A Kat's (GOD AWFUL!!!) Blessing (7)

A giant forest of sunflowers surrounded Kat, providing shade from the hot summer sun. The endless blue sky contrasted with the earthy browns and bright yellows of the flowers. Periodically a breeze would sweep by, causing the stalks to sway gently back and forth.

This truly is the perfect place for a catnap, Kat thought as she stretched her tiny calico paws. She was a cat. Not a human, or a cross between a cat and a human, but a genuine calico with a one-of-a-kind design etched in her fur. It was the most beautiful design in the world, or at least she thought so. Better than the cats that laid about on the roof of the small grocery in town.

She rolled over onto her back, her ears twitching as she did. A dragonfly happened to buzz by, grabbing her attention, but not enough to move out of the comfortable position she found herself in. If it got closer, then she might put the effort into trying to attack it.

“. . .”

It buzzed off.

Oh well, she thought, licking her paw and cleaning her face.

Nothing’s better than being a cat in the middle of a summer’s afternoon.

A loud tapping noise interrupted Kat’s relaxation. At first, she tried ignoring it, but it kept on and on, never ceasing from its onslaught. It went on and on, tap tap tap. Tap tap tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap...

Thunk.

“Don’t hit the window so hard!” said a muffled voice.

Kat slowly opened her eyes, where she saw a ceiling she was unfamiliar with. The memory of sunflowers was still fresh in her mind but would be gone within the minute. So too the idea that she was a cat.

She was human, after all.

For some reason, she appeared to be on the floor of a motel room of sorts. A soft comforter acted as a cushion while a perfectly suitable futon stood next to her.

Using every ounce of her half-awake strength, she sat up. Her mouth gaped open as she let out a yawn.

“. . . Huh?!” she shouted, now fully awake.

Marco, Gabriel, Gabriella, and Carlos were crowded around the window, peeping inside the family guest house.

The jolt of energy from realizing she’s being watched was enough to kickstart her brain.

That’s right! I’m at Maria’s guest house! I stayed the night here! Which means…!

She would always sleep in just her underwear during the summer, as she found it too hot to wear pajamas. Though her math skills were some of the poorest in the county, she knew enough to put two-to-two together.

Maria’s siblings are staring at me in just my underwear!

Kat let out a yelp as her tail shot straight up. She quickly moved her hands to cover herself.

Wait, tail?!

Kat looked down at her body. It was completely covered in cat fur. When she grabbed the top of her head, she could feel a pair of cat ears popping out from her hair. Reaching behind her, she noticed a large fluffy tail and gripped it.

She felt her tail being gripped by her hand.

An ear-piercing scream escaped her mouth as memories of the night before rushed into her head.

That’s right! I was turned into a catgirl!

She looked at the window again, where Maria’s siblings were still standing, gaping at the bizarre sight of a catgirl sleeping in her underwear in their parent’s guest house.

Kat jumped to her feet to close the blinds, only for the comforter to slip underneath her feet. She reached out to grab the chair in front of her to stop her fall, only for her claws to jet out from her fingers and slice the fabric open.

“Oh no!” she cried, seeing the damage she just caused.

She clawed up the side of the chair to stand back up, damaging it further, and yanked the string to close the blinds with all her might.

The force of her pull caused the blinds to rip off from the windowsill.

“Crap!”

She held out her hands, trying to catch the blinds before they crashed to the ground. One set of her claws got caught in the curtains, which she tried to unstuck as she walked backward. This resulted in her accidentally stepping on her tail, causing her to fall backward in pain, curtains in tow. Her free hand flailed to grab onto something but came up empty. Instead, her head slammed into the edge of the futon, bringing about severe pain.

Maria’s siblings watched the underwear-clad catgirl lay in the middle of the guest house, crying in pain amidst the destruction she had caused.

“Tell me you got all that,” Marco said.

“You bet,” Gabriel and Gabriella said in unison, each of them gripping onto a phone that had been recording for several minutes by that point.

“Get away from the window!”

Marco, Gabriel, and Gabriella turned to Maria, who was marching toward the guest house with a picnic basket in one hand and her trusty parasol in the other. Fearing retribution, the three scattered.

Carlos lingered a little longer, feeling really bad for Kat. He would have kept staring if not for Marco coming back, lifting him up, and escaping into the corn stalks.

“I should’ve known better,” she sighed, having told her siblings specifically not to go near the guest house as Kat was sleeping there.

It was a given that Marco, Gabriel, and Gabriella would ditch morning chores. Carlos, on the other hand, didn’t normally participate in their shenanigans, so she figured Marco must’ve egged him into coming along.

“...Hoo boy,” said Maria as she gazed upon the carnage in the guest house. Her dad was not going to be pleased when he’d eventually find out what happened. She could only pray that he would be understanding of the current trauma Kat was dealing with and that none of this was truly her fault.

Despite it all being Kat’s fault, of course.

She looked down at the poor girl, who was still crying, holding the back of her head while laying in the middle of the floor in nothing but her underwear. Maybe I should’ve brought some spare pajamas, after all, she thought.

Kat raised her head and saw Maria in the opened doorway. A heavenly morning light cast brightly behind her. The white, sleeveless lolita dress that clung tightly to her body gave her an almost angelic appearance.

“Mariaaa!” she said between sobs. “Being a cat—”

What Kat had planned to say was “being a cat freakin’ sucks!” But when she stood up mid-sentence, the comforter got caught in the claws sticking out from her toes and snagged her foot down. She tripped and fell into Maria, grabbing the hem of her dress with her hands on her way down.

Rrrrrrrrrrip.

The delicate dress was no match for the full weight of Kat’s tumbling body. It ripped open, exposing Maria’s white stocking-clad legs.

The basket and parasol dropped out of Maria’s grasp and crashed to the ground.

Both Kat and Maria looked at the damage to the dress and screamed as if they had happened upon a brutally murdered corpse.

***

“Ah’m sowwy,” Kat said, her mouth stuffed with hot, buttery biscuits and sausage. Tears continued to run down her cheeks and drip off her whiskers. A trail of snot leaked from her nose.

“As I said the past ten times, it’s fine,” Maria said.

She had changed out of her white lolita dress and into a large t-shirt sporting a soccer team logo which belonged to her grandfather at some point. Though Maria was tall, her grandfather was even taller, and several times wider. His abandoned shirt allowed for Maria to keep her decency as she went about fixing her dress with an emergency sewing kit.

“It only ripped along the seams, so it’s an easy fix,” she said, stitching by hand with careful and swift movements.

Kat swallowed the food she was chewing, then stuffed an entire pancake drenched in syrup into her mouth. “Mm swwy,” she apologized again.

Maria continued to repair her dress as Kat finished the breakfast feast that sat before her. By the time Kat had finished eating and licked the syrup clean off her plate, the dress looked as good as new.

Stuffed to the point of her stomach popping out from underneath her top, Kat leaned back in the chair, letting out a buttery belch. “Man, do I miss eating breakfast at your place from our old sleepovers. I can’t believe you’ve managed to retain your petite figure after eating all that every morning.”

“It’s not much of a secret,” Maria told her. “Just a lot of physical activity from chores around the farm, and eating only a quarter of what you ate.”

Kat blushed from embarrassment, thinking how much of a pig she must’ve been like.

“After all that happened to you last night I thought I’d treat you this morning,” Maria smiled.

“Thanks, Maria. You’re the bestest best friend of all best friends who ever bested.”

“Thank you, Kat. By the way, your mom is coming by. She wants to see your newfound cat-like condition.”

Kat jumped out of her seat. “WHAT?! SHE KNOWS?! BUT I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO LIE!!!”

“I would never lie to your mom,” Maria said as she pulled out her phone.

A video of Kat from the night before where she talked about not wanting to upset her mom, and the resulting hug Maria gave her, played before a horror-stricken Kat. “Y-you were filming then?!”

Maria nodded. “I sent it to your mom last night. I felt like she deserved to see it.”

Kat hid below the table, poking her head out just enough to glare daggers at her former best friend. “I take everything back. You suck. You’re the suckiest suck to ever suck in Sucksville. Friendship canceled.”

“Then I would like that breakfast back.”

“No refunds,” she replied with a flat, stubborn glare. Just then, she jumped back to her feet. “Oh crap! Your siblings! They found out about me, too!”

Maria nodded. “My whole family already knows.”

Kat collapsed back into her seat. “Whyyyyyyyy?”

“I’d never lie to my family,” Maria answered outright without hesitation. “Besides, I had to explain to my dad why you were staying in the guest house. You don’t lie to him.”

“We’re worse than no longer friends,” Kat hissed, once again hiding under the table while poking her head out just enough to glare. “We are enemies.”

“Then go home.”

“...Friendship restored.”

Maria giggled.

Kat sat back down in her chair. “You haven’t told anyone else, have you?”

Maria shook her head. “Only my family and your mom,” she answered. “And you don’t have to worry about my family leaking it. My dad made sure that my siblings wouldn’t tell anyone either, threatening them with barn cleaning duty for a year if he finds out any of them did.”

Kat gulped. “That sounds like hell.”

“You have no idea.”

Kat leaned onto the table, clasping her hands together. “So… my mom’s coming right now?”

“She called the house before I came out here with your breakfast.”

“I see.” She let out a small, defeated smile. “I wonder how she’s going to react when she sees me. Her only daughter transformed into some freakish cat creature. All because I didn’t heed her words.”

She placed her hand to her mouth and wondered how her mom might react. Everything from being horrified by her grotesque appearance, to absolute disdain from the sight of her cat-like features. The thought of her mom not loving her anymore popped into her mind, though only for a fraction of a second.

Maria watched in silence.

“You don’t think... she’s gonna hate me from now on, do you?” Kat asked with a worried expression.

“Of course she won’t. You’re her daughter. No matter what happens to you, she’s always going to love you.”

Kat nodded. “Yeah.”

A voice called out to Kat from a long distance, causing her ears to flick up. “She’s here!” she said, leaping out of her seat.

Maria gave her a confused look, not hearing anything for a few moments. Only seconds later did she pick up on a voice from out front. Kat ran out the door and onto the path through the cornfield that led to the guest house. She saw her mom out in the distance, carrying the large canvas bag she’d take whenever she had to go somewhere for a job. Her hair was done up in a ponytail as her red summer dress flapped in the summer wind.

Tears welled up in the corner of Kat’s eyes. “Mom…” she mumbled under her breath. Her voice grew louder as she repeated calling to her.

She started running down the path as fast as she could, wanting nothing more than to hug her mom. Her eyes stung with tears, but she ignored them.

Her mom dropped her bag and ran to Kat, her arms wide open for a hug.

“Kat!” her mom called out to her.

“Moooom!” Kat cried, snot flying out of her nose.

Kat held out her arms just like her mom, ready to pounce her with a hug.

She does love me! No matter what I’ve become she still loves me! Kat thought. How dumb was I to think she wouldn’t!

Several feet of distance stood between their reunion. A mixture of laughter and crying came out of Kat as she wanted nothing more than to embrace and be embraced by her mom. And when she looked up at her mom, it appeared she thought the same.

Until the very last possible moment.

Kat’s danger senses went off like a fire alarm in her head. She had no idea why she had this sudden feeling of life-threatening danger. The only thing that was before her was…

The expression on her mom’s face had changed from a loving mother to that of a parent who was ready to strangle their child for making them worried sick. Not only that but the child she was worried sick for had disobeyed her. And to top it all off, that child had done the unthinkable.

She tried to lie.

Kat’s crimes were inexcusable. Her actions were presented to the judge of parenting, and that judge banged their gravel and gave a verdict.

Kat was guilty. She was hereby sentenced to death.

Before her mom could “hug” her, Kat took advantage of her new reflexes to jump high into the air. Higher than any normal human should be able to. Her mom, bewildered by the sight, looked up at her child high above her.

Kat soared over her mom, landed, then sprinted away.

“KATHERINE LILY JONES!!!” her mom shouted. Flames of fury erupted around her. “YOU COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!”

Kat did not slow down. She kept running. Stopping would be a death sentence.

Maria watched as Kat’s mom chased her despicable, lying, stupid, good-for-nothing daughter around the cornfield in a rage.