Ten

Jemi awoke from her none too peaceful slumber with a start. She had experienced roving dreams about a ginger cat all night long, and while the cat had never done her any harm, she had not felt at ease with the dream, like there was a hidden message...something the dream was telling her to be wary of.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned – perhaps it was just her sub conscious reminding her of the guy with the knife the night before. Just telling her to be careful, she surmised. She stretched lazily and sat up, curling her legs over the side of the bed and hauling herself upright. She wandered first to the bathroom and then downstairs for breakfast.

In the kitchen she was surprised to see Demi already at the table, sipping coffee and flipping the pages of the morning newspaper. She looked up when Jemi entered, with a wry smile. "Morning sis. How you feeling?" she enquired, her voice concerned.

"Oh, fine thanks." Jemi reached for the box of cereal on the cupboard shelf, and opened the next cupboard to get a bowl.

"Glad to hear it. You gave me several frights and nasty shocks last night," Demi sighed.

"Really? I only remember the one incident."

"You were muttering when I put you to sleep. You called me Aunty Demi and Bomi apparently was your mother, " Demi laughed,

Jemi looked around from pouring milk onto her cereal. "What's the matter?" Demi enquired. "Milk gone off?"

"Sod the milk," Jemi exclaimed in a low voice, "I called you Aunty and Bomi Mummy. That explains it."

"Explains what?" Demi was getting confused now.

"It explains all my dreams I've been having!" Jemi said, excitedly.

"What dreams," Demi was getting even more rapidly confused.

"I didn't say anything...I didn't want you or Bomi blabbing to Mum and Dad." Jemi confided.

" I won't say a word to either of them," Demi took another sip of coffee and tapped the table with a finger, "But you're going to tell me now!"

"Ok, we'll keep it hush hush, promise?" Jemi looked at Demi with big eyes.

"I promise, just tell me already."

"Okay...here goes." Jemi took a deep breath.

"I've been thinking about seeing some kind of hypnosis therapist, I keep having these strange dreams about cats. Recently, they've become more vivid. Like last night, I had this dream about a strange ginger cat, and you were there, and so was Bomi, but you weren't human, you were cats too. I've had dreams about a lion maned, almost angora tom, there's a big fluffy tomcat, a grey tomcat, and loads of others...and then there's a silver tabby, he features in some of the dreams too...but most importantly, there's also a black and white tomcat too, and he's there, licking my face. I can remember him talking to me but I don't know what he's saying."

Jemi looked across at Demi, who had gone quite white in the face. "Dem? Are you ok?" the younger girl waved a hand in front of her sister's face, and Demi snapped out of her trance.

"Sorry Jem, it just sounds, familiar, to a dream I had not so long ago." She whispered.

"How do you mean?"

"I mean I had a dream about a silver tom and a lion maned angora type cat. And I swear there was a ginger tom watching me in the background."

Jemi opened her mouth to reply when the door banged open and they both jumped. Bomi barged into the kitchen and opened the fridge, taking no notice of the fact the two girls were seated right across from her.

Bomi took a juice bottle from the fridge and opened a cupboard to get herself a glass. Jemi and Demi watched her impatiently for a moment, as she poured herself a drink and turned around. She jumped too on seeing them sitting there so quietly.

"God, don't do that!" She shrieked, and the two girls shushed her with fingers over their lips. "What are you doing up so early," Bomi said, when she'd quite recovered from the shock.

"We were discussing our dreams," Demi said tersely, and Bomi's face lit up. "Ok, I got one for you," she slipped into a seat at the table and put the glass down in front of her, splaying her hands on the table.

"I had the most amazing dream about a grey tom. No wait, not grey. Silver. Or silver grey. And it was AMAZING."

Both Demi and Jemi blinked at her. "Silver tom?" Jemi uttered. Bomi nodded, "Sure, why not?"

"Because," Jemi stuttered out, "Me...me and Demi have been having dreams about a grey tom too. And some other cats as well."

"Well this is weird!" Bomi laughed. "We must finally be getting in tune with one another."

"I think it's more than that," Demi said thoughtfully, and turned to Jemi. "I think we need to get to the bottom of this. Would you mind if I came with you to that therapist?"

"Therapy!" Bomi exclaimed, and the other two looked at her again. "Why on earth do you need therapy over a dream about a cat?"

"Because I think it means something more," Demi answered before Jemi could retort. "Why don't you come too, Bomi?" She questioned her older sister, and Bomi laughed and shook her head.

"No thanks sugar, I think I'll stick with what I know. Couldn't stand to have some shrink pulling my mind apart and analysing me in depth. You two can go if you want, let him tear you shred from shred and leave you wondering what it's really all about. I prefer to keep what's inside, inside – not splashed all over some psychologists waiting room." She stood up, drained the glass of juice and put it in the sink. "Now, I'm back to bed for some beauty sleep. I'll catch you therapy geeks later," she chuckled, and left the room.