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TRANSLATION MADE BY : Randomness Unlimited.

– What's wrong with this stupid rope? Why isn't it lighting up? Skblblbl!

– Quack!

– How do you expect me to calm down, Quack Quack?! It's dark! And since Ursula isn't with me anymore, it freaks me out! IT FREAKS ME OUT! Skblblbl - Kaeloo?
Stumpy anxiously called out his friend's name, while holding onto Quack Quack fearfully.

– Hey, Kaeloo! Where did she go? Why isn't she answering? What if she got eaten by the monsters? Or worse, what if she took advantage of the darkness so that she could laze around? She abandoned us here! What do we do? WHAT DO WE DO?! yelled Stumpy as he fell to his knees, extending his arms upwards and looking to the sky as if expecting an answer.

– Quack, repeated Quack Quack, in his strange duck language, before starting to project light from his eyes. Stumpy got up and ran to his friend.

– Yes! We're saved! Thanks, pal! he said, laughing.

He slapped his friend on the back, not knowing that doing so would cause the lights to go out. Stumpy continued to scream : '' HUH ? OH NOOO !"

– Shut up, squirrel-face... said a weak voice from just behind him.

– AAAH! Stumpy screamed in a ridiculously high pitched voice before realizing who it was. Mr. Cat? Where are you? Hey, Mr. Cat!

– Shut your trap, I'm right behind you.

– Oh, you scared me! But - What are you doing here !? And what happened to your voice? Did your vocal cords get sucked out by those fridge monsters? I knew it! I knew it! That'll teach you to listen to m- ow!

Mr. Cat had whacked him on the head with a mallet to stop his raving. Just then, the lights came back on.

– C-Cooool! said Stumpy with some difficulty as he tried to lift his thumb. His face had been smashed in by the mallet.

– Quack! rejoiced Quack Quack, and he ran off somewhere and came back a few seconds later with a stash of yogurt in his arms. He pulled the mallet off of Stumpy's head, sat down next to him and started to eat the yogurt.

Stumpy shook his head to recover from the shock and turned to face Mr. Cat. The feline was sitting on the ground near his cat flap, with his arms and tail wrapped around his legs and his head buried in his knees. Anger, sadness and confusion were visible on his face. His whiskers were pushed back against his cheeks and his ears were lying flat. It was rare to see Mr. Cat in this condition.

– Wow, you look pretty bad, Mr. Cat! It sounds like you've got love problems! he educed, before letting out one of his signature idiotic laughs. So, how did she leave you ?

The cat's heart skipped a beat. How did he know? Had he been spying on them? Had he heard them?

– Who do you mean by 'she', nutcracker?! demanded the cat, pulling a bazooka out of nowhere and pointing it at the squirrel.

Stumpy was unfazed; Mr. Cat wouldn't shoot him, he knew he wasn't indestructible like Quack Quack.

– Well, your girlfriend! I mean, your ex! I don't know who it is, but she must be really hot if you're making a face like that, hahaha – !

The feline growled and his face darkened. Stumpy gulped and threw his hands in the air, starting to question his assurance - after all, Mr. Cat could do anything! He had already injured him several times - this time was not to be excluded - but contrary to his expectations, nothing happened. He lowered his arms, incredulous that the cat hadn't done anything. It was like he was deflating – he breathed out, emptying the air from his chest, his back slouched, and his eyes, which normally glinted with anger, looked dull and gloomy.

Something was definitely wrong.

– Uh, you know, Mr. Cat, there's a lot of hot girls on Fakebook... like Ursula, for example! said the squirrel, getting excited as he thought of his girlfriend, who had just left a few minutes ago. She had taken the time to come visit him, and they had spent a little time together before she had to leave so as to not worry her father.

– Never mind, nutcracker…
Stumpy's smile disappeared as soon as he heard his friend.

– Quack? exclaimed Quack Quack, who had miraculously stopped his abusive consumption of yogurt, seeing the depressed cat return to his cat flap. As the flap slammed shut, a wind blew, similar to the ones in cowboy movies.

– Okayyyyyyy... said Stumpy, looking annoyed. He turned to Quack Quack. Mr. Cat's been acting really weird since the lights came back on!

– Quack?

– You think? I don't think so, bacause cats don't really like darkness, Ursula told me so! She told me she hates darkness because she can't see my beautiful face! said Stumpy in a dreamy voice, with hearts appearing from nowhere and circling around his head.

Quack Quack didn't reply. He stood there for a few minutes, with his usual indifferent facial expression, and then he shrugged and continued to eat his yogurt.

– Oh, buddies! There you are!

– Oh, hey Kaeloo! Nice to see you back in the light! exclaimed Stumpy, who had picked up his video game console.

– Sorry I'm late, I had to ask Mr. Director from the management to install a new rope so we could turn the lights back on.

– Yeah, yeah, you did well, said Stumpy, clearly disinterested, before suddenly raising his head. Actually, Kaeloo...

– Yes? she asked, taking a seat by his side. Do you know what's wrong with Mr. Cat? He seems upset today.

Mr. Cat. Kaeloo felt her throat go dry. She coughed.

– Uh, no? Why, Stumpy? she asked in the most candid tone she could muster.

– Well, he was all sad and weird, and since you two were the last to join us, I thought you might have had something to do with it.

– Oh, you know him, he's always like that...

Stumpy looked at her suspiciously, while his brain - at least, the one neuron which actually worked - decided that Kaeloo was right. He had seen Mr. Cat have sudden mood swings without any apparent reason, and today was not the day they'd understand - or try to understand - his behavior. He probably wouldn't say anything anyway, in order to keep things mysterious. Stumpy returned to playing his video game, oblivious to the saddened expression on Kaeloo's face.

Twilight colors filled the sky as the buddies decided to go home, feeling tired. The experience which they had in the darkness had been fun for some of them, like Stumpy, and exhausting for others, who it would be pointless to name. Speaking of those two, what were they doing?

Mr. Cat had locked himself inside his cat flap for the rest of the day. Nobody had seen him since the lights came back on, and nobody had the guts to ask him what had happened - it would have been useless. They all knew that he was in a pretty bad condition, and they thought he would be in one of his usual bad moods. As for Kaeloo, she stayed with her other friends for a while after the game. She wanted to play a game to forget about what had happened, but unfortunately for her, she couldn't; Quack Quack, as usual, was too busy eating yogurt, and Stumpy, unchangeable, was focused on pulverizing his digital enemies, saying : "I've got a boss to annihilate, I can't play with you!". Kaeloo had no choice but to go back to her lilypad house, disappointed that she hadn't been able to do anything with her day. She took a relaxing shower, and then she made some coffee. While waiting for the coffee to be ready, she spent some time looking out of the window. Once it was ready, she drank it and then lay down on the bed.

As soon as her back touched the soft white sheets,a sigh escaped her lips. She spread her arms and legs out like a starfish and exhaled deeply. Her body was immobile, like a statue, but her thoughts, on the other hand, wouldn't stop moving. They were quick, like a sprinter, and fleeting, like the flapping of the wings of a butterfly. It could be said that these thoughts, in their frantic race, were looking for some kind of memory. And they didn't need to look (or flap their little wings) much to find one. The memory imposed itself, redundant, serious, tedious and painful: Mr. Cat.

Suddenly, Kaeloo felt a weight pressing on her body, numbing her legs, crushing her stomach and preventing her from breathing. It was as if she was being forced to perform a task which was unpleasant but necessary - that is, reconciling with him. But what was the problem which captivated her thoughts so much?

Mr. Cat liked her. That could be it. But no, that wasn't the problem. The concern, important it seemed, was in the type of questions which naturally followed a love confession: "Do I feel passionate about him? Do I like him in the same way, or do I just see him as a friend?"

There were lots of factors which needed to be considered. On one hand, Kaeloo found it difficult to let go of the idea that she, Stumpy, Quack Quack and Mr. Cat were a group of friends. Friends. If one of them decided to go out with another, it could damage the chemistry of their friendship. Mr. Cat and Kaeloo would most likely start to show a certain favoritism towards each other, and this could form a breach in their relationships with Stumpy and Quack Quack. Kaeloo and Mr. Cat had only two solutions, which were equally difficult : friendship, meaning they would have to break up in order to restore the former balance within the group, or love, which could harm their friendship. This may have seemed exaggerated, because they could live out their love without damaging their friendship, but they would be under constant pressure to make sure that they could balance both of the things.

And as for the main question - whether Kaeloo saw Mr. Cat as more than just a friend - she herself did not know the answer. Mr. Cat's implicit confession had sparked an ineffaceable doubt which would not stop anchoring itself in her thoughts, thought after thought, minute after minute. Certainly, she could not deny the continued existence of some teasing between them - teasing which we could qualify as ambiguity, but for her, this had always stayed within the domain of "games". For example, the time they played baby-sitting, or better, the day they had played at the end of the world. The words he had said that day were still etched in her mind: " I've had a crush on you since the beginning. I think of you, day and night."
A mysteriously pleasant thrill passed through her, but she paid no attention to it.

Kaeloo had never taken Mr. Cat's confessions seriously. Why? For three very simple reasons: The first one was that if one day someone told her that Stumpy had a crush on her, she could have believed it, but Mr. Cat? Frankly, she would have laughed in the face of the person speaking to her. Secondly, the reason why she would have laughed at this person : she and Mr. Cat were total opposites! To her, the idea that a "bad boy" like Mr. Cat would try to get a girl like her, a saint who loved everything and everyone, seemed utterly ridiculous. She didn't really believe in the phrase "opposites attract".

Thirdly : did she only see him as a friend?

Hontesly : A friend ? Yes, but not just any friend. If you asked her to describe her relationships with each of her friends, she would say that the friendship she shared with Stumpy and Quack Quack would characterize her as a maternal figure, who advised them, guided them and occasionally scolded them –after all, they were the youngest of the group, and they needed direction, especially Stumpy. But Mr. Cat was older than her and ten times more mature than she was. Saying that she was a maternal figure to him seemed like a bad joke, or an obvious lie. You could say, without beating around the bush, that their relationship was the most complex in Smileyland. Even their friends, as well as their neighbors, Pretty, Eugly and Olaf, would agree.

To give yourself an idea of this complexity, put yourself in the shoes of a new arrival to Smileyland, and imagine witnessing this scene: Mr. Cat doing everything he can to provoke Kaeloo and push her to show her schizophrenic side, and then getting beaten up by her. Two people doing things like that to each other with so much harshness and violence, that couldn't be friendly play, right? However, if you spent some more time with them, you would observe some things which proved you wrong, through simple gestures between them: the way she laughed at his jokes, the way he smiled when she yelled at him, the way she invited him to play with her despite knowing his intentions, and the way they put themselves in the same team. You might even start to ask yourself whether they were in love. You would notice the look Mr. Cat shot at the figure of the toad, the way Kaeloo intruded Mr. Cat's personal space and tried to get physically close to him, the teasing advances he made towards her (which she thought was a game), and the possessiveness they showed of each other. It was a fine mess. Actually, it may have seemed like they were messing with the general public, but they didn't do it on purpose. They themselves were not aware of their strange attraction, camouflaged under several quarrels that were only revealing a feeling more powerful than anything.

But let us refrain from giving a name to this sentiment, lest it be an incorrect perception, and let us pass over these prodigious proofs of a truth which only time can establish. And above all, let's try to keep these observations to ourselves, and come back to the present moment.

Kaeloo let out such a long sigh that she felt her lungs compress due to the lack of air. Suddenly, she got up, stretched her legs a bit and then staggered towards the door. What was she going to do? Visit Mr. Cat to set things straight. And how was she going to set things straight? She didn't really know, she only had a vague idea –and it doesn't matter for her, as long as Mr. Cat forgive her and save her from the weight on her conscience. Yes, it may have seemed selfish and hypocritical, but what Kaeloo wanted most of all was to be forgiven so she wouldn't have to think about this anymore. She already had enough problems with the cat: she already had to monitor his alcoholism and the murderous impulses which he expressed on Quack Quack! And let's not forget the problems she had with her other friends: Quack Quack's yogurt addiction, and Stumpy's unhealthy obsession with video games. And then there was her own schizophrenia, or double personality. She had plenty of things to do.

Kaeloo went outside her lily and headed towards Mr. Cat's cat flap. It wasn't very far, which was a good thing, because she was quite tired. She felt the biting evening cold against her bare skin, but she didn't care. The problem would be over in a few minutes. She arrived in front of the cat flap and knocked three times. No answer. She tried again, thinking he couldn't hear her. Three minutes passed and still nothing happened. Kaeloo frowned. She knew Mr. Cat didn't like visitors, but usually he would at least check who was knocking! "Maybe he's sleeping," she thought. She checked her watch, which said that it was exactly 8:00 p.m. Her theory couldn't be right. The cat usually spent sleepless nights drinking, resulting in him having a hangover in the morning and taking naps throughout the day.

She gave a sigh of annoyance, her anxiety at not knowing what to say being replaced by impatience. Her skin was starting to turn blue from the cold. Maybe he had drunk too much and wasn't in a condition where he could answer the door ? If that was the case, she would have to forcibly enter and help him. She hadn't come here to take care of him - the opposite, in fact - but they were friends, after all. She had to make sure he didn't do anything stupid while he was drunk. She cleared her throat.

– Mr. Cat, I'm coming in! she yelled. She waited for some kind of objection, but didn't get any one. So she opened the flap, bent over just enough to be able to fit inside, climbed in and closed it behind her.

However, Kaeloo had forgotten one thing, and she remembered it a bit too late: it was naturally dark inside the cat flap. Being a cat, Mr. Cat didn't need light to see, and besides, he used it as a bedroom more than anything else. She stepped into the total darkness and unsuspected calm of the place. The silence bothered her more than anything else. It was so quiet that she couldn't even hear her own footsteps. She started to tremble slightly and crossed her arms in front of her chest, fearing that the cat may jump out of nowhere and attack her. After all, she was in the house of one of Smileyland's most insane residents. He'd even attempted to rape her a few times (like when they played baby-sitting or when they played house), so she expected the worst.

– M-Mr. Cat? This isn't funny! Please answer me!

She silently continued walking down what seemed to be a long hallway until she noticed a faint glow coming from her left. She sighed in relief, glad to have found a source of light in this tomb-like place. She ran towards it, her footsteps echoing through the hall. When she reached the illuminated room, she stopped at the doorway and let her wary gaze wander over the surroundings. It was a very ordinary living room. There was a shelf with books piled up on it, a red armchair whose disrepair was covered with a checkered cloth, an old television, a wooden coffee table in the middle and a brown carpet on the floor. The room was lit by chandeliers, and extravagant paintings were hung on the beige walls. There were also several cushions spread all over the floor. At the end of the room was a little open kitchen, next to a round table with a nice red tablecloth. Kaeloo smiled and took a few steps inside. Put at ease by the almost familial nature of the room, she unfolded her arms. It was simple, but charming. She would never have thought that the cat would have tastes like this. The room looked very colorful and happy, contrasting with the personality of its inhabitant.

– What are you doing in my house?!

Speaking of the devil.

For a second, Kaeloo was startled to hear such a loud voice and nearly banged her head on the door. She turned around and raised an eyebrow as soon as she saw Mr. Cat. He looked awful; his eyes were narrowed and bloodshot, and his whiskers were twisted and tangled. Kaeloo looked downwards and saw an empty bottle in his hand. She crossed her arms, and without answering his question, she started to scold him.

– Mr. Cat, you haven't been drinking in moder-

– Are you deaf? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?

Kaeloo took a step back, shocked by her friend's tone of voice. Sure, he was usually in a bad mood when he drank - except for a few occasions - but that didn't justify him talking to her like that. What did he take her for?

– I see you're not only deaf, but mute too.

– I'm here to talk to you, she said with a calm voice, ignoring his bad temper.

– There's nothing to talk about, get lost!

Excuse me ? Where did he get the guts to speak to her like that?

– I forbid you from speaking to me in that tone of voice, Mr Cat !

– Oh, of course, you're the only one who can't allow it!

– I beg your pardon?! I've never disrespected you, unlike you, who does it to me all the time!

– Are you fucking kidding me?! You did it earlier!

– What?

– Stop acting like you didn't do anything! You pretended you couldn't hear me!

– Well-

She stopped in the middle of her sentence, not knowing what to say. It was true that Mr. Cat had been trying to tell her something earlier, but she had ignored it and focused on the one bad word he had said in the middle.

– This ironically reminds me of another moment... he said as his previously loud voice started to break. It reminded him of the first time they played "Red Light, Green Light"... he had complimented her, and she had beaten him up for using a minor swear word during his speech.

A certain silence hovered between them, a silence with clear discomfort. Kaeloo broke the ice by changing the subject.

– Whatever it is, I'm here to apologize for hurting you, she said in a serious tone, waiting for him to forgive her for everything.

Even a "Go away" would satisfy her, as it would free her from this charged atmosphere and from the guilt. But alas, the cat's response was anything but what she wanted it to be. Raucous laughter, laced with bitterness, sarcasm and an imperceptible sadness, echoed through the room. She stared at him as he closed his eyes and lifted his head, caught in his contrite laugh, and could only grind her teeth at the malice and rancor in it. However, there was a gloom in his eyes, a sadness reciprocal to hers. When he stopped laughing and opened his eyes again, he glanced at her from head to toe with a disgusted look, and then looked her in the eye. The shiver that passed through the frog's body almost made her legs give out.

– Oh, you never fail to amuse me.

Second shiver felt. Umpteenth heartbeat skipped.

– You come to my house, like this, you park myself in the middle of my living room, you talk to me in your shitty little condescending voice and... and you think I'm going to say 'Of course, I forgive you!', he said, imitating her in a ridiculously happy tone before putting on another glower. You keep thinking I'm screwing with you since I'm the 'tough guy' of the gang, nothing can get to me, I'm immune to any form of pain and anyway I can just shake it all off, right? I thought I once heard you say that I had a hidden side that was vulnerable and sensitive? What do you think I am, a punching bag? A pain in the ass who you'd like to get rid of, given the chance? One person too many in this country?

– No, I don't think-

– Then why do you think that apologizing with just one word for everything you've done to me will make everything right between us, you piece of shit? That just means that you consider me to be a lesser being!

Kaeloo's eyes stung dangerously.

– NO!

0 Yes! Yes, that's what you think! Sometimes I wonder whether you even consider me as a friend, or you're just waiting for the day when I decide to free myself from your beatings and leave Smileyland! You hurt me, you say sorry, and that's it! Everything's forgotten, bye-bye, go fuck yourself, Mr. Cat!

– SHUT UP! What you're saying now is total-

– Bullshit? he sneered bitterly. Heh… surprisingly, when I try to be sincere with you three, especially you, you think I'm screwing with you.

...

– No, wait, he said in a strangely calm, cold tone of voice. What am I talking about? You don't give a crap about all this. All you want is to have a clean conscience, be a plaster saint and look good in front of the others. You know my family was abusive and that my older brothers used to hurt me a lot, and I have psychological issues as a result. The day I told you about my past, I thought you would finally understand what I was looking for: just a little bit of love and affection, after a really hard life... but no, you just used it as a pretext to label me as 'Smileyland's resident psychopathic jerk'".

...

– You don't assume that your real personality is that of the toad's, in fact.

Kaeloo's pupils shrunk, becoming two tiny dots in a blank white space.

– Yeah, that fucking toad who you spend thousands of dollars every year trying to deal with at your therapist's? Speaking of your shrink, has he told you what you really are yet or is he still hiding it from you so he doesn't scare you?

A new silence. Once again, she found nothing to say. He was right, as painful as this observation was –it was true. How was she? Who was the real Kaeloo behind all that fake goodness? Maybe he had the answer. That toad who she spent so much time and money trying to get rid of with the help of her psychotherapist. Kaeloo silently lowered her gaze to the ground as Mr. Cat watched her resign herself. His anger seemed to have transformed into grief, because a minute later, his expression changed. His eyebrows relaxed, his whiskers drooped, his torso deflated, and he slouched his body, allowing his arms to hang limply at his sides. Kaeloo, disappointed that her plan to ask for forgiveness hadn't worked, raised her head to look at the cat and widened her eyes at the sight of the sheer dullness in his eyes.

And then the realization hit her. Seeing this cat, who was normally proud, egoistic, and pain-resistant, now cowering and in pain... because of a frog who thought herself to be a kind, cute and gentle girl who would never hurt anyone. The hypocrisy which she hid under a fake layer of goodness was condemned by the sadness in the cat's eyes.

A sob was suddenly heard.

– Kaeloo? asked a soft voice, clearly satisfied by her misery.

How much?

How much had she unknowingly hurt him? How much had she been a hypocrite by inviting him to come out of his shell, and then pushing him back into it, all while ignoring his feelings? How much injustice had she done to him by preventing him from openly expressing his feelings, by calling him a liar and a manipulator each time he tried? She had been so blind to all those times when he tried to tell her he loved her. Instead of telling him that she loved him too, or that she only felt pure affection towards him, or that she wanted to understand him, she had just transformed and beaten him up. She had been so, so wrong...

How?

How had she been so ignorant of all the time when Mr. Cat had saved her life, implicitly complimented her, congratulated her when she won, pushed her to be herself when Pretty bullied her for being "weird", protected her... and loved her more than anyone else? How could she have thought, even for a moment, that he wished her harm? Even when he messed up her games, using dangerous traps and weapons, he only did it with the sole intention of getting her attention. He had the capability of stealing the spotlight with his charismatic side, but he had nobody to trust with his greatest treasure : his heart. No, actually, it was worse; he had trusted someone with it, only to see it disdainfully rejected, an eternal prisoner of all the labels he had forged for himself in an attempt to save himself from getting hurt: liar, jester, psychopath, manipulator, pervert, rude... labels that Kaeloo herself had helped stick on him, without even trying to understand their provenance and read what was secretly inscribed on them. And she dared to call herself the guardian of Smileyland. She burst out sobbing. How could she continue to wear a mask of innocence and joie-de-vivre when the person who counted the most for her - her best friend - was suffering because of her and her stupidity? How could she continue to think that she was a kind little frog when she was really a ruthless judge who favored some people, like Quack Quack, and ignored others, like Mr. Cat?

Why?

Because that's who she was.

– Mr. C-

He quickly turned away from her and crossed his arms.

– N-no, his voice trembled. What did you want ? My forgiveness? Y-yeah, you're forgiven, now get lost.

Her chest tightened, because she could tell from his tone of voice that he hadn't forgiven her and wasn't going to any time soon.

– FUCK OFF ! his voice became even louder.

Kaeloo took a few steps back out of the living room without looking away from him with tear-filled eyes, her hands crossed across her chest and a frightened look on her face. Finally, she ran down the hallway, almost tripping several times. A few teardrops fell behind her, the only witnesses to her passage.

For the first time in a very long time, Kaeloo wanted Mr. Cat to truly forgive her.

And for the first time since they met, he refused to grant her that grace.