The Midnight Cat

'The Midnight Cat' is a piece of flash fiction inspired by our cat Maddie. It is part of my flash fiction collection 'Bubble Universe'. This story did not make it onto WattPad, so here it is, in full, on my blog.

The midnight cat by LJ Finnigan

Jasmine couldn’t sleep. She was restless in her bed; the atmosphere oppressing her, the air stifling and the rain beating hard against the window.

‘What a day and what a night. If I don’t get to sleep soon I’ll be late up in the morning,’ she thought, ‘I wonder what the time is.’

She reached over to her bedside table and pressed the night light on her clock.

‘Midnight.’

Somewhere outside, beyond the rain and the wind, a cat’s meow pierced the dark night.

Jasmine rolled over and stared through her rain splattered bedroom windows at the deep grey night, the shadows and the swaying trees. She closed her eyes and the sound of the midnight cat’s plaintive cry broke into her waking dreams.

Suddenly she was outside, following the serene, soothing creature through the stormy night. Her nightie was thin, she should have been freezing, but the cat had an extraordinary presence; an aura of coolness, warmth and calm emanated from it; an aura whose sphere of influence surrounded Jasmine.

She walked on behind the cat; through the sparkling city streets, along the haunted canal, through the lush park and the sparse forest on the edge of town. All the while the cat walked through the weather and was hardly affected by it, its velvet paws hardly touched the ground, yet is senses were acute; seeming to register every light footstep, feint car hum and gentle leaf rustle that stirred in the darkly hostile night.

The motorway loomed and the cat turned to face its follower. Its eyes gleamed a glowing green and transported Jasmine back to her bed. She rolled over to check her clock once more.

‘One o’clock.’

Jasmine sighed, before becoming aware of the soft purring, emanating from the furry mound that now inhabited the space beside her.

(302 words)

Summary: A sleepless girl’s troubled night-time is soothed by the mysterious influence of the Midnight Cat.