As she carefully closed the creaky door, she heard a noise behind her. She quickly turned her head.

“Oh.”

She gazed at her cat. It arched its back, stretching, then slunk away. “Wait–,” she muttered. The cat glanced back at her, blinking its eyes, one at a time. One, two, three? Before she could process what had happened, the cat was gone. “It’s nothing, it’s just the night playing tricks on me.”

She headed to her kitchen to get a glass of water before she went to sleep. She turned on the tap, filling her cup. She heard the door creak. 

“That’s odd, no one else is awake,” she pondered to the air. “Is Lisa awake?”

She wandered over to the door of Lisa’s room and peeked in. She saw her passed out on her bed. “If not her then…” A chill ran down her spine. She checked back on the creaky door of her sister’s room. It lay wide ajar. She sped into her sister’s room. She sighed a breath of relief when she saw her sister laying in her bed, undisturbed. 

She let out a cry as she spotted something above her sister’s bed. The extra eyed feline stared at her, slowly cocking its head. Slightly too much? Definitely too much, way, way, way farther than anything should. It grinned at her, an indescribable expression, its kaleidoscopic eyes seeming never-ending. This was not her cat.

She ripped the hammer off her fire extinguisher case and dashed towards the cat to defend her sister. It let out an unearthly hiss and bared its fangs at her. It swiped its claws at her sister’s head before getting clocked square in the head with the hammer. It let out another hiss and slunk back into the shadows.

Her sister jumped awake, clutching at her wound: “Wha-, what was that?” her sister asked sleepily.

“I…I don’t know,” she stuttered. It looked like a cat but… weirder. Just don’t go near it.” She handed her sister the hammer and went to the kitchen to grab a knife.

“Wait…” she thought. “Lisa!” she shouted, running into Lisa’s room.

Lisa tossed and turned in her bed, the monster above her licking its chops before slowly inhaling. A mist rose from Lisa into the monster’s jowls. The monster’s head jerked up at her, a look of smugness on its face. 

“Lisa!” she shouted, running towards her roommate’s bed. She vigorously shook her sister, but to no avail; Lisa lay still. “Lisa!” she wailed over her sister’s body. She whipped her head around to the cat, satisfied with its latest meal. A smile took over its face as it started to warp into another figure. The figure’s face slowly cracked into a terrifying smile. She stood frozen, not knowing what to do. Quickly, she made a break for the kitchen, the monster slowly dragging its feet towards her. A long tongue slithered out of its maw, running over its canines. She fumbled with the drawers of her kitchen, finally finding what she was looking for.

She pulled out a knife and turned to face the figure, human but… not. She drew her arm back and stabbed at the monster. It howled with pain, bleeding a grey fluid. She stabbed and stabbed until her arms were sore and the monster made no further sound. She looked at the husk and shivered.