The Cat’s Gifts

                                                                               

                 Sunlight reflected off the windowpane, showering the room with an abundant glow of the afternoon. A warm breeze swept inside, channelled by the dense foliage of the tree that stood high in the yard. The neighbourhood remained silent and undisturbed under the warming breeze on one of the hottest days. Yet the room was surprisingly cool and comfortable, thanks to the swamp cooler sitting in the corner. Shizu had an exam coming up next week. She was sitting at her desk, with a sluggish expression on her face. Struggling to concentrate on the history textbook in front of her. A breeze came leaping through the window and riffled away a bunch of pages, and she couldn’t care less. Her attention shifted from the book to the tree outside the window. The leaves rippled with the warm waves under the sparkly sunbeams as she began to muse into her daydreams. Studying had never intrigued her, the things that intrigued her were fantasies and fairytales. She would often drift away into her daydreams. But she had to study now; last time it cost her intolerable remedial lessons. Her focus was weak as always; the lazy air and the burden of studying had weighed the young girl down to unbearable boredom. The pages and the ink carved on them incanted a tiring spell on her mind. She couldn’t maintain her focus on the book. Her mind was swarming with thoughts. The warmth of the serene afternoon did not calm the restlessness inside her.

She hated to have such a boring life. If only she could exchange her boring life for the life of a fairy princess. She believed in fairies and magic. She imagined all the adventures and thrills, whimsies and beauty she wanted. But reality was too mundane to satisfy the world of her imagination. She yearned for mysterious and magical episodes in her life; she always craved something otherworldly to chance upon her. And relaxed in the solace of those reveries until she had lost track of her time. Time passed by, and no progress was made in exam preparation. Her thoughts came back to her senses; suddenly, a feeling of frustration surged up in her. She didn’t want to study; a lot of time had been wasted. She banged the book on the table and stood up to go downstairs. As she turned towards the door, from the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of someone. A cat was sitting on the sill of her room’s window. There was no sound or a thud; it must have climbed by the branch of that tree, and then onto there. The cat was staring straight into Shizu’s eyes. Its eyes glistened like balls of emeralds. Cats are eerie creatures, specifically those that are strays and black; it did not have a collar—it was a stray and black. Its fur was murky, fizzing against the orange rays of the sun. There was something in its mouth. A piece of cloth, light coloured — looked soft. The cat sat there frozen in the same spot for a minute or two, staring continuously at Shizu. A slight chill ran down her spine as the cat maintained the unbroken eye contact and that blank-eerie expression. Suddenly, the cat swiftly jumped away without making a sound. And left that piece of fabric on the sill. It was a hanker chief, lying abandonly on the edge. She was about to shove it away, but it caught her attention. It was a delicate ivory fabric, with intrinsic embroidery, shimmering against the dull wood. Shizu leaned in closer and noticed the embroidered letter ‘R’ in deep burgundy, beautifully styled and patterned with tiny floral motifs. It was not something one could have just thrown away. It was dainty and extravagant. She picked it up, feeling the soft texture brushing against her finger. It felt like a gift for her. She was mesmerised by it; all her gloom and frustration evaporated. She admired the piece of cloth for minutes, smile beaming from her face. She was sure it was the onset of her dreamy life. She carefully folded it and placed it inside a drawer.

          Days passed, and the cat continued bringing various items to her room, leaving them in the same spot. Shizu rejoiced every time the cat made a visit, sometimes at the blooming dusk or sometimes at midnight; she always kept the window open. When she arrived back from school and found the gifts lying there, it always uplifted her mood tenfold. They were all very pretty; every piece was extraordinary, like they had been brought from a different world. The girl rejoiced in her imagination of the other world. All the artefacts were exquisite, crafted with refinement and luxury. Colourful garnishes, silver embellishments, lavish carvings—they all looked very expensive and esteemed. There was no brand name or anything to identify the person to whom those belonged. Felt like they were exclusively made for a Princess. Among the collection, a maroon pen with a golden design, so intricately crafted that it appears fit for a fairy. A pink brooch of a butterfly design, adorned with silver sparkle, was so radiant it could brighten a dark room. A bracelet made of purple pearls and opal stones, finished with a golden chain at the ends, looked like something that could transform any girl into a magical princess. A small porcelain statuette of a fae, colourful and adorable. A miniature rose of shiny metal and so much more, all pretty and enticing, not a single one of them was mediocre. Shizu cherished all these items and kept them with affection. She wore them, roleplaying a fairy princess. She would spend hours adoring them; it had become her favourite pastime. She had always longed for extravagance and marvels in her life. It was like a part of her fantasy, taking shape in reality. She felt like being in a fairy tale, where a cat brings magical gifts for a princess secluded in a tower by her evil mother. The story fitted loosely, but it brought immense joy to the young girl. She waited hearteningly for the cat, and the cat appeased her wait by endowing her with the treasures, then vanishing again in a blink of an eye. Yet the origin of the stuff remained a mystery. Shizu couldn’t figure out where the cat was bringing them. She neither dwelled on it much. She rarely let that thought appear—and was happy with her dreamy twist of fate, enjoying the sense of enchantment it was bringing into her life.

          On one afternoon, after school, Shizu had gone to the market. With a heavy bag on her shoulder, she was trying to search through the stores and stationery to find the supplies and materials she needed. A very tedious school project had been imposed upon her. But the good thing is it’s a group project; the responsibilities had been distributed. The other girls in her group were excited about it; she didn’t understand why. What was there to look forward to for a stupid water irrigation system model? She could just escape that plodding work by providing and paying for the supplies. She never fully participated in such boring activities. The people around her didn’t expect anything from her either. She did not have any real friends; her peers felt like strangers to her. They seemed to judge her for her otherworldly notions and wishes. She preferred staying alone; all the princesses in her storybooks were also lonely. A day would come when people would understand her true value, she liked to imagine. That’s why she would only offer the least she could. Finally, she came in front of the shop the girls had told her about. It was crowded, must have been very popular, and it was huge too. A lot of students and adults were rushing in and out of the shop continuously. She hesitated, maybe it would be better if she came back at some other hour, when the rush would be less. Yet, she decided to go there anyway, otherwise, the girls would yell for bringing the material late. As she made way through the crowd, she heard a hushed meow rang through her ears. She glanced back. The cat was sitting in the middle of the rushing road. The same cat that had been bringing gifts for her. Shizu started to go towards it. This was the first time she had seen that cat somewhere besides her room window. The cat briskly moved across the road, amidst the scurrying traffic; it must not have noticed Shizu. The girl jolted towards the road. Her legs moved on their own. Shizu chased after it; an impulse grew instinctively within her. She wanted to confront the cat. A lot of other cats had come across her outside her home since the gifts grant started, but never the one she always looked for. The cat ran briskly through crowds, crossing the roads and turning the lanes. She ran after it, but the cat was swift. They entered a peaceful street with not many people or vehicles. The distance between them was shortened. She was just behind it, stretching her hands outwards to grab it. The cat noticed her and started moving faster. Shizu kept up the pace until it climbed a fence wall and jumped into a huge compound. Shizu stopped; she didn’t want to go any further. It was a cemetery; the cat had gone into a cemetery. The girl stood there breathless, scanning through the huge gate, but the cat was nowhere to be seen.

        She returned home, her chest was heavier with a strange confusion and anxiety. She couldn’t think straight; her mind was wobbling with undetermined questions. The project, the supplies, she left everything undone. Her mother shouted from the kitchen, ‘Where were you? Didn’t I tell you not to roam around?’ She didn’t answer and headed upstairs. As she entered her room, a large thud welcomed her; it was the bang of a window pane by the wind. The panes were half open; she had willingly kept them open. Her eyes fell onto the sill; there was one more gift. She paced through the room rapidly and looked outside the window. The cat wasn’t there. She scanned through the yard, the parking area, the streets and the lanes. The cat was again nowhere to be seen. She waited for minutes, hoping to catch a glimpse of it, but it never appeared. She picked up the newly given present; it was a lovely hair clip. Her eyes widened; there was a bunch of reddish hair tangled in it, and a pungent smell arose from somewhere. She sniffed the gift in her hand; the smell was coming from the clip. She hurried and opened the drawer where she kept all the gifts and started checking them one by one. There was no smell in any other. The clip seemed very strange, like it was snatched away from someone’s hair. The reddish strands of hair entangled in it were long and dry. Her chest grew heavier, she tossed away the clip from the window. But the heaviness did not fade; she looked at the items lying on her desk. Strangeness towards them crept into her heart.

        Turmoil had entered her mind; she kept brooding about the cat. But the cat never came back for days, and the item remained locked in the drawer. They had lost all the spark and magic—they once held in Shizu’s eyes. She ceased to play with them or admire them. The questions of their origin tormented her wretchedly. She searched through many gift shops and boutiques. But couldn’t find any artefacts similar to those. The school became busier as the finals were around the corner; she tried to focus on studies and school activities more. She wanted to move on from that strange feeling—the cat had pushed on her that day.

One day, at the peak of the afternoon, Shizu was walking lazily towards her home. The sun was scorching bright, and the neighbourhood was quiet. Her mind was rambling about the mistakes she had made on the test. As she entered the gate, she caught a glimpse of something familiar, passing behind her. She looked above her house and walked into the yard. She turned her head towards her room window, and the sun rays squinted her eyes shut. She forced them open and saw the cat perched on the window. The cat leapt onto the next building’s roof. Shizu started running after it. Her eyes were fixed on the cat. The cat jumped from roof to roof, over fences and walls. She chased behind with the same speed, dashing between lanes and roads, not willing to lose sight of it this time. They had come far away from Shizu’s home. This time, the cat was not fast enough to escape from the girl. Nor did it make any complicated leap that she cannot follow. Where they had reached was a very quiet place. The cat turned into the lane of under-constructed buildings. There was not a soul to be seen around there. Not even the sound of crows could be heard. The area was mostly dilapidated; no real residence or habitable place was to be seen. Many underdeveloped buildings exuded their dull grey presence, and the ground was littered with debris. Shizu hesitated to follow the cat further. The cat slipped behind one of the huge building, Shizu forced her legs after it. There was a battered area, with pieces of wood and stones littered everywhere. The cat sprang with all its strength upon a shabby wall and went to the other side. She could no longer follow it. As she was about to leave, she realised a similar smell was there, but it was unbearably worse. She grimaced and pinched her nose, then suddenly something shone from the corner of her eyes. There were glistening artefacts lying on the ground near the wall. She closed towards them; the items were making a trail from a basement window. Many were scattered near the window. She scrutinised them; they were the same kind the cat had brought. A glimmer from between the rods shot through the basement. There must be more of them in the basement. She bent on her knees and peered through the thick metal rods; there were enough gaps between the rods for the items to pass. A flood of sunlight was pouring in through the other window, enabling the dark scene to be visible. In the basement, there was a withered body of a little girl, lying on the dark, rough floor. Her face was pale, half curtained by knotted red hair. Flies and insects were crowding in through her nose and parted lips. Her once-vibrant dress was now tattered and faded. A small backpack, torn open, spilling beautiful items onto the grim floor beside her body. Shizu stared at her glimmering emerald eye—in a stony stillness.