Mina opened her eyes with a blank stare. As her eyesight adjusted, she tried to process everything. She remembered crying her guts out on the steps of the Empire Hotel. She was getting drenched by the sudden downpour when a man wearing a superhero costume b.u.mped into her. She crashed into something solid and a resounding boom followed. She had no idea what happened after she lost consciousness.Staring at a thatched roof, she tried to scan her surroundings to make sense of what happened. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight.
She was in the middle of a modest hut. There"s no furniture in sight aside from a worn out table at the far side of the room and she seems to be lying flat out on the ground.
The walls were made of straw and the door was closed shut. She deduced that the sunlight streaming inside the hut must be from an open window on one side. The scenery before her was highly irregular. She had no recollection of being in a place like this.
"Where was she?"
Still trying to make sense of what happened to her, Mina remained still and continued to figure out her location.
She heard rushing water and chirping birds. Based on the light streaming inside the hut, it should be close to sunset. As she took in a deep breath, she was surprised with the surprisingly clean scent. This place seems to be outside the city. She confirmed her suspicion with another deep sniff. This time, she detected a floral scent.
"It smells like lavender. There are no street sounds - no cars or buses or horns."
"Where am I? Did someone kidnap me? Where is this place?"
She blinked once, afraid that someone will rush into the door at any moment. Mina continued to scan the place with her eyes. Minutes pa.s.sed and the light from setting sun slowly faded into dusk. There was no movement in the hut. After waiting for a few more minutes, she confirmed that she was all alone.
Trying to sit up to get a better look at the place, she saw her feet. Or was it what was supposed to be her feet? Suppressing a cry, she placed her hands in front of her. The moment she laid her eyes on sharp claws she jumped in surprise and found herself standing in all fours.
She sat back down to take a closer look at her hands and feet which were all covered in black fur. Even her body was covered in black fur.
"Is this a nightmare?"
She pinched herself to wake herself up, but nothing changed. Her legs were still covered in black fur and so were her hands.
Maybe it"s harder to wake up from this dream, she thought.
Putting all her energy to her hands, she tried to slap herself awake. Just when her hand came in contact with her face, she jerked in pain. The sharp claws dug into her face and it was painful enough that she let out a loud "Meow!"
At that sound, her hands flew to her throat. "Did I just let out a meow?"
Slowly, her mind caught up with what was happening. This is absurd. Still, she tried to stand on two feet to disprove her theory.
Seeing that she won"t be able to stand on two feet, she got up on all fours again and this time, she realized she had a tail.
"This is weird."
Stretching each one of her four legs, she confirmed one thing - she is in the body of what seems to be a black and furry creature.
More concerned about turning into some animal than anything else, she bravely called out "Is anybody there?" But instead of her usual voice, all she heard was "Meow! Meow! Meow!"
Once again, she tried to slap her face to wake up.
Perhaps the bombing incident is making her see things.
As her "hand" got in contact with her face for the second time, she felt another sharp pain. Now, she"s pretty sure that her "hands" turned into paws and a claw slap hurt more than a regular slap.
"Goodness, is this really happening? Is this for real?"
She had no idea if she really became a cat or why she transformed into one. All she remembered was what happened before a bomb seems to have blown off.
Back then, she welcomed the darkness that came from losing her consciousness and roughly remembered something she wished for -- "I"d rather be an animal!"
What might have been the last moments of her life did not lead to flashbacks of all her sufferings but to the feeling of relief. After all, she knew she was doomed. She would most likely end up in jail anyway.
Who knows what happens behind bars? The gruesome tale female inmates revealed in doc.u.mentaries was enough to make her shiver.
Once again, Mina found herself feeling ridiculous. She"s not dead but it seems like she just transformed into a cat – a black cat – nothing less than the harbinger of bad luck. How fitting.
On second thought, she just escaped her $15 million debt and her $900 unpaid rent. She finally saw a silver lining in all of these -- "If those people come looking for me, I"ll scratch them to death." She smiled at her devious thought.
"It"s not bad to be a cat after all."