You're Not Alone

Catch Me If you Can

Frisca woke up to the smell of coffee brewing down in the kitchen. It took her less than a minute to realise that she was back at home, in the comfort of her family.  As she got out of bed, she heard Tori and her mother arguing downstairs. That's when she arranged herself and descended the stairs. Her head felt heavy as if she were recovering from last night’s hangover.

“Mom, please! I promise I will take care of it.” Tori begged.

“No! That thing has to go out.” Sophie made it clear with the intimidating tone of voice.

While the two continued arguing, Frisca doubted that Tori had got another creepy pet in the house as usual, for she knew how fascinated he was with petting lizards, spiders and anything that crawled.

“Frisca! Honey, are you alright?” Sophie rushed towards Frisca, as she entered the living room. Helping her take a seat at the table, she showed how concern she was by showering her with questions.

“It’s alright mom, I’m completely fine,” Frisca replied politely and touched her temples.

“Don’t touch it, honey, you have got a bad cut there,” Sophie warned her, pushing off her fingers from the bandages that were tied around her head.

No sooner Sophie had said that It all came back to Frisca. She had been to Miss Shaw’s wedding, Beckham had annoyed her and then…Everything was blank, All that she could vaguely remember was that she was being dragged inside the opening of a tree. A shiver went down her spine, as the picture of getting dragged into the unknown flashed in her head.

“Here, have some coffee, you’ll feel better,” Sophie placed the cup before her and interrupted her thoughts.

Frisca smiled at her mother and took one sip before shifting her gaze Tori. He was seldom standing at the doorway and looking cockeyed at her. Frisca raised her brows on noticing a furball in his arms, but couldn’t quite figure out what it was since she was still half in a daze.

“Meet Mr. Fluffy! “Tori said and raised the dusty grey cat in his hands so she could have a closer look. “And he doesn’t like you,” he remarked and made a face.

“Mr. Fluffy, eh? Did your girlfriend keep that name?” Frisca teased him as she relished the last sip of coffee.

“Yeah! Just as Beckham brought you home in his arms,” he snapped and stuck his tongue out while Frisca hit her palm against her forehead.

‘Fine you win.’ she grumbled and looked away, as Tori felt victorious.

She was not in the mood to argue with him today. After all, she had other things to worry about, like for example Beckham. She gulped with the thought of how her classmates would react the following day, By now the whole school was already aware of what had happened to her and how Beckham had saved her. Just, the thought of being the new subject of gossip made her go mad. “Damn it! This is so unfair,” she bit her lower lip and banged her fist on the table in irritation.

“Frisca, Beckham has left you a note,” Sophie called out to her as she cleaned the kitchen sink. “He will be coming to see you soon.” she added and folded her apron.

“Mom! You didn’t reply as yet,” Tori raised his voice, as the cat in his arms tried to free itself fiercely, by scratching Tori’s hands. Frisca looked at the cat’s claws and wondered how daringly he held the feisty cat in his delicate hands. Lowering her gaze, she happened to look at her right leg and was taken by surprise after spotting fine scratch marks stretching around her ankle.

“Freak! When did this happen?” she frowned and ran her nimble fingers over

“A no means a no!” Sophie’s voice echoed in the kitchen as she sternly warned Tori before his eyes swelled with tears,

“Mom, I think this house needs a pet, after all, what harm can a poor cat do?” Frisca suddenly interrupted and smiled at the cat that looked back at her with its devilish green eyes. “What? You too! When did you start siding your brother?’ Sophie widened her eyes in disbelief and shrugged her shoulders. Frisca continued smiling and sported her puppy dog eyes to convince her. Because she wasn’t really supporting her kid brother but was plotting a way to keep Beckham away from visiting her. Since Beckham was allergic to cats, she knew the grey cat would work as a full proof security system for her house.

“Please,”  They both requested in unison while Sophie looked at Frisca suspiciously. After hours of pleading, she finally agreed and called it quits.

‘Okay fine! Go ahead, but I’m not taking any responsibility of that cat,” She replied as she switched off the lights and went towards her bedroom.

Tori squealed and glanced at Frisca, as if he wanted to thank her, or so she expected before he turned around. Rushing upstairs happily with the new cat in his arms, he barged into his room and closed the door. As for Frisca, she stayed back in the living room, since she had been sleeping the whole day after the scene that took place on the hill. Slouching on the couch with her legs on over the armrest, she gazed up at the ceiling and got lost in deep thoughts. The fine cracks on the ceiling reminded her about the opening in the tree again. She recollected how she was being pulled inside by an unknown force and how a bright light had escaped from within it. What was it? Was it real or did she hallucinate it? What happened after that? She couldn’t remember a thing. Her mother had mentioned it to her that  Beckham  had found her lying unconscious on the ground after she had fallen and hit her head badly. But that didn’t convince Frisca much, there was something odd that happened that morning and she was sure it was unusual.

“How is that possible?” she asked clutched her long hair and sighed.

Beckham was nowhere in sight. She was only hiding from him. The thoughts bothered her more than she had expected it to and hence she tried to shake it off her head and just forget it. She heard the ticking of the wall clock, that dominated the silence in the living room. She craned her neck to see the time. It was 03:00 am, and she was still wide awake. Knowing how Sophie would react if she were to find her still awake like an owl, she gently tiptoed her way up the stairs. As she pushed open the door of her bedroom, a strange shadow passed from behind. Frisca paused after sensing the presence of someone standing behind her. .Holding the doorknob firmly, she turned around only to find Tori’s baseball coming to a standstill after rolling in the passage. Heaving a sigh of relief, she glanced at Tori’s room that was adjacent to her. Finding the door open, she assumed that he had crawled out to have a glass of water.

"Why does he need a room of his own when he still sleeps with the lights on?" she rolled her eyes and went to check on him. Finding him fast asleep, she smirked and turned off the lights before gently closing the door.

 As she turned to head back to her room, she was suddenly stopped by a strange figure waiting for her at the other end of the passage. It was the same fat grey cat that Tori had brought home. Frisca released her breath while the cat remained seated like a stuffed animal.

“So it was you, huh!” she whispered and continued walking towards her room. She turned sideways to have a glimpse of it again, but much to her surprise it wasn’t n it’s place. Feeling confused she looked the other side and was startled to find it seated outside Tori’s room. Staring icily with its mean green eyes, It meowed as if it were ordering her to open the door to Tori’s room.

“Oh, please! You aren’t my responsibility, Mr. Fluffly,” She sighed and glanced at it before entering her room.

However, this time when she entered, she realised that the eyes she saw a second ago were not the same green eyes that she had seen earlier. It looked devilish and paranormal, instead of flaunting a pair of deep green eyes, it appeared as if the cat had red-eye and a green eye. Confirming whether what she had seen was true, she turned and peeped out of her room, but the cat had disappeared by then. Blaming it on her mind playing tricks with her again, she drew in a deep breath and went into sleep.

Next morning she woke up and realised that she was going to be late for school again. She rushed to do her routine and then randomly picked out some clothes from the wardrobe. During weekends or holidays, one would usually find her sitting for hours in front of the wardrobe, wondering what to wear, but unlike days like this, she hardly had any choice but to wear whatever came first in her hand.

"Be careful dear, the wound is still fresh,” Sophie reminded her with utmost concern in her eyes, as Frisca got into her sneakers.

“Don’t worry mom,” she replied and glanced at Tori, who was lazily stirring his bowl of cereal with his eyes half-closed.

“Hey, Tori! Have you checked Mr. Fluffy’s eyes? I guess he has some infection,” she yelled at the doorway, as she struggled to push her foot in the sneaker.

Tori however just yawned and dunked his head in the bowl, not caring to reply to his sister. Since Frisca didn't bother much about him, she hugged her mother and rushed out to catch the last bus to the city. She heard the gong of the clock tower, as she entered the school ground. It was exactly 07:00 am, she increased her pace and somehow managed to enter the classroom before the professor.

“Hey! What’s up?” Gia greeted her cheerfully as she approached her bench.

“Hi! I’m cool,…Just a bit exhausted,” she gasped for breath and heard the others whispering in the background.

“So it’s published already, huh?” she inquired in disappointment, while Gia tapped her artistic fingers on the bench.

“Yup! And this one’s shelf life is more,” she commented and tried to hide her laughter that escaped with a cute snort.

“Yeah…Tell me about it…” Frisca sighed and buried her head in her arms.

She thanked her luck when the professor entered a bit late and commenced the lecture. The day seemed rather long and boring for her today, especially since it was a Monday the most hatred day of the week for everyone at Austere Ville High School. The class was reading Shakespeare since morning since the professor had extended his lecture for the day.  The result of this sudden decision of his could be seen on all the students' faces. Unlike the rest, Frisca’s head ached uncontrollably. The pain that had subsided last night had resurfaced once again after Frisca strained her eyes with all that heavy reading. Feeling uneasy, she touched her head and felt the bandage that her mother had tied around her head. Time was passing by very slowly for Frisca, “If only I could control time!” She sighed and turned the pages when all of a sudden she had an eerie feeling that she was being watched. She paused and turned to look at her classmates seated to her right, but didn’t find any of them staring at her.  She then turned to her left and gasped when she spotted Mr. Fluffly peering through the window.

“Mr. Fluffy?” she whispered and with a blink of an eye, he disappeared.

“Francesca! Read where Tyler stopped,” The professor caught her off guard and startled her. Gia carefully showed her where Tyler has stopped and smiled when she began reading it. The professor made a face, while Frisca pretended to read the verses dedicatedly. Time went by, the proceeding lectures seemed like an overdose for her. She tried her best to stay awake in the other lectures but failed there as well since she was completely drained out.

"Francesca! Pay attention." 

"Yes ma'am!" Frisca shouted and got up with a start.

"Ha-ha," Gia laughed and twisted Frisca’s ear. “You fell for it again!" She winked and pushed her books in her bag.

"So it was you, trying to sound like Ms. Posh !" Frisca raised an eyebrow and wrinkled her nose.

"Yes! I was just having some fun. Our lectures are over," Gia reminded her.

"Time to head back home, provided you aren’t planning on spending the night in class," she giggled as they both left the classroom and walked out of the high school premises. They hadn’t reached the bus stop as yet when Gia suddenly blurted out the question that had been bothering her.

 “So what actually happened?” she asked and took a long pause. Frisca bit her lower lip out of habit and gulped. She always did that when questions like these would make her feel uptight.  She contemplated whether to reveal all the detail that had occurred the other day, but somewhere deep down she knew that Gia wouldn’t believe her.

“Nothing, we were just arguing, when I suddenly missed a step and rolled down,” she answered and sighed loudly, hinting her to not probe further into the topic.

“Oh! That's bad,” Gia crunched her brows and continued walking by her side. The gong of the high school clock tower could be heard far and wide. Gia didn’t get into the bus when it arrived.

“I won’t be able to accompany you today,” She said as Frisca prepared to get in.

“I have to deliver a parcel,” she added and left before waving out to her. Frisca looked at her and wondered how different her life was from Gia’s? Her best friend was always the happy go lucky type of person. She had a complete family and including a life full of excitement, while she was just an ordinary girl who had a single parent and nerdy brother at home.

“I’m back!” she screamed, as she entered her house, but sighed after realizing that her mother was still working at the bakery.

She flung her bag on the couch and walked towards the refrigerator to make herself some cheese sandwiches. As she raised her hand to open the door, her eyes fell on a sticky note that read:

                                                             “Pick up Tori, I’ll  be late today.”

                                                                          “Love Mom.”

“Oh, freak! I’m late!” she got tensed and rushed towards the car.

“Tori is going to kill me today,” she ran her fingers through her hair when she saw the empty garage.

Her mother had taken the car and the only mode of transport to reach Tori before he could stun the whole town with his heart-melting cries. Tori was known as the kid who could make a stone weep with his tears, there was nothing that could stop him once he’d start crying. No wonder his teachers always thought twice before scolding him.

Frisca raced and caught the local bus that drove past his school. After what seemed like an eternity, the bus finally halted. Frisca hurriedly stepped out only to find Tori seated on the payment with his head hung low. Heaving a sigh of relief, she approached him quietly and apologised, “Sorry, Tori! Are you okay?”

Tori gazed up at her with tears in his big brown eyes, that were on the verge of rolling down his soft cheeks. He sniffed and held back his tears. “I thought y’all abandoned me because I’m adopted,” he choked and rubbed his eyes.

“That’s not true! We love you silly. It’s my way of just annoying you, you’re not adopted,” She whispered and pulled him closer to her chest. “We’ll never abandon you, not in a million years to come,” she hushed him and wiped his tears.

After pacifying him, they took a bus and headed back home, on the way she put her arms around him and asked, “Uh...Uhmm...Where is Mr. Fluffy, are there any chances that you left him loose?” He looked at her in confusion and shook his head in denial.  Frisca looked at him curiously as he gradually opened his bag. No sooner he did it, the cat sprung out and purred.

“Uh...Actually, I took him to show and tell at school today,” he replied coyly, as he gently stroked the cat's head.

Frisca pulled back her arm in surprise and just stared at it, wondering whether it was the same cat that she had seen earlier in school. “You’re positive he didn’t wander anywhere when you were not looking?’ she quizzed him.

“Positive, he was in my bag the whole time!” he replied and tried to push the cat back inside the bag.

“Maybe he is right,” she murmured since she felt it was impossible for a cat to walk down miles and go back to Tori in such a short span of time. As she pondered over the odds, the bus halted with a big jerk, causing the bag in Tori’s hand to fall.

“Mr. Fluffy is escaping!” Tori screamed as we saw him jump from seat to seat and then escape through the exit door.

Tori ran after him, as Frisca kept apologising to the other passengers and followed him out. They chased it down the road and then into the forest reserve. Much to their surprise, the cat was really fast. Frisca felt like she was participating in a marathon as she ran after it.

“Tori, leave him. He’s too fast” she shouted as tried to catch up with him.

"No! He’ll get scared here. I can’t leave him all alone,” he replied and kept calling out to the cat in desperation.

The two kept running for quite some time. The ravens had a good laugh, watching the brother-sister duo, chase each other. Frisca kept running after Tori, begging him to stop, while he ran after the cat, calling out its name and begging the cat to stop. The Cat on the other hand ran after something that only it knew. It wasn't long before all this commotion stopped and Tori paused. Frisca finally caught up with them and gasped for breath.

“I thought you would never stop,” she panted and took a breather.

Tori whispered and glanced at her, “He is there...Near the willow tree.” He pointed towards the same one of the tree that looked rather familiar to Frisca.

“Finally!” she heaved a sigh of relief and stared at the grey nasty cat.

“Now you stay here, While I go get him. Alright!” She gestured him to stay where he was before walking towards the cat. Carefully, and cautiously, she tried approaching the cat. Trying hard not to make any noise, she continued walking but unknowingly stepped on a  twig which split beneath her sneakers and alerted the cat.

“Meow!” The cat cried and hid inside the opening of the willow tree. Frisca lost her cool and crawled inside the opening of the tree without realising what she was getting herself into. “Caught you!” She exclaimed in delight and suddenly plunged down when the earth beneath her gave way.

“Frisca…” Tori called out to her worriedly and wondered what was taking her so long to come out with the cat. Little did he know that his big sister was never coming back, for she was about to get entangled into a world of dark secrets and lies.