Whipping his tail from side to side, George propelled himself towards X as she floated in her bubble of light. Inching through the strange space inside her skull, the rope tied around his waist was ready to snap him back as soon as he reached her. She may have saved herself from slipping out of existence, and yet if he failed now, they would both be trapped in the confines of her mind, and that would be that. Those on the outside would think of them as being braindead, and they more than likely would put him down and ship her off to some kind of hospital. He knew about these things from the TV programs he watched with his owners. He was a wise old cat was our George.

“I’m almost there, dear Prudence! I’m almost with you!”

It was a lie of course, but a white one. He still had some distance to go, but as if understanding the importance of his situation, the animals in the bathroom gave all they had left to give. Almost at once, he felt a huge surge of energy pour into his body, and like a bullet, he shot ahead with his paws pointed towards X. At first, she saw a pale white dot in the darkness. All the stars were now gone, and the only source of light was her own. Squinting her eyes, she saw the dot flicker. She thought it was a lone shooting star, but as soon as the thought entered her head, it grew in size. From a dot to a coin to the size of the moon on a cloudless, still night, she realised it was George. It was a strange sight indeed. Never in a million years did she expect to be rescued by the tortoiseshell cat who had a penchant for crapping in vegetable patches, and yet there he was. She tried swimming in his direction, and yet all she did was spin in circles like a chick slipping and sliding on ice.

“What a sight you are,” she said, and although he was still far away, like before, they could hear each other’s voices as clearly as if they were speaking nose to nose.

“I’m not exactly your knight in shining armour I know, but you’ll just have to make do.”

“Oh, George” she sighed, “you’re so much more than that.”

She couldn’t have seen it, but George blushed and felt his whiskers tickle.

“The second I reach you, you’ll need to wrap your arms around me. When you do, I shall give the signal, and they shall pull on the rope. With any luck, we should return in a jiffy.”

“And if we don’t?” she said.

“Well, the good news is that we won’t die, but we won’t ever leave this place that’s for sure.”

“Oh crumbs” was her response.

“Quite. As much as it would be so lovely to chat with you, I don’t think that would be the way to go about things. Now get ready, Prudence. I’m coming in fast. As soon as you can, you wrap those arms around me. If we bounce into each other, there’s no telling where we’ll end up, or if I’ll be able to find you again.”

Turning to face him as he continued his voyage to reach her, she wiggled her fingers and toes in anticipation. Inside her chest there were butterflies.

“As soon as you see my features, make to grab me,” he said.

As nervous as she had been at her school prom, X readied herself. She was gripped by a sudden sense of impending doom, and yet it went as perfectly as they had both wished, for the second she saw his little nose and those unmistakable blue eyes, she threw her arms wide open, and the instant she caught him, the rope snapped back and they were soon hurtling towards the light of the door that shimmered behind them. It was almost impossible to speak such was the speed they were travelling, but as she held onto him and he onto her, she placed her head against his fur and whispered into his ear.

“Thank you, George.”

“The pleasure is all mine” he purred, and with that, they left behind the void cradling each other as if they were falling back to earth after plunging from the heavens above.

A Journal for Damned Lovers UK

A Journal for Damned Lovers US

Anthology UK / Anthology US