Noah, that voice belonged to Noah.

It pulled me out of my bad memories and returned me to the present, which I was extremely grateful for. “Sorry I paused the movie. Or, well, the cats did. We, umm, well.”

“We wanna watch together and you weren’t here.” Bastet takes over for me.

Noah opens his mouth about to ask a question.

“Nope, shush. No talk about bad things.” Anubis silences Noah before he could speak.

“Oh, I’m sorry you guys. How about I go fetch us some snack and we can finish the movie.”

I gently maneuver my way off the couch and into the kitchen. I didn’t know what to grab but I had to get out of there, I had to get away from their piercing gazes. They were so sympathetic and concerned, and I just didn’t know how to handle that.

I don’t think anyone has cared about me as much as these cats do, and I have only known them for about a week. And Noah for… do I count from when I could first hear him or, from day one?

“Ugh what am I doing thinking about all of this depressing nonsense.” There was no point in letting myself think about those kinds of things. However, I couldn’t stop the flood of negative thoughts. It was almost as if something here was pulling them out and forcing me to view them. I close my eyes trying to fight against it.

“Are you okay in there?” I hear Noah ask from the living room.

I know that there is nothing like that here, so I open my eyes, and take a deep breath. I walk over to the sink and splash some cold water on my face. It is bracing and brings me back to reality. “Don’t worry about it Noah, I am fine. Now then, what snacks should we have.”

“Oh umm, me, worried? Ha-ha… Okay maybe just a little?” His voice went up at the end of his statement, and it was beyond cute. It made me wonder what he looked like.

“Noah you are such a sweet cinnamon roll. Don’t ever change.” I say and feel embarrassed.

Don’t ever change? Am I a fortune cookie? I’m saying it like I know him well enough to be able to tell him to not ever change. Mrrrghh. Ah well, it’s a nice change of pace. “Ice cream floats for dessert and some salmon?”

“Umm, I’m not complaining, but why would you combine those… I mean yes?” he said and I could hear confusion in his voice.

“Can you eat anything Noah?”

“No, but I think at some point I might be able to? And, the thought is nice.” He sounds hopeful, which makes me feel hopeful as well.

“I know that I would like that very much. I like the cats company and they are funny but it would be nice to be able to converse with someone close to my own age about things that don’t include hunting, mice, bugs, birds and so on. I can only have so many conversations about fish in a day!” I say and laugh a little to myself. “Oh, now that you are talking does that mean I don’t get any more little notes?”

“I… Can… I can leave you more notes since you like them.” He says very softly.

“Yay!” I love his little notes. Finding them around always makes my day a little brighter.

“Now then let’s get this food and get back to the movie.”

It doesn’t take me long to finish getting the food and drinks together and get back into the living room. Feeling a bit better I settle back into the couch.

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Noah follows along beside her and watches, curious to see what movie she is going to choose. He is a little bit surprised to see her pick out a horror movie. Isn’t living in a haunted cabin already enough of a horror movie? Also, there was the basement, and the attic and… Ah well to each their own. Even Noah enjoyed a scary movie on occasion, but he had to confess they weren’t his favorite.

Several scenes made him jump, and Noah was close to hiding under the blanket. Well, not really, but he did hope Aurora would get at least a little scared. Looking over at her though he saw something else.

Pushing past the extreme discomfort of being in the proximity of the cats, he pushes pause on the remote. It was like Noah had also pushed pause on Aurora, she sat there still, wide eyed, unmoving.

“Aurora?” the sound of his voice seemed to bring her back. ‘It was the power of love’ a traitorous voice whispered in his head.

Noah wanted to follow her into the kitchen, but thought it was best to give her some space. She seemed to freeze up again, so he once more called out to her. “Are you okay in there?”

When he heard her comment about the notes, he felt elated. He had done that as a way to interact with her and have some fun. It seemed that it had worked.

*************************************************************************************************************

I curl back up on the couch, tucking my legs underneath me. For some reason I feel some discomfort behind my back and turn and reach behind it. “Oh it’s a blanket. Excellent.”

I grab the blanket off the back of the couch and curl up under it, tucking my feet up and everything.

“Under blanket!” Anubis says and pounces over to the blanket, shoving his head under it and wiggles in.

It is so cute that I can’t help but laugh. I see Bastet eyeing a spot on the couch and she starts moving towards it.

“Nope, my lap is not available!” I hear Noah say.

She raises a paw to keep moving forward but decides against it. “Fine!” Bastet says in a huff.

It seems as though she really wanted to curl up with Noah. I wonder if there is a reason that Noah is afraid of cats. It just doesn’t really make sense to me. Was he attacked by a bad one or is it a ghost thing?

Turning my attention back to the movie I hit play. As the movie goes on she starts to see things, and hear them as well. It seems to be the sounds of the last people that were there. When she walked around at night, she would see ghosts acting out scenes, like some cheesy phantom theater.

“I can see why this is a bit psychological, what with the jumping between her being at camp and her doing drugs and partying, but why is this horror?”

I keep watching and there was still an eerie feeling around me that I couldn’t shake, and I felt cold even with the blanket and the cat. I shrugged it off.

“Why am I feeling so cold?” the main character of the movie asked herself. “Is it because I am surrounded by death?”