Skylar's POV

"Chicken!" I shouted for the fifth time (or maybe the fiftieth), looking around and past the dark street curving away from my house. But there wasn't any sound of movement or any soft meows Chicken usually responded with.

She'd run away. My cat had run away. The thought alone was so absurd that it took me a while to let it all sink in. Chicken had never done something like this before. She didn't just...run away!

"Oh God." I breathed out, my eyes wide and my heart racing wildly. The only bits of noise I could make out in the whole of the neighbourhood were the faint chatters from my own house. And that was it.

Chicken ran after the hooded guy, I told myself. And then kept repeating it until dread curled up in my stomach. What if...what if--

"Chicks," I whispered into the night. "Chicks, please come out. Wherever you are. Chicken!"

But there was no movement behind the bushes. Or near the neighbourhood houses even. It was dead still in the night.

Inhaling deeply, I pushed a few stray strands away from my face, my fingers shaking.

She'll find her way back. She always did. She used to do that a lot when she was just a little kitten. Chicken used to run away and around the house and always came back.

So I waited right there for a minute or two, anxiously biting my lower lip as I looked around. I waited and waited but nothing happened.

He took her. The hooded guy had taken my cat.

I dashed back inside my house and the moment I stepped past our backyard, Mom started bombarding me with questions.

"Skylar!" She was frowning. "Where in the world were you?" She must've seen the alarmed look on my face since she added rather softly this time. "What happened?"

Chicken, I thought. She'd been with me since I was a kid. She'd been there for me when no one else was. If something happened to her--

"She ran away." My voice alone sounded horrified.

Mom seemed confused. "Who ran away?"

"My cat! Chicken, Mom! She ran away and I tried...I've been trying to look around for her but I can't find her!" I think I was stressfully rambling since Mom stepped closer and squeezed my arm. "I can't find her, Mom."

Even during that, I found myself constantly shooting glances over the fence, the spot where Chicken had run off to.

"She'll come back." Mom told me, which I guess was her way of reassuring me. But I didn't need reassurance. I needed my cat.

"Somebody took her." I looked back at her, my eyes wide. "There was somebody...she ran after him."

Mom's frown deepened at my words. But before she could've said anything else, another loud voice interrupted us from a distance.

"Skylar! You missed all the fun! Emma literally just fell into the fire!" It was Sloane and she would've sounded tipsy if I had cared to give her much of my attention.

I swallowed and looked back at Mom. The lump in my throat felt heavy. I can't lose Chicken, I thought. I didn't want to think about losing my cat. She was out there somewhere. All alone.

"Come on!" Sloane appeared right beside me and started tugging me towards the bonfire.

I passed Mom a hurried glance and she responded with a confused shrug of her own. Confused and worried.

"Go on." Mom told me, her voice low. "I'll look around, okay? She might've run to that small shed near Mrs David's house. I'll take a look."

I nodded and watched her leave. And then I was pulled away too.

•••••

Mom didn't find Chicken. No one did. But she will come back. At least that's what Mom kept on telling me. Dad too when he caught some gist of it. I wasn't so sure though. How could I be when my cat had run after the creepy hooded stalker?

"I'll ask some of the neighbours if she doesn't come back in a few hours, all right?" Mom told me by the time all our relatives had poured out, somewhere way past midnight. "It might just be the dark. Maybe she'll find her way back when the sun rises."

I looked out from the big glass windows, at the dark backyard outside. No signs of Chicken. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself.

"What if...what if she doesn't come back?" I whispered and I felt choked up on the sheer worry.

Mom closed the fridge and sighed. "I think you're forgetting how much she liked running away when you were seven."

"But I'm not seven anymore!" I exclaimed. "Chicken doesn't just run away into the night after a...a creepy hooded guy lurking just outside our backyard!"

My mother scrunched her nose at me. "What are you even talking about?"

"Someone was lurking outside our house!"

A beat of silence passed by. "How do you know that wasn't one of your uncles playing a prank on you?"

I didn't know. I didn't know. All I knew was that I wanted my cat back. I wanted to see Chicken. God, why had I not stopped her before she dashed off into the night? Why had I not seen?

"Take a short nap, Sky." Mom sounded tired now. "I promise I'll wake you up if I see your cat or if anyone else has seen your cat."

I looked over at the clock, then back at her. When she was sure I wouldn't go back out searching for Chicken, she let out another sigh and nodded before walking towards her bedroom.

I waited a minute or two before quietly pushing open the glass window and slipping out into the yard. Everything was much quieter now that the guests had left. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have stepped anywhere outside our house at this ungodly hour.

But losing my only cat was scarier.

I stepped near the bushes once again where I'd last seen the guy in the dark hood. Where I'd last seen Chicken running away. Nothing. Nothing. Well, all except for a piece of paper wedged in between the thorny twigs.

My breath hitched in surprise as I carefully pulled it out and held it between two of my fingers.

This can't be happening.

Intaking a sharp breath, I shivered a little as I went back inside my house, my hand clutched around the piece of paper. By the time I'd locked the windows and made my way up to my room, my eyes were stinging and I felt like crying. But I didn't want to. Because this was scary. I couldn't make myself believe that maybe, just maybe Chicken won't be coming back.

I slowly unfolded the paper and my hands were still trembling. With fear. Anxiety. Dread.

Your precious little kitty's got nine lives.
Wouldn't it be awful if that's not true?
If you don't want me testing that out, make sure you give me back what's mine.
Time's a ticking, sweet Skylar.

I stared at those words, stared and stared and didn't dare blink until a single tear rolled down my chin and dropped on the paper, smudging the ink.

Inhaling a shudder, I pushed the paper aside and ran my hands up my face and through my hair, gripping it.

"Oh God," I whispered, pressing the heels of my palms over my eyes.

He's going to kill Chicken. Kill my cat. I won't...I couldn't go back to Pennsylvania and my apartment without her. I couldn't. How...how...

I jumped a little on the bed where I was sitting when my phone rang. Not bothering to wipe my tears, I picked it up from my nightstand and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hey." It was Caden, I realised. And just his voice alone made my thundering heart slow down a little. "You called? Sorry, I wasn't around--"

"I called?"

"Yes?" He sounded confused. "Thrice in the past thirty minutes. Didn't you?"

No. No, I didn't. But what came out of my mouth wasn't any sort of words but a small pained sound at the very back of my throat.

"Sky?" A tinge of alarm laced his voice. "Where are you?"

"In my room." I sniffled.

"Why the fuck are you crying?" He asked. "What happened?"

I opened my mouth to say something but couldn't find a single appropriate word for the first few seconds.

Caden interrupted me anyway. "Are you all right? What in the bloody fuck--"

"I'm fine." I forced it out.

"Then why are you crying?" His voice still carried a sharp edge of alarm in it.

"Chicken's gone."

There were loud noises at his end and I think he wasn't alone. "Give me a sec, Sky." It took a moment but when the noise finally cleared, almost as if he'd stepped out in the clear, he spoke again. "I'm here. What did you say?"

"Chicken's gone," I repeated, and I kicked off my shoes and crawled up on my bed until my head bumped softly against the headboard. "She ran away."

Caden sounded confused. "Ran...away?"

"I can't find her. I can't find her anywhere." My gut seized and I closed my eyes shut. "I looked for her everywhere. There was this...this guy. In a black hood. He was outside my house. Chicken ran after him. I can't find her, Caden."

He was silent for a moment. Then he swore. "Fuck. Are you sure...You didn't go after him, did you?"

"I should...have." My voice broke and I pulled up my knees. "Caden, I should have. I can't...I can't find her. I can't lose her."

"You won't." He told me. "I promise. Fuck. You're in your room, yes? Just stay there and please don't go out by yourself. Okay?"

I opened my eyes briefly to glance at the white paper that had fallen down on the floor from my bed. He'd kill her.

"Sky." Caden's voice filled the silence once again. I breathed out shakily. "I'm talking to you."

"He's going to kill her."

"No, he won't." He said. "It's just a threat. To scare you, all right? Don't do anything stupid until I come. I'm...a little out of town, but I'm leaving right now. I'll be there in a few hours."

I swallowed. "Caden, I...c-can't."

"Your cat's going to be fine." His voice lowered to a much gentler one. "We'll look for her together, okay? Sleep."

"I can't sleep."

"We'll find her, Skylar." He said. "I promise."

I pressed my face into my pillow, nodding even if he couldn't see me. We'll find her.

It was by the time he hung up that I recalled his words from earlier. Three calls in the past thirty minutes. I hadn't called him. I hadn't called him even once. My phone had been right there on my nightstand all night and I'd barely even come up here to my bedroom.

I hadn't called him. Not once. Or thrice. But someone had. Someone who wasn't me.

_____________

I have a feeling you guys will kill me if I kill Chicken
Xx.