The small animal came quite often, his likeability increased daily. Keith had taken a liking on him too. Yet because Domi brought him, he didn't give him a name.
As he observed the cat grooming his fur daily, a nascent fantasy came out of his mind.
'I want to lick its fur. I can't lick my hair nor someone else's without pulling them out. I want to try so badly.' Keith thought, his fist clenched with his thumb scratching the second phalanx of his index
Any moment he had alone the past week he experimented on his own. Leaves, fabrics, pebbles, dried fruits and seeds. One by one he tested them, he couldn't notice any similarities. Anything he tried couldn't be compared, anything had an unique sense.
For now, this knowledge wasn't useful, it was just intriguing. He could relate to this with no one moreover it would lead nowhere to explain someone his situation.
His mood had risen over the days. But seeing Alma opening the front door, he tightened his grip to the chair and clenched his butt.
"Good to see you! I see your head wound has almost completely vanished, youth is such a bless when it comes to recovery."
She extended her hand to pat Keith, to this sight Raima went away.
Alma had brought a round pair of scissors, it wasn't flawless but it was one of the finest tool in the village.
After a few painless minutes it ended. The mood was awkward, Keith broke the silence.
"Could you explain me what is happening to my mother?"
Alma was waiting for this question. She had prepared the simplest answer she could come up with to explain the young boy.
"I think her brain aged too fast. She is just like the village's elderly, have you ever visited them? This old couple can switch from neutral to anger any time. Their mood is broken. There's nothing we can do about this, except if you can grow them young back."
"The brain?"
"You have legs to walk, and you have a brain to think. It's in your head. This stuff is complex! Don't bother it too much for now."
Keith's mind was already elsewhere.
'If mother sees things similar to me, maybe my brain is under this malfunction too. No way! I'm too young... I can't be... No, I don't have this mood problem.'
"How do elderly get rid of this state?"
"They die to tell the truth. But I am sure your mother won't leave you before long. Trust me."
She felt sorry when she saw Keith's watery eyes and anguished face. She couldn't tell such tragedy to a child about to become orphan.
Her job finished, she went away, Domi was waiting in front of the house. He asked loudly.
"You got your clothes on?
"Yeah, come in."
Their bonds had tightened. His friend's compassion was high and it developed under the circumstances Keith had suffered. He closed the door.
"I saw your mother running away from the house earlier, is she at it again?"
"I don't know. I hope she isn't, after what yours told me. My mother said she wanted to escape the village."
Domi was stunned.
"She what? Why would she quit Kodra?"
"Her mind scares her, she does not want to hurt me or someone else."
With a thoughtful face, Domi nodded.
"What are you going to do?"
"First I'll have a walk, come help me get up."
They both headed outside. The cat following them they decided to walk up to the outskirts of the village. They could see from afar, someone scratching the ground with dead wood. This man was Picco. He was so focused he didn't notice them approaching.
They saluted him at unison.
"Good day mister."
"Hello!"
He leaped a few centimeters from his initial spot.
"Ah! It's you little fellas! Good day!"
A few drops of sweat pearled on his forehead. The climate was medium, yet his efforts from the past week weren't lesser than usual. He had continued investigating Raima's case.
"Going for a walk?"
"Yes, to celebrate his recovery. You?"
Domi replied.
"Looking for rodents lately! I must inspect crops, I have recent reports about big rats causing problems. But I haven't found any traces corresponding to their size."
Keith pondered on his words. He then said.
"To be honest, I did not see much savage animals lately."
'I think Mister Show ends up making them run away with his hunts, he didn't bring me much lately to my relief. Maybe he isn't a great predator. He should learn from the cat.'
"Really? How strange! Has your eyesight decreased lately?"
Picco joked. But he was just making up a story to cover his lie. The brief conversation was courtesy. Paying respect to the high placed could only do good to help his mother.
A few steps farther, Keith wasn't obliged to use Domi as a crutch to walk. He was happy to be by himself again. The temperature of his shirt cooled again.
'I am glad to see he is resilient to approach Domi now. He became quite docile. But....'
The cat rubbed his head against Keith's leg at the same instant.
'Can the cat see him? Why would rodent desert the area?'
The walk lasted more than an hour. They found some aromatics they brought back to their home. Keith's mother wasn't here. He finally had the occasion. While carefully looking around, he lifted up the mattress against the wall, he trapped the cat in his house.
The small animal was relaxed. He came to Keith and purred. The kid sat cross legged and welcomed the cat as a smile appeared on his face. After a few minutes patting it following the sense of its fur he neared his head to the body.
'It feels awkward to do.'
He gently caught its tail and licked. Some hair stayed on his tongue. The cat did not react much, but Keith could see his other world again. He went on a state where he could hardly move an arm or even stay still.
His back almost failed him while he was attempting to reconstitute what was in his mouth. Long strings with a silky texture, dust and rock remnants. But he could not identify most things such as the cat's dried saliva, or the static electricity's leftovers.
The lack of perception had a negative impact on Keith. Everything that happened recently was overbearing. His father's departure. His mother's violences, Ned's. Everyone's incomprehension. The dark shadow's mysteries. And his new diet.
Strength did came back in his body, though it did not seem to be his. A sense had taken over him without any consent.
He grabbed the cat's tail harder. Way too hard. He pulled and frantically bit its base to rip it off the animal. It happened so quickly the cat barely had the time to yowl or pull out his claws. Once done, Keith chewed bits by bits, his eyes with over-dilated pupils and his face devoid of emotion, a shadow with a gapping mouth behind him that made the cat ran away.
As its instincts kicked in, It crawled under the thin space between the floor and the door and left claw marks and a trail of blood. The force the cat used to escape was spent as if it had an inextinguishable amount of it.
Now, there was more, more than the surface Keith licked a few seconds before. He liked the hardest parts, he had no difficulty whatsoever breaking it down to discover a spongy texture inside. The thin layer between the fur and the bone pleasured him, its warmness and the liquid gave him a keen interest.
The faeces residues from the top of the tail were totally covered by the cheerful amount of any other material he was eating.
It was uncooked, it wasn't dried up or drained of blood. It was fresher than anything ever . This sensation was a whole. The crunchiness blended with natural warmth of a living being and the undisturbed room he had because of his loneliness.
Prisoner in his own body to feel it filled with a new sensation, ecstasy, he was lost. Chomping a spine as if his teeth couldn't break. He hadn't noticed, but the tip of the tail had already disappeared.
A low growl could be heard by his side. It was Mister Show's only laugh.
"Better."
The shadow said.
Keith's whole world had brutally cooled down and the feeling of fullness that he had reached gradually evaporated.
A dark and thick arm surged from the shadow. With a dozen of skinny and long fingers on it. The arm shook spasmodically and split in three with a tearing sound.
Its tongue out, the shadow roamed around the room to clean any traces of fur or blood while the kid stood up. Looking at his hands, letting out a fine scent he could almost pinpoint. His disgusted wince turned to dissatisfaction.
'I want more.' The kid thought.