Cat Got Your Tongue (and Your Couch Cushion)

There was a cat that had been hanging round Frank's apartment. Sitting on the fire escape meowing at him, pawing at the window until he opened it and let it in. This was weird because although Frank liked cats, he did not in fact, own a cat. He didn't have any proper food for it or a bed or a scratching post, he was more of a dog person. But when the cat had shown up on the fire escape at his window in the pouring rain, Frank's heart wouldn't let him ignore it.

But now that cat wouldn't leave.

You would think that a cat would get bored and move on when there was a crazy cat lady a few windows over who could give it actual food. But no, the cat had decided that Frank was now its human. Most of the time, Frank let it out before he left for work by opening the window, picking it up, and putting it outside before closing the window and leaving. Sometimes that cat would magically be back inside when he got home too. Frank considered putting it out again, but the New Jersey weather and the sad eyes of the cat kept the window closed.

Frank had no clue as to whether the cat was male or female (he hadn't been bothered to inspect it) but there weren't fifty kittens running around yet, so he thought it was okay.

At least it was, until another cat showed up.

Frank had returned home and opened the window to let the cat in, but when he turned around, there were two cats. The usual cat, a grey moggie with stripes down its nose, as well as an ash brown cat with black feet and tail. Both cats sat on the floor and gazed up at him with shining green eyes. It was kind of unnerving.

"Alright who's this?" Frank said to the grey cat. "You know that I've told you not to bring friends here. I'm not feeding anymore stray cats."

The only response he received was blinking and a few tail flicks. He sighed, silently deciding to name the grey cat 'Tiger' and the brown cat 'Boots' (originality wasn't his strong point) since he was obviously now housing two cats. Frank walked over to the cupboard where he kept a small (it really wasn't small) bag of cat biscuits he had picked up from the pet store. The wound of the food made both cats dash toward him and twine between his legs which made it difficult to not spill the food everywhere.

Eventually, the food was served and devoured by both cats who now occupied the main part of the couch.

"Why do both cats require a couch cushion each?" Frank thought. "They could both happily fit on one but no, they spread out and leave me no room."

Frank sighed and looked at the couch. He really needed to do some work for his college assignment and the couch was the best place to read. So he picked up his book and moved to sit on the middle of the couch between the two cats. He sat down and made himself comfortable with his book on his lap. But Tiger didn't like this very much. He began to paw at the book and meow at Frank. When that didn't work, he stood up and lay across the page Frank was reading. Frank made a frustrated noise and lifted the book to make Tiger move. This seemed to please Tiger as the cat made himself comfortable curled up on the human's lap.

Frank wasn't quite sure what to do now. Tiger hadn't ever made a move to be close to Frank unless it was small rubs of affection at food time. He shrugged, Tiger was quite warm and didn't seem intent on moving anytime soon. So Frank placed the book where Tiger lay before and began reading what he needed to while scratching behind Tiger's ears. Frank later fell asleep with a one content cat on his lap and another on the couch beside him.

**********

Frank woke up during the night to strange voices. They were weird in the sense that they were close. Really close, like they were in the same room as him. He blearily opened his eyes and blinked away the sleep. He looked up and saw two men in his living room. One was lanky with mouse brown hair and an Anthrax shirt on, while the other had fire engine red hair and black skinny jeans. They were whispering to each other hurriedly.

"Where's his book? I couldn't find one before", the lanky one said.

"I told you, I've been looking for anything to show that he knows but there's been nothing at all since I've been here", the other said sounding frustrated and possibly a little sad.

"He must not know then...... That's really dangerous for him", the lanky one said to the other.

"Uhhhh", Frank said from the couch.

Both men snapped their heads towards him. The green of their eyes was a little unnerving to say the least. Frank stood from the couch and began to move towards the kitchen slowly. He wasn't sure where these guys had come from but he intended to be armed if they tried anything.

"No wait, Frank, stop", the red haired one said.

Frank froze. How would they know his name? There's no way they could know unless they'd been stalking him or something. His eyes widened at the thought and he moved quicker, but in a different direction. He made a dash for the door but the lanky one blocked his path before he could reach the handle. He spun around, intending to go for the window but the other one was in his way this time.

"Who are you people?!" He asked frantically, looking around for another escape route.

"Calm down Frank there's nothing to be afraid of", the red head tried to soothe but the use of his name just freaked Frank out more.

"How do you know my name?" He questioned them. If he wasn't going anywhere, he was getting answers.

The two intruders glanced at each other before the red haired one spoke again.

"We've known each other for months Frank. You let me in when it was raining and kept me warm and safe. You fed me and gave me a home, even if you didn't really want to", he spoke softly.

Frank was confused. He hadn't had anyone over in a long time, never let someone in just because it was raining, and most of his friends came for beers, not food and shelter. The only living being he'd had in his home was the cat.......

He looked around for the fluffy cats he fell asleep with, but saw no sign of them. He looked back into the eyes of both men now standing in front of him. Their green eyes staring back, unblinking, just like the cats the night before.

"No way...." Frank said. There's no way that you two are the cats. Unless you're aliens. Are you aliens?"

The two 'aliens' looked at him with exhausted looks on their faces.

"Didn't you parents ever have the magic talk with you?" The lanky one asked.

"Uh", Frank thought, "No?"

The other two huffed variations of "course not, why would they tell you important stuff."

"Well Frank, my name is Gerard. This is my brother Mikey. And I'm your familiar", the red headed one explained.

Frank stood there, frozen in place. There was no way that could be true. That would mean.....

"I'm a witch....." Frank breathed.

"There we go", said Mikey. "He isn't so dumb after all."

Frank frowned at him indignantly. Before he could reply, another thought crossed his mind. He has magic. How? What is he supposed to do with it? Maybe sleep was a better idea. Yeah that sounded good.

"Uh, okay then..... I'm gonna go to bed and deal with this in the morning......" Frank said before running into his room and collapsing on the bed. It wasn't long before he was asleep.

Gerard and Mikey stood in the living room watching Frank's door.

"Well..... He took that better than expected", Gerard said.

"You have your work cut out for you Gee. He's gonna need a lot of protection from them", Mikey said to his brother.

Gerard sighed and nodded. They both had a lot of work to do for Frank.

Notes