Prologue: Lauren

[Sitting on a bench outside, underneath a tented canopy, a young girl can be found reading a novel. The other children are all around her either gossiping, playing on the swing or monkey bars, or engaging in some sport or other. For this girl, this was a typical recess like all others, until a stray black-sooted cat brushes up against the girl’s leg. Engrossed in her novel, she didn't even process the sensation, but the second time it walks by the girl flinches, scared of what might've been there. The third and final time, her focus is entirely broken.

The girl sets down her book and is hesitant to reach out to the stray, afraid it’ll attack, but as the cat jumps up to sit on the bench beside the girl, she decides to slowly and calmly extend her hand resting it atop the cat’s head between its ears. The cat purrs and closes its eyes showing affection to the gesture, the girl runs her hand along in a petting motion for a short while before remembering that stray cats often smell foul. She brings the back of her palm just under her nose and strangely, rather than a horrid odor, the girl found a faint scent of a flowery perfume.

The cat with its sharp green eyes tilts its head when looking at the girl, confused as to why the petting stopped. A smile grows on the girl's face as she goes back to playing with the cat. She finds some cheap trinket given to her for a contest her school had and tied it to the back of her pen with a string making a simple cat toy to dangle in front of its face.

Watching the cat paw at the toy that was always out of reach was fun for the girl, she takes a quick look around before whispering.

“My name is Lauren, do you have a name Mr. Cat?” The girl tried to respond to her own question on behalf of the cat but felt too embarrassed to do so. She even questioned if calling the cat ‘Mr’ was proper given the fragrance of perfume. During this time she spent thinking to herself, the cat caught the toy from the girl and rather than shake it furiously like most other cats, this one simply set it down neatly on the bench between them.

Her once quiet and somber demeanor was replaced with a youthful delight, unfortunately it didn’t last long as soon later the teachers called out that recess was over. The girl was saddened as the finality of this situation set in. Seeing all the other children running towards the gate and lining up to head back inside meant that she’d have to as well, the girl says her goodbyes to the cat then picks up her book, holding it tight to her chest, she walks slowly towards everyone else. Halfway there she turns back around to see that the cat is still there perched on the bench watching with that same head tilt from earlier.

Lauren gives a small wave goodbye to the feline as her teacher calls for her.

***

The next day, Lauren is back doing the same thing as before. Alone during recess reading a novel, she looks at peace with the world. Some of the other kids as they run by, stop and notice her, calling out the sad picturesque view. Lauren does her best to ignore them, hurt by how people would be willing to acknowledge her state but never act on it. Just as her focus was torn from her book, a familiar fluff of darkness hops on the bench, taking long steps until it finds a nice resting spot in Lauren’s lap. The cat curls into a ball and without missing a beat Lauren gently strokes the cat’s fur.

She talks aloud to the cat, first with a pout remarking “Shouldn’t cats loaf instead curl into balls?”. Lauren understands the absurdity of her claim but continues smoothing out the fluff residing on the cat as if she hadn’t said a thing.

“What brings you here again today? I’m here because I have to be, but you, you could be anywhere, so why here?” Lauren picks up the cat, holding it from under its front legs so that they can see eye to eye. The cat was lighter than Lauren had expected which made her worry about its health.

“Have you been eating well? Meow if no, and um… well I guess it’d make more sense to have you meow if yes because that’d mean you could understand me and your silence would mean… Why am I talking to a cat?” Lauren’s tone quickly became dejected as reality factored in but nonetheless, the cat meowed. She looks up at the cat with awe at first before becoming quizzical.

“Can you understand me? Meow if you would like for me to take you home and feed you. But like, meow immediately after I’m done talking or I’ll assume you’re meowing for the sake of meowing.” Not long afterwards, the cat meows. Taking that as a yes, Lauren quickly looks around for a way to sneak the cat out of the playground. Not having much of a choice, Lauren takes her notebook from her backpack to make room and rests the cat inside.

“Stay here and try not to get caught, my bag will stay closed until I get home in like, an hour or two, is that okay?” The cat rumages in the backpack until it finds a nice spot to rest. Lauren holds the cat’s paw and playfully waves goodbye. She goes back to reading her book until recess ends a few minutes later. For the first time, Lauren is walking off the playground with an aura of joy as she now has something to look forward to.

***

When the last bell rings signaling the end of the school day Lauren begins her walk home. The crossing guard who was the closest person Lauren would consider a friend at her school notices the extra pip in her step and asks kindly “Good afternoon Lauren, what’s gotten you in such a good mood today?”

“Good afternoon. I think I might be getting a pet cat today!” Lauren said with a little more enthusiasm than she’d expected.

“That’s lovely, do you have a name picked out yet?” The crossing guard spoke as they went out to the stand with their stop sign up letting the children cross safely.

“That’s right! I need to find a name! I’ll be sure to find the best one!” Lauren darted off with a huge smile on her face as the crossing guard looked ahead at her, glad to see Lauren so happy.

As Lauren makes it home, she slides her backpack off and with a sigh of relief notices that the zipper is still slightly left open as to let the cat breathe. Lauren opens it all the way as the cat leaps out, and walks around in a circle in the entrance. She takes off her shoes and feels her heart racing, she’s never done anything like this before not only that but, how is she going to explain this to her parents?

Lauren picks up the cat and carries it between her arms as she makes her way into the house and timidly calls out to her parents, neither of them are home yet which only makes Lauren more anxious as she’d rather just get this done and over with than try and come up with a story.

Hours pass and Lauren begins petting the cat, more so to soothe herself than anything. When she hears the sound of the front door being unlocked, the cat leaps out and runs towards the sound. Lauren tries to catch it but it’s too late, her mother walks in and notices a random black cat sitting near the entrance. The two of them stare at one another before her mother calls out to Lauren, refusing to break eye contact with the cat.

“Lauren? Why is there a cat inside? I hope you aren’t bringing in any strays, they have fleas you know, and they smell.” Her mother sets down her things cautiously as Lauren shyly appears. The thought of fleas never crossed her mind before but she was sure it was okay. Right as she was about to speak, her father walked inside as well, having the same reaction as his wife.

“Um… I know I should’ve talked with you both before bringing it inside but it just kind of, ran in? And uh, yea… The cat is clean, hopefully, there was something going on at my school and it just sort of happened. I can try and give it back if we can’t keep it.” Lauren did her best to keep her lie as truthful as possible.

With a heavy sigh, her parents look at each other and agree it’ll be okay. To help ease their worries they talk half to themselves about how Lauren hasn’t really asked for anything before, and she’s responsible, so there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.

Overjoyed, Lauren picks up the cat and celebrates. Despite appearing as a stray it’s rather calm and domesticated although it does have an annoyed look as Lauren is playing with its front paws.

***

The following weeks were filled with fun times for Lauren, she started with bathing the cat while her parents arranged for a visit to the vet. It was there that they learned that the cat was female and the bloodwork showed no signs of worms or fleas meaning the cat would be in perfect health except her reactions were slow and despite there being no real cause she was languid and weak. Even so, the vet discharged the cat with a prescription for some vitamins citing her condition as malnutrition.

At school over the coming days, her teacher noticed the change in their student, with her more cheerful demeanor, they were glad and relieved for the girl. She continued spending her time at recess reading her novel all alone but it no longer looked too sad, the sight of her. The only strange thing to note was how even as the weather outside got hotter, Lauren wore long sleeves.

At home, Lauren began noticing bite marks on her body, sometimes near her neck, or her arm by her elbow or wrist. The marks were probably from the cat she assumed since they presented as two holes with spacings that matched the cat’s canines. Not wanting her parents to get rid of her new pet, Lauren began covering up her injuries hence the long sleeves out of season.

Things didn’t remain so happy for long, as a few days later, Lauren was getting sick. Her skin grew pale and her body, weak. The school nurse couldn’t do much but give a call to her parents, as far as they could tell it wasn’t a cold so they took her to a doctor and found she was suffering from anemia. Lauren was given a note excusing her from school until the end of the week which she spent at home recovering with her pet as company.

She pats the side of her bed signaling the cat to jump, feeling too dizzy to stand and carry her up herself. “You seem so much livelier now that we got you that expensive cat food, I wish I could just eat a nice meal and feel better.” Lauren runs her hand along the cat’s back gently smoothing out her fur. The cat purrs, enjoying being pet and climbs up to rest on Lauren’s chest.

“It was hard to keep your bites hidden from the doctors you know. I have to ask, why do you only bite me and no one else?” Her cat seemed to grow sad at that question almost as if she understood English. Lauren did her best to cheer her pet up but she was lacking in energy so the two of them took a nap together instead.

***

When she woke up it was to the sound of her parents calling out her pets name. Lauren looked around her bed unable to find her. She immediately grew worried, so she hopped out of bed and began looking for her. Lauren was struggling to keep her balance but she couldn’t stand the thought of losing her.

She loved her pet, she named her, gave her a collar with a little bell and everything. Lauren attempts to head downstairs but stumbles, her parents managed to catch her before she got hurt, and apologized.

Lauren didn’t need to wait to hear what they were sorry for, it was obvious, the cat she named after the book she's been reading had run away. Her parents hug their grieving daughter, reassuring her that everything will be okay. She manages to keep in her tears until she notices her book on the counter, as the title looks back at her, all her recent happy memories turn to painful ones,

“Where’s Carmilla?”]