The Cats

Suspense Stories | May 25, 2012 | 8 min read
168 Votes, average: 4 out of 5

Ricky and Robin Kelsey had been married for eight years. All the while they had been looking for that perfect house. They had found a few that they could afford but none that felt right. They didn't feel at home in any of them. One day while riding home from work Ricky saw a sign on the main road for a house for sale and decided to check it out. It was an old house in need of repairs, but it felt right. He hurried home to the one room apartment they had been living in and picked up Robin and took her to see the house. She could tell from his excitement that this may be the one.


Robin loved the little one story rancher as much as Ricky. It was in a small neighborhood just a few blocks off of the main road. The small copse of woods behind the house gave it that country feel while still being close to the city and stores and Ricky's job.


After acquiring the house Ricky began the repairs on the outside while Robin worked her decorating magic on the inside. Only one month later they stood back and looked at the finished product. White paint for the siding, trimmed in green and a new roof over the deck styled front porch and the place looked great. They were finally home.


All was fine for the first few years they lived in the house. The neighbors were friendly enough and had even thrown a little get together to welcome them to the neighborhood. Then one day a black cat appeared in the front yard. Ricky yelled at it to go away, but the cat ignored him. It was a sleek, black tom with piercing yellow eyes. He was sitting on his haunches under the holly tree in the front yard staring at Ricky as he sat on the front porch. Ricky got an eerie feeling from the cat. After all black cats were big in superstition as being familiars for witches and also bad luck if one were to cross your path. What did that say about one that stayed in your path?


Ricky didn't blame Robin, but she is the one who started it all by feeding that black menace. She would throw scraps out for him, which Ricky didn't mind because she would have thrown them away anyhow. Blackie, as she called him, would gobble them up as if he hadn't eaten in weeks, but he seemed healthy and strong. Not one bone showed through his muscular physique.


Ricky loved sitting out on the porch watching the neighbors go by and waving to them while enjoying the fresh air. The cool breezes of spring and fall were wondrous and even the summers weren't so bad thanks to the shade cast by the holly tree. The winters could be a little harsh, but even that didn't deter him from sitting outside watching the children play in the snow. They would build snowmen and have snowball fights; ride their sleds down the hill, barely missing the trees at the bottom of the hill where the road turned sharply left. The kids had one or two days of sledding before the plows would come through and clear the road.


Every time Ricky would come outside to enjoy his cigars, Blackie would sit under the holly tree and stare at him; stare with those yellow eyes, and it wasn't a pleasant look. It was an "I'm going to get rid of you" look. It became quite unnerving for Ricky after a while, but Robin thought he was being stupid. It was just a cat. Ricky understood Robin's feelings because Blackie's expression would change whenever she was around. His expression would become soft and loving when directed at her.


Soon one cat became two, then three, they just kept coming. Scraps were no longer enough to feed the darned things and Robin had to start buying food for them. That wasn't what bothered Ricky. What bothered him was the fact that they all would sit on their haunches under the holly tree and stare at him. It got to the point where there were so many of them he started to actually fear for his safety. He felt as though they were plotting his death as they stared at him.


Ten, fifteen then twenty, it seemed as if a new one would show up every day. Robin is right they're just cats, he thought. There were cats of all shapes and sizes and colors. Even the kittens that are supposed to be so cute would sit with the others and watch his every move. Robin felt that Ricky was being paranoid, but she didn't see them looking at him with those horrid cat eyes as they rubbed against her legs. She didn't notice them edging toward him as he walked to the car. It was him they didn't like; him that they seemed to want out of the way.


Then things started to happen. Ricky came out one morning and tripped over a toy car that had been left on the steps and broke his arm as he tried to catch his fall. Robin suggested one of the neighborhood kids had left it there, but he knew it was those darned cats.


After the incident, and against Robin's wishes, Ricky began to set traps for the cats. He was determined to rid his yard of the horrid beasts. A week went by and not one trap had been sprung. The cats were too smart for that. Desperate to get rid of the cats Ricky sat out poison for them. He would mix it in with their food after Robin went back into the house after feeding them, but they wouldn't go near it.


A few weeks later the temperature dropped well below the freezing mark. Robin filled the cat's water bowls with fresh water before she went to bed. The next morning Ricky came out to go to work and almost broke his neck as he slipped on the ice patch right in front of the door. It had to be a deliberate act and of course Ricky blamed the cats.


"Jim, those cats are going to kill me," Ricky told his coworker one day at work.


"C'mon Ricky, you sound paranoid about those stupid cats. They can't kill you. They may scratch you pretty bad, but they can't kill you," said Jim with a bit of a chuckle.


"Well, you're not there; you don't see the way they look at me."


"Can you explain to me how they could kill you?"


"I don't know Jim, it's just a feeling I have. You know things aren't the same between me and Robin either. She thinks I'm going crazy. She always sides with the cats over me; over my feelings."


"She's not the only one, Ricky. You are not sounding like a sane man to me either. Why don't you try and get rid of them?"


"Believe me I've tried. Traps, poison I've tried everything. They will not fall for any of it."


"What about animal control?"


"I thought of that as well, but Robin said she would kick me out if I tried that one. She has fallen in love with them. She gives those darn cats more attention than she does me."


Ricky went to bed early after an unusually trying day at work. He woke up shivering and noticed that the window had been left open. He got up to close it and tripped over something falling to floor. It was a cat. They had torn the screen and climbed in through the window. It wasn't just one, they were all in there. They began to claw and scratch him as he tried to make it to the door by crawling along the hardwood floor. He felt the cats biting him as he tried to throw them off, but there were too many of them. They were tearing at his flesh and biting into his neck while he struggled as best as he could against the all out attack. He was about to pass out from lack of blood when beep, beep, beep.


Ricky awoke in a sweat as he looked around for the beasts. Then he settled a bit and turned off the alarm. It had been a dream, but it had seemed so real. Robin couldn't hold back a chuckle as Ricky related the nightmare to her. He didn't find it the least bit funny and was still a little shaken as he went to take a shower.  


After a couple of weeks of no incidents from the cats, Ricky noticed that they seemed to have a different look about them as he left for work one morning. It was almost as if they were smiling. He thought that perhaps they were instituting some kind of a truce with him. Maybe they were finally starting to like him, or at least tolerate him. After all that had happened he would be glad to end the hostilities with the cats. It had become a war he felt he couldn't win.


He didn't think anymore about it as he started the car and headed down the steep hill that made such a great sledding hill in the winter for the children. Nearing the bottom of the hill where the road turns sharply to the left, Ricky hit his brakes and the pedal went to the floor. It was impossible for him to miss the line of trees that began the small copse of woods at the bottom of the hill. His head hit the windshield and went through far enough for it to be severed from his body. Blood spattered the car as his head rolled across the hood and came to rest in a pile of leaves under a tall oak tree.


An investigation into the accident revealed that the brake lines seemed to have been chewed not cut, so it had been ruled an accident. Robin dutifully mourned the loss of her husband, but she had the cats to comfort her. She and the cats lived very well on the insurance money she had received from Ricky's death.


Robin threw away the rest of the roll of brake line she had bought from the auto parts store. Every day she would fill a little bit of it with cat food and hide it under the porch. The cats had learned very quickly to chew though the rubber line to get to the food. All she had had to do was rub a little bit of the cat food on the cars brake line the night before the accident and the cats had done the rest.


The Cats By James G. Kelly

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Reviews

James G. Kelly Jun 13, 2012

Thanks Eve, I'm glad you liked it.

Ever Jun 13, 2012

Once again your endings always throw me off. Great story!

Pinay Jun 5, 2012

Oh very nice story. I liked it!

James G. Kelly Jun 5, 2012

Thank you, Pinay. I'm glad you liked it.

P.L. DuPee Jun 4, 2012

F'd up. I really enjoyed this one. keep up the great work.

James G. Kelly Jun 4, 2012

Lol, thanks P.L.

James G. Kelly May 27, 2012

Thanks for reading and for commenting, Jesse.

Jesse May 27, 2012

Amazing story!! Had me hooked the whole time to find out what was going to happen! Great work!!

Rachelle May 27, 2012

Oh man, my cats are staring me down as I type this. They KNOW!!!! Very creepy tale, excellent work as always!!!

James G. Kelly May 27, 2012

Lol, they do. Thanks Shel for reading and commenting.

Seven L. Cooper May 26, 2012

Great story! I've felt uncomfortable many times when my cats look at me! LOL!

James G. Kelly May 26, 2012

Lol, thanks Seven. They do have that way of looking at you sometimes that kinda creeps you out.

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