[105] the fat cat had a heart attack
Title: It's Simple Really
Author: poprika
Fandom: Original
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Words: 987
Summary: A short story about being lost when you should know the way by heart, but finding your way there just the same. Written for my friend, Ally, last year when I wrote to her in BC.
It’s Simple, Really
Well, she had thought that this was the right way.
Apparently not. The looks on their faces left no room for doubt.
Well. Damn.
She looked down, studied the crinkled slip of paper in her hand (the directions had been straightforward before, but now they seemed to have played mix-up and twisted themselves all around).
“Ah...” her voice creaked like an old chair being sat on by an obese woman. She cleared it. “Does anyone know where this is?” Held up her scrambled directions, looked out into the crowd of wide, black eyes and pink, triangle noses. Their long ears twitched, white fur faces tilted to the side. One adjusted his tie.
“Let’s see that.” it had a nasally voice, with a thick British accent one would expect to find in the Palace. This one had a bowler hat balanced primly on the top of his head between his ears- dark green and red plaid to match his plaid vest. He snatched the paper from her fingers and held it close to his beady eyes.
She waited silently with the others as he hemmed and hawed and clicked his teeth. Moments passed without answer until suddenly he started shaking his head violently from side to side (his ears flopped around his face), tsking.
“They got you bad, they did. Tricksy family, that one.” Waved the paper in from of her nose like it was a sample of some smelly perfume. “Why do you even want to find them? Nothing but a bunch of kids, they are.”
She snatched the slip from his paws, gave him an offended glare and a disgusted curl of her lips.
“And you think your family is any better?” she snapped. “What kind of party is this?” her arm swept wide to include the dark mahogany walls, dim lighting, plush chairs and manymanymany white furry ones with their vests and hats and big fluffy tails. “Formal and stuffy! Where’s the fun in that? This is supposed to be a reunion? It feels like a funeral reception.”
Her words were met with horrified gasps and angry thumps of their long back feet against the thick, carpeted ground.
“You arrogant-” the talkative one wasn’t being gracious anymore. He stepped towards her, threatening with his narrowed black eyes and ramrod straight ears. As if she would be scared of him, with his thin whiskers and chubby belly. She was twice his size.
And she towered over him now.
“I apologize for intruding, sir, but I’m afraid I’ll have to take my leave. One can only stand the smell of dusty fur for so long. Have a pleasant evening.”
Sarcasm sat on her shoulder, heavy and grinning as she pivoted dramatically on her heel and hauled the thick wooden door open. She stepped out into the hall and slammed it behind her.
The hallway was black. She couldn’t remember how she had found her way here in the first place. With a sinking feeling, she realized that the directions were now a useless piece of paper, crumpled and ripped in her hand. With no light to read with she was stuck. Wrong or not, it had been the only thing connecting her with anyone.
She sank down to the ground, defeated and disappointed, the paper a wrinkled ball in her fist. The hallway was silent along with her, the air heavy like a drowsy cat. Her eyes started to droop, her head started to loll when suddenly-
Click click click
Noise. Footsteps- nails? - against the marble floor. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up straighter, her heard a thumpthump metronome in her ears.
“Hello?” she called, feeling the wall hard against her back and the darkness around her like a casket.
Nothing but the clicks- coming closer, getting louder. She could barely hear with her heard so loud in her ears. Sweat on her palms and she wanted to just close her eyes and scream.
Glowing orbs in the dark. Eyes, eyes and she quickly remembered to breath. Non-existent light reflected off the green orbs and she watched it blink- there…gone… there again. The clicking had stopped. It was right in front of her; she could feel its hot breath on her face. It smelt of cheese.
A moment of silence, then: clickclick, it started to walk away. She stared after the sound, feeling frozen and dizzy.
The eyes looked back at her, a flash of colour in the darkness. It moved further away (clickclick) and paused one more time to catch her gaze. She shook. The eyes disappeared. A second passed in utter stillness. Then, she was hurling herself to her feet, stumbling on the smooth floor and bumping into the wall (something like a painting hit her shoulder and tipped). She struggled to catch up, yelled something, but couldn’t run any faster and it was like running through sand and-
She was there.
Standing in the middle of a bright room, surrounded by people. Voices; laughing, talking, teasing- familiar. She looked around with curious eyes, but found that she knew the place already. There was an old piano behind her (her fingers remembered the ivory keys). A couple of couches filled with laughing children. Family pictures covering the walls, a fireplace in the midst of picture frames and pottery. She could just see people surrounding the dining room table in the next room, plates in their hands (some full, some going to be). The table’s surface was covered with plates of food (she caught a glimpse of a pile of samosas). The hard wood floor was slippery under her socked feet as she slowly turned in a circle.
A complete 180 and they spotted her. Eyes crinkled and teeth flashed with smiles.
“Ally! What took you so long? Got lost on the way?”
She smiled, shook her head.
“No, I know exactly where I am.”
End
Author: poprika
Fandom: Original
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Words: 987
Summary: A short story about being lost when you should know the way by heart, but finding your way there just the same. Written for my friend, Ally, last year when I wrote to her in BC.
It’s Simple, Really
Well, she had thought that this was the right way.
Apparently not. The looks on their faces left no room for doubt.
Well. Damn.
She looked down, studied the crinkled slip of paper in her hand (the directions had been straightforward before, but now they seemed to have played mix-up and twisted themselves all around).
“Ah...” her voice creaked like an old chair being sat on by an obese woman. She cleared it. “Does anyone know where this is?” Held up her scrambled directions, looked out into the crowd of wide, black eyes and pink, triangle noses. Their long ears twitched, white fur faces tilted to the side. One adjusted his tie.
“Let’s see that.” it had a nasally voice, with a thick British accent one would expect to find in the Palace. This one had a bowler hat balanced primly on the top of his head between his ears- dark green and red plaid to match his plaid vest. He snatched the paper from her fingers and held it close to his beady eyes.
She waited silently with the others as he hemmed and hawed and clicked his teeth. Moments passed without answer until suddenly he started shaking his head violently from side to side (his ears flopped around his face), tsking.
“They got you bad, they did. Tricksy family, that one.” Waved the paper in from of her nose like it was a sample of some smelly perfume. “Why do you even want to find them? Nothing but a bunch of kids, they are.”
She snatched the slip from his paws, gave him an offended glare and a disgusted curl of her lips.
“And you think your family is any better?” she snapped. “What kind of party is this?” her arm swept wide to include the dark mahogany walls, dim lighting, plush chairs and manymanymany white furry ones with their vests and hats and big fluffy tails. “Formal and stuffy! Where’s the fun in that? This is supposed to be a reunion? It feels like a funeral reception.”
Her words were met with horrified gasps and angry thumps of their long back feet against the thick, carpeted ground.
“You arrogant-” the talkative one wasn’t being gracious anymore. He stepped towards her, threatening with his narrowed black eyes and ramrod straight ears. As if she would be scared of him, with his thin whiskers and chubby belly. She was twice his size.
And she towered over him now.
“I apologize for intruding, sir, but I’m afraid I’ll have to take my leave. One can only stand the smell of dusty fur for so long. Have a pleasant evening.”
Sarcasm sat on her shoulder, heavy and grinning as she pivoted dramatically on her heel and hauled the thick wooden door open. She stepped out into the hall and slammed it behind her.
The hallway was black. She couldn’t remember how she had found her way here in the first place. With a sinking feeling, she realized that the directions were now a useless piece of paper, crumpled and ripped in her hand. With no light to read with she was stuck. Wrong or not, it had been the only thing connecting her with anyone.
She sank down to the ground, defeated and disappointed, the paper a wrinkled ball in her fist. The hallway was silent along with her, the air heavy like a drowsy cat. Her eyes started to droop, her head started to loll when suddenly-
Click click click
Noise. Footsteps- nails? - against the marble floor. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up straighter, her heard a thumpthump metronome in her ears.
“Hello?” she called, feeling the wall hard against her back and the darkness around her like a casket.
Nothing but the clicks- coming closer, getting louder. She could barely hear with her heard so loud in her ears. Sweat on her palms and she wanted to just close her eyes and scream.
Glowing orbs in the dark. Eyes, eyes and she quickly remembered to breath. Non-existent light reflected off the green orbs and she watched it blink- there…gone… there again. The clicking had stopped. It was right in front of her; she could feel its hot breath on her face. It smelt of cheese.
A moment of silence, then: clickclick, it started to walk away. She stared after the sound, feeling frozen and dizzy.
The eyes looked back at her, a flash of colour in the darkness. It moved further away (clickclick) and paused one more time to catch her gaze. She shook. The eyes disappeared. A second passed in utter stillness. Then, she was hurling herself to her feet, stumbling on the smooth floor and bumping into the wall (something like a painting hit her shoulder and tipped). She struggled to catch up, yelled something, but couldn’t run any faster and it was like running through sand and-
She was there.
Standing in the middle of a bright room, surrounded by people. Voices; laughing, talking, teasing- familiar. She looked around with curious eyes, but found that she knew the place already. There was an old piano behind her (her fingers remembered the ivory keys). A couple of couches filled with laughing children. Family pictures covering the walls, a fireplace in the midst of picture frames and pottery. She could just see people surrounding the dining room table in the next room, plates in their hands (some full, some going to be). The table’s surface was covered with plates of food (she caught a glimpse of a pile of samosas). The hard wood floor was slippery under her socked feet as she slowly turned in a circle.
A complete 180 and they spotted her. Eyes crinkled and teeth flashed with smiles.
“Ally! What took you so long? Got lost on the way?”
She smiled, shook her head.
“No, I know exactly where I am.”
End