This story is… well, you can find out for yourselves.

A short story that isn't listed among the many I intend to do for Catscratch, But I certainly do hope to do so soon. Something is buggy with the site.

Copyright: The power of darkness, my power, the power of Neph Xaldin cannot control Catscratch. And for good reason: It isn't mine, it is Doug Tennapel's.

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Night comes, because the sun sets. The Sun sets in the west, but this is only a mere ruse. The Earth, on a tilted axis spins eastward away from the hot, shinning glare of the star's prominence. Though far, and out of reach, No one being can say they truly enjoy having to endure the scorching, cruel wave that chokes the land dry. The same can be said for those who equally dislike the night. They accept it, because it's a moment's reprise from the said cruel manifestation, albeit the humidity.

There are other reasons to fear the dark. For pre-mature reasons, there is the all too familiar myth encircling 'The Boogeyman'.

But that is just an example.

People simply fear the darkness, for it represents the darkness enshrouding their souls, heart, and mind. It is the harbinger of all sorts of bad happenings, unkind fates, or the laws of nature being reversed on you just to become the opposition you fear the most.

It's not just children, but adults too. From childhood, it is possible to retain that sort of common fear, and no one would need to know.

Case in point: Waffle.

Waffle was always afraid of the dark. Like, some horrible, nasty, green monster was going to pop out of the shadows and try to eat him. Waffle was petrified out of his wits. His fur would turn a nasty white, and ran a speed with would have made him a sure in to win any relay or dash at any school. But it never fitted through his mind that monsters aren't real. Then again, given his past experiences (And by past experiences, I mean zany, mind-numbing, insanity), you'd think there was one hiding in his toilet seat. You never know.

August came, and it went. Just near the end of the month, that is, the day before the last day of August was when the gray furred cat, tired after a long day, sat by himself in one of the many living rooms in the Cramdilly household, but the special thing about this particular living room, was not just that it was on the second floor, but it had a large, clear glass window opposite the door. A piano sat on the far left side, and behind it, a shelf with a library of books. Other than that, nothing. It wasn't as much the books or the piano that interested Waffle, far from it. There was a reason it was still there. In the days when Ms. Cramdilly was alive, she loved playing on the piano; and little baby Waffle, though weak and sleepy, was always her most comforting, devoted guest as she played. At first, she gently urged the playful, infant to go bad to bed. Waffle flatly denied the request by sitting in her lap and looking up at with happy, glowing eyes. So she gave up, not because he refused, but because her heart melted more often than not seeing how much he enjoyed watching her play. So she simply played songs, and Waffle would curl up affectionately in her lap and fall asleep. The piano was a keepsake to him, a memory that he found most precious.

That was 9 years ago, and now, keeping these memories secret from Blik and Gordon, he would come up here to watch the sunrise on some mornings, and watch the sunset on some evenings. But today, he wanted to watch the sunset.

He sat up against the wall opposite the bookshelf and piano, as he kept vigil to witness the sun setting in west. Though clawing at his mind was the fear that reigned supreme after dark, he wanted nothing to ruin that special moment he felt deep in his heart as he took in the sweltering majesty that hung in the air. The tints of rosy pink and melodious blue almost brought tears to his eyes. The sky itself was a grandeur painting, ever changing. It hung all about the green and lush dark and light values of the grassy flatland and it made a splendid drop to the background. There were very few trees to be seen. But here in this room, Waffle almost believed he could see it all. It may not matter to anyone else, it may not even matter to Blik. Now, Waffle wasn't sure why he thought why it would matter to Blik, or Gordon for that matter. They didn't even know about this room to begin with! And, as long as he kept his mouth shut, it would stay that way too. But-

He gasped. He heard soft footfalls behind him. A cold streak of terror went up his spine and he feared the secret of this place was known! He turned around expecting to see his smaller brother cat. If only you had seen the zany look of surprise adorning his face; because the person standing before him wasn't his brother, or even a cat. But it didn't seem to really surprise him; Hovis was usually in places that neither Waffle nor his brothers would even expect.

The human was even surprised that Waffle wasn't as astonished as he expected, so as his second best option he said, "Hi Waffle."

"Hi, Hovis," he greeted him friendly in return, then turned away to watch the sky slowly. But then he perked up the courage to ask him, "So, what brings you here?"

"I was going to ask you the same question, Master Waffle," he spoke, not as if he had feelings, he simply said it.

"I want to watch the sunset," the cat continued, his tail was wagging excitedly as his voice flushed in awe, "because this place is the best place that I can watch it from."

Hovis shared that same sentiment, and almost wished to tell him so. "I figured that you did. All those times you secretly vanished, Blik and Gordon were looking for you, then gave up. I almost became concerned." He stared out at the window and like Waffle, he took in the peace and tranquility that the evening offered. "How did you find out about this room anyway?" asked the curious cat.

Hovis sat down next to him, much to Waffle's irritation, but he wasn't that irritated to deliberately ask him to go away; it wasn't long, but since that evening when they both revealed how much they missed the original owner of the house, he tried spending some time with the old butler to get to know him better. Maybe, he could learn something about him this night, if he said the right words. He nearly squealed with delight.

"Oh please, are you telling me that I lived here for 29 years and I didn't know that there was a room like this that existed?" he asked him in an agitated, but far from harsh tone. "Don't be fooled, Waffle. I kept this place tidy. When I ordered to take up the job of cleaning every room, it entailed the pursuit of cleaning every room."

For a very brief moment, he wasn't able to form words to say something in response. But he realized he didn't need to. Because he when he turned to him, he detected the smallest trace of a sarcastic grin just leaving his face. This made Waffle grin his own goofy smile himself; he had never seen that man ever looking happy. They were the rare treasures Waffle had the glory of seeing.

"Does that mean you already knew about that room with the secret world that you tried taking over as the 'Dragon Rider' nearly killing me in the process to begin with?" he asked in quick, full, sentence.

He grinned in sheer amazement at Waffle, partly because he still remembered that event. "I'd rather not go down that lane of memory lane, if you'd be so kind…" he murmured in a low voice, making a strong emphasis on the word 'kind'.

"Oh, I'm sorry", Waffle quickly apologized, but then Hovis just burst out laughing, a really, disturbing, rare treat for anyone to see, as he said, "Oh no! no, I just you know, you don't have to apologize, I wanted to just-"

"Bury the hatchet?" the cat finished for him, he closed his eyes and thought back to the day he almost ruled that secret world behind the door, and everything else, like how Gordon tried stopping him, the miniature bears who were his servants, how he imprisoned his brothers when they tried to hold him back from facing the Dragon Rider, and having to unmask the rider himself, namely Hovis.

Nevertheless, he was grinning when he remembered that day. When he opened his eyes again he looked away to watch the afterglow from the sun fade to orange, then a dull crimson. More stars began to decorate the overshadowing night sky. He didn't want to miss a minute of it, not even if his brothers had called on him. To hell with them, they could wait!

At last, what he had been waiting for was here. So excited was Waffle, that for a moment, he temporarily forgot that Hovis was even there sitting next to him. All that stuck in his mind was the world slowly drifting off into sleep, the sweet lullabies from his memories, and he deeply, truly felt in his heart that the beautiful melody was almost real. The sun said goodbye to him, and he waved back as he took a final glimpse at the star giving light to their world before it set and vanished beyond the horizon.

Such was the feeling of wonder and distraught quietness he experienced. But like when candle light burns out, there came a feeling of dread when he saw that night descended, and he began to whimper. Not for the first time, his heart beat faster than the beating of a drum. Hovis, ever alert, saw how the sudden trepidation came over his new friend and felt scared for Waffle.

"Waffle?" he scarcely whispered to the cat, but Waffle was already shaking dizzily. Waffle didn't hear him.

"Hey, Waffle, what's… wrong?" he tried getting a response out of him again, but to no avail. What had happened? Where was that faint glimmer of happiness, of swollen joy? How could he be overcome with fear? He had gotten anxious neck-deep. While kept waiting in horrendous panic, Hovis prayed for any kind of divinity for help; what was he supposed to do?

He continued to watch him, unsure of what was the right thing to have done, till he heard him elicit a small slow steady puff of breath. For whatever reason he deemed as passable, he tried whispering to him, "Waffle, please… what's wrong?"

"Dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark, dark!" he started stammering uncontrollably, the first word or words that he heard him say as his sudden panic session continued. If he wasn't so scared right now, that'd be clear indication that Waffle was just being his plain-old stupid self as usual. See, that's what Hovis would have thought in another time. But this time was different. Dark? What did he by dark?

"Dark? What…?"

"I h-hate the d-d-d-d-d-d-dark! D-dark is s-s-s-s-scary!" the shaken feline stuttered almost disjointedly, add to his biting his curved claws with his teeth in rapid strokes of involuntary alarm.

He hates… the dark? So that's what's troubling him. Where once his mind went deathly numb when watching his friend suddenly break out in hoarse panic; it was immediately replaced with a thankfully welcome sigh of relief. He stared at him like he just went through a wheat shredder and came out unscathed, a very impossible stunt indeed. Drawing a contented breath, he smiled softly as he reached out with both his hands and picked up the grayish little bundle of fur in his arms.

"Ooooh…. What's wrong? Are you afraid of the dark?" he started gently cooing the frightening cat in his arms.

"What if a monster eats me?" he jabbered on still in a state of alarm. He was so shaky that Hovis could barely hold him. What was he supposed to do?

A clever idea came to his mind, something that was not at all in his way of thinking. And next to his previous endeavor to oust Blik and company from their fortune (How freaking long ago it seemed!), this was his second dumbest idea yet. His last idea resulted in double work overtime! And for Blik besides!

Sickening. Terribly, terribly, sickening. He'd throw up in the hallway toilets after what he did. He slowly pulled Waffle away from him and then lowered his face only inches from his head, kissing it lightly. No sooner did Hovis do this then Waffle suddenly looked up at him, confused and surprised. I mean, really surprised. Why would Hovis just kiss him on the head like that?

He didn't get a chance to answer till Hovis finished plaintively puking himself of the truffles of fur he tasted when he kissed Waffle's head. That had to have been the absolute grossest thing he had ever done in his life.

Ignoring this Waffle tried squirming out of his grip to make as much space between himself and the human as much as possible. In that second Hovis tried shoving himself away from him as possible as well. They stared at each other strangely, and that moment grew increasingly awkward. Waffle did something completely unexpected: he grinned and then threw himself in the arms of his human friend, causing Hovis to gawk. He couldn't get used to being so affectionate with the least of the masses. But looking down on his friend, who had his arms around him embracing him closely, he couldn't help but make a small smile and close his eyes, trying to not ruin the moment. Everything was thrown into a dead silence for a moment and the two just stared at each other; okay, not stared, but Hovis had his eyes closed while Waffle was still watching him, his eyelids half-closed, and looking confused as much as he was touched by Hovis's discomfited, yet kindly action.

"Waffle?" Hovis asked, but his eyes remained closed.

But why did it take Waffle so long just to answer? But it wasn't a matter of why, because he heard him right away. It sounded like he was falling asleep.

"Yes?" the gray cat yawned, sort of turn over and lying back in his lap.

"So…" he tried continuing, though it was like drilling through an incredibly dense wall of reinforced steel. "If you're afraid of the dark, Waffle, all that you have to do is…" he halted mid-sentence. Waffle stared up in his dulled eyes wondering just what he would say next.

"Accept that the darkness is there and you won't be afraid."

Though it would've sounded cliché for even someone like Waffle, it sounded more meaningful and full of depth seemed to make pretty good sense. He knew how much he was afraid of something like the darkness, but that didn't mean he always had to be afraid. He just had to accept it. He understood what Hovis meant.

"I don't… have to be afraid?" inquired Waffle.

"Well, everybody has their own personal fears, Waffle. But if you can face your problems head on and without flinching, you won't be afraid. I promise."

They were like glowing balls of light that lit his path back to logic, though he never even heard, understood or even used it. But whatever it felt like, Waffle knew one thing for certain, and that was he could really trust his friend. He would've thanked him, but the thought was interrupted by a strange noise.

Oooooooooooooooohhh!

"Where'd that come from?" came a hoarse squeak from Waffle's mouth.

"Oooooooooooooohhh!" came the ghostly wail again, like a cruel wind. Neither the human nor the cat moved from their positions. What was happening now, that this new sickening threat should come out of the shadows and threaten them? He made a breakthrough with Waffle, and now this? Turning his head to his friend, he was pretty sure that the poor thing was frightened out of his wits and felt deeply for him-

That was, until he saw look of boredom and calming adorning Waffle's face. But then, why was he so calm?

"You can give up the charade, Blik."

Huh? Blik? Why would say something like that? was the thought that ran amok through Hovis's head. How did he even-

"Aw spoot."

In one second they heard a sudden thud on the floor then the sounds of paws walking along the soft carpet. In the next second, they came face to face with Mr. Blik, the self-proclaimed 'ruler' of the household. In the long silence that followed, the black cat, the gray cat, and the finely dressed human harboring him in his lap scrutinized the other for what seemed like an eternity, until Blik broke the silence.

"Waffle, you 'barkwood-for-brains,'" came the insult from Blik as he continued, a slight tone of irritation that Hovis noticed as the driving force behind his voice. "How in the heck did you know it was me?"

Waffle didn't answer; only, he gave a really curt yet nonchalant, wily smile to his brother before getting up out of Hovis's lap, and answering back:

"You don't scare me! You 'not-scary' scarer!" Blik's lower jaw fell open in surprise, his teeth nearly falling out in full force.

Then he went about his own business, leaving the room turned back to say, "Goodnight guys", in a friendlier tone. Then he went on his way.

Hovis stood up, Blik eyeing him suspiciously as if what just transpired was all his fault. Typical Mr. Blik.

"You had this planned from the start, didn't you?" he spoke to him in an angrier tone than before. While he tapped his foot impatiently for an answer, Hovis made a swift turn around, and grimaced looking all the more satisfied. Fine, he could lie to Blik, since even he didn't know how Waffle would respond. In a way, overcoming fears made many people more miraculously fearless than he realized. He forced the grin, and Blik stared at him in such a way that he didn't even know if he was talking to the same person.

"Yep, that it is exactly how I had it planned, Mr. Blik."

The End

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Probably nothing like Dude13's works, but I had to come with something. You understand right? I know it isn't that funny, but it is definitely weird.

Anyways, review when finished! More will come soon I hope, provided that I am not too laid down with too much homework. (Maybe this is how Dude13 feels.) It is junior year, after all.

Laterz.