What the Hospice Cat Knows
horror◐ MatureInstead of guessing, I go into Room 14 myself. Mr. Avery is awake, propped up on his pillows. "You see him too, don't you," he says quietly. "The cat outside my door." My stomach drops. I never said a word about Marrow.
"How long have you been able to see him?" I ask. Mr. Avery laughs, soft and tired. "Since my wife passed. He sat outside her door too, the night she went. He's not here for me, nurse. He's here for whoever else is in this room." The lights flicker. I realize I'm standing closer to him than I should be.
What happens next?
1 ways forwardI step back fast, but the lights die for good. In the dark I hear Marrow padding into the room, slow and sure. When the lights flicker back, the old man is sleeping like a baby and the cold is gone. Mr. Avery was telling the truth. It wasn't here for him at all. It was making room.