"Well there you are you King of kings. It's about time you returned home. I was worried for a bit there that you finally found somewhere better to go." Miss Rebecca Norrington scooped the bundle of fur up from the tiled floor. He responded to her usual prodding with a low grumble in the back of his throat. Miss Norrington carried the reluctant cat further into the small two bedroom apartment as she made her way to the dimly lit kitchen.

"Goober, you clown, don't start with me. I'm not going to let you down so you might as well stop pushing me. You've been gone all day so it's only right that I get to carry you a little longer." The yellow filtered light nearly blinded her as she flicked on the switch. Rebecca set the black and white cat back on the floor and he immediately dashed off to the kitchen where there was a bowl of food waiting just for him. Rebecca's bare feet reached the cool surface of the browned kitchen tile.

"Oh that cold floor gets me every time Goober. Don't look at me that way. I know I should put some socks on and stop complaining. But it just seems like a waste. I mean putting on a pair of clean socks just to chase you cats around the house." Sir Goober Norrington looked up at Rebecca with confusion.

"Well if everything is alright with all of you I'll just go ahead and fix myself a glass of water and head off to bed. I know you guys don't want an old maid like me hanging around when you're trying to enjoy yourselves. Don't stay up all night boys. And Pris don't let them push you around. They may seem big and tough but they're just big dumb brutes." After looking back one more time Miss Norrington headed off to her narrow bed in the back room where the younger cats had already situated themselves in their usual spots. When she opened the door to her room four pairs of sleepy eyes looked up towards her from the floor.

"Sorry babies I didn't mean to wake you all up. Go back to bed my little children, I'll turn the light off in just one moment." Miss Norrington weaved her way through the assortment pillows and sleeping cats strewn across her floor. Pulling back the thin grimy sheets from her bed she slid into place and turned off the little lamp next to her bed.

"Good night babies. See you all in the morning."

The following morning Miss Norrington woke with a start. She felt like there was someone else in the room with her. Like someone had snuck into her room in the middle of the night and now they were just sitting in the corner watching her sleep. After sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes Rebecca noticed that there was no one in the room except for her and the cats, but Sir Goober had his face mere inches away from her own and his piercing grey eyes were staring right into her dull brown ones.

"Silly cat you nearly scared me to death. I thought you were a robber. It's not very nice to sneak up on people, especially the person who feeds you." Rebecca gave Goober a soft push to get him off of the bed and followed him shortly afterward.

"Don't growl at me you pest you deserve to be pushed of the bed. You scared me. Well let's go Goober, I believe that it is time for breakfast and maybe today we'll get a bit of cleaning done."

After walking into her dingy, mildew encrusted bathroom. Miss Norrington turned on the tap to wash the sleep out of her eyes but had to wait a few minutes before the sluggish brown water turned to a safer yellow color. Miss Norrington trudged her way back to the kitchen with all of her cats following closely behind her.

"Don't trip me you foolish cats. I won't be able to feed you if you kill me on the way to the kitchen. You silly cats I know you all want food but you're just going to have to be a bit more patient. Soon all of your bellies will be full of food and you will all be able to get back to your naps. But before I can feed any of you I have to get to the kitchen without breaking my neck, so it would probably be best if you would all just let me walk in peace."

"One, two three," Miss Norrington set an individual food dish down for all of her thirteen cats, "there you go my babies. I told you that I would feed you and of course you all know that I could never lie to you. Enjoy your meal my little sweethearts."

Miss Norrington's toast popped from out of the toaster, its color browned to perfection. She grabbed the tall glass to orange juice off the counter being careful not to let the condensation on the glass let it slip from her tight grasp. Normally after their breakfast all the cats would go off on their own. Miss Norrington never really knew what the cats did during the day but she suspected that they mostly slept, like most cats do. But for some reason the cats were acting strangely that day. For some reason today as Miss Norrington went to get her daily newspaper they all followed behind her.

"Silly cats what are you all up to now? Don't follow me around like that. Don't you guys have something better to do? Pris do tell your brothers to leave me alone." The cats continued to follow Miss Norrington down the hall towards the front door, none of them paying attention to her protests.

"Seriously you foolish creatures stop following me. You know how nervous it makes me when you follow me around like that.

Despite her various pleas the cats continued to follow Miss Norrington all day. They followed her to the door when she went to retrieve the newspaper. They followed her when she went to the living room to catch up on the news, and they waited for her to be done with the paper before they followed her back into the kitchen for lunch.

"I don't understand what has gotten into all of you. Why are you following me? My dear Pris what is wrong with all your brothers? This behavior is so unlike them. Tell me Pris why do you all keep following me around? Did I not feed you this morning? Have I forgotten to clean the litter boxes?" Miss Norrington thought of all the reasons why the cats would be following her, but she wasn't able to come up with a reason that actually made sense.

"I just don't understand why you are all following me about. I can't take it anymore. If your point was to drive me insane you have all succeeded. Just leave me alone." Miss Norrington threw one of the cat dishes onto the kitchen floor, the multicolored ceramic dished clashed against the harsh tiled floors and broke into many sparkling shards. The cats ran away at the sound of the impact.

"Damn it. I didn't mean to scare you all away that way. I just get nervous when you follow me like that. I'm tired babies. I am so sorry that I threw those dishes at you. Let me just clean up this mess and we'll all go to bed and tomorrow will be a brand new day. A day where you all will do whatever it is that you do on most days and I will be left alone to read my paper and eat my lunch in peace." Miss Norrington grabbed the broom and dustpan from the cupboard so that she could clean up the mess of ceramic and cat food from the worn kitchen tiles.

"I really am sorry babies. I didn't want to scare you away like that. Don't be mad at me, I promise I won't lash out at you like that again. You're my babies, I could never truly be angry at you." Miss Norrington finished cleaning the mess up from the yellow and brown checkered tiles and started to make her way back to the bedroom.

"Well my precious darlings I think it's safe to say that now is a good time to get some rest. I will see you all in the morning and sleep softly my dears." With that Miss Norrington crawled in under the graying sheets and turned off the dim light that was sitting on the cardboard box she used for an end table.

Miss Norrington woke with a start. Her room was still covered in the bleak darkness that was night and a soft mewling sound was coming from outside of her bedroom. Throwing the meager sheet away from her body Miss Norrington dragged herself out of bed to find out what was going on outside the room. None of the cats were in sight.

"Pris, my darling, where are you? It's the middle of the night sweetie. Why aren't you in bed? Pris?" Miss Norrington walked into the living room. All the cats were crowded around the middle for room except for Sir Goober Norrington who was perched atop the sofa as if he were truly royalty.

"Goober what is going on here? Why are you all up? It's far too early to be awake you silly beings. Come. All of you back to bed. Let's go Pris. Leave the boys to this nonsense. Pris?" Miss Norrington looked back at the group crowded on the floor. She did a quick count and realized that there were only eleven cats there.

"Goober where is my Pris? What have you done to her? Goober you fiend tell me where Pris is this instant." Goober jumped off the couch and towards the rest of the cats that were still just standing around on the stained living room carpet.

"What's that supposed to mean Goober? Pris isn't over there, I can see from here that Pris is not standing around with the boys. Pris would never just stand around with the rest of you fools. Goober please tell me where Pris is so that I can go back to bed." As Miss Norrington walked closer to the group of cats she realized that there was a twelfth cat lying on the floor in between them.

"Pris what are you doing on the floor there? Come on let's go back to bed sweetheart. Just leave the boys to whatever it is that they are doing out here. Let's just go to bed Pris." Even after all of Miss Norrington's prodding Pris refused to move. As Rebecca drew closer to the all white cat she noticed that Pris was not moving at all.

"Oh my dear Pris what have they done to you. What have those boys done to you my precious Pris? Come here my baby." Miss Norrington stooped down to pick up the bundle of fur, only to find that Pris' body had gone limp. Miss Norrington dropped the white lifeless body back onto the dirty the carpet and took a cautious step away from the swarm of cats.

"What is going on here boys? What have you done to my little angel? I don't understand. Goober Norrington what have they done to Pris? Tell me right now Goober what happened to Pris and why are you all just standing around here in the living room? Why didn't one of you come and get me? If you knew Pris was hurt I could have helped her. Why didn't any of you come and get me?" Miss Norrington slowly inched away from the group of cats still gathered on the floor.

"I don't know what you all did here. I have no idea what happened. And I'm really worried about you guys. What happened to Pris? Was it something she ate? Was she sick? Or…or did you guys do something to her?" Miss Norrington's dark eyes narrowed in suspicion as she backed further away from her cats.

"You fiendish brutes you must have done something to her. She was perfectly fine this morning; there was nothing wrong with her after lunch. What did you do to my perfect angel? What happened to Pris?" Rebecca had no idea what the cats had done and she had no idea what they were capable of doing. The only thing she knew for sure was that she had to get away from them. Rebecca Norrington knew there was something wrong with her cats, she just didn't know how to get away from them.

Miss Norrington slowly backed her way into the room and slammed the door behind her. Once safely behind the door she pushed the mattress from her bed against the door and walked over to the window sill.

"What is going on here? What has gotten into those cats?" Rebecca turned towards the phone sitting on her makeshift end table and picked it up only to find that there was no dial tone.

"They've gotten to the phones as well. How could I have been so blind? How did I not notice this revolution stirring right under my nose? That's why they had been acting strangely all day. Those fiends were plotting against me. Well I'll show them. There is no way that a bunch of foolish cats are going to outsmart Rebecca Anne Norrington.

Miss Rebecca Norrington opened the latch to the only window in the room. The cool night air whisked her matted red hair away from skin that had yet to be marred by wrinkles. Rebecca looked out at the landscape before her: a few dilapidated buildings stood out against the background their faded paint and broken windows mirroring those of her own building.

There was a light scratching sound and what she thought was a threatening meow from the other side of the door.

"Get away from me you fiends. I will never let you get me. You will not kill me you greedy animals." Rebecca swung one leg out of the window and rested against the frame looking out at the concrete alley waiting below.

"You won't get to me like you got to Pris. I won't let that happen." Miss Rebecca Anne Norrington pushed herself out of her fourth story window and for a moment the cool darkness of the night enveloped her in one last caressing embrace.