Little Black Kitten
Once upon a time there lived a little girl whose parents were long since deceased. Her grandma adopted her into her quaint townhouse in the small village. Unfortunately there were no other children in the area, and the little quickly grew bored. After driving her grandmother practically insane with her ceaseless chatter, the grandma allowed the little girl, who was approaching the age of ten, to roam around outside.
"But don't wander too far. You don't know what kind of people are out there," was her warning as the girl dashed for the door. The grandmother shook her head and had a slight smirk on her face. It had been a while since she had seen such enthusiasm in her house.
Skipping down the cobblestone streets the girl hummed a little song as she glanced down the alleyways. Grandma is crazy. There isn't anything out here that could be dangerous. She turned the corner and tripped onto her face as a dark shade quickly passed in front of her. She had bitten her lip, but she didn't care. The only thing that held her interest was the little black kitten that was cowering near the entrance of an alley. Its fur was crusty in some places, and its ear seemed to have been torn at the tip. She approached the kitten with the curiosity of any child. The kitten backed away until it was in a corner. When it discovered it didn't have any place to go its hackles rose on end. It hissed and scratched, but the girl's determination was too great. She had bundled her hands with the end of her dress and picked up the kitten before it could hurt itself or her anymore.
As she cradled the kitten and cooed to it its struggles slowly ceased. She proudly carried her prize to her grandmother's house. She had difficulty opening the door, but after a couple of failed attempts she succeeded and raced to the kitchen. The instant the grandmother saw the black cat her eyes widened and she tried to gently dissuade the young girl to let the kitten be free, but the girl would have none of that. With a sigh of defeat the grandmother attempted to take the black cat away to wash its wounds, but the instant her hands got close enough the kitten's claws slashed the grandmother's hands. The girl was shocked and reproved the kitten with a soft voice. The grandmother grabbed a towel to hold over her bleeding wound. After the chaotic event settled down, the grandmother showed the girl how to properly tend to the kitten's wounds since the cat didn't want anyone else touching it. The girl meticulously washed and cleaned the kitten's wounds. When she finished that she patted the cat dry. The girl took a quick bath afterwards and off to bed.
The grandma came into the bedroom to blow out the candle and discovered the black kitten curled in the curve of the girl's neck. They both looked so peaceful, but the grandma knew that this kitten would be trouble. The next morning came, and the girl inhaled her breakfast and hastened out the door to enjoy the beautiful day. The kitten tumbled over its feet to keep up with her. The girl disregarded her grandma's warning last evening and went all the way into the center of town.
The streets were really crowded around something so the girl placed the kitten on her shoulder and she wriggled and shoved so she could see what was going on. She got to the front finally only to fine a huge fire burning. There was something inside of it, but the fire was too bright to decipher what it was exactly. She glanced from side to side to see if she could possibly get a hint of what it could possibly be. All the peoples' faces seemed to be twisted as the stared at the fire. Were they trying to see what was in there too? Midnight, her little black kitten began to hiss suddenly and her claws dug into her shoulder. What could possibly be irritating Midnight this much? The middle aged woman next to her glanced over her way and gave a scream. Everything began to happen in a blur.
"The girl is trying to curse me and my family. The devil rides on her shoulder!" The woman was screaming. Rough hands grabbed the girl and pushed her in front of the priest. Relief swept her mind. Of course the priest would understand that Midnight wasn't a devil at all. Instead the priest declared that the only way to know if the girl was a servant of the devil was to do the trial by needle. The rough hands grabbed her again and stripped her of all her clothes. She tried to hide her body, but a man had pinned her down as another approached her with a very thin needle. Her body seemed to become paralyzed and her face got a hysterical grin as the guy repeated stabbed the needle into her. If blood was drawn then she wasn't a servant of the devil, but they weren't going very deep with the needle. Also her blood felt like it was frozen inside of her with disbelief. The girl didn't believe this was happening. This kind of stuff didn't happen except in heathen countries. She looked around for Midnight and found her frantically clawing a man's hands as she tried to escape his tight grip.
"No Blood!" the stabber's voice rung out.
"She must be a witch then!" The priest's voice screamed. "How shall she die?!" The girl looked at him with tears beginning to well in her eyes. How can anyone be this cruel?
"Burn her! Burn her! Burn her!" The villagers' voices echoed. The realization then hit her. The thing that was in the fire was a person being burned to death. Panic rose within the girl and she struggled against the strong arms that were holding her. Her squiring got her nowhere except for a fist slammed to the side of her face. She didn't past out, but her vision got spotted for a minute or two, and she felt bile rise to her throat but she swallowed it down. She gave up struggling and sagged to the ground as the dug her to an area next to the already burning flames.
There they tied her to a stake with her and built the logs so that the flames would engulf her slowly. They wanted to make sure that she died a slow and painful death. The villagers placed something under the wood so that the flames would get really hot. As the priest set the fire the girl swept across the villagers and there she discovered her grandmother. She was there, looking like she was built of stone. She seemed like she had grim determination. Hope flared in her heart, thinking that her grandmother had come to save her, but then she turned and walked away from the crowd. Tears ran down her face as she screamed for her grandmother to come back. The flames were beginning to lick at her bare feet and burn her legs. Faintly she heard the priest.
"This is a great day indeed. We have burned TWO witches today." The crowd roared, but it sounded like a hum to the girl's ear compared to the screaming of the flames. Then as she thought she could give herself up to death, she saw them throw Midnight into the middle of the fire. The kitten's fur spontaneously caught on fire, and the cat's inhuman screams echoed hers as they descended to death together.
The grandmother entered her house and burst into tears as she cradled her scratched hand. The sight of her dear granddaughter burning was going to be permanently engraved in her mind. The only thing that helped was that her death had to be since that devil cat had possessed her.