WJ Entry #010

January 22, 2020

Soft sunlight gently caressed his eyelids and they parted smoothly in curiosity. Her shadow shifted and he heard her clothes rustle from their position on the piano bench. Margaret?

The young girl softly closed the piano case and flitted about, gathering her belongings. A slight smile formed on her face when she glanced at him, laying with his back against a nearby wooden cabinet. "I'm leaving now Sebastian. I'll see you later!" She cooed at the golden-haired cat who, with his long mane of soft hair, resembled a miniature lion more than anything.
His honeycomb eyes blinked once, twice, before he slumped back into a relaxing position. I'll see you then.

It wasn't always like this. He, Sebastian, used to be human and not just any human either; he went by the name of Edward Gowthor, one of the greatest classical music composers of his lifetime. He could almost hear the harmony of strings and cords, the blinding heat of the lights, the adrenaline in his fingertips, the thunderous applause reverberating through the fine hairs of his neck but…that was a long time ago.
He stretched out his paws reflexively and glanced at the sturdy, dark piano in mild contempt. That was his favourite you know…before his composer days he excelled in the art of the piano. He just had a way of bringing his feelings to life with deft fingers and heavy footwork. God, he missed the feeling, the feeling of pressing and pushing and lifting and dropping and creating sounds that enraptured people, that enraptured him and threw his conscious into a whirl of jovial memories and passionate emotions often tucked away in his heart.

A sigh shuffled his elegant whiskers and he trailed his feline gaze to the view outside an open, wood-framed window. The countryside, with its fresh scent, luscious green hills and blooming exotic flowers, greeted him with a passing breeze. I wonder how long she'll be.

​

"Margaret! Don't forget your lunch bag!" An elderly voice called out to the young girl leaving the classroom. 
"Ah! Thanks, Ms.Bloom!" The blonde-haired student gave her a beaming grin as she collected her belongings and rushed to the next class.

Ms.Bloom's eyes softened as she watched her go. The girl joined her group of friends and they eagerly teased each other along the way. A couple of years ago, she didn't think she would ever see that scene again. Margaret had been involved in a tragic car accident. Severe damage to her brain had placed her in ICU for months. The older woman's heart cramped uncomfortably as she remembered the absolute insanity Margaret's father had suffered during that time. He had taken her to one of his shows and on their way home, a stray cat had darted across the road. It caused him to lose his control and almost his daughter.
A few days after her hospitalisation, he swore he was going to find and kill that cat. His wife and family had, of course, tried to calm him down but the not-so-silent whispers of 'murderer' and judgemental eyes that followed him around town threw him over the edge. Before the end of the second week, he was gone.

It's so ironic, she thought, and she brought up an aged hand to adjust her thick-rimmed glasses. Margaret woke up a few hours after his reported disappearance and the day after that, a magnificent, golden-haired Maine coon had appeared at the foot of her bed. He'd stuck to her like glue since then. The days after that were unnerving, to say the least, for those warm, honey eyes seemed far too distraught and emotional to belong to a common cat. It had strange tendencies too. It would only sway its tail when it heard music -as if it was moving along to the melody. When Margaret attended school, it would stare out the window as if it was waiting for her return and it would never, under no circumstances, ever cross a street or road unless the child was with it. Mariana, Margaret's mother had often confided in her about the cat (they decided to name him Sebastian) during their parent conference meetings…but she had always given her the same advice.

"God works in mysterious ways, Mari. Someone is looking out for her now and I think that's all Edward would have wanted."