Daniel woke with a blink. Morning light streamed through his bedroom window, bathing the room in a yellow glow. He picked up his phone from the night stand with his right hand, checking the time. 6:58 am, not long before his alarm went off. He dropped his phone and made to get up, only to find a warm mass shifting under his left arm. Furrowing his brow, he lifted the blanket to find – a brown and green-furred tortoiseshell cat, peacefully nestled in his armpit.

  For some reason, Daniel was hit with a strange sense of unfamiliarity.

  “...Tabitha?” He said instinctively.

  The cat slowly opened its eyes at his voice, golden eyes looking over at him in recognition, before it promptly closed them again and rolled over, returning to sleep. Daniel freed his left arm from the blanket, and let it drape over the cat. The young man finally got out of bed, and as his feet touched the floor, he spotted the brown cat’s cat cave.

  That’s right, he thought, as he remembered the events of last night. Frightened by lightning, he had moved Tabitha’s bed to his bedroom, where it was a little quieter. Tabitha was the cat he'd picked up a week ago, from a rain-soaked cardboard box in a random alleyway.

  For some reason, Daniel couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong with this picture.

  Unfortunately, he had to go to work today, so he’d have to ignore his feelings for now. Daniel opened his bedroom door, leaving it open so Tabitha could go out if it wanted to, and headed towards the kitchen to make breakfast. He got out an egg and lit the stove, but as soon as he cracked the egg against the pan, he heard a meow by his feet. Looking down he saw the cat, sitting on the floor and looking up at him pleadingly.

  Daniel frowned, but put his egg into the pan first. As it sizzled, he dutifully opened the fridge and retrieved another egg. He had done some research before, and he knew he shouldn’t feed it eggs very often. There was nothing wrong with them, but too many eggs would make it fat, apparently. And it didn’t quite have all the nutrients a cat needed.

  As he took a bowl and was about to crack the egg into it, however, Daniel suddenly remembered that cats shouldn’t have raw eggs. A sense of incongruity overtook him as he looked at the egg in his hand, but Tabitha soon pawed his leg. A brief meow drew his attention to its hungry eyes, and he refocused on the task at hand. He took a small pot and replaced the pan on the stove, moving his now slightly overdone sunny side up to a plate.

  A little more than 5 minutes later, the young man and the cat ate their breakfast together, with Daniel devouring a set of sunny side up and toast, and the cat eating its boiled egg along with the dry kibble in its food bowl. After he put his dishes into the sink, he got ready for work. At the front of the apartment, where Daniel was putting his shoes on, Tabitha plodded towards him to see him off.

  The young man stared at the cat, a somewhat atypical example of its species. Tortoiseshell cats usually had orange or red patches, but Tabitha had green in its mottled brown coat, making it look biologically designed for forest warfare. It was a medium sized cat, but he didn’t really know how old it was, as he had never taken it to an event. Daniel frowned. Why hadn’t he done that?

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  He reached over to provide Tabitha with a pat, partially to reassure it, but mostly to reassure himself. The cat let him touch its head, and as his hand landed on the soft fur, it only made him less sure of himself.

  “I’ll be back soon, ok?” He said regardless.

  Tabitha simply stood on the floor and began grooming itself.

  He was home sooner than he thought. Work was a blur, and he had a hard time remembering how he got home. But it was the same every day, so he quickly put it out of his mind. As he entered his apartment, he saw Tabitha running around, for no discernable reason. On spotting him, the cat ran up and skidded to a stop in front of his feet, hissing in frustration. Daniel thought for a moment, before coming up with a hypothesis. Before, when his door was broken, Tabitha could enter and exit as it pleased. Now that it was fixed, there was no way for it to leave his apartment.

  “...Sorry, Tabitha, I forgot.” Daniel said apologetically.

  While pets were allowed in the apartment, it was an expectation that they were indoor pets, either cats or small dogs, generally. He couldn’t exactly ask Jason to install a cat door, so all he could really do was keep a window open. As he thought this, Daniel’s eyes tracked over to where he’d taped the cardboard square over the broken window pane. He’d have to do that after it was fixed, probably.

  Shrugging his shoulders, Daniel walked over to the kitchen. To placate Tabitha, he knew he would have to provide a treat, and it was roughly dinner time anyway. The young man opened his fridge and retrieved the treat paste he’d bought yesterday, and a pouch of energy gel for himself. But after he twisted the cap off, he noticed a mundane detail on the packaging. It was a slightly different brand than the one he’d get in his weekly shopping, and could instead be found at the convenience store on the way home from work.

  Daniel inexplicably stared at the blue pouch for a while. For no reason at all, he decided to drop it. After initially being startled, the cat curiously approached to inspect the dropped package. It licked the errant splash of jelly that had squirted out from the nozzle when it fell, and then meowed at Daniel piteously. Daniel frowned.

  The cat was meowing at him, but why? Because it tasted food and couldn’t eat it, he supposed. But why couldn’t it eat it?

  After all, it had done it before.

  Daniel’s woke with a blink. Morning light streamed through his bedroom window, bathing the room in a yellow glow. He picked up his phone from the night stand with his right hand, checking the time. 6:58 am, not long before his alarm went off. Feeling a strong sense of déjà vu, Daniel lifted his left arm, pulling the blanket up to reveal the creature. As it gently awoke from slumber, he took some time to look it over. A brown and green mottled carapace, an amalgamation of cockroach and mosquito parts, dragonfly wings, it was all there.

  He reached out to touch the creature with his left hand. It was smooth and cool, like usual. The creature stirred a little more when he touched it, moving its limbs in ways he couldn’t quite see under the blanket. Daniel slowly rose to a sitting position in his bed, dragging the blanket with him reveal the front half of the creature. It looked at him with its black compound eyes, and Daniel stared back.

  “...Tabitha?”

  It tilted its head in confusion. They shared a bewildered look for some time.

  “What a weird dream.” Daniel concluded, turning away.

  The young man got out of bed and stretched his arms. Unfortunately, he had to go to work today, so he’d have to ignore his strange dreams for now.