clowder
\ KLOU-der \ , noun;
1. a group or cluster of cats
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Meredith stood in the mostly empty street and blinked. She had been walking home from work, but was,
at the moment, not. Her path had been
blocked. The one who kept her from
moving forward was still there. It sat
on the sidewalk and looked up at her.
Meredith had been stopped by a cat.
It wasn’t
an unusual cat. A simple grey and black
feline with nothing special about it really.
Meredith would have simply walked passed it without a second thought on
most occasions. The only reason this one
was any different was its actions. It
had come out onto the sidewalk from a nearby ally, looked at her, and
stopped. Just stopped, right there in
the middle of the sidewalk, and stared at her.
The feline’s actions were odd enough that it caused Meredith to do very
much the same thing.
“O-Ok,
kitty, I’m, uh, I’m gonna go now. Bye?” She said, as if expecting the cat to react in
some way. Quite predictably, it did no
such thing. Its ear twitched a bit, but
that was the full extent of the animal’s reactions to her words.
True to
her statement, as unneeded as it was, Meredith started moving again. The cat watched her go with its unblinking,
green eyes. She kept walking for a few
minutes until curiosity got the better of her, and she turned around. There, on the sidewalk behind her, was the cat. It had followed her. And it was no longer alone. Another cat had joined in, and the two
felines were standing side by side behind her, looking at her as if they
expected her to do something. All
Meredith did was turn around and keep moving.
A few
quite meows caused her to stop once more.
This time when she looked, even more cats had joined in. There were now five of them. And, as she watched, another hopped down from
a nearby windowsill, as if it had responded to the call of whichever had spoken
out. For some reason, Meredith’s heart
beat a little faster and an odd feeling of unease entered her mind.
She
continued her trek towards her home, somehow knowing the cats were still
following her. Why should they follow
her like that? She had nothing on her
that would attract them. No fish or meat
of any kind on her person. In fact, she
hadn’t even eaten meat that day at all.
And, not having a cat herself, she had nothing else they would be
interested in. And yet, whenever she
turned around, there were more of them.
Every
time she stopped, they stopped. Every
time she started moving, they followed.
They simply looked at her and followed along. Sometimes one would use her pauses as an
opportunity to groom itself, and the occasional light meow could be heard, but
other than that, they followed behind in total silence. She really started panicking when it got to
the point where she could hear them following her through sheer numbers of their
tiny paws.
She
wanted to run. She didn’t know why, but
she did. Surely a few cats posed her no
harm. Well, there weren’t a few
anymore. There was a quite sizable group
trailing her. But if they hadn’t done
anything to her by now, they were unlikely to do so. But, then again, isn’t that was cats do? They play with the things they kill. But did they even mean to do something so
grizzly to her? There was nothing to
suggest such a thing. Who knows, maybe
they just wanted to play, and be affectionate.
But no, several of the animals wore collars or other sings of human
ownership, so could they really be seeking it elsewhere? Whatever the case may be, she wanted to get
away from the cats as quickly as possible for no other reason than she did.
She
walked faster and faster towards her home.
Her sanctuary. The cats managed
to keep pace quite well, sticking as close to her as ever. She eventually got to a full blown run, doing
her best to outpace her furry pursuers.
She risked a glance behind her. The
cats were running behind her, unwavering in their pursuit.
Soon
though, it came into view. Meredith’s
home. She was going to make it. The cats couldn’t follow her once she got
there. All she had to do was make sure
to close the door behind her and she would be safe, regardless of whether or
not she was in any actual danger.
As
quick as she could, she unlocked the doors.
The cats just stopped and watched her do this, unmoving. She slipped quickly into the house and shut
the door before any other them got close enough to enter. She took a deep breath and leaned against a wall. Her run and taken her breath away, but at
least the cats could no longer follow her.
Suddenly, Meredith heard a small sound from the nearby living room. She lived alone, and was expecting no
company. Slowly, she made her way
towards the room in question. When she
got there, she froze.
“Meow.”
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Don't underestimate cats. They are truly vicious creatures. I mean, just look at them. Look how fearsome and terrifying they are. Especially in large groups. Beware!
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