Chapter Two
The edges of the Junkyard seemed far away, but she reached them quickly by running as fast as her legs would carry her. A chill breeze from the north ruffled her fur and she shivered. She almost thought she heard footsteps. Cautiously, her eyes widened with fear, she paused, and looked around. The Junkyard was still around her, and there was no sign of another Jellicle. Remembering the task at hand, her face sobered and her eyes narrowed. The moon was high. It was time.
The razor felt cool against the pads of her paw despite having been lodged in the layers of leather in her collar until a few seconds before. She held the blade to one of her pale ruby wrists and hesitated for but a moment.
"Don't." The voice was quiet, but stern. It didn't belong to a relative, but she knew who it was who had spoken: Munkustrap.
"What do you want?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. She had mixed emotions about his presence. Part of her wanted to thank him for caring enough to stop her, part of her wanted to run away from him and carry out what she had intended to do. More cautiously, she continued, "Why did you follow me?"
"I want to make sure you're okay," he responded, taking the razor blade away from her before she even noticed he had approached her. "I followed you because I saw you leaving. It wouldn't make sense for you to leave during a festival, so I thought something was up."
Demi was tangled in an inner argument: should she tell him the truth or not? She bit her lip, and tried to decide what she should do. "What I do is not your concern," she muttered at last.
"On the contrary," Munku replied, but he didn't elaborate on it. His remark confused her a bit, though she said nothing of it.
"Oh?" she asked. "What do you want of me? I am the Jellicle who is ignored. The queen who raised me hasn't time for me. My sister and my brother have no time for me. Even your grandfather the great Old Deuteronomy has not time for me." Although she didn't know it, Munku wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her, and to tell her that to him, she was perfect as she was. He marveled at his restraint when he didn't.
She looked so sad, he reflected, and he wished she would smile. Simply seeing her during the day would make his day all the better, but it was when she smiled that he thought she looked the most beautiful.
"No one who isn't expected to loves me. Not even Old Deuteronomy."
"Don't say such things without thinking," Munku advised. His grandfather, though he loved Demeter as he loved all of his Jellicle "children", had once told him that he may have to give up on trying to win Demeter's affection, and he was starting to wonder if Deuteronomy may have been right all along on the matter.
"What's to think about?" she spat angrily. "Do you think that I am blind?" A growl almost rose in her throat once again, and she considered running away from him. What is he up to? She couldn't help wondering.
"In some ways," he began softly, "Yes. You are." Without another word, he turned and left. Demi wanted to watch him go, but footsteps coming from another direction got her attention instead. She recognized the footstep patterns of Bomba and Lonzo.
In a short while, her siblings emerged from the shadows. "What did you come here for?" asked Lonzo, not trying to sound mean, but it came out with a hint of harshness about it.
"The festive air was stifling," she lied. "Here, it's quiet and serene. I like it better here." Her voice came out little more than a whisper. It always did when she was around her siblings, only adding to their belief that they intimidated her.
Bomba almost rolled her eyes at her sister, but decided not to, because Demi might very well be telling the truth. Both she and Lonzo knew that Demi did not enjoy parties of any kind, save the Jellicle Ball (which, of course, all Jellicles loved).
"But you're okay... right?"
Demi nodded, after deciding not to tell them that only moments before she had been about to end her own life. Her own thoughts of suicide had gone, and she found this strange.
"Do you want to go back to the Beltane Festival?" inquired Lonzo after a moment of almost tense silence between the three Jellicles. After another moment, Demi nodded once more. She didn't really want to return, but felt she owed it to her siblings after running off on them.
Together, they walked in silence back to the main area of the Junkyard. Bomba and Lonzo could both sense another aspect to Demeter's story that she wasn't telling them, but neither said a thing to her. She would most likely tell them when she was ready to.
The mood between the three Jellicles lightened as they drew nearer to the centre of the Junkyard a short while later. Lonzo went in search of either Munkustrap or his other best friend, the playboy Rum Tum Tugger, but Bomba decided that she had better stay with her sister.
"What did you really leave for?" she asked, her curiosity and concern at last getting the better of her.
"Exactly what I told you I left for," Demi lied again, this time smiling a bit. "You know as well as I that I do not enjoy parties." Bomba was not totally convinced.
"Come on," she persisted. "There must be something more." She smiled at her younger sister. "But if you don't want to tell me, that's fine for now." Demi remained silent. Bomba sighed. "Why don't you have some fun? Lighten up a little!"
Demi looked at the ground. "I don't know..." she murmured, her voice hushed, as it usually was when speaking to her sister. Bomba smiled once more.
"Come with me," she said, taking her sister's ruby red paw. She led Demi into the group of younger Jellicles who were dancing to music that was coming from no where and everywhere at the same time. "Now dance."
Lonzo found Munku a short while after he went in search of the silver tom. Munku's face showed concern for something, but what, Lonzo couldn't guess. "Okay, what's wrong with you?" asked Lonzo.
"Your sister," Munku began, almost hesitatingly, "Demi."
"What about her?" Lonzo replied, and Munku could easily tell that he didn't know. Munku sighed, and then explained.
"I saw her leave before you or Bomba sensed it, and I followed her. She found a discarded human razor and was going to kill herself." Lonzo's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. Demi had always been content, hadn't she?
"Why?" he asked incredulously after an intense moment of not knowing what to say. "Why would she do such a thing? Isn't she happy?"
Munku shook his head. "I wouldn't know, but I'm guessing she feels that she is inadequate." He wasn't sure exactly how Lonzo was taking it; he couldn't tell from the gold and black tom's face.
"We can't tell Bomba. Not yet. I don't know what she'd think or what she'd do..." Lonzo was confused, and it became apparent. However, he was wise in deciding not to tell his sister. Without another word said, the two toms returned to the festival.
They got back to the main area of the Junkyard in just a few moments, and arrived in time to hear who was going to come of age that year. Old Deuteronomy announced the Mystical Twins, Tantomile and Coricopat.
The twins were barely under three, which meant they would be right on time for their coming of age ceremony. Everyone liked Tanta and Cori, and they agreed with Deuteronomy's choice on the matter.
The Festival of Beltane was now over; every Jellicle could sense it. They all departed in a feat similar to the end of the Naming of Cats ceremony of the Jellicle Ball; each Jellicle melted away into the background, and the Festival was done.
The festival had, in truth, been a magical time for Demeter, even if she didn't openly admit it to anyone. Bomba had gotten her to dance with the rest of the tribe, and she finally felt she fit in with them, at least for a time. She watched the moon sinking ever farther toward the distant horizon, and she was content.
Confusion bit at the back of her mind, tormenting her with questions. Does Bomba care at all about you? Are your siblings disappointed in you? Why did Munkustrap stop you from doing the inevitable?
It's not inevitable that I kill myself, she reminded herself sternly. But what did Munku mean that I am blind sometimes to some things? Is it because I didn't see that my brother and sister might care about me, or was it something more?
Lonzo was lost in thought when Cassie caught sight of him. "Lonzo!" she called to him happily and came running up until she was standing next to him. "What are you thinking about? You look so ... serious." Her face held a contorted expression after the final comment, as though she thought it strange of him.
"It's nothing you need to worry about," he replied flashing a winning smile up in her direction. "It's about my sister." Cassie smiled in return, her beautiful blue eyes sparkling in the last remaining drops of moonlight.
"If I don't need to worry about it, neither should you," she replied almost teasingly, giving him a sly smile of her own. She knelt down next to where he was sitting. "You don't need to worry about them so much. I'm sure by now they know how to take care of themselves, and besides, Jennyanydots is their guardian."
Lonzo decided to drop the subject; he figured Cassie wouldn't understand the responsibility he felt for his two younger sisters. Cassie, too, said nothing more of it. They sat together in silence for several moments.
"What did you think of the festival?" Lonzo asked, breaking the numbing silence that had seemingly surrounded them.
"It was fun," Cassie replied quickly, but Lonzo knew that it wasn't necessarily the truth she spoke. She sounded a little downcast. "But I didn't get to dance with you," she added with a slight frown that Lonzo knew she was trying to conceal from him. "I was hoping I would get to."
"I had some things I had to take care of," Lonzo explained, trying to boost her spirits. "However, we can dance now if you'd like." Cassie smiled shyly and took his paw. They rose in unison and began to dance a slow, beautiful pas de deux.
Cassie's slender form had incredible flexibility, and her dancing flowed beautifully. Lonzo was thrilled to dance with her.
After what seemed only a short time to them, their graceful dance came to an end. Together, they strolled around the Junkyard's edges for quite some time. "Lonzo," Cassie began quietly. "I think I'm falling in love with you..."
"Me too," he replied, and he leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. He purred loudly, and wrapped his arms around her.
Demeter yawned, and silently rose to her feet. The sun had still not yet risen; she knew had not slept long, but she sensed now that there was something, or someone, nearby. "Who's there?" she asked nervously, her eyes searching over the Junkyard around her and her sister. Bomba was still sound asleep.
"Bomba?" she roused her sister from slumber. "I sense someone... watching us..." Bomba's eyes flashed worry, but her face hid it, a talent she and Lonzo both shared.
"Who?"
"How am I supposed to know?"
A low growl startled the sisters from their brief argument. "Who's there?!" demanded the red queen, a loud, emphatic hiss rising in her throat. Her eyes scanned the area, but she saw no one. The sound of the growl came from everywhere and no where at once.
"You know who I am," came a low, male voice presently. A wild looking red tom sauntered into view, flamboyantly waving his tail back and forth. There was a menacing gleam in his bright yellow eyes.
"Macavity..." whispered the two sisters in unison. Demeter stepped back, almost as though she were trying to hide in the shadows of the Junkyard from the Hidden Paw.
"Stay away from us," Bomba hissed, threateningly. "Demi, get out of here." She turned to Demi, and her eyes almost begged her little sister to leave.
"No! I can't leave you to fight him off on your own!" Demi cried, showing evidence of bravery she never knew she had inside her. Macavity grinned, and Demi was afraid. She wanted to run away, but refused to leave her sister.
"She's a brave little thing," Macavity commented, his golden eyes gleaming behind the fierceness that shone in them. Bomba growled, showing her anger. She had yet to learn that this was not a good fighting technique.
"Do what you like, but leave her alone."
"Bomba! I can take care of myself!" Demi spat. Bomba turned to her and looked almost hurt, and she immediately regretted saying it. As soon as her sister's attention was diverted, Macavity tackled her, slamming her to the ground. Bomba gasped in surprise, and tried to throw him off, but to no avail.
In an effort to help, Demi kicked him hard on the shoulder. He grabbed her foot, and threw her to the ground. Pain shot through her head, and for a moment she couldn't breathe. It was only a moment longer before everything around her faded into blackness.
"Demi!" cried Bomba. It was only a moment more before Macavity smothered her cries as well. In what would cause many tears later, he left Bomba, and stole away with her sister lying unconscious in his arms...