Persistence
Written by Illesdan
(In-game nickname)
It wasn’t anything at first, but Theck couldn’t shake the feeling he was being watched. After some time had gone by, he had confirmed that he was indeed being watched. Theck tried to ignore the furtive looks cast his way, but his newly acquired admirer wouldn’t budge, following silently behind at a safe distance, where the object of his affection could always be in full view, much to Theck’s chagrin.
Some more time had passed. Theck didn’t find this admirer particularly cute. In fact, he was a bit on the creepy side, considering he was always lurking around and quietly staring. But, for the time being, he seemed harmless, so Theck let it go. For now.
More time had passed, and the silent one got closer. Ever so cautiously, but he did become bolder.
Then, the presents came.
Most were like the giver; off-putting and creepy, at first. But he accepted them all the same, just not to hurt his feelings. Theck ensured the admirer had completely disappeared before depositing the gifts into the nearest trash can. Sometimes, the stalker would keep an eye on him by peeking around the corner of a building, or a tree, and so on. After a while, it felt like the admirer was and could be anywhere.
One day, Theck was talking to Illesdan over breakfast and coffee on the patio when he abruptly stopped mid-sentence.
“He’s here,” Theck whispered. “He’s never followed me home before.”
Dan let out an exasperated sigh. “I think you’ve cracked. Despite your best efforts, I’ve never seen this cat you keep going on about.”
“Slowly turn around; He’s on the garbage can and doesn’t look like he’s gonna run.”
Dan smirked but did as he was told, then he finally saw it and laughed. “Portal Cat!”
“What?”
Dan was still chuckling when the cat came closer. “I called him Portal Cat; because it makes these holes it disappears into and brings things out of.” Dan tore off a piece of sausage and held it down for the cat to see. Portal Cat bounced across the yard to retrieve the treat. “I haven’t seen him in years; I thought maybe something finally got him. Looks like he still remembers me after all this time.”
“You’re saying this is your cat?” Theck asked incredulously.
“I never really saw him as ‘mine’,” Dan admitted. “Like most all cats, he goes and does his own thing. Maybe he attached to me because I saved him once.” Dan lifted the cat onto the table. Theck could now clearly see in the glistening sun that its ‘fur’ absorbed all light that came in contact with it; it was like a small four-legged black hole, giving it an almost distorted appearance. Then he saw several small black tendrils creep from his back and head but would rapidly get sucked back in or shift to another part of his body.
Theck watched the little ‘cat’ lounging contentedly on the table and became somewhat concerned. “Is that a filth creature?” he asked in alarm. “It’s not going to do anything weird, is it?”
Dan chuckled, “I don’t know if he really is an extension of The Filth; he seems to operate independently of it. In other words, he’s about as safe as any other cat from what I can tell you about him. He’ll get bored of us soon and be on his way.”
“I have so many questions now,” Theck said, genuinely curious, carefully stroking Portal Cat’s jawline and feeling its deep purr underneath his hand. The filth cat had an unusual feel to him; he felt incredibly soft and insubstantial. “Have you ever tried to figure out where he goes?”
Dan nodded, “Oh, yeah, a couple of times back then. The tracking devices and cameras apparently can’t keep up with where he travels; they’re like insta-fried once he goes into his portal.”
The cat suddenly jumped to all fours, bounded across the table, and sailed into a small black void that disappeared as quickly as it appeared. With that, Portal Cat was gone.
“Told you he’d be gone soon,” remarked Dan.
Theck had a look of confusion come across his features, “Did that ‘cat’ really use me to find you? But how?”
Dan shrugged. “Maybe he picked up my scent on you and got confused when you weren’t me he was smelling. I think that’s how that would work, seems to behave like a normal cat in every other sense of the word.” Dan then set about gathering dishes to take back to the kitchen. Theck stayed on the patio to read a report from a junior agent. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something. Portal Cat had returned to the table, and it had something small and moving in its mouth.
“Oh, yuck.” Theck instinctively remarked as he recoiled back a bit into his chair from the cat and another one of his ‘presents’. This present, however, was different. Theck quickly saw it was a tiny void kitten. Portal Cat placed itself in front of Theck, gently setting the kitten down and nudging the kitten to him. Theck gingerly scooped up the little wriggling ebon feline, where it settled down and began purring in his hand.
Portal Cat observed this, then hopped off into another void.
Dan later walked back out onto the patio with his second cup of coffee. He saw Theck cradling his hand against his chest. “What did you do to yourself now?” Dan asked, insinuating Theck had somehow managed to hurt himself just sitting in a patio chair.
Theck looked down at his chest, opening his hand slowly to look inside. “I think I got myself another cat.”
–The End–