I rode my bike into the main part of our small town. I made it to the little coffee shop that was nested between the Mac store and the pet shop. I didn't think twice when I noticed a white cat staring at me from the groomer's table that was in the window of the pet shop. I just locked my bike to the rack that the shop kept outside for student convenience. As I started to walk inside, there was something smooth and soft rubbing against my leg. I looked down and saw a scarlet cat, who looked up at me. "Hi," I said flatly, before continuing into the coffee shop. The red cat's eye narrowed- I think -and it slunk over to where a black and yellow cat with a white chest seemed to be waiting for her. I shook my head, flicked my bangs out of my eyes, then walked inside. I went up to the counter.

"Cory!" I turned around to see who called my name. No one was looking at me. In fact, the place was empty except for a rather freaky-looking guy, with crazy ginger hair, who was reading a magazine.

"Can I take your order?" I turned back to the counter.

"Uh, yeah. Uhm...strawberries and cream frap, please. Tall."

"Two sixty-one."

I dug my wallet out of my back pocket and gave the person three dollar bills.

"Your change is twenty-nine cents."

"Thanks," I said, walking over to the other side of the counter, where my order was quickly given to me. I went over and sat in one of the nice chairs they had, sinking down and wallowing in self-pity. Until I felt eyes on the back of my head. I looked over my shoulder to see the creepy man staring at me, talking on a cell phone. He was speaking low enough to where I couldn't hear. When I looked at him, he continued to stare. I turned back around, trying to squash the feeling of panic that was starting to grow in my chest.

Get up. Leave the coffee.

I shot up. A voice had just spoken in my head.

Get up and leave the coffee. Unless you want to get into some major trouble. Hesitantly, I stood up and walked over to the trash can, where I chucked my half-filled cup. Then I walked outside. Don't get on your bike. It'll be back at your house tonight. Creeped out, I did what the voice told me. Walk to the sidewalk. There's a scarlet queen with black spots and a white bib waiting for you. She's with two other cats, a silver tabby with black tabby stripes and a black and gold queen with a white bib. Bend down. Stroke all three. Then walk home. I wondered if I was going insane, but when I got to the sidewalk, three cats crept out of the bushes and up to me. I bent down and petted each of them. The two 'queens' were girls- the two cats who had been at the coffee shop when I went in. The other cat was the one I had almost run over a half hour ago. Then I stood up and started walking home. The three cats came with me. Just as I was about to try to get them to go away, the voice said: Don't try to shoo them away. They'll stay. I kept walking, and the cats stayed with me until I got home. They followed me all the way up to my front door, and stayed on the porch until I was inside.

"Okay," I said, shaking my head. "That was weird." I turned and went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. What was there was Millie, sitting in a chair with the strangest assortment of clothes on. "But not as weird as that," I said, pointing at her.

She was holding her head, which was in a wig that was black and looked like it had ears on the top of her head. She looked up at me, with her face painted, but seemed to drained to do more than glare. She was also in some weird leotard thingy, with arms and legs and a high neck. It was painted with gray and black and little floofies on her shoulders. She had a tail hanging off of her back, and leg warmers on. "What are you supposed to be?" I asked, taking a glass from the cabinet and filling it with water from the fridge.

"Tantomile from the musical Cats," she whispered. She rubbed her face, miraculously not smearing the facepaint she had on.

"O-kay then," I said, taking a drink from my glass. Then I went to the pantry to get a pack of cheese crakers.

"Don't eat now, Cory. I'll have dinner on in fifteen minutes," my mom's voice said from behind me. I groaned and turned around. My mother seemed excited. "Isn't Millie's costume simply incredible? I mean, it looks like it's real. You can't see wig lines or seams or anything. I mean, look at the way the warmers just blend into the unitard!" she said excitedly.

"Is that what it's called?" I said sarcastically, feigning interest.

My mother glared at me. "Be nice," she said, then turned to the stove, and started getting stuff out to make dinner.

I rolled my eyes, then walked out of the kitchen. "Tell me when dinner's ready," I called over my shoulder before bounding up the stairs and into my room. I collapsed on my bed. Then my cell phone rang from its place on my nightstand. I swiped it up and hit the talk button. "Hello?"

"'ey. Did 'ou no'ice a ton o' ca's 'round tuhday?"

"Why?"

"'Cause there were a ton o' 'em a' the park tuhday. An' then a couple o' 'em followed meh an' Reagahn 'ome."

"Yeah. The same thing happened to me." I decided not to sound like a freak Jer out by telling him about the whole creepy-man-voice-in-my-head thing.

"'Kay. Oi woas jus' wonderin'. I's jus' go' meh koinda paranoid. Don' know why. Oi jus' go' a bad feelin' roigh' now."

"Eh. It'll blow over. Talk to you tomorrow, 'kay?"

"Yeah. Boi."

"Bye." I snapped my phone closed, then lay back on my bed and ran my hands over my face. All this weird stuff was giving me a headache.

"Cory! Dinner!" I sighed, then picked myself up and went down the stairs. When I got to the kitchen, Millie had disappeared.

"Where'd she go?" I asked.

"Millie went to bed. Her head was bothering her. So it's just me and you tonight."

"It's always been just you and me."

"Cory."

"What? It always has been. Dad walked out. Simple as that."

"Cory." Now my mom's voice was stern. I ticked her off. I sat down with a sigh and ate in silence. When we were done, Mom swept up the plates and did the dishes silently. I had hit a sore string by mentioning Dad. So I slunk upstairs without saying goodnight. As I passed Millie's room on the way to the bathroom to brush my teeth, I glanced in. My cousin was passed out on her bed, now in a normal human state. Her face was screwed up with what was either extreme pain or extreme fright. In her sleep her hands moved up and clutched her head, and she bared her teeth. Curious, I quietly walked in. I stood at her bedside. Tentatively, I pressed a hand on her forehead. In the moment I did, a wave of pain crashed onto me.

I fell to the ground. "Oh my God!" I yelled. I grabbed at my head, which throbbed now with the worst pain I'd ever felt. It came in waves. "Oh, God," I said again. I stood up and opened my eyes, seeing with white spots. I blinked a couple of times and stumbled out of Millie's room. "Oh my God. Oh my freaking God." I fell down onto my bed, hands pressed against my head. I struggled to think about something that had flashed across my mind in the second I had my hand on Millie's forehead, but with the pounding in my own head, it was impossible. Somehow, I fell asleep.

Noises woke me up. Strange ones. I groggily sat up, only to find that my head still pounded, though not nearly as bad. I looked out my open bedroom door, seeing strange shadows cast by the old-fasion gas lamp my mom had in the hall. Then a couple dark figures dashed passed my doorway. Still half asleep, I got up and out of my bed, and stumbled out into the hall, only to see the shapes disappear into Millie's bedroom. I followed them and stood at the doorway, squinting.

"Some light, please, Mistoffelees," One figure said. Another one held up its hand, and flames erupted out of it, creating a fire that floated in midair. My eyes widened as I took in what I saw. Three people dressed in the same kind of stuff Millie had been wearing earlier stood there, all huddled around her bed. "We need her in her Jellicle Form," the same voice said. The one that made the fire come out of his hand nodded, and placed his hands on either side of Millie's face. They stayed there for a second, and then Millie's human features dissolved, I guess. Her hair shaped itself into a wig. A tail grew. her body became black and gray with copper parts here and there. And her lower legs got really fuzzy. I stared in wonder as the two other figures bent over her.

"Over-exhastion. She uses more energy to communicate with humans, even though he was her other half."

"At least, we think he was."

"Plus she had to contact Munkustrap, Demeter and Bombalurina. It's harder to communicate to non-telpathics."

"So what happens?"

"She just needs some sleep, Mistoffelees."

"What...the...hell?" I said finally. All three figures snapped their heads in my direction.

"Shit," the magic one said.

"Language," one of the others warned. Then they looked at me.

"I think he's the one. I mean, by the looks of it, he touched her forehead and got one killer wave of the pain. That doesn't happen to anyone else."

"What do we do with him?" the magic one asked.

"Put him back to sleep," the first one told him.

And then the magic guy nodded, and advanced on me. I was too out of it to really understand anything of what was happening. I just stood there like a clueless donkey. Suddenly, I was face to face with him. "Sorry," he said. And then everything went dark...

A/N:

I am having fun with this.

r1y2r3e4s- Thank you.

BroadwayKhaos- All the names were easy- excepter Teazer's.

RedRubyStorm- I try with the personalities- I think I've gotten better at it recently.