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The Old Cat Head, and Other Things Worse than Death. A short fanfiction

13 replies [Last post]
Thu, 10/13/2011 - 16:29
Vatarian's picture
Vatarian

Part One

My boots scuffed the damp pavement as I moved at a brisk pace toward the gates. Everyone in town said the old mansion was haunted, and though I had never put much stock into ghosts, i couldn't help but believe they where right. The old place had a foreboding feel; dilapidated and slightly crooked upon it's foundation, the old house belonged to a practically centurrial man named Harlavitch Moorecraft. It had been built in the early 1800's by the man's father, who's name I am sadly ignorant of. It had sat there ever since; dark and gloomy from the beginning. Like many large houses in the deep south, it had been home to a number of servants, and slaves, and many said it was also home to a number of restless spirits, one of whom is known as the Old Cat's Head. Despite the fact that the walk way leading to the mansion was quiet open and breezy, my footsteps seemed to echo. I clomped up the thirteen steps to the mansions entrance, and knocked firmly on it's solid oak doors. My assighnment was to enter the house and see if the old man was even alive or not, due to the fact that he hadn't been heard from in several years, and anyone who had entered before hand had been quickly scared away by whatever lay within. I had no intentions of being scared away so easily. I knocked again. And again. And again. After about ten minutes of standing and waiting i decided I ought to get a search warrant and knock the doors down if I had to. As I turned to stride away, there came a long, low groan of warped wood being disturbed. I turned back with a raised eyebrow. "About time." I muttered under my breath. Muffled footsteps echoed from within the house. I pulled the door open the rest of the way in time to see a figure who I assumed to be the buttler, shuffle stiffly but with great speed towards the staircase. I paused for a moment to examine my surroundings. The room was cavernous; the ceiling must have been at least thrity, or forty feet up. The floor beneath my feet was inlaid with faded, but still beautiful red carpets. As I turned to see the butler reach the limit of the stairs visible to me, he turned. His face was skeletal, ghostly white, with a thin, crooked nose and only a wisp of white hair coming up from his skull. His eyes where milky white and dusty. I held his blank white gaze for a moment before grinning. I'm sure he was used to people running, or gaping in horror. Something like respect seemed to flicker in his filmy eyes. After a moment he continued up the stares at a brisk pace, and despite the man weighing a maximum of seventy or eighty pounds, they groaned. I started into the kitchen, only to find it moldering with ancient, rotting food. I winced as the smell rushed to greet me and quickly moved out of the kitchen.

Fri, 10/14/2011 - 15:06
#1
Vatarian's picture
Vatarian
Part Two Note:Adult Language&violence ahead; not for lil'tykes

I turned in time to see a figure disappear around the corner opposite to me. I blinked. I was sure that no one had been there only moments before. I started after where I had seen the figure disappear. Hurrying around the corner I was just in time to see the figure, who I guessed to be female disappear around yet another corner. "dammit!" I spat. This house was like a labyrinth, I hurried around the next corner anyway, to see her cornered against the end of a hallway. "Miss?" "Miss?' "Who are you?" I said, moving closer, she turned suddenly, and like the butler their seemed an odd quality about her. as though the light around her seemed rather dim, and despite the fact that she was in my plain view, I couldn't get a good sense of her appearance. Her eyes shown angrily, and tears brimmed in their corners. "You shouldn't be here." she every thing but hissed. "It's bad enough you ruined my life, killed me, killed the baby!" "You monster!!" Her voice rose to a scream. "Miss i have absolutely no idea what the hell you are talking about." I said, trying to keep my voice calm. "You bastard!" ''You bastard!" her voice declined into sniffs and hiccuping sobs, and she barged past me. I turned to pursue her and saw that there was no one their, not in the hallway beyond, and not around the previous corner. "They weren't kidding when they said this place was haunted." I grumbled, as I retraced my route back to the main room, and began to climb the stares. For some reason I had a sneaking feeling my search would be resolved on the final floor. As I turned the corner of the stair case I thought I saw a glimpse of the Butler's skeletal face, but when i blinked, it was gone. I strode past the railings of the stairs, and continued into a second, smaller room. A man stood in the corner, his skin a ghostly white, blood staining his antique clothing in various places. I stopped for a moment, and remained stock still for nearly a minute. I could leave right now, and be thought of as one more meek soul without courage enough to find an old man in a decrepit mansion, or I could continue and possibly loose my life. I shrugged. Why the hell not? With no effort to conceal my footsteps, I moved into the room, and cleared my throat. The man seemed to shimmer, and suddenly he was facing me. "You [jerk]!" "You fat, adulterous [jerk]!'' "I married you, fathered your child, and you re-payed me by sleeping with another man!" He lunged forward, his pale, almost translucent face purple with rage." I'm gonna kill you, you [mean lady], I don't give a [dingdang] if you've got my baby, or his!" "Well that at least explains the rather upset spirit one floor down." I intoned cocking my head. The man didn't seem to hear me, but instead lunged at me with an almost animal shriek of rage, My hand snapped to the side and grabbed a large, antique vase. I swung it with all I was worth, and it impacted his head with an odd silence. none the less, he crumpled to the ground and a pool of blood darkened the floor. [Turdles]. I had to go and hurt someone. Well, he had tried to kill me.... I turned to see the woman from downstairs looking at me. "Thank you." The words where barely there, and when I blinked their was no one in the doorway. I looked back expecting to see the mans body, and an even larger pool of blood, but instead found the floor bare, and spotless, their wasn't even any furniture in the room, while I could of sworn their had been a table with a lamp, and two chairs only moments before. I blinked rapidly , not trusting my eyes, and after a moment, left the room with a shudder. I moved quickly back to the stair case, and after a moment's hesitation, started up.

Fri, 10/14/2011 - 08:54
#2
Ferfovori's picture
Ferfovori
Wow. This is frickin awesome.

Wow. This is frickin awesome. part three? Also, it's kinda funny how all the pointless, stupid stuff on this forum gets more attention than the stuff thats actually really cool like this. It's weird that there's no comments here, and yet something completely inane like "What are you eating?" has tons of comments. Thsi dude has real talent, and everyone ignores him. It's a shame.

Fri, 10/14/2011 - 11:28
#3
Randomjockey's picture
Randomjockey
Murphy rules...

The talented ignored, the stupid galored... too bad it's true.

Fri, 10/14/2011 - 12:09
#4
Vatarian's picture
Vatarian
Not that anyone cares, but

Not that anyone cares, but I'l try to have the final part up tonightt.

Fri, 10/14/2011 - 13:02
#5
Eurydice's picture
Eurydice
Community Manager
Please make sure Part Three

Please make sure Part Three doesn't contain any foul language. Thanks!

Fri, 10/14/2011 - 13:24
#6
Vatarian's picture
Vatarian
Don't worry, part three

Don't worry, part three really doesn't even have much diolouge. I apologize for having foul language to begin with, but I really didn't think "crud" or "darn" would cut it. I wanted the story to have emotion, particullarly anger. Also, who really says crud or gosh, or darn when theyr'e really angry?

Fri, 10/14/2011 - 15:13
#7
Vatarian's picture
Vatarian
Chapter three

The stairs winced and groaned with my every step. I tried my best to be light footed, but it was like walking on eggshells. After a seemingly infinite amount of time, the door opened reluctantly, and a sickly, dim gray light seemed to iminate from the room within. I reluctantly stepped inside, and found myself in a long, equally gray corridor, several faded paintings lined the wall; my strides seemed to echo in the gloom. I reached the end of the corridor, and blinked. Where was the door? I rubbed my hands up and down along the featureless wall, finding no raised seam, no secret switch, not even a bump. I knocked, and the wall sounded perfectly solid. Disoriented, i turned around to find the way I had come equally doorless. I was trapped. My breathing ragged, i turned about and ran against the wall, jarring myself; the world seemed to tilt, and i stumbled sideways, and grabbed at a painting to balance myself. there was a grating, and in a panic, i turned to the opposite end of the corridor. A featureless, gray door stood slightly ajar. I blinked. It hadn't been there a moment before. I ran forward, suddenly desperate, and yanked the door open. The room was large, though not nearly so large as the waitng room. Its ceiling was roughly fifteen feet, and a large, ornate window dominated a the back wall of the room. It was sparcely furnished, with a couch in one corner, a chair in the center, and a table upon which sat a vase of ancient, almost petified flowers. The whole room had a feel of despair, and inactivity about it, as though I had disturbed a crypt. My eyes flicked restlessly about, settling finally, on the chair in the middle, noticing for the first time the man occupying it. He was immesuraebly old, and hunched nearly double in the chair, his faded, beady eyes closed to slits. His hands looked more like ancient, dead tree branches, than opposable didgets, and his mouth seemed a scar in the middle of his face, He wore a faded, moth eaten suit, with a ragged, spotty tie slightly to the side, and for the life of me, I couldn't tell whether he was alive or dead. "Mr-Mr. M-Moorcraft??" My voice was reduced to a shaky stutter. And then the man opened his mouth and spoke. "You have overstayed your welcome." His voice was like dead leaves in the wind, and dry sticks snapping, and suddenly I knew with a fightening certainty that the old man was dead, and had been for a very long time, and finally, that it was not the old man talking at all. My mouth opened in mute horror, and I slowly backed away. My back slammed against the wall, and even without confirmation, i knew that their was no door and, there never had been. The old man sat stock still in his chair, and that's when I saw it. There appeared to be a puddle of some dark, thick fluid on the floor. Behind, and to the left of the mans chair. As I watched transfixed, the puddle spread, and inflated, a low, horrible keening filled the air, and suddenly I knew that it was me. My scream. The blob grew further still, a bubbling mass of midnight energy. It writhed, and boiled. After a full minute it stood thirteen feet tall, and slowly, long pointed protrusions grew from the top of it, and black, diagonal slits opened in the center. The slits regarded me with a horrible malignant intelligence, and I realized they were eyes. A low, threatining murmer like growl of some immense cat seemed to eminate from it. A long, toothy mouth opened in the middle of it, and a sickly, cancerous light eminated from it. I gave a low pathetic sob, and knew without a doubt, that I was looking at the Old Cat's Head. It's sunken, black eyes regarded me for a moment, and it emitted an indescribable sound somewhere between a growl and a moan. A palpable malignancy eminated from the thing, and it's toothy mouth opened and closed in anticipation. The entire entity seemed to be shrouded in a swirling black mist. I sidled along the wall, until i had nearly reached the window. "P-please!" The creature regarded me with apathy. "Please don't hurt me!" A strangled sob escaped my throat, and I felt desperately along the window for some clasp, or knob which i could turn to open the window. The ground was three sories down, but I would do anything to escape this thing. This horrible thing. This horrible blight upon the world. There was no clasp. The creature began to move towards me. It had neither legs, nor arms, nor even a neck. It was gumdrop shaped, except for it's enormous cat-like ears. It really looked like a cat head. In it's wake it left a froth of swirling black mist. I pressed even closer to the window, and a moan of fear and horror escaped my lips. The creature took no notice and advanced further. Though I am not a man of faith, I was desperate, and I held up a cross I had brought just in case. The creature paused for a moment, and I swear it looked almost insulted, Then it gave a long, low threatining growl, and opened it's mouth further to exspose a second, then third row of teeth. In a final despertate act, I lunged to the side, and grabbbed the vase. The creature subtley altered its course and glided at a faster pace towards me. Around and around the room we went, first at a nervous stumbling walk, than at a trot, then finally at a desperate, pulse-pounding run. The creature matched, and exceeded my speed each time, and with a terrible certainty, I knew it would soon catch me. As I passed the window, I hurled the vase at it. The vase split in two, and left a six -nch crack in the window. I hit it again. And suddenly, A horrible,cold, burning pain pierced my other hand, and the creature, a Grimalkin, I detirmined, gave a satisfied grunt. It moved away a pace. Now holding my severed hand in it's mouth. I gave an animal moan, and whaled despertately upon the window, not feeling the horrible burning pain in the stump of my wrist. The Grimalkin swallowed the hand with a horrible fleshy smacking noise and began to move towards me again. With a final blow, I shattered the window, andI jumped. The ground took an eternity to rise to meet me, and I think I blacked out well before the impact.

I'll have the last bit up tonight, and to the ADMIN, Lol at your choice of editing.

Fri, 10/14/2011 - 18:23
#8
Duskfinder's picture
Duskfinder
What wad there before?

What wad there before?

Fri, 10/14/2011 - 18:47
#9
Vatarian's picture
Vatarian
@Duskfinder

Lots o' bad words from A-Z

Sat, 10/15/2011 - 02:43
#10
Randomjockey's picture
Randomjockey
O_O

I'm speechless... Even though I knew that was a wall of text I didn't go TL;DR, and I'm still expecting the other part.

Sat, 10/15/2011 - 08:22
#11
Vatarian's picture
Vatarian
@Random.J

I'lll have it up by this afternoon

Wed, 10/26/2011 - 15:15
#12
Mentro's picture
Mentro
...

...ive been reading way too many fanfics lately and i should stop before lose track but its so good! well bye and hope u get more comments.oh and read mai story! heres the link
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/30163

but u dont have to read it if u dont want to.

Sun, 05/16/2021 - 23:17
#13
Not-Brendan's picture
Not-Brendan
Still waiting

Still waiting for part 3 :<

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