Curiosity Killed the Cat

Chapter 8 Demonic Cats and a Manilla Folder

Green eyes are the first thing I see when the door opens. Wesley's eyes are stunned for a second as he takes me in. He has his usual black sweatshirt on but his hoodie is up.

"What are you doing here?" Wesley pushes his hoodie down. "I came to see you." His thick eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"Look, I need to talk to you. I know I'm probably the last person you want to see but I think you need to hear what I have to say." Wesley swallows before saying, "alright but just for a little while," he says softly, allowing me entry.

When I walk through the door I find the kitchen to be completely clean and spotless but that's where the cleanliness ends. The living room is covered in beer bottles, empty pizza boxes and other trash. The house stings of cigarette smoke.

Wesley puts a hand on my arm moving me gently out of the way. He begins to try and clean up so I decide to help him. "You don't have to do that, Laney. It's my mom's stuff. She's sort of a mess right now looking for a new job." I ignore his request and continue helping.

"Do you have a recycle bin?" I ask, holding up an arm full of coke cans. "No, we just throw them away here. My mom doesn't believe in recycling despite my many attempts to convert her." I nod silently.

"Look, you can just put those down, I'll clean them up later." Wesley then leads me to a door that appears to be his bedroom. His bedroom is so much cleaner than any room I've seen in this apartment.

As a person who isn't happy, his room is overly clean. Maybe he needed the distraction because I've given up cleaning my dorm room. Ever since The Park's came to clean up Nadine's part of the room, I've just given up cleaning it up.

Wesley decides to sit on the floor allowing his back to rest against his bed. I decide it's best to keep my distance, so I sit on a scratched up chair at his desk. I'm confused and a little concerned about the scratch marks until a gray persian cat jumps up on the desk, scaring me.

I am deathly afraid of cats. Even after looking over this cat's beauty, I'm at ease. Wesley quickly jumps up, noting my hesitation. "Don't fear Victor, he's a softy." Wesley picks up the fur ball, stepping up to me.

"Victor? What a distinguished name for a cat." I giggle following Victor and Wesley over to the bed. I sit next to Wesley as he pets the demon cat. I can tell he already despises me. Hovering my hand over the cat's head I freeze not wanting to become Wesley's desk chair. Wesley rolls his eyes, grabbing my hand and lowering it to the cat's fur.

Despite feeling all of the similar butterflies I'd felt from a month ago, I can't help but also cringe at the touch of his cat.

"Not a cat person, huh?" He watches me in amusement. "Look, I didn't come here to become friends with your cat, okay," I burst out. "I wasn't sure when or if I should come to you." Wesley lets Victor fall gracefully to the carpet and focuses his attention onto me.

"Alright, I'm listening." Wesley gives me the floor and I decide that standing on it might be better.

"I don't know how to gently say this because it's sensitive, so sensitive I couldn't trust this information with my own therapist," I begin feeling clammy everywhere. My feet pace back and forth across the room.

"Don't worry Laney, it's probably nothing I can't handle," Wesley says calmly trying to reassure me but it doesn't help.

"I think Kelvin and Nadine were murdered." The reaction I receive from Wesley is one I expected. He's silent and goes pale. Almost as pale as he was the night we saw our friend's bodies.

"So what you're saying is that you think someone went to the party and shot them in cold blood?" Wesley shivers as he joins me on my feet. I nod quickly ready to provide my evidence. "I don't believe that. Who the hell would have it out for them?" I step closer to Wesley.