Sunrise Haunting

Genre: Contemporary fantasy
Summary: Keisha recently had to bury her cat. Her cat would still like breakfast
Content Notes/Warnings: Features the ghost of a dead pet.
Words: 251

Keisha woke up feeling like someone had put a block of ice on her chest. She groaned. It purred.

“Clem, You can’t eat. We tried!”

The ghost of her late cat was not deterred, falling back into the old routine of getting off her and mewling for breakfast.

Since the previous days Clementine had only disappeared after being given food, Keisha followed her to the kitchen. They had tried gooshy food and kibbles, and even people-food chicken, but the incorporeal cat had not been able to chew any of it, and displayed her bad mood until Keisha left for work, to reappear the next morning.

Hoping to fool the cat into leaving her alone without wasting food or making a mess, Keisha grabbed an empty can and pretended to spoon food in the bowl. She added in her chipper talking-to-pets voice, “Here you are, enjoy your breakfast.”

Clementine attacked the air in the bowl. Keisha rocked back when she heard the smacking. Instead of showing frustration as with the real food, Clem kept eating pretend food, down to licking the bowl.

Stunned and caught in habits, Keisha reached out when Clementine approached her and tried to scratch the cat behind the ear, but Clementine still felt like nothing but freezing air. After rubbing her head partly into Keisha’s leg, Clementine disappeared like mist in the sun.

The next morning, Keisha was awoken by her alarm clock, no sign of her late cat in evidence. It was a relief.