Chapter 1: Changes
As time passes, things change. What changes varies. From technology, to architecture, to existential objects and ideas, there are many things that could change. However, some things never change. Even as the Earth gets older, bad and good effects happen, and a multitude of other events, I remember one place that hasn't changed, and will never change.
Before I tell you what happened, let me quickly introduce myself. My name is Mikey. I look basically how I did in that Cool Cat movie. Let me explain if you haven't seen it. White skin, brown hair. That's about it.
Chapter 2: A Hazy Memory
First, you may be asking: What on earth is Cool Cat? Well, here you go. Cool Cat was a series of books (and a few short films) for children. They started the titular character, Cool Cat, doing a variety of things. I actually was in the short films, as I got written in as a character.
Something strange happened, though. I found out that Cool Cat was real after the movies. After they were made, I didn't see a trace of Cool Cat in real life or in media again. However, I do remember something.
It's pretty fuzzy, as it happened a long time ago, but I can recall seeing Cool Cat walking back in the street. Even though I saw him, I didn't talk to him. I remember now that something was wrong about him to me. I can't remember what, but something seemed different about him. Something that I didn't want to be a part of. So, all I did was watch him. I watched him slowly walk across the sidewalk, back into Derek's house. I have no other memories of anything peculiar. Except for one.
A few months after the Cool Cat movie was made, we had to move. I remember hiding on the staircase at night and hearing my parents hastily whisper with a frightened tone about the neighbor Derek, and the strange man in the cat suit who randomly wandered around the cul-de-sac. I guess they didn't fully know about Cool Cat. The next day was my last in the neighborhood. I was playing with my friends one last time, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the Cool Cat costume, stained and ripped, with someone wearing it! The man was stumbling aimlessly and vomited onto the sidewalk. He turned around and saw us. "Hi Kids, do you want to play? That ball looks nice!" said Cool Cat. He started to run towards us and began to laugh. Not the creepy kind of laugh, mind you, but in the weird intoxicated state that he was in it was all the scarier. We screamed and started to run away. After about a minute Cool Cat slipped on his own vomit and fell into the street next to the gutter. We went to him and he looked unconscious. We lifted him and put him on Derek's lawn, then quickly got out of there to our respective houses. After that experience I was glad to leave that neighborhood. Years later I finally remembered what happened. I was certain that there was more to Cool Cat than I thought, and I wanted the truth. The truth was not pleasant at all.
Chapter 3: My Old Friend
Although I stated that I had no other peculiar memories, I did have memories about my time at that neighborhood. I had a friend, a girl. I think her name was Maria. We were very close. Not in a romantic way, it wasn't like that. We were like family. She was like the sister I never had. We always tried to keep in touch, even after we had to move.
But the thing is, I haven't talked to her in ages. I don't know what made us stop keeping in touch, we just had no time to talk or do anything. I wanted to get her to help me, and I didn't know her contact info. I searched through the phone books, and sure enough, I found her. Looking her up online, I found that she had risen in popularity after that first movie that she starred in. I didn't watch many movies, I didn't have time. I was a busy working man, and nothing was going right for me. My hopes and dreams were crushed shortly after graduating college, and I just didn't have the motivation and time to enjoy any sort of leisure.
I worked at an office, a very boring office. I really wanted to make music and be a one man band; I wanted to be well known for my talent. That didn't happen. No one listened, and the few that did hated my music. I was in huge debt from college and the job I had was the lowest you could find. They were the only ones that even considered to hire me. I wanted to quit many times, but I needed to work. I had to try to get out of my troubles, whatever way I could. Life isn't always peachy. Sometimes, the unexpected happens.
I called her number, and got transferred to an automated machine. I guess her personal number was hidden from the masses. After much, much waiting (about an hour,) I finally got on with her agent. I asked her for Maria, and she got me with her after some waiting (only about 5 minutes this time). "Hello?" Maria asked. "Hi Maria, it's me, Mikey!" I said, happy to talk to her after a long time. "Which Mikey? I know a lot of them." After Maria said that, my hopes went a bit down. It seems she worked with so many people, she couldn't remember me! "I used to be great friends with you, remember? We starred in that Cool Cat movie!" I said. "Oh... That one? I can't remember starring in any 'Cool Cat' movie, heh." Said Maria nervously. "Look, I'm not lying. I need your help. You remember that street we lived on, right?" I tried to get her to remember. "Look, I know. But my agent doesn't want me making personal calls on this number. I'll give you my personal number so you can talk to me in more detail." She said her phone number over the line. "Call me whenever you can, I'll be waiting." Then she hung up.