Mina opened her eyes with a blank stare. As her eyesight adjusted, she tried to process everything. She remembered crying her guts out on the steps of the Empire Hotel. She was getting drenched by the sudden downpour when a man wearing a superhero costume bumped into her. She crashed into something solid and a resounding boom followed. She did not understand what happened then she lost consciousness.
Staring at a thatched roof, she tried to scan her surroundings to make sense of what happened. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight.
She was in the middle of a modest hut. There was nothing inside the hut except for a worn-out table at the far side of the room. And she appeared to be on the ground.
The straw walls caught her attention at once. She deduced that the sunlight streaming inside the hut must be from an open window on one side.
The scenery was highly irregular.
She had no recollection of ever being in a place like this.
'Where is this place?'
Still trying to make sense of what happened to her, Mina remained still and continued to figure out her location.
She heard rushing water and chirping birds. And it should be close to sunset.
As she took in a deep breath, the clean scent surprised her. This place seems to be outside the city. She confirmed her suspicion with another deep sniff. This time, she detected a floral scent.
'It smells like lavender. There are no street sounds - no cars or buses or horns.'
'Where am I? Did someone kidnap me? Where is this place?'
She blinked once, afraid that someone will rush inside at any moment. Mina continued to scan the place with her eyes.
Minutes passed and the light from the setting sun faded into dusk.
There was no movement in the hut. After waiting for a few more minutes, she confirmed that she was all alone.
Trying to sit up to get a better look at the place, she saw her feet. Or what was supposed to be her feet.
Suppressing a cry, she placed her hands in front of her. The moment she laid her eyes on sharp claws she jumped in surprise and stood in all fours.
She sat back down to inspect her hands and feet which were all covered in black fur.
Mina cringed.
It wasn't just her hands and feet.
'Is this a nightmare?'
She pinched herself to wake herself up from the dream, but her hands felt weird.
And nothing changed.
Her legs were still covered in black fur and so were her hands.
'Maybe it's harder to wake up from this dream.'
Putting all her energy into her hands, she tried to slap herself awake. Just when her hand came in contact with her face, she jerked in pain. The sharp claws dug into her face and it was painful enough that she let out a loud meow.
At that sound, her hands flew to her throat.
'Did I just let out a meow?'
Bit by bit, her mind caught up with what was happening.
'This is absurd.'
Still, she tried to stand on two feet to disprove her theory.
Seeing that she won't be able to stand on two feet, she got up on all fours again. And this time, she realized she had a tail.
'This is weird.'
Stretching each one of her four legs, she confirmed one thing - she is in the body of what seems to be a black and furry creature.
More concerned about turning into some animal than anything else, she bravely called out "Is anybody there?" But instead of her usual voice, all she heard was "Meow! Meow! Meow!"
Once again, she tried to slap her face to wake up.
Perhaps the bombing incident is making her see things.
As her "hand" got in contact with her face for the second time, she felt another sharp pain. Now, she's sure that her "hands" turned into paws and a claw slap hurts more than a regular slap.
'Goodness, is this happening? Is this for real?'
Did she become a cat? Why?
Mina remembered what happened before the bombing incident, but everything after that, there was nothing.
Back then, she welcomed the darkness that came from losing her consciousness and roughly remembered something she wished for —"I'd rather be an animal!"
What might have been the last moments of her life did not lead to flashbacks of all her sufferings — she felt relieved.
She knew her fate was not exactly bright. She would most likely end up in jail anyway because of her own stupidity.
Who knows what happens behind bars? The gruesome tale female inmates revealed in documentaries was enough to make her shiver.
Once again, Mina felt ridiculous. She's not dead, but it seems like she just transformed into a cat—a black cat — nothing less than the harbinger of bad luck. How fitting.
On second thought, she just escaped her $15 million debt and her $900 unpaid rent. She finally saw a silver lining in these — 'If those people come looking for me, I'll scratch them to death.'
She smiled at her devious thought.
'It's not bad to be a cat after all.'