Cat and Mouse

Emma knew that what was about to happen was going to make her cry, as much as she didn’t want to. The woman stood beside her car leaning back against the door, her two dark eyes looking towards the large buses loading up with cadets.
She took a few deep breaths feeling the chilled wind lash her calf’s and play with her black dress,
‘Did I ever tell you that dress always looks beautiful on you?’ Asked a voice behind Emma and she recognised it imminently as Michelle. Emma turned around wrapping her arms around the other female tightly; her eyes welled up with tears.

Michelle laughed a little before wrapping her arms around Emma giving her a tight squeeze feeling taller in her black boots,
‘And did I ever tell you, that you look sexy in uniform?’ Emma tried to laugh at her joke but just ended up choking back her tears. Emma’s arms stayed around Michelle tightly not wanting to let go.
‘Only every day,’ Michelle smiled slightly her hands rubbing over Emma’s back, she slowly let go, ‘I have to go now,’ She continued before grabbing her bags and walking towards the bus.

Emma followed close behind Michelle feeling her hot tears run down her cheeks the sound of her heals clicking against the concrete drowning out the roaring engine of the bus. Michelle threw her bags under the bus and turned to face Emma her hand running to the back of her neck pulling her into a kiss. Emma slid her arms back around Michelle tightly still not wanting to let go. Finally Emma looked up at Michelle not been able to stop the tears. Michelle gently kissed her nose whispering in her ear,
‘I love you remember that.’

Silently Michelle walked onto the bus, the doors shut. Emma stood back and watched her from the window her arms crossed tightly across her stomach. Her eyes didn’t leave the bus until it was out of site. For a few minutes Emma stood with her arms tightly across her stomach. She felt the singing in her eyes as the closed her eyes tightly whispering to herself,
‘I won’t cry I won’t I won’t I won’t.’

She walked towards her car. Pausing for a second she grasped the handle and gave a harsh tug pulling it open, she didn’t think it was such a good idea to drive while so upset but she still got in the car.  Emma looked down and saw her phone sitting in the middle concole, she picked up and looked at the picture she has of Michelle on her phone. After a few seconds Emma decided that it would be a bad idea to keep focusing on it.

Finally she pulled away from the bus stop and headed home,
‘At least I still have my cats.’ laughed Emma bitterly to herself. She spent most of the drive in silence apart from humming to the tunes on the radio. Coming to her home she saw Michelle’s car parked besides hers in the garage she got out of the car and headed into the house.

Most of the night Emma spent wallowing in her own self pity as different thought reamed though her head.
‘What if she gets blown up? What if something really bad happens to her? No, no I won’t think about it I don’t want to think about it,’ She paused falling into an arm chair flipping the TV onto a random channel as white noise, ‘I won’t think about it she won’t be gone for that long and I’m sure she will be fine.’ Emma laughed nervously to herself starting to think she was crazy talking to herself. Suddenly a noise from the kitchen made Emma’s heart jump racing a head. She froze in her spot before hearing the unmistakeable meow of her cat Casper.  The small ginger cat walked up to Emma and wiggled his butt jumping up onto the arm of the chair purring loudly. Emma loved her cat, he always knew when she was sad.

For the rest of the night Emma spent with Casper curled up on her lap. She soon fell asleep in the chair.

In the morning Emma woke up with a pain her neck from the chair and Casper sprawled on the floor in a lazy daze.  For a few seconds Emma stayed in the chair before she heard her phone buzzing beside her. She flipped her phone up looking at a text message from her friend,
‘Hey Em are we still up for lunch at 12?’
Suddenly Emma realized it was already 11:30, she quickly replied before running into her room throwing on some deodorant new clothes and dashing out of her house almost forgetting to lock the front door.

After some risky driving Emma made it on time to see her friend Chris.  She walked up and wasted no time giving him a big hug.
‘Ah well hello friendly.’ He laughed, ‘Come on lets go sit down.’ He grabbed her arm and led her into the small restaurant. The picked a two person table towards the back of the restaurant. Chris gave Emma one concerned look and pressed his lips together.
‘So, how are you doing?’
‘All last night I had her words going through my head.’ Emma sighed looking at the tinted white glass vase in the middle of the table, ‘Oh I’m sorry,’ sighed Chris as he grabbed his glass of water. Emma could tell that Chris had something on his mind he wasn’t telling her.
‘Spill it,’ She said coldly her finger spinning around the top of her wine glass.
‘I was just thinking you know,’ Chris paused for a second chewing on his bottom lip, ‘What if she doesn’t come back you know what will you do then?’ By the time Chris finished his sentence he noticed the mixed emotion on Emma’s face as she now started to chew her bottom lip but stayed quiet not answering his question.

After a few moment of that seemingly aqward silence Chris spoke up again,
‘I’m thinking of proposing to Mia.’  Chris blurted out his words quickly before watching Emma’s odd expression, ‘That’s why I asked you hear I want to know if I should.’ Chris paused for a second as Emma spoke softly, ‘I think you should you both love each other.’ A sigh passed Emma’s lips as she got up from the table, ‘I feel a bit queasy I might head home.’ Emma gave Chris a smile and a hug before leaving.

At this point Emma was glad she didn’t drive to the restaurant the pain in her stomach got worse as she walked along, but Emma didn’t pay much attention to it.

A few days past Emma tried keeping herself occupied at work, she still didn’t do much, she typed up reports she spoke to some people the same old nine to five thing she hated. The only thing keeping her sane from her job was Michelle and even though she had only been gone a few days she still missed more than anything.

With a sigh Emma walked back into her home chucking her car keys on the bench top before noticing something in the mail box. Emma rushed out and grabbed a small letter reading who it was from.
‘Michelle!’ She cried happily and rushed back inside the house almost forgetting to shut the door behind her. Emma sat herself down on the couch and ripped open the letter reading out loud.
‘Dear Emma, I never thought I would write something as odd as that, I finally managed to get this letter sent I hope it doesn’t take too long to get to you, by the way the food hear sucks.’ As the letter went on Emma didn’t know what to think. She still missed Michelle so much and the letter just helped remind her that she wasn’t there.

Emma read the letter over and over that night unable to put it down, she turned out everything else  which was starting to annoy poor Casper. At last as the night went on Emma finally got the courage to write back a letter, she told Michelle about Chris wanting to propose and the pain in her stomach but apart from those Emma realized she really didn’t have allot to write back about.

Another few days past and the two of them traded letters though out the days, each Tuesday Emma would rush to her letterbox and wait for her reply. But also as the days slowly crawled along Emma’s pain got worse. At first she thought it was just a stomach bug so she kept on ignoring it.

In all of the letters the two girls talked about everything they wanted to do, all the things they hadn’t had a chance to say and all the things they wish they could take back. Emma realized that her life was slow and meticulous and was still quiet envious of Michelle for been so far away doing something exciting.

Emma started to fell asleep with one of Michelle’s notes in her hand. She was happily sleeping away before a loud bang shook her awake. Emma opened her eyes trying to squint though the darkness.
‘What the?’  Emma groaned rubbing her eyes stumbling into the kitchen glancing at the clock to see that it was 2 am. With another groan Emma herd another loud bang from the back garden.

The sound of her own heart pounded though out her chest.
‘Why am I scared it was just a bump?’ Emma started talking to herself to try and calm down before she squinted into though the kitchen window into the dark garden. She leant forward as if she was trying to see though the darkness before she saw something like a figure beside the tall tree.

Emma’s mouth gapped like a fish as she figure disappeared without a noise. The pounding in her heart got louder with every second. Suddenly re realisation that she hadn’t locked the front door set in as she rushed to the door slamming it shut followed by a soft click of the lock.
With the pounding in her chest still ringing though her ears she took in a sharp breath and slid down the cold wood of the door sitting on the ground.
‘What the hell.’she whispered before crawling on all fours towards the coffee table in the lounge to grab her phone. Once she had it in her grasp she turned around and sat back against the door feeling safer there.  Quickly she flipped the phone in her hand sending a quick messege to Chris,
‘What the hell some random...person on my back yard help?!’  Emma sent the text eagerly waiting a reply but after twenty minutes she didn’t get one.

Hugging her knees Emma pressed her body back against the door slowly closing her eyes as she took deep breaths trying to calm her down.  The night painfully crawled along and Emma stayed awake until she heard the morning bird’s song drifting though the air. The rising sun was a welcoming comfort for Emma who was still shaken up about last night.

Pulling herself up from the floor Emma rubbed her eyes slowly with a yawn. Her phone buzzed and Emma picked it up reading the text from Chris,
‘I’m on my way over are you ok?’ Emma read the text but didn’t bother to reply and instead just waited, she clicked the front door open so when Chris turned up she didn’t have to unlock it.

Emma sighed to herself as she slumped into the kitchen leaning on the counter flipping the kettle on. Her eyes stayed focused on the tree in the backyard, she had a churning pain in her stomach just thinking about it.
‘Maybe I’m just over reacting,’ Emma paused for a second looking behind her as Chris walked into the kitchen.
‘I only got your text this morning,’ He paused for a second sitting down at the kitchen counter pushing a cup forward with his finger, ‘Wouldn’t mind a tea love.’ Chris laughed even though Emma was still shaken up.

Grabbing the cup Emma started making two teas as she spoke.
‘I saw it I know I saw it,’ She closed her eyes trying to keep her voice steady,
‘Saw what?’ Asked Chris looking out of the window, ‘And why do you keep staring out there?’
‘I saw this figure at, about 2 am I saw someone there looking right at me I saw the whites of there eyes,’ Emma’s voice shook a little more, placing the cup down in front of Chris,
‘Maybe it was just some teenager yard hopping?’ Asked Chris tracing his finger around the cup,
‘Well, maybe but you have to believe me I think it was more!’ Emma tried to keep herself calm but was still shaken.

The two of them talked for most of the morning, and even though Emma didn’t want Chris to leave he still had to. She parted from Chris leaving him at the door as she walked over to the lounge sitting back as she grabbed the small wooden box were she kept Michelle’s notes.

Emma spent most of the day inside she was feeling to shaken to go outside she only had to wait one more day until she could rant on to Michelle about what had happened.

That night Michelle was too scared to make her way to her own bed to sleep but instead stayed with Casper purring happily on her lap. Emma finally fell asleep when another bang rang though her ears. This time the bang seamed louder than last nights.

Once again Emma’s heart pounded though her ears as her frightened thoughts flooded her mind. Casper lazily jumped off Emma’s lap walking towards the kitchen. Emma sprung up whispering.
‘No Casper you stupid cat,’ she hissed following Casper towards the kitchen. Emma froze and looked up towards the tree again looking though the darkness.

In the same spot as before Emma saw the figure besides the tree,
‘Oh god,’ whispered Emma again unable to hiss out anything else. The pounding ran though her ears. Casper jumped up onto the kitchen bench and looked towards the window looking directly at the tree where Emma last saw the figure.

Emma grabbed Casper as the cat protested whining and hissing. Emma held onto Casper tightly as the figure crouched down picking up a small rock and threw it towards the window right were Emma was standing, which let her know that the person knew exactly where she was.

With wide eyes Emma let out a faint scream which was all that she could handle panicked scream as she ran towards her bed room, but she couldn’t see in the dark. With a loud bang she ran right into a wall falling back on the ground.

When she finally came around Casper was sitting on her stomach kneading her gently,
‘Ow,’ she looked at Casper with a groan and banged her head down on the ground closing her eyes,
‘I need better loc...’ She paused turning her head down the hall way towards the front door. She squinted her eye looking at the door before she sprung up from her spot,
‘I thought I locked that!’ She jumped racing to the door before she realized what day it was.
‘Letter!’ She cried out running from her door to the mail box.

She slid past the mailbox grabbing onto it with a hushed pant grabbing the letter walking back into the house locking the door behind her. She was so focused on the letter she had forgotten about the fact her door was magically unlocked.

Sitting down on the chair she began to read the letter, but as she got to the end she noticed a weird marking on the bottom left hand of the page. She turned around the paper and looked at the back before she noticed a faint marking.

Emma slid off her chair to her knees kneeling in front of the coffee table pulling the wooden box onto her lap. One by one she placed all of Michelle’s letters. She arranged the letters back to front so she could see the faint letters on the back.  She traced her fingers over the back of each letter before realizing that the letters were written in white wax.

Walking off into the kitchen, grabbing some of the food dye empting it into a bowl with some water and getting a small brush. Sitting back down at the coffee table Emma started to brush over the back of each letter, some had a few words and others has just one letter on the back of them, Emma read out as she went along.
‘I can see you so don’t forget that.’ Emma hushed under her breath before looking around the lounge room at all the open window. She started to search around for her mobile. She dialled a few numbers before realizing that she couldn’t call the police without a real emergency, but then again isn’t been stalked a real emergency.

Without wasting much time she jumped from her spot shoving all the letters into the wooden box leaving it on the coffee table. She ran though the house bursting into her room her mind running over everything. She didn’t really know what she was doing but there was no way that she could keep living in this house knowing that some freak was stalking her.

Packing a bag quickly she packed up everything she needed. She grabbed her car keys and the box under her arm, just as she was about to leave she almost forgot about Casper. Pulling him away from his bowl of food she shoved him into a carrier and put him in the car taking out of her garage.

After a long drive Emma tried to concentrate on the road instead of what was happening to her. Finally she arrived at Chris’s she didn’t bother to call him before she arrived. She grabbed her bag and Casper from the back seat of the car. Chris’s house was a lot smaller than her own which she didn’t mind for the moment.
‘Emma?’ asked Chris as he walked from the front door grabbing her bag, ‘Ah what’s happening?’ He asked as Emma walked into his house putting Casper down on the ground and Chris’s other cat Miki walked up to the cage and gave him a sniff before swatting her tail.
‘I think I’m been stalked you know the letters Michelle is giving me on the back of them I found this message I can see you so don’t forget that.’ Emma rushed her words out in a jumble as Chris rubbed her back ushering her to the small couch. ‘Look I bet it was just a prank.’  He sighed trying to reason with her.
‘A prank?’ She squawked, ‘Anyone who is doing this for a prank is a sick fuck!’ She cried out unable to help the tears falling from her eyes, ‘What are you doing about work?’ Asked Chris’s walking to the other end of the house to put her bags down in the spare bedroom and walking back to let Casper spring happily from his cage sniffing around the area.
‘I put in for a holiday.’ She said chewing on her bottom lip.
‘Have you thought about telling the police?’ Asked Chris as he sat down on the side of the couch,
‘Oh yea what am I meant to say? Oh excuse me officer I think I am been stalked by some random person standing in my back yard!’ snapped Emma before she sighed, ‘sorry just stressed.’

The two of them sat for a while in silence before Chris made his leave, he was going to stay with his now Fiancé for the weekend up in the country, Emma didn’t care just as long as she wasn’t home.

Once again the night slowly crawled on and Emma played around with Mia and Casper who were cutely curled up beside a lit fire place. Emma watched the crackling fire light up the small lounge area. The orange flames flickered reflecting off the clean glass, once again something on the back yard caught Emma’s attention.

Feeling her heart starting to pound though her chest she jumped up quickly grabbing the cordless phone and holding it to her ear. Watching out of the window carefully Emma just stood there lightly lit up by the orange glow her eyes straining to see the dark figure moving around in the back yard.

The seconds ticked on and it became apparent that there was in fact a person standing in the back yard. Emma quickly dialled the phone as she pressed it to her ear. She heard the pounding of her own heart starting to get louder and the flat tone rang out from the phone,
‘How could the line be down?’ She swore before jumping to her feet and running towards the other side of the house in a hurry.

Emma skidded down the hall way towards the main bathroom hearing small rocks hit the windows at she ran it was as if the two people were playing a cruel game of cat and mouse.  Emma screamed as a rock hit the bedroom window as she dived under the bed covering her head. The rocks continued to pound against the fragile glass over and over. Covering her ears Emma kept her head down the sounds of her heart beating filling her ears drowning out the sounds of the rocks hitting the windows around her.

The minutes continued to crawl on painfully slow before all noises stopped. Emma slowly crawled from under the bed looking up at the window her harsh breath rapidly escaping her in fear. With sweaty palms Emma jumped up and walked down the hall way slowly peering out of the windows. At last she reached the front door. Slowly she looked at the lock which was in the unlocked position.

The sudden realization sunk in that the door was unlocked the whole time, as Emma froze in fear her heart felt as if it was about to jump out of her chest for the second time that night.  Shuffling back Emma felt her back hit something. Closing her eyes tightly Emma took in a deep breath to scream in fear before a cloth drenched in Chloroform was held over her mouth.

Emma felt her knees getting weak as her eyes shut tightly her head spinning the strong chemical smell filling her nose as she fell to the ground in front of the strange figure, the last thing Emma would remember was the stabbing fear from her tormenter, this game of cat and mouse was turning deadly.

Slowly awakening from her deep slumber Emma opened her eyes to have bright white lights staring back at her. She lay motionless for a few seconds hearing shuffling feet and loud voices yelling around her.  Still laying still in the bed she was placed on the over whelming sick sensation filled her stomach as all the stabbing pains flooded back to her conscious body.

Turning to the side Emma saw Michelle sitting against the wall; it looked as if she had been sitting there for days without moving.  Emma sat up slowly in her bed looking down at her bruised and battered arms. She remembered nothing about what happened to her after the strange figure behind her drugged her.

After a while Michelle finally noticed Emma was awake and she jumped to her feet and rushed to her side.
‘What happened?’ asked Emma softly as Michelle slowly brushed her hand over her forehead.
‘We had no idea Chris said he came back to find you like this,’ She said shortly
‘What Chris wasn’t he going somewhere with his Fiancé?’
‘Baby Chris doesn’t have a Fiancé, and he was the one that found you in his home.’ 
‘It can’t have been,’ Emma paused thinking, ‘Could it have been?’ she asked herself looking down at her arm seeing what looked like a branded mark saying Mouse.
‘Chris has disappeared after he brought you to the hospital he wouldn’t let police talk to him,’ Sighed Michelle and Emma just sat there with a stone cold facial expression as the  realization slowly sunk in that it was Chris that did this to her, it was Chris that filled her with the fear and panic for his sick little game of Cat and Mouse.