to Jack anyway," I said smiling at her.

"How can you stand Jack," she grimaced, "Boys are just plain annoying."

"They're not that bad," I said, "One day you'll have a boyfriend, and you won't think he's just plain annoying."

She showed me what she thought of that idea, by pulling a face and pretending to choke. I chuckled at her little performance, before walking away from our school back home.

It was a short walk, only seven minutes (I timed it), and my sister and I travelled to and from school using it every day. Since our father died when I was four and Ica was two, our mother had to work long and often late night shifts at the hospital as a nurse. This meant that I was often called upon to look after Ica and make meals for the pair of us. I didn't mind though, apart from this usual minor squabbles that all sisters have and the fact that she was possibly one of the most annoying thirteen year olds on the planet, I got on quite well with Ica. It was a Friday, which meant Mum had a shift from 4:00 to 6:00 and then nine till eleven. It was 4:47 now, so she would still be on her first shift, she wouldn't come home till 11:30. The hospital was 25 minutes away by train, plus the five minute walk to our house. My Mother usually spent her breaks in between shifts at our Uncle's house, as he enjoyed the company and it was right next to the hospital.

I took the cold pasta out from the fridge and placed into the microwave, pressing the reheat button and setting it for a time of two minutes. Ica laid the table with forks, spoons and bowls as I waited for the food my mum had prepared earlier to heat up. When the microwave finally pinged to signal that our meal was ready, I took it out and gave us a both two big portions, Mum's pasta bake was the best. Once we had finished, we put our plates in the dishwasher and headed to our rooms to do our homework. After about thirty minutes of Ica irritating the hell out of me, (I really do hate her sometimes) I was finally able to get started in my history prep.

I sat at my desk, taking out my books and laying them on the ancient surface. The desk had been in my room for twelve years now, and before that it has been in my Dad's study. It was made of dark oak and had a large top where I did my work and lots of drawers. I sat on my blue spinney chair and turned on my matching blue lamp (I also possessed matching blue pencil pots due to a trip to ikea). Flipping to page seventy-five I began to read.

The ancient Egyptians respected all animals they depicted many of their deities with animal heads, but valued none as highly as the cat, they were sometimes even considered as demigods. They used to leave out bits of food for the wild cats, so they would visit their houses and catch rats, mice and other small rodents. This suited the cats well, as living near to human settlements not only allowed them to have a large supply of food, but it also warded off larger predators. Eventually, the cats became domesticated and lived with the Egyptians, who raised their kittens and looked after them.

Cats were also important in interpreting dreams. It was believed that if you saw one in your dreams, it bring good luck and that you would have a good harvest.

The Egyptian word for cat is miu, which literally translates as he or she who mews. It's believed that it comes from the sound a cat makes, mew.

This at least I knew, I had named my cat Miu, for this very reason. True it was slightly nerdy, but I liked it. It suited him for some reason.

As if I had called on Miu by thinking about him, he wafted in to my room. He jumped on my desk and looked at my open text book, he appeared to be studying it. He looked at me somewhat cynically, his black paws tucked underneath him.

"When I was in Egypt, I was worshipped by all." He informed me, puffing out his chest with pride. I simply stared at him in awe, confusion and terror.

"Y-y-y-you can talk?" I stuttered, but it came out more like a question.

"Yes," He said, unimpressed, "Well done Captain Obvious."

"How come? When did this happen?" I asked frantically.

"You don't remember me?" He asked, he sounded almost hurt, "Well that was expected."

Before I could even open my mouth to reply, a high pitched scream echoed through the house, it came from my sister's room.