More Than Just Cat Scratch Fever
Jacob was still trying to figure out what to do, while in the BG jail, he continued to stew.
Sallie was out there doing only God knew what to God knew who.
He needed to get out of here and quick, so he could keep an eye on the murderous witch.
So, he could find a way to make her pay.
Then his new cellmate was a black cat. It hissed at him right off the bat.
But 3Gun wouldn't budge an inch when Jake demanded the cat be removed as he started to sneeze and itch.
The cat seemed feral, like it wanted to claw him to bits. Oddly to Jake's words, it seemed to take offense.
"You stay on your side and I'll stay on mine. I don't want cat scratch fever from a mangy feline. I'll bet you've already infested this cell with fleas. Cats carry all kinds of disease."
The creature hissed at him again, then swiped its claws across Jake's shin. He cursed and tried to give it a kick, but the cat was much too quick. It scampered away and tried to slip through the bars, Jake laughed when it didn't make it far. The cat couldn't fit through. Now they were both left to stew.
He checked the scratches on his skin, it tore through the fabric of his best pair of britches, damn the beast to hell! He rubbed his smarting shin.
"Looks like you should lay off the mice for a while my friend. So, what are you in for? Cat burglary?" Jake asked with a grin.
The cat ignored him from the corner of the cell. Just as well, as Jake did not like cats. He was allergic and had a scar or two from his youth, from trying to help out a half-dead alley cat who had been long in the tooth.
As the day wore on, Jake knew he already had one boot in the nut house, because to the cat, he began to grouse. He was short on time, friends, and solutions to his current predicament. When he dared to close his eyes at all, it was Mary Sue's face he saw. Another ghost to haunt him. Another regret and guilt to add to the list. She had deserved so much better than this.
"This is ridiculous. I've been held in here for hours and they have nothing on me. And now with a cat to add insult to injury!"
But the cat curled up against the bars, hissed at him a warning to not come near. Jake gave the beast a sneer.
"Like I want to come over there and catch fleas anyway! I think this is a new form of torture the sheriff is trying today! I can hardly breathe in here!"
He pulled at his collar to try and get some air. He laid his head against the cool metal of the bars.
"I didn't hurt Mary Sue. At least not in that way, though in my life, I've made plenty of mistakes..." he confessed, "everyone is better off without me. I destroy whatever I touch. When this is all over, I'll do the right thing for once. I owe her and Josie as much."
The cat looked at him with keen yellow eyes from across the cell. As if saying do tell. And Jake couldn't think of a reason not to. They had time to kill and the jailhouse was down to the meager bones of staff around. And it was not like the cat could tell a soul anyway of what Jake had to say.
"Maybe the preacher man was right when I was three, he told my ma I had the devil inside me. Misery has followed me everywhere since. But it's much too late for me to repent. I'm going to burn in hell. I've done many things I'm not proud of. I've lied, cheated, stolen, and killed too. But I've never killed a man unprovoked, it was either me or him, or to protect someone I loved, but perhaps my greatest sin was getting entangled with that woman. I'm going to end this once and for all. Some people you can't fix or save no matter what you do. In the end, they only break you too. But I can make things right. This I can do... Make this world safer for Josie and Brandy and Rue..."
The cat stared at him with those uncanny eyes again. Almost as if the creature understood. But that was crazy indeed. Jake was losing it, cooped up in this cell for far too long. Tired and worried about Josie and Rue, as Sallie planned her next move.
But Jake had more problems than avenging a murder and being stuck with a cat who made his eyes itch because his hands began to twitch. Then came the sweating and his heart raced. He couldn't keep still and began to pace. The cat watched him warily.
"I need to get out of here. I didn't do anything!" Jake proclaimed.
But no one came. If he didn't get out of here soon, things were only going to get much worse. He slumped down against the bars and cursed.
The shakes progressed and he began to retch. He was going to die in here. That much was clear as the hours ticked by and day faded into night. He smelled of sick and was quite a sight.
"Let me out of here!"
He pounded on the bars. Until he was overcome with nausea again. This would truly be the death of him.
The cat steered clear as Jake poured buckets of sweat and puked up his guts until nothing was left. He knew what was happening to him, too long had it been since his last drink. He couldn't think. He shook on the floor and his guts were all twisted up in knots. The cell was much too small and hot.
It was all no less than he deserved. The cat meowed as the world was edged in black. The room enclosed in on him as Jake panted and his head began to spin. Then there was nothing more as the darkness closed in....