It was a hot summer's dusk. Old Victoria's house was standing brightly in the sunset.
"Don't forget to feed the cat!" said Kathy in her always worrying voice, as she and her two sons, Eric 5, and Justin 7, left Victoria's house.
"Yeah..." Victoria slammed the door as they left. She couldn't wait to get rid of them. Her daughter, Kathy, was living a messy or, as Victoria used to say, disgusting life. Not like her mother at all, thought Victoria. Kathy always wanted more, the most out of life, no matter what the consequences were. Her two children were from different curs, and it was just a matter of time before they became slackers, like their mother. How can that dog even have the courage to slubber her home?
With these thoughts Victoria made herself a cup of tea. She, herself, wasn't that social type of person. She could live happily her remaining life without anyone disturbing her. As she became older and older, she began to praise God- afraid of death, most elderly people do so, although, she had lost her faith for a long time. But now, she's with God, she thought. She was 75.
And that cat, oh, that stupid old cat she had, it was no good, Victoria thought. She had to give it to someone, because there are no mice around the house anymore... And there are plenty of other cats that would visit her house, in case a naughty mouse would try to move in. No companion; what a wonderful world!
Victoria knew that her pet-loving neighbour would undoubtedly take the cat; the only problem now was to find it.
The next day, a sunny morning, she began calling her cat. From the loft, she heard it meowing. She grabbed a ladder, and began climbing. She felt her left knee starting to hurt, but continued climbing.
"Come here, you stupid animal!" she said with her shaking voice. But in an instant, the pain in her knee became unbearable as she had lost control over her body. This had never happened before. She tried to grab the old, wooden ladder, but it was too late; she had fallen on the ground. She couldn't move. She began crying. What a horrible way to die, she thought. She saw her tears falling on the wooden floor, and then slowly evaporating. Then, she heard the cat meowing above her head; as it jumped on the ladder, to land beside her owner safely, the ladder started sliding down, directly at Victoria's head. Then everything went black.
Victoria was surrounded by darkness. She saw a distant light, approaching, bringing warmth to a body that didn't exist. She had no body. It was just her, the inner cold, and the light, trying to break an icy surface covering her. And then the light absorbed her. It was all warmth, pleasure, she felt totally safe, protected by the stainless, true, blinding light.
A picture appeared in the distance. As it grew bigger, Victoria saw her mother, as she was speaking to her infant self; then other pictures were beginning to follow, like a slide show, one by one, each from Victoria's life, appearing just for a moment, connected to each other in a way she never thought of before. Then she saw the ladder falling, and the last picture vanished. Brightness again. Nothing more, nothing else but light.
A small figure appeared in the distance. It approached her, like a harmless child, it smiled nicely, though it was something in that smile, something weird... Victoria couldn't tell, but she began to feel uncomfortable, and she noticed the light going out from its place, leaving her with this figure.
"No!" she screamed. "I don't want to be left here! I don't know him!"
Suddenly she had a body. A free and fresh body, with no pain.
The figure gently touched her arm.
"Please release me" she said in a forced calm voice. But the figure kept smiling, refused to say anything, and the light was almost completely gone.
"I said release me!" she screamed in horror, as the light finally disappeared. She was surrounded by darkness. The figure has transformed into a red creature, ugly, without a face, it grabbed Victoria hard, as she was screaming in pain, the demon was laughing; then other creatures started to come out of nowhere, all of them laughing at Victoria touching her with their wet body parts, as she was struggling in vain; and she was on fire, everything was...
Then a scream followed, louder than anything, and Victoria opened her eyes. She was in a hospital. Kathy was crying silently in the room.
"Oh, mother!" she screamed as she saw Victoria opening her eyes. "I thought... I thought..."
"Me too" said the mother, stroking her daughter's hair.
Two months have passed; Victoria kept her pet, along with two other cats, one parrot, and four dogs; she invited Kathy and her children regularly to her home; and she praised God every day.
"You have completely changed" said Kathy one day, as they sat in the garden watching the children play.
"So did you" smiled Victoria. She has never spoken to no one about her little trip to...
