Shane's Luck

Shane’s Luck
by: Roger Alderman

Shane laid sprawled across the worn-out sofa in his second story loft. I can’t believe this is happening, he thought to himself. The noise came again from the direction of the living room window. The sound was that of a scraping he had become accustomed to through opening the wood frame window over the course of his lease.

Someone Help Me! he cried out in his head. Shane was a hard worker and today had been no different. Work followed by stopping off at his favorite watering hole with the guys. Then home to bed to rest up for the next day’s labors.

Shane was fast asleep when the scraping had awakened him, but as he started to rise another sound erupted from near the locked and closed front room window. The noise was a crackling like electricity arching along a Jacobs ladder. Just as his head cleared the back of the couch a brilliant flash illuminated the entire loft.

Shane collapsed onto the sofa in a heap. His true moment of terror came, as he discovered he was unable to move his body. His eyes darted about seeking answers to what had just occurred. He attempted to call out for help but soon found out that even that was impossible.

Shane’s heart began to race, as more sounds came from the window. Try as he might, Shane was unable to raise even his head the slightest bit. His thoughts began to turn dark, Am I Dead? Shane quickly dismissed all common sense, is this what it was to be dead?

Shane’s attention turned to his peripheral, as he detected movement near his kitchen counter. The hell was that? he begged, but could not rotate his head to discover the intruder or its intentions. Shane tried again to force his body to obey his desire to rock back and forth, but any movement was a pure delusion. A low shadow darted along the wall in the refracted light of the street light from below.

Shane’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest, as a medium sized Tabby landed on the back of the old sofa. Shane blinked in disbelief, I don’t own a cat? The Tabby stretched arching its rump high into the air as it dug its claws into the sofa. The Tabby seemed to purposefully strut along the sofa back. To Shane, it looked to carry a smile on its face.

Shane realized he was able to blink. He knew whatever had happened to him that its effects were slowly beginning to fade. This gave him hope. Hope that was forced out of him just like the air in his lungs when the Tabby jumped down onto his chest landing with an audible thump. “Damned cat!” forced its way past his lips in a near whisper.

Shane closed his eyes and drew in a lung full of air, “Get off me!” The Tabby stared at him for a long minute only to resume grooming itself inches from his face. It was at that moment Shane spotted a black and white cat moving along his kitchen counter, “you would bring a friend.” The Tabby looked at Shane and purred rubbing its head against his face. To Shane, he swore the cat was laughing at him.

The Black and White quickly joined the Tabby on Shane’s chest. “Go Away! Shoo!” Shane yelled now able to lift his head. The Tabby placed a paw upon his lips and with gentle pressure lowered Shane’s head back down. Shane was at a loss for words, as he noticed another cat on his coffee table, another run across his kitchen counter, and yet another now sitting on his television stand. It seemed as if every ally cat in town was sitting in his loft.

As the wall of felines gathered around him in the loft. Shane lifted his head, as the front room window slide open. Shane cried out, “Hello? Is someone there?” That is when he saw the enormous shadow slide along the wall from the opened window. It was a shadow that carried the outline of something fur covered and ferocious.  It disappeared behind the kitchen counter.

Shane swallowed hard, as the choir of felines began to sing and cry out. At the height of the song, the shadow thing rose at the foot of the sofa. Shane could still not make it out, as his mind did not want to believe what stood before it. It was built like a fur covered Neanderthal linebacker with long cat claws and tufted ears. Shane pissed his pants, as it lowed its body atop his slowly making its way up to his face. It smelled like a rotting dumpster on a hot August night.

Shane gagged and it smiled a large toothy ghoulish smile. With a single blur of motion, it was suddenly kneeling beside him and clenching his lower jaw forcing it wide open. Shane tried to pull free only to have it shake his head and apply more pressure to his jaw. Shane could feel his jaw dislocate from its grip with a loud POP.

The shadow thing began to purr, as it looked to the circle of felines gathered inside the loft. One after one they moved to Shane’s sofa. With one hand on his lower jaw, the thing placed a firm hand upon his forehead. It forcefully pushed his head and jaw apart. As the pressure became unbearable he cried out, but no sound cat as he felt a cat place its head inside his mouth.

Shane lay powerless beneath the grip of the creature. The cat in his mouth forced its way deeper into his mouth he could feel its fur on the back of his throat. He could not breathe or struggle against the beasts might. He felt tearing, as the cat in his mouth maneuvered its paws ahead of its body and used its claws to climb deeper inside him. Blood pooled in his throat and bubbled out of the corners of his mouth.

As Shane’s body began to shake from the trauma another cat shoved its head into his mouth. Shane felt the first cat reach deep into his stomach and coil up. The next was shortly behind the first followed by cat after cat using Shane’s blood and bile as a lubricant to move deeper into his body. Shane felt weightless and began to rise from his broken body, but before he could move beyond this Earth. The Shadow Beast grabbed him and swallowed his spiritual form. As he cried out for someone/ anyone to help him. He witnessed his body rise, as the chorus of felines animated it.  It was then that Shane fell to the dark embrace of oblivion.