Olivia was the one who wanted a cat for their apartment. She and James had been dating for three years, living together for two, and getting a pet seemed like the next logical step…at least in her eyes. James never considered himself much of a cat person, he'd never considered himself much of a pet person period. Olivia had been asking about a cat for a few months, but she'd been planting the seeds for close to a year. She started by showing him every cat video on her Instagram feed and commenting on every cat ad that popped up while they were watching TV. And then one day over breakfast she popped the question about adopting a furry new family member.

James had his reservations, and he voiced them immediately. He worked remote, and she didn't. The last thing he wanted was to take care of an unruly cat during his work shift, while she was at the office oblivious to the antics of her pet. She emphasized that it was a cat and that it would probably spend most of its time under the couch or asleep on the cat tree, she said this with a confidence that James didn’t often see, so he weirdly felt inclined to believe her. The word that stuck out to James was probably, that meant the cat could still be an asshole.

He didn’t entertain the idea at first, telling her that he wasn’t against the idea and leaving it at that, secretly hoping she’d drop the matter. Then one afternoon they saw Willow at the shelter a few blocks from their apartment, and Olivia’s request for a pet kicked into high gear. She was enamored by her large yellow eyes that glittered like amber. Smitten by her soft purr and adorable meows. Addicted to running her fingers through her soft and silky coat of black fur.

Black Fur.

The fact that she was a black cat didn't sit right with James. He didn't consider himself superstitious, but he didn't see a point in inverting those kinds of vibes into their apartment. What if strange things started to happen after they got her? Then he would feel inclined to blame the cat. When he told Olivia this, she sneered at him as though he'd said the stupidest thing she’d ever heard. He told her that he thought Willow was cute and that they should take some time to think about it, but he knew Olivia’s mind was set as soon as they left the shelter. She spent the walk home on Amazon, adding cat trees, toys, and even outfits to their Wishlist. A week later they came home with a plastic container, and in that container was Willow the Black Cat.

It didn't take long for James to warm up to Willow. Olivia was right, she did keep to herself, spending most of her day asleep under the recliner, on the cat tree, or comfortably nestled in his lap as he chipped away at his workday. James eventually made the joke that Willow liked him more than Olivia, a joke she didn’t seem to care for. Regardless, the two had a special little bond and he was happy they'd included her in their little family. Yes, she could get a little hyper, he’d see a shade of black as she darted across the apartment and he feared she’d crash into a piece of furniture. But she was weirdly cautious, mindful, and she didn’t destroy a thing and that’s what mattered to James. The only thing that didn’t sit right with him was the strange staring.

The staring happened within the first month of Willow's arrival, maybe the first two weeks. One morning, right after Olivia had left for work, James found himself in the bathroom brushing his teeth. Willow followed him into the bathroom without him knowing, coiling herself in between his legs, which was her way of saying "good morning." She sat in the hallway and watched as he brushed his teeth...or so he thought. He didn't notice it until he wiped his mouth on the towel behind him, but she was looking up at the mirror, not at him, but at something around him. At first, he thought she was tracking a gnat or some small bug that he couldn’t see, but then he realized that her gaze didn’t shift. It was like she was staring at the reflection of something in the mirror, something that he couldn’t see or feel. The entire ordeal creeped him out, but he forgot about it as soon as he clocked in for work.

A few days later, Olivia went to the gym after they finished dinner. She generally spent a couple of hours at the gym, and he figured he'd spend his evening catching up on video games. Willow spent about thirty minutes coiled next to him, purring away at her dreams as he focused on his game. He was so zoned in on his game that he forgot she was next to him, so when she abruptly shot up it scared him half the death. She woke up at such a fast and frantic speed that it made the couch coils squeak, James thought she’d woken up from a nightmare. He paused the game and watched as she positioned herself on the couch, to once again stare up at the ceiling next to him. There was a certain level of focus in Willow's eyes that sent a shiver down his spine, she was zoned in, as though she were staring at something...or someone. Her tail moved lazily from left to right, her gaze unflinching. James tried to get her attention, but she ignored him, it was like she was hypnotized. James followed her stare to find that she was looking at something close to the ceiling, but he couldn’t see a thing. What was she staring at?

Who was she staring at?

At first, the staring situations were far and in between, maybe once every two weeks. But then they became more and more frequent, and James was quick to realize that it only happened when it was just the two of them. She was a normal cat when Olivia was around, playing with them, coiling up in one of their laps, or falling asleep next to them. But as soon as Olivia was gone, the staring happened. James caught her staring off into the space next to him when he was at work, eating lunch, washing dishes, when he was doing anything. It made his skin crawl, it made him wildly uncomfortable, it was like she was staring at something that was constantly following him and only him. He eventually brought the issue up to Olivia, who said Willow never did anything like that around her and that she was probably staring at a gnat too fast or small for him to see.

One night when Olivia was having a girls’ night out, he decided to take a picture of Willow while she stared off at nothing. He didn’t know where the idea came from, and he cursed himself for not thinking about it sooner. James lowered the volume on the TV, thinking that for whatever reason it would help him concentrate, carefully got off the couch and pulled his phone from out of his pocket. He slowly stepped in front of Willow, placing himself in front of her stare, his eyes ping-ponging between her and the apps on his phone. He looked into her yellow eyes, those globes of amber in an abyss of jet-black fur, and at the amber's center he saw his reflection…

As well as the man standing behind him.

His mouth went dry, his joints stiffened as though his blood had turned to cement. His mouth fell open just slightly, and his jaw locked, but he could still feel the tremble of his lips. He blinked his eyes, thinking…hoping that the reflection of the man behind him would disappear, but he didn’t. He glanced over his shoulder to confirm that he was alone, but the reflection remained. He was tall, his head about a foot away from the ceiling, his broad shoulders made him look inhuman. James couldn’t move, he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to. The iPhone felt like a brick in his hands, his fingers felt like frail branches on the verge of collapse. He couldn’t quite tell from the reflection in Willow’s eyes, but the figure seemed to be staring down at him, and was he smiling?

James could feel the cold sweat as it built up on his hairline and throughout his skin. He swallowed the building lump in his throat, and it felt like he was consuming a stone. And then he snapped out of his daze, as though someone had rung a bell to pull him out of his hypnosis. He opened his camera app and snapped a series of photos of Willow’s face, he stepped off to his right, nearly tripping over his feet in the process. He pulled up the photos that he’d just taken of Willow and zoomed into her amber-colored eyes.

Now he couldn’t doubt what he’d seen, he wished he hadn’t taken the photos. There was someone standing behind him. The first thing James noticed was the hollowness of his eye sockets, and then he felt his skin crawl as his brain identified what looked like maggots crawling around those empty sockets. So, in a strange way Willow was staring at bugs he couldn’t see. His teeth were black with rot, he was indeed smiling but it didn't look like one of joy, but one wrapped in malice. He had long and stringy black hair, in the reflection it looked wet, but James couldn’t be sure. The man wore what looked like a sheet covered in grime. The figure was huge, towering over him in not just height but overall size. His hands were massive, with thick black fingers that looked like spider legs. Who was he? What was he doing in their apartment? And most importantly why was he following him?

Willow’s gaze had shifted to where he was standing, staring up and past him. Watching the maggots or staring into the infinite hollows of the man’s eyes. James felt his body run cold, but just for a second because immediately after he felt the warm chill of someone’s breath along the back of his neck. He wanted to scream but he couldn’t, and then he felt those large hands as they wrapped around him. He could feel and hear his bones snap as the air was pushed from his body.

And then there was death and nothing else.

Olivia would return in the early hours of the night, to the body of James in their living room. Her scream would catch in her throat, just long enough to catch Willow’s stare. The stare of her beloved cat, those eyes of amber in a dark abyss, as they stared at someone behind her.