Chapter Four
While Scott and Alex went outside to look for the kitten, Elaine continued to search for it in the house. It was so odd for a cat to just disappear like that. Elaine checked the doors and none had a kitten door. She doubts her husband or her kids would have left the door open long enough for the kitten to crawl out, either. After thoroughly searching the house, Elaine decided to check the backyard. It was the first place she had ever seen the kitten so maybe it had gone there again.
She stepped out into the grass feeling the gentle breeze kiss her skin. The lawn was soft and moist against the soles of her feet. She had considered going back upstairs to throw on some slippers but decided not to since she wouldn't be outdoors for more than a few minutes. Walking towards the trees, she called for the kitten. There was no answer nor any movement, she walked closer to the trees.
Looking around, she didn't see the cat though a strange uneasy feeling came over her. The trees were large and the leaves blocked out the sun. It seemed as if everything had suddenly turned darker. Goosebumps dotted along her arms. Elaine didn't want to be out here anymore. Turning around, she went to walk away but then suddenly fell face first into the ground. She had tripped on a vine, it seems. The vine wrapped around her ankle and when she tried to pull it out, the vine got tighter and dug into her skin.
Elaine forced herself to calm down. She was being irrational and letting childish fears get the best of her. Breathing deeply to relax her nerves, she sat up and carefully freed her ankle from the vine. Once free, she smiled at her silliness. She had a habit of blowing things way out of proportion and thinking too deeply about small things.
She stood up once more and continued walking away, making herself not look back no matter how badly her body wanted to. She couldn't shake this odd feeling that if she stared at the oak trees long enough, she would see something. What something? She didn't know. Elaine felt like she was over thinking things.
A person could see anything if they wanted to.
X
It was a bright sunny day as Loki and Alex strolled through the neighborhood looking for the kitten. The moment Loki took on another form, he usually made the kitten form disappear. It wasn't impossible for Loki to create an illusion of the kitten while in the form of the father, but it still required more energy to keep up the illusion and Loki didn't feel like doing all of that. Still, in the interest of looking worried and being nice, Loki agreed to help Alex look for the little lost kitten.
Loki didn't mind, not at all really. It felt nice to walk among the humans once more and feel the sun rays shine down hotly on his skin. While the human body had way too many weaknesses and was vulnerable to different types of diseases, Loki still liked wearing the flesh of humans. The nerves on a human body were much mere sensitive than his regular body. It made him feel so alive. He greatly enjoyed it.
The boy, however, was not so happy. His face was red and Loki could tell he was becoming more and more frustrated the longer they didn't find the cat.
Placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, Loki knelt and said, "Do not worry, son." The word "son" felt odd on his lips, but Loki said it anyway. "We will continue looking for the cat but if we don't find him, we'll go to the shelter and find you another pet." He promised.
Alex did look a little excited at that but Loki could tell he wanted the cat to come back. They continued walking and Loki took in the scenery. Many things had changed in this neighborhood since he had last laid eyes on it around two or three years ago.
Loki was no stranger to this place. He had made the house his place of residence around 60 years ago. The neighborhood had looked quite different back then. In the 1950's people had started preferring a nice suburban life instead of the bustling city life. Neighborhoods had popped up all around. The ideal family home was a nice two-story house and a white picket fence.
Loki preferred this as well. The city apartments were so small and noisy. He couldn't do as he pleased with a family in such a place. The screams would set off all types and alarms and they would be interrupted by neighbors. But in a place like this, with individual houses for one family to reside in, it was absolutely perfect.
In in the beginning, the house was located in the front of the neighborhood, but as the neighborhood swelled and expanded, the house was now located in the back of the neighborhood.
Loki was quite pleased with his choice. The first family that moved in was a young middle-class couple. The typical American family of the father working while the mother was a housewife and looked after the kids. They were so upbeat and cheerful that Loki felt almost bad. Almost.
Loki had been eager and didn't wait long to sink his teeth in. Loki had never been patient but in his opinion, he was always merciful. Most humans spat at his sign of mercy, leaving him no choice but to eliminate the entire family. He had offered the first woman that choice. Come with him and your family will be safe or resist and watch your family die. All but one wife had chosen than path. Loki kept his promise to the one who didn't resist him and spared her family. He allowed them to move out of the house with absolutely no trouble. Loki remembered that day. He had watched them leave with all of their belongings in the form of the kitten.
With each family that came into the house, they brought their own unique style and décor. Throughout the years, the house was constantly redesigned to match the style and architecture of newer houses as time went on and on. And now there was a new family. And after that family would come another and another.
If Loki did ever decide that he was tired of the house, he could leave at any time he choose. He was not bound to the house, nor connected to it in anyway. He was simply a resident there along with the others.
X
Alex swallowed the lump in his throat. With each step he took, he became more and more nervous. He didn't want to admit that the cat was gone. Some part of him still kept a small glimmer of hope alive. He thought with every turn of a corner that the kitten may be waiting for him but with each and every turn, there was no sign of it.
While his father did promise to take him to the shelter and pick out another animal, Alex really wanted this kitten. He had already named it and everything. He didn't just want to replace it. Not to mention, how would the cat survive?
He imagined the pure creature hungry, cold, and wet. He could possibly get hit by a car or even end up in the pound where he would be euthanized. Those thoughts worried him and so he continued on and until his father spoke at last.
"It might be time to stop looking. It doesn't seem like we will find him." He said, voice serious. "I will of course print out pictures and place them in places just in case he is found by anyone else, okay?"
"Okay." Alex said, staring at the ground. His father took his hand and they turned around and headed home. Alex was ready to go home and curl up in his bed. He was usually very hungry this time around, but he found that he had no appetite at all.
"When do you think we can go to the shelter and get a new pet?" He asked his father.
"If the kitten isn't found in a week or so, then we will go soon. By the first of next month you shall have a cat or a new pet of your choosing, dearest."
"Dearest?" Alex, questioned, laughing a bit. "You've never called me that before."
His father glanced down at him. "Well you are my dearest. My dearest son."
"Oh father! I just thought of something." Alex exclaimed. "If we do go to the shelter, can we get a dog or maybe even a bunny?"
"Of course. We will get whatever you like."
That made him beam with joy and the day didn't seem so bad anymore. Whirling his father's hand, a smile graced Alex's lips. "Do you remember that time when me, Mom, and Sophia brought home that puppy?"
"How could I forget? I was very amused."
Alex looked at his father confused, "No you weren't. You were angry because you said that with all of our pets, you're the one that looks after them and clean up their messes." Alex giggled.
"Of course, of course." His father replied.
X
Loki was eager to get back to the house and end this conversation with Alex. While Loki could switch bodies, he did not retain the memory of the person he was inside. Loki had a knack for evading many of the questions people asked of him. He would just shrug, agree, or laugh it off hoping they never noticed. For the most part, it worked. However, Alex was reminiscing. Chattering away at whatever topic randomly came to his little mind.
Loki answered with simple yes or no answers or would laugh. Anytime Alex brought up a memory, Loki would jokingly claim not to remember because he was an old man. That made Alex laugh until he brought up a more serious memory.
Loki could tell it was an important memory because of how Alex's voice changed from light to strangely more dark. Things only got worse as Alex began asking Loki serious questions about the event and Alex expected more than one worded answers.
"I don't know." Loki answered.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Alex asked.
Loki clenched his jaw, angrily but then smiled as an idea formed in his mind.
"Are you feeling okay, father?"
Loki sighed and knelt in front of Alex. "I am fine, just a little…annoyed."
"Is it because of me?" Alex asked, cautiously.
"Why yes, it is because of you." A look of hurt passed on the boy's features before his face took on shock. From the way his face had changed so rapidly, Loki knew that he had noticed the change in his "father's" eye color.
"Father, what was that? What happened to your eyes?" He questioned, backing away slowly.
"I am not your father." Loki hissed in his own voice, instead of Scott's. Digging his nails viciously into the upper arm of Alex.
Alex shook free of Loki's painful hold and backed away, quickly turning to run when he noticed the black kitten sitting directly across the street from him. He ran towards it immediately but stopped his body as he saw the car coming down the street.
Despite stopping his momentum to not get ran over, Alex felt a strong push and he was flung into the street, right as the car drove towards him.
The kitten disappearing from his very eyes as steel met flesh.