Chapter 17
C h a p t e r S e v e n t e e n
A m o s S w a n - T h e c a t
I lay on the windowsill, where the cold seeps through the old paint and settles into my bones.
Sylvia likes to keep it hot in here, which occasionally is best, but tonight my fur warms me more than it should.
The night presses against me but I remain awake.
I decide when the home sleeps, not when the lights go out or the human voices fade.
When I feel the weight of the world ease away is when I tuck myself in.
She’s across the room, in bed asleep. Her hair thrown over the silken sheets and her body hidden underneath the covers. Even in her sleep she pulls at the room, bending it towards her like gravity that never learned restraint. I feel it in my whiskers, the soft ache behind her eyes.
She’s remained stronger than I anticipated but she was always an emotionless child. Never crying when she broke her ankle or when her friend didn’t want to be her friend any longer.
I watch her stir, reaching for me but my presence isn't there. Her hand falls and she curls inward, comforting herself.
I jump off the sill, without sound because sound is optional if you know how to exist properly. I climb on the bed and circle her once before I curl against her chest where her heart beats too fast even in sleep.
I feel him as always. His eyes on Sylvia as she sleeps.
He’s never bold enough to come inside but rests on the terrace with a cigarette dangling from his lips.
He just watches, never disturbs her, so I let him.
It’s comforting knowing someone other than me, a human, can protect Sylvia.
I feel it drifting off him; something dangerously dark but also a strong sense of protection.
I trust him.
Sylvia sighs in her sleep, unknowingly feeling the protection of us both watching over her. She buries her hand in my fur and I shift so she can rub my stomach. She belongs here, in the fragile pause before disaster and I intend to keep her as long as the world allows me.
I listen to the sounds of the world around us. The boy’s boots outside on the terrace, they’re too quiet for human ears but mine pick them up just fine. The sound of the wind clawing at the side of the house and all the eerie creatures that live outside.
My eyes feel heavy and I finally allow sleep when I feel the boy's presence vanishing.