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The Horned Black Cat

Kayla Rutherford-Bohach

    A black cat woman stands on the side of the road waiting patiently as the light begins to glisten off the morning dew. Her long black hair blowing in the breeze so dark the sunlight disappears around her, the complete opposite of her skin. Cars drive by as she walks along menacingly. In the distance she begins to hear creaking and begins to grin the closer the sound becomes.
     She suddenly stops walking and put her hands out waving an old truck that is on its last legs. She admires the rough condition as she approaches the truck. As she peers into the window she only sees a hollow man. Instantly knowing this is where she was meant to be. The man looks back at her and gazes into her eyes. He thinks to himself there is something dark about this woman. Maybe if I help her she will end it all for me. He has clearly given up but forced deep in himself there was enough hope to keeping him from this fate. She gets in the truck her hands now covered in dust from the door. As she begins to get comfortable he finally speaks only to ask where she needs to be. “Just drive” quietly flows from her lips. He gets an overpowering sense that there is something off about this woman but says nothing and continues to drive.
    He again wonders to himself what she is hiding with all the black she wears. Silence fills the air. Until she finally talks. “I am sorry to hear about your family” she says sarcastically. Instantly stricken with fear his mind begins to race. It was impossible for this stranger to know who he was. All he can muster out is “how”? She looks down at the ground and smiles. “Do you know what a black cat means to many people?” She asks. Now utterly confused he pays closer attention. “Bad luck, it is so unfortunate that your family died in that car accident since they were such safe people.” He begins to tremble with fear. “Everyone said they were avoiding a deer in the road. Have you seen a deer around here? Because I never have.”
    The wish that he had hoped she could somehow help him in doing something good to make the pain stop dashes. “Did you kill them” he skittishly asks. “Not me, but sometimes you have to accept responsibility and learn to enjoy who you are. I have always been known to cause luck to vanish. But never to a bad person. It more changes a bad person to good and a good person to gone. I have accepted this fact because I know I will never be harmed. This I have learned from experience.” He becomes even more intrigued and frightened together.
    All he can think is to go to a police station. She is so distracted telling her story there is no way she will notice we are going that way. He does not know how but he knows she did it. His mind begins to explode with questions. How does she know who I am? What is she going to try and do to me? Hold the wheel tight if she tries to take it. Can I make it there? Until suddenly everything is realized. Everything stops. And she grins. She asks him “do you believe in reincarnation?” “Yes” he answers hoping it will get him his answers. “Do you believe the devil can be reincarnated”? His sullen eyes widen. The devil has the ability to cause misfortune in the world much like the bad luck a black cat is said to cause. But is bad luck real? Or is distraction the real bad luck. He ponders this darting his eyes back and forth until it clicks. He looks up at the road only to see it is too late to save himself. The semi is barreling down towards him unable to stop in time. He dies upon impact. The black cat walks away and begins to walk holding both hands out trying to wave down someone to pick her up.

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