Author's Note: This is my first time posting a story on fiction press. I originally wrote this for school, and decided to post it. Please tell me what you think. : )

The Witch Cat's Doll

-Chapter One-

The moon glowed orange like a tropical bird perched in the starless sky, sharing my Halloween gloom. It was the first Halloween I could remember where I was alone. In the past, my older sister and I had always dressed up and collected candy from houses around our neighborhood together. My twenty three year old sister, Adelaide, had had a steady career in the fashion industry for three years, so I always had an awesome costume, unlike the cheap material used in the store-bought ones. That wasn’t any different this year, but my sister was.

I had figured that my sister was a little old for trick-or-treating this year, much like my sixteen year old self probably was, so I hadn’t bothered asking her to come. Instead, I went with my so-called best friend, Mara, and look where that left me: sitting on a park swing alone in the middle of the night. When I’d gone to Mara’s house as I was instructed to do, I’d been greeted by a note on the door:

Sorry, Yakira, change of plans – I’m going to Karen’s

party, after all. Hope you don’t mind too much.

Mara

I clenched my fists, recalling how neglected I’d felt as I read the note. It was just like her to skip out without telling me until the last minute. If I was smart, I’d have gone home, but I wasn’t ready to give up my Halloween yet; it was my birthday, after all.

I heaved a sigh and got out of the swing, deciding it was time to see some houses, even if I was alone. But the night had other ideas for me. Suddenly there was a loud “whoot!” from behind me, and I swiveled around. A group of guys that looked at least six years older than me were standing where the edge of the park is met by the alley between two buildings. They were clad in baggy clothes and holding beer bottles or cigarettes or both. I could tell from a distance they were drunk, and they were stumbling gradually toward me from the alley.

“Hey, babe, what’s up?” one of them choked out in a husky voice.

Naturally, I panicked. I whipped back around and sped out of the park breathlessly, without thinking of where I was going. I ran as fast as my legs would go, despite the fact that I wasn’t breathing. It soon became apparent that my legs had a mind of their own; not only was I going in the wrong direction of my house, I was also coming up quickly behind someone walking so slowly he might as well not be moving.

Stop! Stop! I urged my body, but it was no use. Time stopped as I slammed into the pedestrian, and we both crashed to the ground. I was the first to recover, and I wiped the dirt off my clothes when I stood up. Then I noticed that the guy I ran into was lying in a heap on the ground.

“I am so sorry! Are you ok?!” I asked, rushing over. Oh my god, I killed someone…’I thought, and I gasped. Where will I bury the body?! What if I get caught?! What if I just killed a rich kid?! I’ll be sued for sure! I shook the guy’s shoulder frantically, trying to revive him before someone nearby got too curious.

“What…are you doing?” asked a puzzled male voice, sounding a little smug. I looked over and there was the guy I thought for sure I’d bumped into. Wait…? I looked again at the body before me and turned it over. On closer inspection I saw that this dead body was nothing but a giant doll wearing a loose black dress much like the one this odd guy was wearing.

“Excuse me...? Why are you wearing a dress?” I asked the guy dubiously.

He looked at me oddly and answered, “Halloween…?”

Oh, right.That’s why I was here.

“And what exactly are you supposed to be?”

The guy was wearing a frilly black dress, matching the doll’s, and soft cat ears were placed carefully in an equally soft mess of black hair. I noticed with a shock the color of his eyes: the right was ocean blue, but the left was an alarming shade of green so bright that it almost glowed.

“What are you staring at?”

I jolted at the sudden sound of his voice and looked away quickly.

“Anyway, do you mind if I get my doll back?”

I nodded rapidly. “Well, have a nice Halloween. And sorry for bumping into you earlier,” I apologized again while handing him the doll, which was surprisingly light.

“Thanks, and its fine,” he replied earnestly, taking the doll and gently hoisting it over his shoulder. Then he added, almost as an afterthought, “Oh, I didn’t catch your name…?”

“Yakira,” I answered. He nodded and was walking away before I could speak.

Strange guy…I thought as I headed on my way home.