Looking at the stars, George couldn’t help but think of how beautiful they were. He was but a mere cat, and yet he appreciated a sense of wonder like any other, whether or not it was real or imagined didn’t seem to matter. Focusing his mind, he told the animals to keep channelling their energy into X’s body. He wasn’t sure how long he would have to find her and bring her back, but it wouldn’t be long he knew that much, and as if to make matters worse, just as he was speaking to those in the bathroom, a dreadful realisation came to him. In this cosmic sea, he had no body, and neither did she. It was just their minds, and if that was the case, how on earth could he expect to find where she was? It was a dreadful thing indeed.

“Prudence—I’m sorry—X—can you still hear me?”

The pause between his question and her response was too long by far, but thankfully her voice came to him from the twinkling orbs that swirled ahead.

“Yes, and I want to go home, George. I want to go home this instant; to sleep in my bed and I swear to God oh I swear I’ll never do anything like this ever again.”

His heart broke before responding.

“I’m doing my best, I really am, but how am I supposed to find you in this place if I can’t see you?”

Such a dreadful thing it was, and when the realisation passed from George onto her, she promptly burst into tears. The sound of her cries echoed through the space they inhabited like gravitational waves. George didn’t know what they were, but he’d always had a fine imagination for a cat, and he was sure his guess was a good one.

“Come now,” he said, “I know you’re scared but I’m coming for you, I promise.”

Sobbing in her nest of stars, X felt herself growing colder. Somewhat thinner.

“Don’t let me die, George. I’m so sorry for what I did. Please, I just want to go home”.

Such was the desperate nature of her words, he found himself panicking. Losing his focus, the link between them was nearly broken. It was a close call, but he quickly caught himself.

George could work out which direction she was in, but she wasn’t close. Subconsciously twitching his nose, he thought about those gravitational waves he didn’t know about, but of which he could pretend that he did. It reminded him of the times he would sit outside waiting for his owners to come home after they finished work. He didn’t know of the world outside his street, but he could imagine what it might resemble. In his mind’s eye, he could picture them on other streets driving in their cars passing buildings he didn’t know existed yet of which he was sure were out there. Some days he could almost swear he could see through their eyes as they sat behind the steering wheel in a line of traffic. He thought he could read what was going through their minds. He didn’t understand most of it, but he felt as though deep down he knew more than most. It was a long shot, but a long shot was all he had.

“I have an idea,” he said.

Her cries continued before softening somewhat. Sniffing and sobbing she went to blow her nose but had no nose to blow and so let out a desperate shriek.

“X, you need to listen to me. I have a plan, but I don’t think I can do this alone. I need you to focus as hard as you can. Can you do that for me?”

Waiting for her response, George noticed a dimming of the very distant stars. They dimmed and then blinked out of sight, only unlike before, they didn’t come back.

A Journal for Damned Lovers UK

A Journal for Damned Lovers US

Anthology UK / Anthology US