Jellybones Part Five

Copyright

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Book cover by Inara Reynolds

October 29th, 2016 Cont...

The cat haunted my dreams that night. His charcoal fur felt stuck in my throat as if he had tried to smother me through my nightmare. Sam had woken me up, telling me he was going to go sleep on the couch. I had punched him in my sleep, and his face had started to redden where my fist had struck him.

I was sorry I had hurt him, and he had accepted my apology. He knew I was going through a traumatic time. He kissed me and left the room, pillows in hand.

Traumatic time, if you only knew the half of it… I thought to myself, settling back down into bed. As I wrapped my arms around my pillow, to go back to sleep, I heard the sound of a screen being cut.

I sat up to look at the window, as something smashed into it, trying to get to me.

I came face to face with the cat.

He purred at me softly, and I could hear him in my head. “Let me in, Juliette, I am hungry and afraid in this strange world.”

I slammed the window shut as he finished ripping apart the screen. I could hear the cat smashing his body into the glass, trying to break it.

“It’s double paned, demon,” I said to him, or maybe I said it to myself trying to make me feel protected by a simple pane of glass that sat between it and me.

He hissed his reply, and stood up on his hind legs, scratching and clawing at the glass with his upper paws. I pulled my pillow over my head, wrapping it around to cover my ears. The pillow deadened the sound of his claws on the glass, and most importantly, the demon-like hisses.

I had just started to drift off to sleep as my phone rang. I reached over to check it. It said unknown caller so I let it go to voice mail.

My phone kept ringing. I reached over and shut it off.

Just as I was on the cusp of sleep, the phone rang.

And rang.

I had turned it off…

I answered it. My curiosity got the better of me.

“Hello? It's 3:30 in the morning, this better be important.” I said to the caller.

“Hello, Juliette. If you ever want to see Sam again, you will do as I say. Meet me at the old gristmill on Quaker road if you want him back.” A woman’s voice said.

“What old gristmill on Quaker road? I have lived here 25 years, and I have no idea what you are talking about. Sam is asleep on the couch downstairs, so I know you do not have him. Piss off.” I hung up.

I started to lie back down to try once again to sleep. I could not hear the familiar sound of Sam snoring downstairs, maybe the caller was not lying, and maybe they did have Sam. I went downstairs to check.

Sam lay sleeping on our couch, peacefully. I sighed in relief and went back upstairs to sleep. I must have dreamed the phone call, how else could it have rung after I had turned it off.

The cat had stopped trying to break the window. He was gone.

Thank you for reading! Creative and helpful criticism is welcome! Find typos in this draft? Let me know!