Chronicle 38
Bad Kitty had trouble adjusting to his powers, being able to use them freely for so long as a human, then being locked into cat specific mimicry and manipulation was extremely limiting. There was something freeing, however, about no longer being in his human body. He felt as if he was a blank slate, nobody could pin anything on him. As a cat, Gilberto Matute was completely innocent of body, just not of mind. He left Mexico as soon as he could and went to find a home in the states.
Crossing the border was easy, as his body was able to basically flatten out to fit through small spaces. He made his way across the country to Big City, where he would see what all the buzz was about. It was windy downtown and there was a clear energy to the metropolitan area. People moved with purpose and anywhere he looked, the city was alive with activity. There were heroes fighting villains in midair while civilians just walked on by, no interest towards the action. Bad Kitty recalled Mexico’s infatuation with their hero. Mexcellente wouldn’t draw an eye in Big City, the feline foe thought.
Gil heard meowing above him, where a cat was on an apartment’s window sill. He scaled the building with his claws up to the third floor, where he assumed the brown and white pattern of the cat’s fur and nudged it off the ledge. He smiled wickedly, looking down at the cat as it fell the short few stories. There was a slight disappointment when no splat concluded the drop. Though tempted to follow up and finish the job, Bad Kitty was derailed by human hands around his sides.
What was a demonic, sadistic smile became a softened, purring kitty with half-closed eyes.
“Did Trevor put these silly clothes on you, Chester?” said the warm woman who lifted Bad Kitty. “I kind of like how they look, actually.”
With ill intent, Bad Kitty opened his eyes fully to see who his next victim would be. He was stunned to see how beautiful she was. She seemed to glow, and her arms sheltered him from the cold. For him, she was worth not killing. Then came Trevor.
“Christy?” he shouted. “Where are you Christy?? Ugh are you not even home. You said you’d be home.” He trailed off into talking to himself.
“I’m here, Trevor. Just give me like half a second to respond and maybe I will.” she said, exasperated.
“Oh thank the lord. I’m having a crisis.” Trevor paused to notice Bad Kitty. “Chester looks weird.”
“If he does, it’s your fault.” Christy replied, believing he had put the clothes on their cat.
“Whatever. I’m literally going to explode, Christy.”
“You’re being dramatic.”
“I’m not being dramatic. I’m being realistic.”
“What happened?”
“At lunch, I ordered a hamburger. HAM-burger.” Trevor breathed heavily for a moment. “Is it my fault they took that to mean put all the cheese in the world on it?”
“Did they make you a new one?”
“Yes, but get this… the waiter made a face.”
Bad Kitty had enough of the conversation. He dropped from Christy’s arms as the two continued to speak and made his way to the kitchen. From the counter, he grabbed a knife and stood up straight on the counter. With a paw, he slid a single plate over the edge. It shattered on the floor, drawing attention from the couple.
“CHESTER!” Trevor shouted.
Bad Kitty dropped another plate, and another, until the humans came into the kitchen to see what was going on. He had returned to his natural blue and black fur pattern and held his knife out, the other paw in his pocket.
“Chester?” Christy asked.
Trevor freaked out seeing the threatening look in Bad Kitty’s eyes. He shielded himself by using her body, cowering behind her pathetically.
“Please, demon cat, take her! I have so much to live for!” he shouted.
“Listen, ‘Trevor’. You are not a man. You are a coward. You are the shadow of potential. Disgusting.” Bad Kitty said in his heavy Spanish accent.
“He’s right.” Christy agreed, stepping out of the way.
Bad Kitty went to the kitchen floor, carelessly stepping on the porcelain debris, eyes locked on Trevor, who was frozen in fear. When close enough, he plunged his knife deep into Trevor’s sternum. A final, meek “Oh my lord” came from his lips before his last breath.
“That guy was awful.” Bad Kitty said to Christy, who stood a few feet away, unsure if she was next.
“He was. Are you a demon?”
“No, no. I am just a cat.”
“Then why can you talk?”
“Well, I wasn’t always a cat.”
“And why did you kill him?”
“Most people don’t deserve to be alive.”
“Okay… What happened to Chester?”
“Let’s see.”
Bad Kitty went to the window to look down at the street, Christy hesitantly joined him. Chester was below, being detained by animal control. While Bad Kitty mimicked him, he was a puppet of BK’s worst intentions. Bodies were laid out on the street beside, scratched up pedestrians crying as they watched the again docile cat get taken.
“I assume you did that?”
“Maybe 90% me. There has to be some evil in there for my power to utilize.”
“Neat.” Christy saw that Bad Kitty wasn’t looking to harm her. “Would you mind freeing Chester?”
“Sure. Maybe we’ll see each other again.” Bad Kitty replied.
The colors on Bad Kitty’s fur changed back to brown and white, causing Chester to go into a frenzy, his brown gaining a blue tint and his face resembling Bad Kitty’s. Then BK leapt out the window, landing on the sidewalk with all four legs. He walked into the net that was over Chester and started fighting with him. Before the scuffle was over, and they were about to be separated by the animal control workers, Bad Kitty changed back, returning both cats to their original patterns. Christy came and collected her cat from the net, smiling gratefully as Bad Kitty was hauled away.
“What’s going to happen to him?”
“Euthanasia ma’am.” Animal control told Christy. She knew better.
“Oh before you go, that cat killed my boyfriend too.”
“We’ll have the cops come clean it up.”
Bad Kitty found the cage in the truck to be quite comfortable, and warmer than the street. The last time he was captured, he knew it to be his end. With a second lease on life as a kitty cat, Gilberto Matute was looking forward to another attempt at incarceration.
