The Cat Who Saw the Unseen

After I brought the little black cat home, I started noticing things. Her name is Pepper. The first sign was how she would sit for a long time, completely still, watching the empty hallway. My dog would just sleep, but Pepper was always on alert, her eyes tracking something I could not see.

My dad said she was just watching dust motes dance in the sunlight. But when I looked, the air was clear. I also saw that she would often walk a specific path through the rooms, as if weaving between invisible objects. When I walked behind her, the air would grow noticeably cool.

One afternoon, I was reading on the sofa. I glanced up and saw a small, pale hand quickly pull back from the glass of the back door. I rushed over and looked outside, but the porch was empty. At night, soft footsteps would patter down the stairs, though everyone was asleep. Sometimes, in the garden, dark shapes would move between the trees, never quite coming into full view.