Of Bone-crushing Hugs and Healing Purrs

I aim to write these so that you can enjoy them as stand alone stories, or one after the other. If you'd like to do the latter (they're all very short):

1. A Cock About to Cro-

2. Cat and Mouse

3. Just Desserts

4. A Pound of Soul

5. How Much Cake is one Soul Worth?

6. Hungry Like a Wolf

7. Hunt For a New Toy

8. The Dreamscape

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Night after night, I trod my silken-footed path through her childish dreams, relieved when nothing woke her. My certainty growing that the man sleeping down the hall was a safe person for her to be around.

Her dreams were not as difficult to navigate as I thought. How much of that was familiarity? The more I visited her, the stronger our bond became. I think my presence gave her a feeling of safety, as well. And, though she didn't know it, when the dream tried to transform around her into something confusing or scary, I pinned it down, holding it with every ounce of my will.

She picked me up and squeezed me, and I tolerated it, whispering to her all the while. She didn't understand the words at first, but she caught the meaning. Soft purrs to build her confidence and weave trust between us.

She was delighted the first time I spoke to her and she understood me.

"You can talk now?"

I've always been talking, but you couldn't hear me.

"What were you saying?"

purrrr you're smart. strong. perfect.

She pushed me off her lap, frowning. "No."

I headbutt her knee and tell her Yes

There is no creature in the world more self-assured than a self-assured cat. Doubt skips across her face. I'm a cat, I remind her. We know.

She accepts this, and wraps her arms round her knees, switching to a conversational tone. "Are you real?"

Yes, I say again.

"I mean, not just here. Real real."

I laugh at her with my eyes. Yes. I'm real.

"Will you come and see me, then?"

I like it better here. You can hear me properly.

"I'll try my bestest to hear you, I will. I promise."

I know.

"So you will?"

I'll try if you tell me something.

She considers this, and nods.

Tell me all about your family.

The details of her dream fade around her, until it's just her in her nightshirt, cross-legged on the wooden floor, with me on her lap, and the dream-mist curling up around us both. At last, I have a name, a scrap of identity.

Now I need to go cat shopping.

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Word count (excluding notes): 366

Submitted on 20th March at 23:59

*Quick Author's Note*

First, and most importantly: thank you for reading!

If you've been following On the Eve of the Hunt, it will return! I'm still working on the next one.

Leave me a link to your own latest story, if I haven't already seen it!

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A Year of Stories: I'm writing a story every day this year. This one makes an 80 day streak. I'm also putting them in my Index post.

Thank you

Thank you again! I do my best to reciprocate all reads.