Year of 365

September 26

Once again, the forest behind your house had been the cause of a restless sleep. It had been ever since you moved here. The branches scratching at your window as if begging for shelter from the windy circumstances outside, or the howl of a wolf or a coyote that echoed through the night like a mournful funeral march. Sometimes the odd raven would fly up to the branches next to your window and peck at the silver latch, as if wanting you to wake to follow him as he flew into the forest, never once looking back over his shoulder to see if you were in fact following. 

But this time, you had finally had enough of the branches. It was deep into the night when they started scratching at the widow again, and as you sat up, you were surprised to see an unfamiliar cat sitting on the branches, its paw up against your window. You were the only house around for miles. How had a cat gotten here? You frown and sit up on your knees, reaching up to the latch. As you open it, the cat backs off and sits back on its haunches, staring at you with unblinking eyes.

"What do you want," you sighed, reaching out and picking up the cat. 

Its fur was sleek and beautiful, to well kept for it to be a stray that had wandered from the city ten miles away, nor did it seem like it was wild. The stray cats that you had met before  usually ended up clawing at your face and leaving you with gashes, but this one just pressed its toe pads against your cheek. If cats could smile, this one surely would be smiling up at you.

"Are you lost?"

Suddenly, the cat jerked its head forward, grabbing the necklace that you were wearing in is mouth and jumping from your hands, snapping the chain of the necklace from around your neck. It jumped up onto the windowsill and out onto a branch, pausing to look back at you. 

"Give that back," you ordered, leaning out of the window to try and grab your necklace back from the creature. But, the cat was too far out of your reach and try as hard as you might to retrieve your beloved jewel, the cat just remained where it was, staring at you with yellow eyes.

"Do you want me to come out there?"

You could have sworn that the cat nodded at you. As you frowned at it, confused more than anything, it jumped down from the branch, onto another one that was closer to the ground. This continued until the cat was sitting on the small cobblestone path that led from your house into the woods. There, it sat, its black fur basking in the moonlight.

You let out a groan and grabbed a sweater from your coat rack, pulling on your running shoes and dashing down the stairs to the back door where the kitten was sitting. As you left, you grabbed your keys from the counter next to your door. Quickly opening and locking the door, you followed after the kitten as it bounded away into the woods, your necklace still clutched tightly in its teeth.

It led you through the forest, walking slower now that it knew that you would follow it, and eventually, it led you to what seemed like a large oak tree. There, it sat on one of the roots that was protruding from the ground and dropped your necklace into a knot on the side of the tree.

"Really," you asked with a scoff, stepping up to the tree. You sighed and as you were reaching into the knot, you frowned when you saw something glowing on the other side of the tree, your necklace lying on what appeared to be the ground. You glanced back at the cat to see that it had disappeared and you glared at it.

"You want me to go into the tree don't you?"

The cat said nothing but walked over to where you were and jumped into the tree. So, gritting your teeth, you jumped in after.