In celebration for Halloween: A story with a tiny bit of strangeness, some silly humor, clichés, a cat, monstrous rats, annoying neighbors and their annoying dogs, an inescapable apartment building full of zombies, starter weapons, oldies music, rid...
"You mean he didn't come home last night?" She asks the other person on the line.
Anna Stuart always loves a good gossip. Right now, listening to a friend tell her that the husband didn't come home last night, is better than any soap opera.
"Has he done this before? Do you think he has a woman on the side?" She holds the phone on her ear and plays with her black hair.
Muffins jumps off the couch. She walks to the middle of the living room and looks at the patio sliding door. Pawing the door, she meows loudly at her companion. Her tail flicks back and forth.
"Uh huh, I see. Hold on a second, Muffins wants to go outside to the patio for a while." She unlocks and opens the door for the cat.
Muffins prances out and starts inspecting the area. Anna closes the door behind her. Walking to the kitchen, she continues her phone conversation.
"Oh, she's fine! Hasn't run off again. I really have no idea how she got out last time? Luckily, three days later, one of the neighbors found her roaming outside and trying to come in through the entrance door." She stands in front of the fridge and closes it. "I took her to the vet immediately to see if she picked up anything nasty from being out in the street." Holding the phone with her shoulder, she reaches for a box of spaghetti.
"No, she's fine. Clean bill of health, but she's been moodier and more frightened of strangers for some reason. She scratched one of the assistants right before her tests." She says while grabbing a pot. The faucet squeaks when she lifts the handle and places the pot under the water.
"Yeah, it surprised me too! I felt so embarrassed." The stove top button clicks when she turns it on.
"No, she didn't seem angry. She just shrugged it off and said it happens every now and then with cats." She leans on the counter.
"Although ... poor girl might have had a problem seeing blood, because she fainted while I was leaving the office. They took her into one of the back rooms." Grabbing the pot she places it on the stove top, dropping a dash of oil and salt inside. She moves her ear away from the phone.
The sound of chirping attracted her attention, but once she stopped speaking, silence filled the room.
"Yeah, sorry, I thought I heard something. So ... what are you going to do about him? You've tried calling him, right?"
Muffins yowls loudly.
"And he hasn't returned any of your calls? Not even a text?"
She turns around from the counter.
"Right! Well, I would think if he had an accident, hospital staff would have contacted you through his phone?"
The sound of hissing and meowing interrupts the phone conversation.
"Huh? She's even moodier today! I think Muffins is tired of being outside already. Keep talking though."
She crosses the living room while looking down at her feet. Opening the door, she steps outside and absentmindedly closes the door.
"Uh huh. Yeah, I know. All right, let's go inside, Muffins!"
A chattering sound comes from the corner.
"Hold on." She looks for the cat. "Muffins?"
Squeak.
"Muffins ... Is that you?" She walks towards the corner area that has the sliding door to her bedroom.
In the corner, huddled together and looking up at the cat, are three large rats. Though from their size, they could easily be mistaken for possums if someone sees them during nighttime. Their brown furs, raggedy and messy, stood up at the ends. Trembling, they grind their teeth. Chirping as their eyes vibrate, bulging in and out of their sockets.
The largest one in the middle, pauses and stands on its hind legs. Nose twitching while its beady, red crusty eyes stare at Anna. It hisses and urinates, its repulsive tail twitches while coiling around its body.
The other rats turn and stare.
Anna drops the phone and begins to back away. Halting her footsteps, when she hears a scrabbling sound behind her, she turns her head slowly.
Two rats stood behind her and turning their heads from side to side while inspecting her. When the large rat drops onto its front legs and hisses again the rats crouch. She wasn't sure what they were doing, but it seemed like they were going to attack her.
Looking around, there's only one place to go: the ledge. She runs towards it and jumps up. The two rats behind her nip at her ankles, but miss. With the rats skittering around the ledge's wall, she carefully maneuvers herself on the top edge. Skipping over Muffins, she jumps up and latches onto the patio chandelier.
It sways side to side and she fears that it might rip off from the ceiling. Bending her knees, so the rats underneath can't chew on her feet, she momentarily sighs with relief.
"Thank god for whoever installed this chandelier!"
Straining to pull herself up, she grunts, arms trembling and humid with sweat. Able to finally lay her upper body on the chandelier, she rests for a moment. Until, she hears the scurrying frenzy that begins below.
"What are you up to?" She whispers.
The rats chirp incessantly and begin to use one another to jump up onto the ledge, with the largest one leading. They jump from the edge and land on her. Hissing and squeaking before biting a screaming Anna.
She swipes and tries to hit them in an attempt to get them off her, but only one falls. Squealing as it falls on its side and quickly jumping back on its feet, it stares at her from below. Every time she tries to hit the rats, they bite at her hands and wrists. The largest rat lunges for her neck and Anna releases one last bloodcurdling scream.
Muffins hisses at the chomping rats. Anna's scream becomes a choking, gurgling sound. Blood shoots from the wound and travels down her body, pooling onto the floor beneath her.
She meows as Anna's legs hang and shake from the rats gnawing into her flesh with their sharp, jagged teeth. Ravenously screeching and turning on one another during their bloodthirsty feast. Biting each other's romps as sudden warnings or in madness.
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She crouches and continues to look at the vermin devouring the body of the woman she's known since she was a kitten. Cowardly, curling into a furry ball while staring above, she huddles in the corner of the ledge.
