Safety- Drew Thomas

"You Almost Ran Over a Cat"

I looked out the car window and watched the trees zoom past. This road was long and all there was were trees I didn't mind though I loved nature every once and awhile I looked over at drew his eyes were fixed on the road. I decided to try to make conversation "how long have you worked for the warrens?" I asked drew thought for a moment then answered "around a year I started right after your case". I felt a chill run through me every time I thought about my case. Drew noticed I was uncomfortable and changed the subject "so do you think we will have a new case by tomorrow?" He said, I didn't understand why he was asking me, I mean I'm new here I don't know how often there are cases so I asked him "why are you asking me" he just shrugged and said "well you just looked at the lady weird I thought you saw something I couldn't". "I did not give that lady a weird look" I said defensively "and you don't know me well enough to say when I see something". He didn't say anything after that so I felt bad, he had been nothing but nice to me and now I had made things awkward. I opened my mouth to say something but I couldn't think of anything to say. I finally said "yes I do think we will have a case tomorrow". He looked over at me and smiled. I looked back outside the car and my eyes widened I then yelled "STOP THE CAR!"

Drew stopped the van Immediately. I jumped out of the car as fast as I could, drew did the same "what is it Madeline" he said frantically I looked him dead in the eye and said "you almost ran over a cat"  he looked around and then then said "what cat"? I pointed towards the tree line and there sat a white and grey cat with icy blue eyes waiting to be followed. Drew's eyes looked towards the spot I pointed at but he looked back at me with a puzzled look "there is no cat" he said. "Yes there is he's right there" I said, suddenly the cat bolted into the woods. I ran in behind him I could here drew yelling and running behind me but I could not lose the cat.

The cat ran into a old abandoned barn but before I could follow drew caught my arm and stopped me. I looked back at him and told him to let go but he seemed to be distracted I looked where he was looking and saw something laying on the ground being covered by some type of bag he released his grip and slowly walked towards it. I did not move from where I was standing I just watched him approach whatever it was. When he got over to it he picked up the bag and immediately dropped it and covered his nose. He looked over at me and said "I think I found the cat" i walked over towards the bag and found it was a pet carrier I then lifted it up and there he was the cat but not alive. I dropped the bag and looked over at drew then said "can we bury him". What? Drew said, "well his spirit is still here and he needs to move on so can we please bury him" I begged. Drew sat there for a moment then nodded his head. before I said anything more I walked towards the barn drew stopped me and then said "what are you doing" I looked up into his eyes and said "the cat went in here I need to know why". "The dead cat you mean your seeing a ghost and it could be dangerous following it" he said, I rolled my eyes then said "you have been around the warrens to much".

When I walked into the barn the first thing I noticed was the cob webs I looked up to see there was one big whole in the roof you could straight up into the sky. when I looked at the sky I noticed it was starting to get dark. The barn creaked from the breeze and the smell of the wet rotting wood filled my nose. I looked around the barn to see if the cats ghost was around but I didn't see anything. "I'm gonna see if there is a shovel anywhere" drew said, I nodded ok and continued to look for the cat. I heard a faint meow come from the hayloft of the barn. There was an old ladder leading up to it and it was pitch black up there. I started to climb up the ladder I heard it creak under my feet and I cringed at the sound when I got to the last step the part holding the ladder up snapped. I quickly jumped into the hayloft and watched the ladder fall.

Great, I whispered to myself. I was still looking down at the broken ladder when drew ran over to it he looked up at me then said "are you ok" "yeah I'm fine did you find a shovel" I asked. He nodded yes then started to try to pick up the broken ladder I told him to stop and that there was another ladder leading down a bit behind me. sure that was a lie but I needed him to dig a hole before it was dark. He gave me a look then headed outside. I slowly turned around to look into the darkness and saw the cat with the icy blue eyes but he was not alone. There was a small black cat sitting next to him when I saw this the image of the blue eyed cat faded away. I slowly stood up and walked over to the black cat but before I could get far something grabbed my hand roughly. I tried to pull away but whatever had me was not letting go, my wrist burned from the grab and tears filled my eyes I kept fighting it but it was winning. Finally it let go I fell and hit the ground. I crawled over to where the black cat sat. he didn't seem to be worried about what just happened. I looked around frantically searching for what grabbed me but it was so dark now the sun was almost all the way down. I reached over and grabbed the small black cat. I felt how skinny he was once I held him against me and knew someone probably dropped him out here and left him to die. He was friendly so he definitely wasn't feral. I began to get up slowly so I could try to find a way out of here but once I was standing I saw a tall shadow figure in the opposite corner as me.

My breathing was shaky and I felt my heart beat in my throat. The shadow figure just stood in the corner facing my way. I walked forward a few steps then opened my mouth to yell for drew but before I could the figure sprinted towards me. The figure hit me like a wall and I felt my body fall through the floor I still held the cat in my arms and I was not planning on letting go. When I finally hit the ground my back hit first for a few seconds I could not breath my eyesight was blurry and there was ringing in my ears. I used one of my hands to wipe my nose and saw blood I also saw a hand mark burned into my wrist from being grabbed. Had I really fell that bad I could hear drew calling my name and I managed to call back. He ran into the barn and dropped to his knees in front of me. He cupped my face and kept saying something but the ringing in my ears was to loud. I looked down at my lap and saw the small black cat looking up at me I was so relieved the cat was ok. I felt Drew's arm snake around my waist and pull me up he then picked me up bridal style and carried me out of the barn. I could feel the cat still sitting in my lap and the ringing in my ears started to go away. I looked up at drew and asked "did you bury the cat?" He answered yes then asked if I thought anything was broken. I started shaking my head no and said "I just hit my head that's all."  He laughed at this response and opened the door to his van. He set me inside and I looked up at him I pointed to the cat in my lap and said "can you see it" he looked at the cat and told me yes. I heard the door shut and heard his door open and I started to drift off to sleep but before I did I heard him say "your gonna be a handful".

Please VOTE and comment constructive criticism!!!  I hope y'all like cats lol. Also shout out to my cats for being the inspiration and another shoutout to just Leo for being the picture to represent the blue eyed cat (he's not dead so don't worry)