End of Days

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CONTENT WARNING: References to Nuclear devastation, death, and the death of a pet

A mouse scurried past Cat, it’s unhinged jaw scrapping against the floor, as it panted audibly. It knew it was going to die, as did Cat, and together, in their shared understanding of the intertwined fates, met for a final time at the face of the wall. The mouse stared up at Cat, sniffing rapidly, in the hopes of grasping onto whatever faint stimuli it could before it was over. Before any sense could be made of its surroundings, Cat swatted the mouse on the head, his claws extended out, piercing the back of the rat’s exposed flesh. The mouse collapsed to the ground, motionless, as reality bled from the gaping pit in the nape of its neck. Quickly, Cat scooped him up in his jaws, ready to present his body proudly to friend.

Approaching the Softplace, Cat leapt up in one graceful pounce next to friend, whose eyes were fixated on the flashing black box. He seemed concerned, but Cat knew he’d feel better once he saw the body of the mouse. Cat plopped the mouse next to friend, who yelped and jumped up from the Softplace at the sight of him. Friend then started growling at Cat, before pushing him down. Cat didn’t understand; he had successfully killed his prey and kindly gave it to friend as a gift, and this is how friend repaid him? Not a scratch on the chin or anything? No matter, thought Cat, there was probably something else going on that Cat didn’t know about. This, of course, would necessitate an investigation on the part of Cat, as no mystery was allowed to exist so long as Cat was there.

The first step of uncovering what was bothering friend was to peek outside and see if any other Cats were outside. Cat knew that it was a great offense to invade on his territory and believed surely this would be true for friend as well. So, he scampered up Softplace 2, and peeked outside through the invisible wall that kept him from killing the birds. Although there were no other Cats, many other tall, lanky things that looked like friend were crowding in the black tar, looking up at the sky. So, Cat did the same, wondering what they could be looking at. To his dismay, however, the sky was as normal as any other day, causing the mystery to thicken even further. For a moment Cat considered dropping it all, and going back to sleep, as the mystery might grow out of control like why friend put the body of lifeless mice on his feet (despite Cat making it VERY clear that he liked to play with the lifeless mice). But, as he tried to slip away into a dream, the thought of friend’s reaction to his gift continued to haunt him, and he woke up.

For time innumerable, Cat thought of ways of solving the mystery of friend and the outside people, testing many thousands (or maybe 10s, he lost count) of hypothesis’. From something on the black box scaring friend, to the black box showing the thing in the sky that was scaring the people outside (most of them centered around the black box. It was evil, which was why Cat tried to destroy it in the past). Finally, Cat decided he would try to sneak outside to see if there was something he missed in the sky, something that could scare friend and others. Cat knew it would be tricky to get back outside, as his old escape route was covered up by friend, but there was always a way around friend’s barriers (friend was not very bright, Cat learned quickly while in his captivity).

Cat made his way into the hidden cave on the highest level of the house. It was a breeding ground for mice, and an often forgotten place where Cat could escape. Sure enough, Cat saw at least 7 mice scurrying into the crevices in the walls. On any other day, Cat would track down and slaughter every last mouse in that cave, but this was no ordinary day. He had to know what was wrong with friend, and what was in the sky. Cat approached his old escape hole, patting it with his paw to see if the wooden bars that friend put in place would still hold. Unfortunately, they did. Despite this, Cat tried one last time to break the bars, but to no avail. Surrendering to the bars, Cat searched the rest of the cave, hoping to find anything that he could use to escape. Sniffing around, Cat noticed a distinctive sent of flowers like the neighbor Cat had. Cat hated that smell but knew that it could only get in if there was a hole that the smell was coming in from outside. So, following the smell, Cat found a little tiny gap in the wall where faint glimmers of light leaked in. Cat felt his heart race, as the anticipation of a mystery solved drove him to ram his head against the wall, hoping it would give way to his escape. Although it didn’t work, Cat was undeterred. Next, he extended his claws out, and began pawing the gap. Little by little, Cat tore open the gap, letting in more and more light, until there was just enough space for him to fit his head in. He did it! He then excitedly pushed his way out into the open air, dropping down towards the ground, spinning around at the last minute and landing perfectly on his feet. He almost wished friend had seen how amazing he had fallen, surely, he would have gotten a scratch on the chin for that! Circling towards the black tar, Cat looked up into the sky, hoping something would tell him what was happening. The others in the black tar were crying as friend did sometimes, holding each other. Some of them were holding little tiny black boxes towards the sky. Cat peered up, confused and scared, and in the sky, he saw a tiny dot, which seemed to be getting bigger. Cat didn’t know what it was, but the others were scared of it, and so he was too. Cat felt someone grab him, and when he spun around to attack, he saw that it was friend, who then whispered something in Cats ear, which made Cat feel safe. Cat and friend looked up at the sky, as the black dot grew bigger and bigger, before elongating into a thin line. Cat knew it was going to be okay, friend would keep him safe no matter what, that’s what friend always did. That’s why friend had the walls. That’s why friend always ceiled Cat’s escape routes. It was all to keep Cat safe, and no matter what the line was, friend wouldn’t let it hurt Cat. The line disappeared over the horizon, and Cat felt relieved. But looking around, the others seemed to panic, and friend was crying. Cat didn’t understand. Then, there was a flash that blinded Cat, and a bang after that. Once his sight returned, Cat saw a giant cloud rush towards him. He looked up at friend. Friend’s eyes were shut. For the last time, Cat looked at the cloud. The cloud knew it was going to kill the Cat, as the Cat knew it was going to die, and in that moment, they shared a common understanding of their intertwined fates. Cat blinked, looked up at friend, blinked, and turned back towards the cloud, but before he could see it again, he was gone.