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What the Hospice Cat Knows

horror◐ Mature
5 contributors · 3 paragraphs deep

Instead 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.

"Then tell me how to make him leave," I say. Mr. Avery shakes his head slowly. "You can't make him leave. You can only point him somewhere else." He looks at me very carefully when he says it, and I go cold all over.

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"Point him at me, then," Mr. Avery says. "I'm ready. I've been ready for months. Just open the door and let him in." I stand at the door with my hand on the knob. Letting the cat in feels like agreeing to something I can't take back.

DH
Dov Hale
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