Work Text:
Emilia stared blankly at the crisscrossing planks of wood holding the mattress of the bunk bed above. She could hear the soft snores of her friend Sophie, sleeping soundly in her own bed, a hand dangling peacefully in the air. Emilia’s eyes were momentarily drawn to the curled fingers and stared at their crooked shape in the half-light. She pictured herself reaching for her friend’s hand, grasping her warm skin, perhaps tugging her arm to wake her up so that she wouldn’t have to be alone anymore, forced to sit the night awake in this gloomy, dusty dorm. However, she knew that was a purely selfish wish, and so her eyes drifted back toward the wooden ceiling of the bunk bed. The classes they had to attend everyday were tiring enough; she didn’t want to deprive Sophie of any more sleep. However, this didn’t stop the little girl from feeling a small tinge of jealousy upon hearing another one of her friend’s snores, but she quickly pushed it back. She looked around; in the half-light, her classmates were no more than bundled shapes, buried in their thin, threadbare sheet. She saw one or two bodies frustratingly wriggling in their beds, desperately seeking sleep, but the rest of the dorm was perfectly still.
Emilia let out a long sigh, her hands gripping her own sheet, rough and uneven under her pads. Her eyeballs were burning with weariness, but her eyelids simply refused to close. She had given up on trying. The little girl brought a hand to her eyes, felt the dark circles under them, and frustration welled up inside her when she thought about the scorning she would surely get, during school lessons. Adults always got irritated when they saw the dreadful, palish complexion of the children, but Emilia knew she wasn’t really to blame. The classes were boring, with basic stuff than none of them really cared about. Her mind longed to see sunlight, real sunlight, and feel the wind blowing on her skin, caressing her hair. She wanted to run and scream with her classmates, laugh until her belly hurt. The constant routine they had to follow and its monotony were really starting to weight on her shoulders. Wake up. Walk the corridor. Listen to the schoolmistress. Eat. Go back to the classes. Sleep.
She thought about those horrible painted windows, back in the classroom, the fake trees greeting them everyday of their life. The glossy eyes of the fake Bron sofa sprawled in the classroom, its twisted neck looking down on the children. The dirty smell of the unwashed Huggy Wuggy toys, lying on the ground, crushed by dozens of little feet. The sudden fear upon seeing a distorted shadow down a hall, and the relief when it was gone. The sharp tones of the adults, their constant stares, their hushed whispers behind their back. The funny-looking masks they held sometimes, during their visits. The swirling dust of the dorm, the patches in their mattress, and the shadows, always the shadows, creeping closer and closer, enough to choke the remaining candlelight they sometimes used, late at night, when the adults weren’t around.
Emilia somewhat missed this proximity they used to have with darkness. The night had once been their shelter, the only time during which they were free of the adults, of the influence of the factory. They giggled together, forgetting for a small, precious moment the glooming despair resting on what they had tried to call home.
But the night wasn’t theirs anymore. Emilia had never liked the adults, but now she simply loathed them for taking that away from her. She loathed what they had unleashed in the darkness, loathed her own powerlessness. They were, and had always been, alone.
Suddenly her belly let out a soft, very quiet growl, breaking through the mist of her thoughts. Emilia frowned, put a hand on her pajamas, as if the gesture would be enough to appease the growing hunger, but to no avail. Her belly gurgled again, loudly protesting against the attempts of the little girl to keep it quiet. Emilia sighed again, watched the dorm; no one moved. She resolutely got up, pushing her sheet away from her worn pink pajamas, making as little noise as possible so as not to disturb her classmates. She knew Sophie had managed to smuggle a bag of cheap candies into her bag; the two friends used to pick one each, away from the adults. Emilia took a small step, feeling slightly guilty, but she knew the friendship they had built in those sunless corridors was stronger than a few stolen candies. Besides, she had finally an excuse to walk, and forget the desperate need for sleep. It was the adults’ fault, she thought assuredly to herself; of course one piece of moldy bread wouldn’t be enough. Her mouth twisted into a scornful rictus, a mimicry of the schoolmistress’s. She turned around one last time, checking the other children were still asleep.
“Emilia?”
She whirled around, her heart immediately pounding in her chest. A small boy was peeking at her with wide, incredulous eyes, the rest of his face hidden under his green sheet. Emilia recognized Tom, perhaps the youngest of the entire dorm, and relaxed at once. She put a finger on her lips, smiling reassuringly. The small boy, curious but already struggling with sleep, seemed to hesitate, before finally giving up.
“Don’t go far,” he whispered, and Emilia nodded.
She slipped into the corridor outside the dorm, carefully pushing the old, creaking door. The metallic floor was cold under her bare feet, but she paid it no mind as she stepped into the corridor, plunged into absolute darkness. Emilia stopped, her heart beating loudly in her chest as her fear came back to her. The darkness wasn’t friendly, not anymore. She stood perfectly still, listening for any rustling fur, any scurrying footsteps, but nothing came. She had long memorized the positions of the lockers, but in the dark she could barely distinguish their long, thin shapes, with the googling eyes stuck at the top. Sophie’s was on the right, far into the corridor, and so Emilia started in this direction, her hands waving in front of her, praying not to bump into anything strange in the dark.
She reached without any difficulty Sophie’s locker: she felt a bit more confident now, the quietness of the surroundings soothing her tired nerves. She stuck a hand in her friend’s bag, gathering a handful of candies in the curve of her palm, listening to the thick, dusty silence.
Emilia suddenly frowned as a strange smell bloomed in the air, slithered into her nose. She inspected the bags, wondering for a moment if the candies were somehow spoilt, but they had their usual sweet, sugary fragrance. She felt her eyes watering as her nose was now full of that intoxicating, bittersweet smell, as if something spoilt had just fallen from the ceiling, and backed away. She looked up, her hands flying to protect her mouth from the stench, and stifled a cry.
Two silver dots were floating high in the dark, staring intently at her. Emilia blinked the tears away, and a new wave of fear and hate overcame her as she recognized CatNap and the rotten lavender scent, mixed with the sweet smell of poppies, that clung to his fur. Of all the toys she despised him the most. She couldn’t really see him in the dark, but she was able to guess the outlines of his shape thanks to the silvery gleam of his eyes, and the curve of his round head. Emilia took a step back and looked around, wishing no other toy was hidden in the dark, but CatNap was alone. He always was, she reminded herself, and that fact gave her a bit more courage, even though she felt crushed by his soulless, silver gaze.
The two silver dots moved upwards, floating even higher, and Emilia saw the tip of two pointy ears brush past the ceiling. He was huge, and Emilia thought he was perhaps bigger than Huggy, bigger than any of the toys here. His claws grated against the metal of the lockers, and one fell next to her in a dull thump. Emilia jumped back with a terrified cry, and looked back at the door. No sound, except for her hurried breathing. She looked back at the silver eyes, waiting. She wasn’t supposed to be out there; she had no idea what CatNap would do to her, what her punishment would be. She braced herself, expecting claws to slice through her cheeks at any moment, but the silver eyes kept staring at her, unmoving. Then CatNap blinked, and the world was dark again as he entirely disappeared from her view. Emilia waited, her body tensed with anticipation, and jumped back when the silver light shone in her face, barely two meters from her. A long, slender paw, akin to a purple tentacle, rose from the dark. Emilia watched it, completely frozen, as it curled around her. The smell of rotten lavender was unbearable while it got closer. She glanced at the short, rough fur slithering past her arm. Then the paw curled back, patting her toward the door, slowly but firmly. Her fear slowly faded into dismay as she understood the cat’s intention. He was trying to get her back toward the dorm. He was trying to get her to sleep!
Emilia immediately stepped out of CatNap’s reach. The paw froze, clearly confused, before slowly dragging itself back into the dark, toward its owner. Emilia watched it, feeling a new surge of bravery; disobeying the cat was something she would never have expected herself capable of. Watching that paw retreat with its putrid smell of lavender was a small victory, an indirect triumph over the authority CatNap embodied in her eyes. She remembered now clearly what the adults had said: CatNap was shy. Maybe he couldn’t really do anything to her. Besides, watching that paw crawl back was, to be honest, really satisfying to her. CatNap had been created by the adults, had stolen the darkness away from them; pushing him back was really a form of rebellion, an indirect one against the factory. She stared at the silver eyes, forcing back her terror.
“I’m not going back,” she whispered, involuntarily clenching the candies in her fist. “I’m hungry.”
Emilia ignored the slimy feeling of crushed candies, their jelly mass trickling between her fingers. The silver eyes moved high above in a rustle of fur accompanied by a whiff of putrid lavender, and Emilia understood the cat had just sat in front of her. In the half-light of his eyes she could make out his lanky paws, melting into the blackness, and his skeletal tail, curled neatly around his toes.
“I’m hungry,” she repeated, rubbing her belly in a typical gesture she hoped he would understand.
She wasn’t hungry, not anymore, but she didn’t want to go to the dorm yet.
“Hungry,” she repeated, articulating each syllables.
The silver eyes stared at her, completely still, two dark ring of metallic silver surrounding dead pupils, set into cropped purple fur. Emilia stayed still as well, her discomfort growing under the scrutiny of this alien gaze, the gelatinous blood of the crushed candies now dripping on the ground. Her legs were beginning to itch, urging her to make a break for the dorm, when CatNap simply vanished. His eyes immediately disappeared along with his characteristic smell. Emilia blinked as darkness closed in on her again, and realized she was as blind as she was alone now. She hesitatingly started for the door, before deciding against it, not knowing where to stand. She pictured the gigantic cat, crouched in the corridor, his tail lashing against the floor, waiting for her to make the wrong move. She imagined his dead eyes, so alike to glossy pebbles, watching her quietly; a lanky paw would snatch her away from the dark, away from her classmates, and she would never be seen again. This picture was enough for Emilia to remain still, and wait as more seconds passed, then entire minutes. The little girl wished the cat had abandoned her out of boredom, or had been distracted by whatever he had found on the way, as normal cats usually were, but soon she heard claws clinking softly in the dark, just ahead of her in the corridor. Then something dropped at her feet in a wet, squishy sound. A new stench arose, close to the lavender one, only it was more rancid. Some drops of an unknown liquid had splattered on her feet, too.
“CatNap?” she whispered.
She sensed him more than she could see him, but she was absolutely certain he was around, when the two eyes appeared not far from her. They bounced joyfully in the darkness as he got closer to her, their silver light burning mercilessly into her own eyes. She crouched, her hands searching for the thing in front of her. Her fingers felt around uneasily in the dark, only brushing the irregular, cold stony ground, when they suddenly reached something clammy, sticky, like a mass of blubbery jelly. She stopped, disgust rising quickly and steadily in her throat, accompanied by the sour but characteristic taste of bile. Emilia looked down, and the cat imitated her, and in the half-light of his silvery eyes she saw the innards of a mangled rat splattered onto the floor, the crushed organs blooming like dead flowers at her feet.
There was a piercing shriek, and a second later Emilia was back in her dorm, covering her shivering body protectively under the thin blankets, her small, childish fist clenched tightly around the crushed candies, their colorful blood trickling between her closed fingers, dripping silently on the tainted sheet below. She heard alarmed whispers, rustling sheets, confused mumbles. As she cried frantically, her loud sobs slashing like a knife through the already disturbed silence, she peeked out from underneath her sheets, unable to stop herself and the morbid curiosity that had mingled with her disgust. She briefly glimpsed other children waking up, rubbing the last shreds of sleep out of their eyes, looking confusedly about them, but she paid them no attention. Her eyes were glued to the old, creaking metallic door, the one she now wished she had never opened. She closely watched the darkness through wide, unblinking eyes, ignoring the creeping sting in her eyelids, her fists clenched on the tainted sheets. The candies had fully trickled out of her hands and her palm felt all sticky and wet, her skin all reddish, like the twisted innards of the rat she had seen on the floor, the image of which her mind kept replaying over and over in her head. She inhaled sharply, and the rotten smells of putrefied lavender reached her nose. As all the children looked around, she saw, through the open door, two silver dots float in the half-light, slithering quietly in the dorm while the old, metallic door slowly creaked open. This small but distinctive noise was enough to alert the children, and the whisperings died immediately as all heads snapped toward the sound. They didn’t have time to react. The two dots blinked, and a sudden gust of a sweet, sugary smell that contrasted harshly with CatNap’s bloomed into the room. Emilia saw red tendrils of smoke curl up gently out of CatNap’s dark shape as the creature breathed in slowly, his skeletal frame heaving with effort while he filled his lungs full with gas, before exhaling contentedly. It flew out of CatNap’s gaping jaws, twirling and swirling playfully within the darkness, slithering quietly along the corners of the walls, rising toward the ceiling. Emilia heard some few muttered cries of fear which died very quickly when the red smoke hit them fully. She inhaled it despite herself, and the sickening, artificial fragrant smell of poppies crept mercilessly up her nostrils, bringing tears to her eyes. She opened her mouth under the sheets, perhaps to cry out in fear or protest, she herself didn’t know, but her heavy eyelids closed over her leaking tears, and she fell completely limp in her bed. Her head hit dully the pillow, sinking effortlessly into its soft surface. All around her children plopped down inside their own mattress, their eyes glued with unstoppable tears while their young lungs had no choice but to fill themselves full with the dreadful poppy-colored gas. CatNap calmly watched the small bodies going still in the stuffed dorm, their limbs stiffening, their tiny fists clenching tightly in unrestrained panic, the small nails digging easily through the skin. He was filled with a distinguished sense of accomplishment, of a duty being thoroughly and properly performed. He breathed in again, feeling the bittersweet taste of the gas flowing in his gaping mouth. To him it tasted like heaven, an embodiment of absolute perfection. The gas raced down his windpipe, his frail ribcage heaved slowly and painfully beneath his short purple fur, the bones of his ribs tracing curious half-moon shapes on his flanks. Then he exhaled again, savoring the sensation of his lungs emptying, with the smoke running back up the thin, fleshy walls of his windpipe, arriving through his throat before finally bursting out of his mouth, like a carefully crafted dance. He strolled confidently among the now-sleeping children, his claws clinking on the ground, his thin tail swishing slowly from side to side. He could see their small chests rise very faintly, the eyeballs moving wildly about behind their fluttering eyelids, the red gas streaming out of their mouths like tiny smokey waterfalls, between their teeth. Silence and peace flowed along the red gas, soothing the flickering ears of the giant purple cat. His Red Smoke had proven efficient at last. The children were calm. The dorm had fallen back into its original state, the one it should away be in at night.
CatNap had a duty to perform, and he would see to it that it would always be accomplished.