I have been in the cage for what I believe to be five days. He must be exceptionally mad at me, a lot more then usual. The way I can tell the coming and going of the days is only because of the noise echoing above me in the rest of the house, and its periods of silence and frantic movement.
Usually after a couple days of being stuck down here I begin to both curse and bless my catlike similarities that come from the fact that I'm a monster.
They are blessed because they keep me connected to the world. With them I hear the conversations of the people outside the house, I hear cars going by, and I get to know people solely through sound. Their actions, their reactions, everything.
They are cursed for many reasons that do not need to be named, as they are obvious and at the same time painful to talk about.
While I was thinking, my wrist twitched and a shot of pain came from that wounded area of my body. Almost all of my body has felt this throbbing feeling at one point in time. How could it not when virtually all of me is injured?
My hands, feet, and neck are the parts of me that throb and hurt the most usually when I am in here. All of these places are constantly harmed, and on top of that when I am placed in here they are tightly shackled so every twitch is more painful then the last.
While I was in here focusing on my miserable pain, loud voices sprung up from overhead.
"You freaks were supposed to never bother our family again!" That voice was obviously Vernon's voice, as that tone when speaking to me is a normality. I would know it anywhere.
"I do not know who you speak of. We came for the cat, and that is all. Where do you keep him?" This voice was new, and had a sense of malice chiseling at the edges of it. Who was this person? Was this the person that sent the note? Was this person a part of the house of Sohma?
"You freaks gave the monster to me to do as I please! He is my slave, and I will not let you take him back! He's mine- my possession!" I could easily imagine Vernon's face a bright red, as it is always like that when he yells. Probably from the fact that he strains his vocal chords far to often from activities like this.
"Your possession you say?" I could imagine a smirk, though I didn't know this person's face.
"All the more reason to take him from you." These people seriously are going to take me out of here? That is a miracle! Hopefully they aren't going to use me for research or something like that. That would be awful… Or maybe not. Maybe the research personnel will be nice to me. I will just have to wait and see.
By the time I drew myself out of my thoughts, all was silent upstairs except for a soft patter of some feet making their way towards the basement door.
Akito had decided that I needed to go with him to pick up the cat, just in case he or she decided to change forms and memories needed to be erased. Why else would I be out of school and standing in front of some strange house in England?
I knocked on the door, and a large fat man opened it while screaming something about not buying anything from a stupid cheating salesman.
"We are here for the cursed cat. Where is it?" That was Akito speaking; it's easy to pick him talking out from anyone else in the crowd because he is so malicious and blunt with his words. Sometimes it gets to the point of where it is almost amusing.
"You freaks were supposed to never bother out family again!" Freaks?
"I do not know who you speak of. We came for the cat and that's all. Where do you keep him?" Hopefully I don't end up having to cover up a murder scene.
"You freaks gave the monster to me to do as I please! He's my slave, and I won't let you have him back! He's mine- my possession!" A possession, a slave? What's wrong with this man's mind? He needs some help…
"Your possession you say? All the more reason to take him from you." Forget what I said earlier. They both need help. Badly.
"Why you little!" The man then started running at us, a knife glittering deadly in his hand. After getting a quick ok from Akito, I grabbed the man's head and erased his memories to a point when he was sleeping. The man fell to the floor in less then a second.
We then searched the house. We searched the entry, the living room, the kitchen and dining room, and any other miscellaneous room on the top two floors. To put it simply, we came up with nothing.
Even the pictures held no clue, as in them was only a cow-like child who was constantly being embraced by a woman who resembled a house that was obviously the mother. Even the fat man showed in several of the pictures. Finally we reached a point where the last place to check was the basement.
Akito went in first, but I traveled down the stairs closely behind him. As I rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs, I was disgusted and repulsed by the sight and smells before me.
In front of me was the cat changed into his true form shackled and bleeding in an iron cage; his body was slathered in his own blood, vomit, and other things I would prefer not to name. It was a pitiful and disgusting sight.
"Akito." His name slipped questioningly out of my mouth. "These people… are they human?" Who could do something like this to another person and feel no guilt?
"Yes. They are just on the darker side of humanity." His face had an irritated look on it from my question.
Taking another look, I could only murmur, "The dark side indeed." More like evil.
"Hello." This voice was obviously from the cat, and it was scratchy and worn sounding. "Are you from the House of Sohma?"
"Yes. I am Akito, the leader of the House of Sohma. Hatori, explain the rest while I get the bracelet." I nodded.
"At any point in time there are twelve cursed by the vengeful spirits of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. You are the cat, and as we have now found you we are going to take you to the Sohma Estate to live there."
"You're rescuing me? Really?" The cat turned his marred head towards us, and his eyes were shining with unprecedented joy.
"Yes." Akito answered that snappishly, holding the bracelet in his hand.
"Thank-you. Thank-you so much!" The cat was sobbing and close to becoming hysterical, thrashing and moving as much as the cage and chains would allow him.
While the cat thrashed in his cage, Akito calmly walked up to the cage and slid the bracelet on him while stepping back. Almost immediately an explosion of the traditional smoke followed, evaporating to reveal the cat.
As it turns out, the cat was pathetically thin with his skin spread tightly over his easily countable ribs. Even though this was obviously true, he was still barely recognizable he was covered so much in the surrounding liquids. How could he breathe, or still be alive?
"Hatori, pick up that thing, put it to sleep, and lets leave."
I could only nod, stick a narcotic in the poor creature, and follow Akito out the door.