The Big Black Cat

Two months ago I posted about a person who's been known to be a great story teller.

When we were kids, we used to hear stories from our mother or grannies. They tell stories about monsters, myths, and legends.

In my post, The Great Story Teller, I talked about my mother as our story teller when we were kids. She used to tell us stories about her experience and encounters with monsters in our local area like aswang, maligno, engkanto, kapre, duwende and onglo.

Before I was enrolled in grade school, my mother would entertain us by telling stories about her scary experiences with the unknown entity when she was young. She would tell us those stories only when father was late to bring home dinner. 

I always mention in my past posts that I was not born rich. We cooked our food in firewood, we got our drinking water from the well and we used a kerosene lamp to brighten our small nipa home. We were more like “isang kahig, isang tuka” (one scratch, one peck).

We were five kids and me as the fourth child. When my mother would notice that it was getting late and father is not yet around for our dinner, she would start telling stories. This way we will temporarily forget about starvation.

I will tell one story told by my mother back then. It’s up to you if you will believe it or not. Let me begin without any further ado.

The Big Black Cat

When my sister was just an infant, she had wounds all over her legs as mother told in her story. By the way, my sister is two years older than me and most probably my parents don’t have a plan yet about me during that time (laughs). 

One late night when mother was waiting for father to come home, she was trying to hush and comfort my sister as she was crying out loud due to the pain of small wounds on her legs. My sister was crying for almost an hour. Mother held her in her arms seated on a bamboo flooring in one corner of the house. If you can picture our home back then it was just a square and no room. It was all in one room. A dining room, living room and bedroom.

While mother was still trying to comfort my sister, a big black cat jumped in front of them. Mother was surprised and was frightened. My sister then continued crying and even louder. Mother was also shocked and couldn’t move for a couple of seconds. She can see the cat’s eyes fiercely staring at them and don’t seem to blink. (Jeez! My hairs are raising, laughs)

When my mother got back to her awareness, she screamed. “Go away! Stay away from my daughter!” She then threw all the pillows beside her to drive the big black cat away. The cat then leaves without harming them. Somehow mother had managed to put my sister to sleep before father arrived. She told father about what had happened before they went to sleep. The only thing that confused mother was how did the cat manage to sneak in despite being bulky. Besides, the house was secured even if it was made of wood and bamboo.

When mother woke up in the morning, she found my sister not beside her but on the distant side of the bamboo floor. She was undressed and filled with blood on her body as though being licked. When mother was about to get new clothes for my sister in the closet, there were cat footprints on the white clothes as if the cat slept there the whole night.

Mother took the clothes with cat footprints and showed it to her sister in law who was living next to our house. My aunt then said to mother that she heard my sister crying last night. She thought that mother was aware of it, which is why she did not dare to go and check. 

Today my sister is living healthily with three sons.

What can you say about this story? Share in the comment if you have similar stories about this strange yet real story. 

Thanks for reading. Ciao!

This is my participation in  Writing prompt #14 by Jonica Bradley which is about Monsters, Myths and Legends.

The rules are simple.

1. Write anything about Monsters, Myths and Legends

2. Write 100% original content

3. Write at least 600 words so Rusty will reward you

4. Submit to the PromptlyJonica community (please join us if you haven't already)

5. Tag  @JonicaBradley 

6. Have fun!

You may want to check my previous post:

The Invisible Enemy

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To all those who support, Thank you!

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All photos used are mine