Cat Souls

My family was all on vacation. We were in a strange city in our RV, and we got out from time to time to go to museums and thrift stores. It seemed like California.

One area of the city was an old-fashioned marketplace, or perhaps an exotic one. A large cobblestone square was covered in blankets and sellers' wares. There were some blankets hung overhead to shield people from the sun. Cooking food and exotic incense perfumed the air.

We wandered through the market. In a corner of the square was a darkened booth made of wood and thick blankets. Inside the booth an old woman sat bent over, doing something with her hands. It looked like she was knitting or weaving or sewing. Something industrious like that.

We walked closer to the old woman's booth. There were several fluffy cats lounging around it, some on her feet, some on folding chairs and in baskets. They had long hair and were in shades of yellow and orange. They looked like friendly cats, if lazy.

We walked closer to the booth, and the cats looked up at us. Their eyes were glowing, even in the daylight. In the darkened booth their eyes looked like penlights. They looked into my eyes.

I stopped. The cats were warning me about something. Then the old woman looked up. She wasn't very wrinkled, but she looked ancient and desiccated. Her eyes were red and halogen-intense. She wore an expression of pure evil.

That's when I figured out what the cats were telling me. I had to warn my family, but I couldn't. We all walked closer to the booth. I could see what she was doing.

She was knitting another fluffy cat, out of a human soul.






If this were an actual fantasy/horror story, it would be over by now. I just thought I'd mention what knitting a cat out of a soul looks like, exactly. There was a person, faintly glowing and translucent, curled up on the floor in obvious agony. The person's legs from mid-thigh down were blurred and missing, and bits of energy or plasma were being pulled away from the stumps. The energy was re-materializing where the knitting needles met. The cat being knitted was partially finished. The farthest parts looked normal, but the parts that had just recently been made were obviously a fine knit. I guess after a few minutes the tissue became more catlike. Just so you know.