Chapter 8
Hours later, Boston trudges tiredly into his house, ready for a quiet dinner with Alani and a quick game on his computer. He takes off his shoes by the door and looks around to see if Alani has come to greet him at the door. His face falls and he sighs disappointed that Alani is nowhere to be seen though he can’t hold it against her since it is her first day at the house. He walks towards the kitchen calling out, “Alani, I’m home. I hope you had a good day today. I did my best to get back home as soon as I can but at the last minute, someone gave me their stupid work. So sorry I’m late.”
He stops in front of the cat tree and peers inside after flipping the light on to see if Alani is sleeping inside or if she is somewhere else hiding in the house. He doesn’t see her in the bed but hear what sounds like crunching sounds in the kitchen, telling him that she is off getting her dinner. He heads into the kitchen, a huge smile spreading across his face when Alani stops eating, still hunched over the bowl but her eyes are on him, licking her lips. Alani blinks at him then goes back to eating, not wasting any time in munching on the cat food he has provided for her.
Boston walks over to his refrigerator, pulls it open, and wonders what to eat. His eyes wander over the contents of his fridge not sure what he is in the for but his eyes stop on a see-through container and an idea pops in his head. He grabs the container of left-over rice, the tin foil that holds the shredded chicken from last night’s nachos, and some vegetables. He warms up the rice and chicken, slices the vegetables and sautés them on his oven. Mixing them all together with a homemade sauce drizzled over the top, he sits at the kitchen table and eats with Alani. He talks to the cat about his day and asks what she has been doing all day while he was gone. He then asks if she wants to see his computer and the games he has on there. Alani, hearing the word computer, picks up her head, her ears twitching, and meows at him as if to say yes. Boston laughs and finishes eating quickly. He cleans the dishes before he pats his leg for Alani to follow him. Alani, no Torrance, trots out of the kitchen beside Boston, looking forward to seeing what his reaction will be to her little treat with his computer. They enter the office and Boston plops down in his office chair, spinning around to face the computer. He rubs his hands together as he gets ready to play one of his several games, though he isn’t sure which one yet.
Alani walks over to him and before he can turn on the computer, she leaps up onto the desk and sits down, peering over the edge at the dark screen. She blocks his way to the power button as well as she pretends to bat her paw at the keyboard, pretending that she has never seen one before. Boston sits back in his chair, laughing as he watches her play with his keyboard. He then gently picks her up and sets her back down on the floor, hitting the power button so that he can start the game. He hears a zapping sound and smells something like burning, not seeing the smoke at first. He looks around the room, wondering what has caused the sound but doesn’t see anything. The burning smell gets stronger and he rushes out of the office, wondering if he left on one of the burners by mistake. Alani looks under the desk to see smoke coming from the frayed wires and she smiles, wondering if maybe a simple fire will be enough revenge for her. Boston runs back into the room, having seen that the burners are all off on the stove, and begins to investigate to see if he can find the source of the strange zapping sound and the horrible burning smell. He gets down on his hands and knees and sees that the wires are smoking under the desk and he cries out in surprise at what he sees.
“How did my wires get so badly frayed like that?” He jumps back when he hears the sizzling sound again and a spark reaches out towards him. “They look like they have been…” He turns to angrily glare at Alani who stares at him innocently, meowing a little and jumping.
The zapping sounds keep coming as power tries to connect with his computer. Boston jumps back, hitting his head hard on the desk. He screams out in pain and backs out from under the desk, holding his head with both hands, not really noticing that the spark has started a small fire on the carpet. As soon as the fire licks the carpet, it tries the wall, enjoying the paint that he has used and begins to climb the wall slowly.
“Alani, what did you do?” he screams at the cat.
Torrance smirks as she pretends to be frightened by him yelling at her and bolts behind the door, still wanting to see what will happen next. Boston curses loudly as he takes his hands away from this head to see if he is bleeding from the hard hit. Seeing nothing on his hands, he returns his watery gaze to the little fire that has emitted from the wires, more sparks spitting out at him angrily. He scrambles to his feet and runs over to the door, knowing that he must get his fire extinguisher in order to get rid of the fire before it spreads. The door slams in his face, Alani standing at the base, walking up to him and meowing innocently.
He grunts, doing his best to control his anger towards his pet, shaking his finger at her. “Not cool, Alani, not cool.” He grabs the door handle, turning the doorknob.
Torrance glares up at him and lunges forward. She hisses and growls at Boston as she sinks her teeth into his hand, making him let go of the doorknob. Boston screams out, tossing Alani from his hand, shocked that she has attacked him. Boston turns to kick the cat away from him but she has already readied herself for this to happen and once he had kicked her, she leaps back onto him. This time she aims for his eyes, deciding to do more damage since the opportunity for revenge has come knocking on her door early. She clings to him with her claws, even though he is doing his best to shake her off.
She stabs him a few times in the neck with her sharp kitty claws then reaches up, slashing at his face, grinning like a madwoman as her nails pierce through the skin of his eyelids and into the eyes themselves. She leaps back off him, doing some cat gymnastics, and lands on her feet just as the computer screen explodes from the fire that has reached it. Torrance slinks down close to the ground, running towards the door even though it is closed and she is now trapped inside the room with a quickly spreading fire. Boston screams in agony as he covers his face, feeling his blood and eyes seep out between his fingers. He can hear the fire spreading up along the wall and jumps when he hears exploding glass. His computer is gone.
Torrance presses her body up against the wall, staring at the fire as it climbs up the wall, the flames licking the walls hungrily. She looks around, trying to figure out how to get out when her eyes see the window. She wonders if she can push it open in order to escape. She cautiously crawls over to the window, staying clear of the fire and of Boston. Boston is frantically swatting his arms, blood leaving his fingertips and hitting the door behind him. She gets to the window and jumps up on the small ledge. She uses her claws to push against it and to her delight, the window begins to nudge open under her lightweight.
Hearing the window open a bit, Boston slowly begins to make his way towards it, knowing where it is from memory. “You stupid cat! I am going to kill you for this!” He screams as he stumbles towards the window and Alani.
Torrance turns to see Boston coming towards her and she knew that she can’t let him escape or he will not only kill her in her cat form but also will take out his anger on other women. Boston must die here and now. She turns away from the window and leaps to the ground, taking a fighting stance. She is ready to do whatever it takes to get him to stay and burn, even if it means her dying in the process. Her hair stands up along her back as she flexes her claws in and out before she rushes forward, leaping up to battle a murderer. She hits the man with her full force to throw the man off balance and hit the ground but it didn’t work. Boston seemed to have sensed what she was going to do and was able to swat her away, causing her to hit the ground. She shakes her head as she lands on her feet, stumbling a bit. Regaining her poseur, she runs at the man and begins to slash at his heels, making sure to dig her nails in as deep as she can get them to go. Boson cries out and falls forward onto his hands and knees.
Taking this opportunity, she jumps onto the man’s back and claws at his back while Boston cries out as he does his best to toss her from his back. Getting the upper hand, he tosses her off and she crumbles to the ground. Stunned, Torrance sits down, winded from the blow. Boston pats the ground, trying to find the cat so that he can break her neck for what she has done to him. Not feeling Alani anywhere near him, he moves forward, heading for the window again, feeling the heat of the fire as it spreads to the other parts of the room.
The fire has reached the door and is eating away at the rest of the house. Boston puts his hand down right into a pile of fire, the flames hungrily eating at his flesh. Boston cries out, dragging his melting hand out of the intense fire, having crawled too close to where the fire has started. He backs away on his knees but doesn’t get too far. Torrance, who has gained her composure, leaps upon his shoulder and digs her nails deep into his skin again. She makes sure that she is drawing more blood and causes Boston to topple forward. Boston screams as he tries to catch himself with his hand but his burnt hand doesn’t take the pressure well and he falls into the fire.
The fire opens its arms and accepts Boston. Boston screams in pain as the fire hugs him hard, not letting him go. Torrance coughs and backs away as the smoke from the fire fills the room, trying to choke her to death. She makes a slow trot for the window, sneezing and wheezing from the smoke. She gets under the window but the smoke is too much and she collapses, her eyes slowly closing as she watches Boston’s body grow still, burned and bloody, his mouth opened in a silent scream. Torrance smiles as she blacks out, knowing that her job is done; the murderer is dead and the lives he has taken have been avenged.
Sirens fill the air as firetrucks raced to the burning house to get the fire under control and to save anyone that may still be trapped inside. A neighbor that is a few miles away had seen the billowing smoke in the sky and had called 9-1-1. The firefighters pile out of their trucks and begin to get their equipment ready, eyeing the mess that the fire is causing. They knew that if they didn’t stop the fire soon, it would spread and get out of control, causing a lot of new issues. Almost immediately, water is racing out of their hoses, hitting the angry flames, pushing the fire back. Smoke billows up furiously as it tries to persuade its fire friend to fight back. Thankfully to them getting their quick, the fire is slowly growing weaker and a couple of the firefighters can enter the half-burnt building to see if there are any survivors inside or if anyone is at home period.
The firefighters go from room to room until they break into the office which is one of the few rooms still half- standing, the firefighters being able to tell that the fire had started in that room. Inside, they find the burnt body of the homeowner and a cat that is unconscious due to smoke inhalation. One of the men grabs the cat and they leave the house, one calling the humane society in order to get help for the cat since they also have on sight vets. Soon the vet is there and he is doing what he can to save the cat.
