I was watching a Cartoon when I heard a meow with a bell sound coming from downstairs. I instantly got up and ran downstairs with the hope of finding Garfield, who had vanished a couple of days before. Father was coming home from work, and he promised me that he would find the cat. When I approached father I saw Garfield in his hands, he hadn't broken his promise.
"Daddy, you brought him back."
I said as I took the cat from his hands and patted its head a little.
"Where did you find it?"
"A grandpa near the town had him. When I said it was our cat, he gave it back."
Dad replied as he gave a mom peck on the lips and put the coat on the hangar. Then he walked toward the dining room with me following him. Ben was eating the food Mom had given him; he saw Garfield when I went inside.
"Garfield!"
He screamed as he ran toward me and forcefully grabbed the fat cat from my hands and started petting it. I too, still petted it while it was in his hands. After a couple of seconds of looking at us, Dad called both of us to the table. Mom was preparing the pizza Dad had bought for dinner. Both of us sat next to each other while putting Garfield between us.
"Daddy, did you ask whether or not the grandpa fed him these days?" I asked after noticing the cat had become thinner.
"He said he found him a couple of days ago and has fed him since then."
"Are you sure daddy? he looks very thin." I asked, looking at the cat in sadness.
"I am, if you want, you can feed it a pizza slice."
I instantly brighten up after hearing that.
"Okay, Daddy."
"So, how was school?" Dad asked, changing the topic.
"It was…Okay, I got a high score on the test, and the teacher praised me in front of the class."
I lied, I was the lowest in the class and the teacher told me to write an essay for tomorrow. Seconds passed, and Mom brought the pizza slices on four plates. Everybody received three pieces, I tore a piece from the pizza and threw it down near Garfield. Surprisingly, Garfield didn't even look at the pizza piece and stared at me without even flinching.
"Dad, he isn't eating," I complained.
"It isn't hungry, sweety; you should eat first I will give it some food later." Mom's soft voice answered me this time.
"Okay, mommy."
I looked at Garfield again; it was staring at me with black eyes without even flinching a little. I patted its head, but even that didn't break it from the intense staring it gave me. After that incident, the dinner went without any notable events, father and mother asked some questions about school while Ben quietly ate the food. Strangely, we were laughing a lot, even more than we do on other days.
'It must be because Garfield here that everybody is happy."
After finishing all three pizza slices, I took Garfield in my hands and went upstairs to write the essay for tomorrow. I opened the room door and put the cat down, the whole place was dark. Then I closed the door and switched on the lights. I went and sat on the chair in front of my table. The room only had a single bed, a wardrobe and a table.
I got to work as the cat got on the bed, continuing staring at me. I had worked on the essay for at least a couple of hours when I heard Mom or Dad coming upstairs. In a hurry, I switched off the lights and went to bed. I saw with the corner of my eyes Mom peeking through the door, after confirming I was asleep Mom came near me and kissed me on the forehead, then she went downstairs without locking the door. I was planning on continuing the work after a couple of minutes but without my permission, my mind went to sleep.
It was midnight when I woke up abruptly to a sound. I got up from my bed in the dark and went toward the door, hoping to identify what the sound was. The house had no light on; everything was as dark as the outside, I put the ear on the door. A couple of seconds passed, but nothing happened, I was on the verge of sleeping again when I heard the sound again.
Downstairs, someone was laughing.
I couldn't put my mind on it as the laugh sounded very creepy, it sounded more like weeping than a laugh. My heartbeat went up and sweat formed on my face as I tried to identify who laughed like that. Various images popped up in my teenage mind that scared me even more.
I debated whether or not I should lock the door and go to sleep back again, hoping whoever laughed downstairs wouldn't come to my room. But Curiosity overtook my fear with the help of my inner thoughts.
"Don't worry Amanda, there are nothing like ghosts in this world, you are just imagining it. Go and have a look, it is probably Dad."
I calmed myself a little with the sudden courage and stepped toward the unknown. Laughing got even more creepy as I descended the stairs. With the help of my hands, I descended the stairs in pitch-black darkness. According to my sense of direction, the sound came from the kitchen. I slowly walked toward the kitchen on my tiptoes, careful not to make any sound.
When I was just about to enter the kitchen, the laughing stopped abruptly. Shivers went up in my body as I froze from fear. Creepy silence took over, and for a couple of seconds, not even the flutter of the wind could be heard.
Then, the weeping laugh started again right behind me.
I froze, every fiber of my body enveloped with coldness. I was scared to even move a little as the laugh got even more creepy, it sounded like a woman screaming with a mix of terror and joy. With every ounce of courage I had, I slowly turned around, hoping to see something terrifying. Suddenly, the light switched on as Father came out of the room screaming, with that laughing stopped. Instantly I turned around and saw Garfield standing behind me staring at me with its dark eyes. Dad came and hugged me,
"Sweety, you alright, what happened, who was that making sounds?"
I only heard the questions blurly, while I was looking deeply into the dark eyes. I raised my hand toward Garfield and spoke.
"It was Garfield"