Tangled With A Priest

 "Now, that's unbelievable," Aisosa laughed. "You, a boy?"

 Ivie fanned herself with her palm. "I'm so pissed." She slumped into a chair. "Tell somebody to go to the detention this evening."

 "Wait, he gave you a detention?" Gaga asked. 

 "For somebody who just came, he's very fast to adjust," Itohan said. 

 "Appears like a strict disciplinarian to me."

 Ivie was among the big girls in school. She was actually the big girl in school. The one who raided the offices of stubborn priests and priestess and changed the grades on their records and make sure to leave the office like the aftermath of a tornado so that when they would come, their faces would mar with anger, them trying to know who did it, but they would never trace it back to her.

She was the kind of student who got a detention and made other students go on her behalf, the kind who chewed gum inside the classroom and smoke cheap cigars in the woods no body came because they feared what she would do, that was the kind of student she was. The other students, the ones that was not in her circle of friends, acted as her lackey, running senseless errands for her with so much obedience that Ivie wondered if they would even take offense if she told them to open their palms so she could shit in it. 

 Being reverend was good for Ivie, it helped her escape a lot of detention, and in turn she helped most of the student pass their exams, it was why she earned their loyalty and why it would be easy to get somebody to go to the detention for her sake. 

 Now, the priest should go to the detention room and check if she came since he was bored to death. 

——

 That night, Ivie dreamt again, the same dream she had about the priest's cat. It leapt from the bag, flying towards her. She ducked and fell to the side, then she started to run. The animal chased her with a speed that surprised her, was it possible that an animal that small could run so fast? 

 She ran away from the bleacher, away from the school and into the woods where the signpost she had placed of Strictly Out Of Bounds stood still. As she passed it, she knocked it to the ground so that the cat would face an obstacle and maybe slow down, but it maneuvered and trotted over it, Ivie cursed. She ran until she got to her favourite tree and climbed on it, who said knowing how to climb a tree was not girly? That person had better seen her current dilemma. 

 The cat came to the tree and tried to climb too. "Shoo!" She said to it. "Go away." She waved her hand in dismissal but the animal did not scare off, who ever made the expression 'scaredy-cat'? Cats did not fear at all, this particular did not. It found its bearing and like her, slithered its body against the branches, moving up. 

 "Shoo!" Ivie said again but it climbed higher. What did it want from her? "Go away, please." She hoped, prayed, it would listen and leave her alone, but the creature pursued her. She kept on climbing higher until she got to the top, now holding unto a thin branch, her last string of support and as the cat continued its chase, she leaned on it, her whole body weight on a thin branch. 

 "Go!" She waved her free hand at it but dread had filled her and as she tried to shift, she heard the crackling sound of a breaking branch and felt her body fall. Expertly, she swung and held the nearby branch, stopping herself from crashing to the ground. Thank God humans evolved from monkeys. 

 The cat was very near now, and it had slowed its step, as if aware of her dilemma. The branch she was holding unto was her last support, and as her leg dangled on air, she knew it would no longer be able to support her. She watched in horror as the animal moved closer, at least it didn't grow this time, and then she noticed its eyes. The left was a striking blue and the right was a dull yellow.

She was fascinated, wondering how rare it was to see a cat with different eye colours. It was mesmerizing and her eyes locked with its that she did not see that it had started to drool, or that it's canine had started to elongate. It was already too late, it leapt at her. 

 "Jesus!" Ivie jerked from the bed, her hand placed on her drumming chest. "Jesus." She kissed the rosary on her neck and tried to recite the Apostle's Creed. She mismatched the lines a few times and stopped, then started again. When she calmed herself down, she fetched the jug from her bedside table and drank from it directly. Good thing she had chased the students who were supposed to be her dorm mate, she needed the privacy now more than ever. 

 "Should I just kill this priest and push him down the stair to say him too committed suicide?" She emptied her jug and kept it down. "Jesus, help me to leave this school without bringing trouble to myself." She prayed again and kissed her rosary. It was just a dream, a dream that didn't manifest in the physical. She had seen the eyes earlier today and it had not been blue and yellow, that made her question herself. Had she really seen it? The colour, the contrast was so striking, there would be no way she would have seen it without knowing. 

 "It's just a dream." She pulled her bed cover to lay back on the bed only to hear a sound. She sat up again and tried to know where it was coming from. It was a scratching sound, a distracting one that persisted. Good lord, wouldn't she get a good sleep tonight?

She got out of the bed and walked to the window where the sound was coming from and pulled the curtain. She saw the blue eyes first, shining and alert. Horrified, she fell on her bottom. Talk about a nightmare. Did she just see what she thought she saw? She gathered her courage and stood up, approaching the window again. When she pulled it aside, she saw the animal gallop from it.

Without thought, she put on her cardigan and went her dorm door to go after it, she was done guessing. She was going to see whether it was the cat she dreamt about or not, and whether it belonged to the priest or not. 

 Very few staff walked the grounds at night, even the young Sister stationed at the entrance of the girl's dorm would be asleep by that time. By the edge of the walls were candlelights hung from a reasonable height and Ivie walked by the wall and below the light so her shadow would not give her away. She stilled underneath each light when she heard noises, after all the darkest place in a room is right under the candle.

Sneakily, she snuck out of the dorm and tiptoed to her window. Sure enough, there were scratches on it. Did the animal try to get into her dorm? The ground was sparkling clean so she couldn't make out its paw, not like she knew what the paw of a cat looked like any way. 

 She looked around, wondering where the animal would be hiding, or maybe it had gone to someone else's window to play hide and sick. First, the priest had decided to rile her, and now his pet was following his lead, an apple truly never fell too far from its tree. 

 She caught a movement from the corner of her eyes and turned to see the hind leg of the creature in air before it disappeared out of her sight. Good. She crossed to the other side and followed it, her tiptoed steps now in a soft padding and soon she was hurrying, losing the consciousness that she was supposed to be stealthy about her adventure.

Once, the creature would stop to turn back and look at her, as if urging her to follow. And she followed. It led her out of the dorm, and entered the canteen, hiding under the numerous chairs. Ivie followed it, bending to look under the tables to know where it was. 

 "Sneaky creature from the pit of hell, where are you hiding?"

 "You're the only sneaky creature from the pit of hell that is hiding right now," a voice said.