Tʜᴇ Pᴀᴛʜ Tᴏ Hɪɢʜɢᴀᴛᴇs

Sᴀʟᴇᴍ

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 3

Claws stretched through what looked to be a cat's paw. It desperately slashed at the bricks suffocating it, and let out a high-pitched bellow from deep in its throat. Shaking the daze from your mind, you sprang up, grabbed a large, gravelly brick in your hands and tossed it behind you, repeating the action until you could feel pebbles pierce the inner layer of your flesh.

Desperation was a powerful emotion driving you forward, you could always just stop and walk away. You did need medical attention after all, but you were too nice a person to walk away. With every brick you pulled away, you could hear the animal a little louder. Its cries of desperation perfectly mirrored your own feelings.

You stopped once you saw a patch of black fur smothered in dust, its back was slick with what looked like blood, and its voice had run dry.

You reached your hand over and grasped the fur, pulling it with the little strength you possessed and lifted it out of its smothering hell. You could see now that it was a black cat, its eyes a piercing shade of green and a thinner body than any cat should have.

You placed the poor thing back down. Its legs hit the rubble and it stood still for a split second before it erupted in a fit of hissing, its ears pulled back and its impressive fangs on show. It then unsheathed its claws and swiped at your face. You leaned back in a futile attempt to dodge its sharp claws.

The cat arched its back and hissed louder at you. You blew some hair from your face and narrowed your eyes pettily at it.

"Yeah, you're welcome buddy."

Your voice cracked and went through 5 different pitches as you stared unimpressed at the cat still hissing at you. But you made no attempt to clear your throat, instead, you sat up a bit, with your legs sprawled out in front of you, and examined your hands.

Where they had been scuffed before, they were open much wider from the jagged edges of the shattered bricks covering the ungrateful cat. You look back up at it.

It had stopped hissing like the devil and instead was calmly licking its paws like it dug its way out by itself. You couldn't help but huff at it, which made it look over and stare into your soul with its emerald-green eyes.

"Don't look at me like that, you owe me big time." You unenthusiastically say to the black cat, wondering why you don't just leave.

The cat tilted its head, before it stood idly up, and hopped gracefully down the bricks and sat in front of you, eyes still locked with yours.

You tilt your head at it, wondering if it was a witch's cat or if it came down to finish you off.

But to your surprise, as you tilted your head, the cat followed suit. Tilting it to keep its scarily accurate eye contact with you.

"Oh so you're a smart one now aren't you?" You asked with a smile.

As you did, you stuck your finger out, seeing if the cat would stay that calm. It did, in fact, it even ran its face down your finger, eliciting a giggle from you.

Its whiskers twitched as they brushed against your frozen skin, inviting you to stroke it with your other hand too. The cat looked up at you as you stroked its chin, purring loudly and gently twitching its tail in contentment. You could see that it had a pink collar, with a silver name tag attached to it.

"Salem?"

The cat looked up, its green eyes searching.

"You're a pretty cat Salem." You uttered in a shy voice.