Nick had had a rough day at work, but it was Friday, and a warm summer evening as well.
On days like this, there was only one thing he liked to do to get his mind off of how soul crushing his job could get for him. A drive in the country.
Nick loved driving his car like this. It gave him a chance to truly be alone with his thoughts without locking himself up in his apartment.
He could almost lose himself on the back roads he would travel, if he didn't know them as well as he did.
He just turned up the radio and let the music blast at him as the world around his car disappeared into a blur outside his speeding car. Maybe if he had been paying more attention to that blurring world and not lost in his own thoughts as the music carried him away, he would have seen it on the side of the road up ahead.
It was just standing there. As if waiting for him, but he didn't notice it in time.
As Nick flew down the road a large animal was suddenly in front of his car as it ran across the road.
Out of panic he smashed his foot down on the brakes and turned the wheel to avoid hitting it. But he had been speeding and quickly lost control of the car.
The car slid off the road and slammed into a large pile of rocks.
One moment Nick was trying to regain control of the car, and the next it had come to a sudden jarring stop.
Nick set for a moment unable to think. Then he couldn't stop the stream of profanities and cuss words that came out of his mouth.
When the tide of yelling and cussing had stopped, he looked around for his phone that had been laying on the passenger seat next to him. It didn't take him long to find it on the floor of the car in front of the passenger seat. He grabbed it and got out of the car.
Once out of the car he slammed the door as hard as he could. Then went to the front of the car to see just how bad the damage was.
It was bad. He would definitely need to have it towed, then mostly sold for scrap.
Nick jumped when he heard the voice coming from the top of his car.
"You Dick! You nearly killed me!"
Sitting on top of his car was a cat the size of a mountain lion. It had no hair whatsoever, and large green eyes that seemed to scare Nick more then the animal itself.
Nick began to back away slowly. He put his hands out in front of him as if there was something he could do to stop this strange looking animal when it attacked.
As it watched him, it smiled showing Nick all his sharp pointed teeth.
"Oh, so now you're going to flee the scene of an accident? I think that's illegal pal."
Nick froze in his tracks and stared at it. His first thought was that he must have hit his head. Animals don't talk.
"What's wrong?" It asked him, then cocked its head to one side. "Haven't you ever seen a cat talk before?"
"You're a cat?" Was all Nick could think of to say.
"Not just any cat. I am a Cheshire Cat."
Nick smiled, but kept himself from laughing. "Like the cartoon?"
The cat's smile was suddenly gone. "What are you implying?"
"You know. That cartoon. Alice In..."
Now the cat's face contorted with rage. "How dare you!" The cat screamed at him, and Nick took a step back.
The rage on the cat's face was nothing compared to the madness that blazed in his eyes. "How dare you speak of that man to me!"
"What man? I said nothing about a man."
"Him and his stupid book! He made Cheshire Cats out to look silly in his stupid, stupid book. And if that's not bad enough, then they made that stupid cartoon about his stupid book, making Cheshire Cats look even sillier! I should kill you where you stand! Your death will be the testament to just how silly I can be!"
Nick turned to run at this point, but tripped and fell on his face before he could even get started. He looked back toward the car so that he could watch the cat attack him, but saw the cat just standing there on top of his car. It had its eyes closed and was taking deep breaths.
After a few moments, the cat's face relaxed. Then it's smile came back even bigger than before. Finally it opened its eyes. The rage was gone, but the madness that remained was more than unsettling.
"I am so sorry for that outburst." The cat almost sounded pleading to Nick. "But you must understand, that that is a horribly touchy subject for me. What say we forget about my little outburst, and we never speak of those vile things you mentioned?" The cat leaned towards Nick with his toes and claws hanging off the roof of the car.
Nick just nodded and got back to his feet.
"Excellent. I feel better about our new relationship already."
Nick held up his phone as if to show it to the cat and said, "Excuse me. I have to call someone to come help me with my car."
The cat jumped down beside the car and sat on his hunches as he watched Nick wave his phone around in the air trying to get a signal.
"That's not going to do you any good." The cat said. "There are no towers anywhere near here. You are in a virtual dead zone." The cat was now chuckling to himself as he watched Nick and continued to smile.
Nick didn't look at the cat as he started to walk around in small circles waving his phone around looking for the elusive signal. "No offense, you can talk, but you're still just a cat. What could you possibly know about phones and their signals?"
"Well... I know enough to know that you won't find one out here."
Nick lowered his phone and looked at the cat.
"What you need my friend, is a land line."
"A land line?"
The cat nodded.
"We are in the middle of nowhere. Just where am I supposed to find one out here?"
"Well you could use mine, back at the house."
Nick began to laugh now. "You... You have a land line? At your house even..."
The cat shook it's head. "I am so glad that I can amuse you with the details of my life. 'Mr. I am so important that I need a phone on me at all times to talk to everyone I've ever met.' What? Do you think that everyone I know lives in the woods out here? Or is it that you don't think that I am important enough to have anyone to talk to?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He waved his hand at the cat. "But you're a cat that not only can talk, but also owns his own home that just so happens to have a phone in it."
"Well if you are not interested in using my phone, then I suppose you could push your car home." The cat was now chuckling. "Good luck with that my friend."
Nick stopped laughing and chewed on his lip for a moment before talking again. "Okay. I am sorry. May I please use your phone to call for some help."
The cat jumped to his feet with excitement. "Of course you may! All you had to do was ask. Follow me!" And with that, the cat started to walk off down the road.
Nick shrugged and followed.
"You are going to love my house..." The cat started to prattle on. "I decorated it myself. It is truly a sight to behold. This way. Mind your step."
The cat turned off the road onto a mostly overgrown dirt driveway. It curved back and forth for about two hundred yards, as if it had been laid out by a drunk contractor. But the effect was obvious once they were standing in front of the house. You couldn't see the road from the house, and no one from the road could see the house.
Nick starred at the house while the cat went right up to the front door. The house looked like it had been abandoned for many years. Needing paint and replacement boards for all the dryrot was the least of the places worries.
"I thought you said this place was a sight to behold? It looks like a dump to me."
The cat gave him an annoyed look. "Of course it looks like a dump from outside. It's what is on the inside that counts. Besides, do I look like the kind of cat that can waist his time on yard work?"
Nick shrugged again and walked up to stand by the cat.
"Could you be a decent fellow and open the door for us?" The cat asked smiling up at him. "I do so have a wretched time operating that blasted knob with my paws."
"Sure." Nick replied.
The sun was setting now, and darkness was creeping up all around them as he grabbed the doorknob. He stopped. He started to have a creepy feeling about what was taking place here.
"What's wrong?" The cat asked.
"Nothing. I just..."
"Don't be silly." The cat assured him. "There is nothing in there that is going to hurt you."
Nick swallowed up the feelings that were creeping over him and opened the door.
It was dark inside the house. Really dark. Nick could see the light in the Windows from outside, but they did not cast any light into the room for him to see.
"Go on." The cat urged him.
"It's dark."
"So?"
"So. I can't see anything."
"Oh don't be a baby. There is nothing in that house right now that is going to hurt you."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing! Look, do you want to use my phone or not?"
Nick nodded, not really sure of himself at that moment.
"Then go on in. I will be right behind you. The light switch is on the other side of the room. Once inside, I will turn them on. 'Kay?"
Nick nodded and entered the house.
The cat came in behind him and closed the door.
"Hey!" Nick nearly screamed as he found himself in total darkness.
"What?" The cat now sounded a little annoyed with Nick.
"I can't see anything!"
"Is that a problem?"
"Yes!" Nick was near to panic now.
"Are you afraid of the dark?"
"Well, no... I just..."
"Better?" The cat asked as the light suddenly came on.
They were brighter than anything Nick would have expected in the ran down house. So much so, that he had to hold up a hand to shade his eyes as he blinked them until they had adjusted.
When his eyes were fully adjusted, Nick lowered his hand to see the cat sitting on his hunches grinning at him from the middle of worn out couch against the far wall that looked like it was about to fall apart.
"Well, look around." The cat prompted. "I decorated it myself. It has a certain... Je ne sais quoi!"
As Nick took in the rest of the room, his eyes widened with horror. Other than the couch in which the cat sit, and a few random end tables scattered around the room, there were bones everywhere. A few of them were clearly animal bones, but there was no mistaking the six foot pile of human skulls for any other type of animal.
"Please tell me you like it." The madness was now burning brighter than ever in the cats eyes.
Nick barely kept himself from screaming as he turned back to the door and grabbed for the doorknob. Only, there was no doorknob on the inside of the door.
"Yes. You will not be getting out that way I'm afraid." The cat was finding it more difficult by the moment to contain his laughter. "Also, I have one or two confessions to make to you my friend. First off, I lied. I have no phone. And second, I brought you here for dinner. Not that you are going to eat, you see. It's my dinner, and I'm going to eat you."
Now Nick was screaming. He threw himself at the door trying to break it down.
As he was slamming his shoulder into the door he could hear the cat, "Yes, that's it. Tenderize that meat for me, but be careful not to bruise it."
Nick stopped pounding on the door, and forced himself to calm down. He turned back around to look at the cat, trying as hard as he could to ignore the pile of human skulls. "Please." He pleaded. "You don't have to do this."
"Oh, but I'm afraid I do." The cat said shaking his head. "For you see, I am hungry, and you look like way to delicious of a meal to pass up."
"Look, I'm sure we could work something out!"
The cat kept shaking his head at the suggestion. "I don't think so. Food has nothing to bargain with."
"A game!" It was the best thing Nicks panicked mind could come up with. "A game. I win. You let me go free. If you win..." He couldn't bring himself to finish.
"I eat you." The cat finished for him.
Nick nodded.
The cat thought about it for a long time. "Okay. I will play your game. But I get to pick the game. And I get to set the rules. Otherwise, I can kill you and eat you now."
Nick knew this was his best and only chance of getting out of this alive. "Agreed." He said.
"Excellent." The cat seemed to be excited about this turn of events. "The game shall be 'Cat and Mouse.' I will be the Cat of course, and you shall be the Mouse.
"I will chase you into the woods. If I catch you before you reach safety, I get to eat you. If you make it to safety, you get to live. Do you agree?"
"Where is safety?"
"Five miles through the woods behind this house is a road. If you can make it there before I catch you, you get to live. No harm done to you."
"That's it?" Nick asked.
"No." Said the cat. "It's not. You see, there are three other directions you might run. For instance, if you run back up the drive in front of this house, to the road in which we met... Well that will be sudden death. Not like in sudden death overtime, but in the sudden death in which I kill you immediately and eat you.
"You might also run into the woods to the right of the house. That way is just miles, and miles of endless woodland before you reach anything of note. If you go that way, when I catch you, and I will catch you if you go that way. If you go that way, I will eat you alive. I will keep you alive as long as possible as I do so, so that death will be a sweet blessing to you once it comes for you.
"And finally, if you run into the woods to the left of this house, you will find a road only two miles from this house. If you make it to that road, I will let you live as well, but harm will still come to you. For I will rip out your eyes and leave you to fend for yourself. Do you agree to these rules?"
Nick really didn't see that he had much of a choice. "I agree."
"Very well. Let the game begin."
"Um, how do I get out of the house?"
The cat sighed and pointed a paw towards a doorway near the couch. "Details. Details. Through that doorway is the kitchen. On the other side of the kitchen is the backdoor. Once you are outside and into the woods I shall begin to chase you. Now. Off you go then."
Nick wasted no time. He ran through the doorway and into the kitchen.
The kitchen was dark, but not as dark as the front room had been. But even with the extra light he almost tripped over a partially eaten cow that was laying on the floor. He did his best to ignore it as he ran on to the back door.
Once through the back door, he ran across the horribly overgrown back yard and into the woods. It was fully night by this point, though the moon was not up yet, and the trees seemed to make everything darker still.
Nick had not gone more than twenty yards or so into the woods, and he could hear something large barreling through the woods not far from where he was running. So he began to run much faster than one should in such poor light.
His only hope was that he didn't trip, or run into anything in the woods. No sooner than the thought was in his head he had to come to a stop to keep from running into the cat, that was standing right in front of him.
"You're not very good at this game my friend." The cat said, with madness in his eyes and pure joy covering the rest of his face.
Nick turned and ran in a new direction.
"No! Not that way!" The cat called after him. "That's the direction in which I get to eat you alive!" He was now roaring with laughter as he continued to chase Nick.
Nick dodged the cat as it seemed to jump out of nowhere to grab him. He then ran a circle around the cat to run in the opposite direction in which he had been running. It was so hard to see where he was going in the dark but he had full confidence in his sense of direction.
He ran anther fifty feet in that direction, when the cat appeared beside him, keeping pace easily. "This is fun, but you can't win you know. How much easier it would be if you were to give up now and except your fate."
"Get lost!" Was all Nick could manage to say between heavy breaths.
With that, Nick turned back to the original direction he had been heading, but he didn't get far. His forehead suddenly smashed into a low hanging tree branch, and his feet flew out in front of him. He hit the ground hard. The back of his head hit a big rock, and everything went black.
When Nick opened his eyes he could see the moon through the tree branches. He had no idea how long he had been out. Then he remembered the cat.
He sat up quickly, which turned out to be a mistake. It made him dizzy and he almost blacked out again.
When the dizziness passed, he looked around. The cat was sitting on its hunches only a few feet away.
"Did you have a nice nap?" The cat asked him.
Nick was confused. "I don't get it. I was out cold. You had me."
"Come now, my friend. There is no sport in that. It would have been like cheating. But now that you are awake, it's time that we finished our little game."
As Nick got to his feet, he grabbed two handfuls of dirt, hoping that the cat didn't notice.
Once on his feet, he looked around. Even though the trees made it darker out than it was, his eyes were much better adjusted now, and the moon did help a little as well. But he had one major problem. He was not sure which way was which.
"What's wrong?" The cat asked when all Nick did was look around.
"I can't remember which way safety is."
"Oh that is a problem for you. But think of it this way, you have a twenty five percent chance of getting out of this unharmed, and a fifty percent chance total of making it out alive. Not knowing which way is which is just something you will have to deal with, for if you don't start running, your chances of survival drop to zero. Now run Mouse! Run!" The cat jumped to its feet.
Nick reacted quickly. He threw both handfuls of dirt into the cats eyes.
The cat recoiled at the attack, and Nick turned and ran for all he was worth.
He could hear the cat falling behind and screaming. "Cheat! You nasty little cheat!"
Nick didn't slow down. He ran until his chest burned and his muscles ached, but he didn't stop. He was running so fast he was barely dodging the trees that got in his way.
When it seemed to Nick that he could no longer breath, and his body was going to collapse from exhaustion, the trees disappeared around him. As he realized that he had left the woods, his foot caught the edge of the pavement and he feel to his hands and knees.
He spent a long time in that position trying to catch his breath. When he did, he turned and sat on the road looking back at the woods.
It was not long before the cat came out of the woods. "Bravo! Bravo, my friend. It looks like you won." The cat said as it continued to walk towards Nick.
Nick started to smile, but then the cat jumped on him and pinned him to the ground. "Too bad this is the road where I get to take your eyes as well." Nick began to struggle, but the cat kept him firmly in place. "Don't be like that my friend. You know there is an old saying about how the last thing you see of the Cheshire Cat is its smile? Because of that stupid book, and subsequent cartoon, one might think that it is because it is the last thing you see of us before we disappear into thin air, but that is just silly. No, you see it is the last thing you see just before we kill you... Or rip out your eyes of course."
With that, the cat shoved his claws into Nicks eye sockets and ripped his eyes out of his head.
As the cat got off of Nick, he started screaming and put his hands over his empty eye sockets. The cat popped one of Nicks eyes into his mouth and began to chew on it. "You know as well as I do my friend, that this road is hardly ever traveled. But if you're lucky, then someone may come by and help you. If not. You will most likely bleed to death. In which case, I will be back for the rest of you later. Toodles."
The cat then left Nick bleeding and screaming in the road.
Ps. This is work of fiction
