Let The Cat In

After 4 years of living in a studio apartment with my wife in New York. I wanted to move out to the country.

New York was great but it was too busy and the crime rate was only going up and me and my wife were talking about having a baby.

We wanted to move to a small town in Michigan. After looking around on a few websites we found a a small house surrounded by a thick forest.

We rented a moving truck and we packed up and left New York. We didn't take much.

A few boxes of our stuff m a few articles of furniture  and our 4 year old Orange Tabby cat, Pudge.

After an eight and a half hour drive we arrived. The house was old but it looked nice.

We had lots of yard and privacy, the closest neighbor was through the few yards of thick forest. But there was a trail leading to the house.

Pudge was excited as he could finally be free and run around forest instead of us too nervous to let him out into the city.

It took us about 2 hours to get everything in.

I hated the doors because they made a loud hidious screech everytime it was opened.

After we got moved in I wanted to meet our neighbors. It was about a five minute walk through the trail. It was cold and dark walking through the trail.

"Meow"

I saw Pudge running up to me with his high pitched mew. Pudge followed me all the way up to the neighbors house.

When I arrived at the neighbors house it was a tiny log cabin. I knocked on the door and a man about 6 feet tall opened the door. Pudge hissed and  ran off.

"Hey, I moved into the house off to the north " I said

He frowned and said "Keep that cat off my lawn!"

The door slammed. I started walking back homr and about half way back I saw a woman walking fown the trail.

"Hey" I said

"Oh hello I just said hello to your wife." She replied

"I just met your husband and he slammed the door in my face." I replied.

"Sorry about him he had a bad experience withour last neighbors" she told me.

We kept walking and went our seperate ways. When I got home me and wife ate dinner and went to sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night ti the cat scratching on the door. I groggily walked to the door and let him in.

He went right to his food dish. While he was munching away I noticed he had a pice of paper tucked in his coller. It said.

"I see you"

I raisedmy eyebrow, but I passed it off as....maybe some kids playing a prank we did have more neighbors.

I went got a drink of water and went back to sleep. I woke up to Pudge licking my face.

I sat up and he jumpedto the desk by the window. He meowed and meowed so I slid the window open and he jumped out.

The day passed by slowly mostly consising of me and my wife watching .TV or me reading short stories on the Internet.

At about five 'o clock I got a knock on the door. It was the nice ladies husband.

He had Pudge by the neck scruff and said.

"Get this cat out of my sight"

He threw Pudge into my house and walked off. The rest of the day was just like before.

I woke up in the middleof the night to Pudge scratching at the door again.

I let him in and he had another note under his coller. This time it said.

"Nice key under the door mat"

I was freaked out now. So I called the police to report a possible stalker.

When they arrived. They told me the last people who lived here had the same complaints of their dog with weird notes under its coller. They were found murdered 2 day later.

They also said the dog was found with a mutilated face. Almost no face at all.

Two days passed and we didn't get murdered. But the notes kept coming in on Pudges coller. But last night it happened. I came home from my new job. It was 2 am. There was a pounding on the door window. It was the neighbor. He was holding....a paper? No it was...Pudges face?!

He was holding a key in his right hand and made a fist with his other hand and was pounding on the door. He placed Pudges face over his. I was able to snap a picture. I woke up my wife and we left out the back window.

I was scared out of my wits we never got our stuff.

Years past and we had a normal life, we moved back to our studio apartment in New York.

We got a package from a strange adress, it wad from our old town. I opened it up and it was Pudges face.

-Rev