CATMAN

15 Monster

"Do heed my advice this time boss, we shouldn't enter this place," Froy said as he gulped looking at the house.

In the veil of darkness, the mansion looked like a creepy house. The gate leading to the mansion was rusted and broken which swing with a gust of wind making weird noises.

The mansion itself looked like a horror house covered in moss as if it wasn't cleaned for years and the walls weren't well maintained as the paint seemed to be coming off.

Auden double-checked his pocket if he had forgotten to bring what was the most important thing in this work. Feeling the thing was right in his pocket, he calmed his breathing and said,

"No, we'll go."

"We'll go? Boss, I brought you here so that you would be the only one to go...I'm only the guide, you should venture rest of the place yourself." Froy said.

"Huh? What are you saying? Are you planning to run away after I enter the mansion? Besides, what if the information you provided was false. I need you to be there if I have to beat you for deceiving me." Auden solemnly said.

"Boss, I again swear on my life that I'm not deceiving you. It is indeed a truth that I told you because I obtained the information from a pretty reliable source. And even if you kill me, I'll not go to the place which is known as 'Graveyard of the Cats.' I will never ever enter this mansion."

"It's alright if you don't want to. I won't force you." Auden softly spoke, "But if you had come with me I would have helped you make the relationship between you and the white kitty bette-"

"Alright, I'm going." Froy immediately said interrupting Auden.

"Oh? You'll be going? It's a graveyard for cats." Auden said.

"What are you saying boss? We won't know until we check it out for ourselves." Froy said as he was unfazed.

Heh! Too easy! Auden grinned as both of them entered through the main gate. The door of the house wasn't too bad as they had thought. It opened with but a gentle push and seeing the darkness inside, Froy shuddered.

"Calm down...ghosts are not real...nothing will happen to me inside." But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't hide the fear inside his heart.

"Boss, let's rethink. It looks like a haunted house, we shouldn't enter such a place. My cat senses are alarming me to the limits."

Giving a disappointed look, he said, "Didn't we come here because you said that this house was haunted?"

"Boss, you're right but the house is shaking" Froy said.

"You're shaking, the house is not."

"Ahhhh... it's too dark, I can't see anything."

"Cut the crap. I know you have night vision." Auden said.

"But boss, let's rethink the decision."

"Just shut up and let's enter," Auden said as he pushed Froy inside the mansion.

Entering the mansion, he used the partial transformation to transform his eyes to that of a cat for one hour. He could now see what was lying inside the house which was supposed to be haunted.

But there was nothing out of ordinary at all. It was just like some random abandoned house except for the stench of blood his nose picked up.

"Blood...? And it's the stench human blood. It might really be the graveyard like he said." He mumbled to himself and looked at the Froy and said,

"Let's split up for now. You look at the right and I'll take the left. The mansion is big and we'll have to finish searching before tomorrow because I still have to go to school. So, Froy, take the right."

"W-what are you saying, boss? Don't you watch horror movies? If we split up, it's all over. We'll die and I somehow feel that I'll be the first." Froy said.

"Don't be a wuss at such times. Man up...if you don't then don't follow me anymore." Auden said.

"I understand...I'm sorry, I'll take the right." Froy said as he turned, "But if I scream for help then come to me right away and help me."

"Deal!" Auden said as he took off towards the left.

Froy with his shaking legs proceeded walking towards the left part of the mansion. With every step he took, the hallways echoed making him jump at the slightest of sounds. He was scared by his own sound of breathing.

"Don't worry, ghosts aren't real. It's all a fantasy...yeah a fantasy."

Quank~

"Eh...don't think you can scare me. Even if you come in front of me, I'm not afraid to die."

Froy slowly walked through the hallway when he was greeted by a room. Surprisingly, the room wasn't locked and with the push of his head, it opened as someone fell on him.

"Ahhhhhhhh~ Monster...help me," Froy screamed for some time before he mustered up the courage to look at the thing that fell upon him since it wasn't doing anything to him.

Seeing the thing, he heaved a sigh of relief, "Phew~ It wasn't a monster but a skeleton. That scared me for no reason."

"S-K-E-L-E-T-O-N"

After realizing what fell upon him, he ran full speed towards Auden's direction,

"Ahhhhhh~, boss, save me. This house is scary."

With his scream, the dark and haunted house automatically lighted itself illuminating the whole place. Froy immediately seeing Auden, cried, "Bosssssss!"

"I know you're scared but tell me where the monster is?" Auden said calming Froy.

"Who is shouting so much? You are disturbing my meal!" A voice rang inside the house and looking towards the source of the sound, Auden found a middle-aged man walking towards them.

Auden squinted his eyes looking at the decent looking middle-aged man coming towards them and asked, "Are you the monster of this place?"

"What are you saying? I am just a man living his life humbly in this abandoned mansion. I am not a shady guy, not at all." The man said.

"Oh, you're not?" Auden asked.

"No."

"I see. Sorry to have doubted you." Auden said.

"What are you saying, boss? This guy is clearly the monster of this place. I can almost smell the fresh blood from his mouth." Froy said.

"Huh...what did I just say?" Auden was dazed for a moment and couldn't believe he said that. This guy was clearly shady and it didn't feel right before when he looked at him as well. I see that might be the case...

"Careful Froy, this guy has some sort of hypnotic ability...so don't look at him," Auden said.

"Well, I know you're a monster, so you can just take off that sheep's clothing," Auden said.

"What are you saying? I am just a normal man."

"So, you're not going to comply easy way right? Alright, I'll prove that you're a monster." Auden said as he took out a hand mirror from his pocket.

Showing the mirror to the middle-aged man, he said, "Now look at this."

"Ahhhh~ Monster. There is a monster inside the mirror." The middle-aged man shouted.

"Tsk...keep pretending. Even if you disguise yourself as a human, the mirror always shows your true self. So, don't think you can fool the mirror as well. You cannot fool yourself." Auden said.

"If you know who I am then there is no use to keep pretending, is it?" The face of the middle-aged man started distorting when he said it, "Then I'll let you see my true self before you die."

The hands of the man started turning green as oil-like substance dripped out of his green-scaled body. The face turned even more gross than the body.

"Monsterrrrr" Froy yelled as he started running in the random direction as Auden followed him.

Soon both of them stumbled upon a room opening which they found a large bed. Seeing as it was the only place to hide, both of them slid beneath the bed.

"Shit! If I knew I was going to end up in this situation, I would have brought a ghost repeller with me." Froy said in a low voice.

"By the way boss, why did you follow me? Weren't you going to fight that thing?"

"Hah...I was taken in by surprise by that dirty face. I think I'll have to prepare my mind for that face before even taking that guy on." Auden whispered.

"Well, now you see why I was trying to stop you? You said you would fight, didn't you? Fight the monster." Froy said.

"Shhh- I will when I'm ready but keep quiet for now," Auden said as he put his index finger on his lips.

"So, you're now going to play hide and seek, are you?" The voice of the monster echoed throughout the house, "But let me tell you this...I'm quite a player of the game. I haven't lost it once I played this game."

*Meow* *Meow* *Meow*

Suddenly, hearing another voice, Froy said looking at Auden, "Boss, there is apparently another female cat in this house. She is asking me on a date. Should I go and meet her?"

"How dumb are you? It's the monster that producing the sound, not some female cat." Auden said.

"Oh...I see."

"Why are you disappointed?" Auden said.

Creaakkkkkkk~

The door of their room opened as the monster entered the room.

"Are you hiding here?" The monster's voice echoed throughout the room.

"Boss, should we tell him that we're not here?" Froy asked.

"You..." Auden was speechless. "Just keep quiet."

The monster checked every corner of the room and just when he was about to check beneath the bed, he gave up,

"Maybe they are in another room."

"He's dumb mons..." Auden covered Froy's mouth before he could speak further. He was being nothing but trouble.

'Yes, go to the next room.' Auden said in his heart when he saw the monster's leg leaving the room.

Just as the monster was leaving, another sound echoed from beneath the bed.

Puuakkkk~

"You...don't tell me..."

Froy gave Auden an innocent look as he said, "That was my cell phone. The ring tone in my cell phone is weird."

"Even if I believe that it was your cell phone for a minute...that ring just now...why is this stinking so much?" Auden angrily asked.

Even after Auden had covered his mouth, Froy had found another hole to speak his mind.