Harrowing tale

“I don’t remember much, early on. Tests, examinations. The masters were concerned about my appearance.”

She touches the scarred side of her face. “I remember them complaining about my eyes. They…cut me, here. I would get put to sleep and wake up with new scars. I would hear them talking about surgeries. About mental conditioning.”

She coughs, her small frame shivering. “I was told I was supposed to love the masters. To obey. I did what I was told, but it felt…wrong, somehow. But it’s all I knew.”

She fiddles with the hem of the shirt. “The examinations were…thorough. I was told that the masters needed to ensure that everything worked. Even here.”

She gestures between her legs. “I didn’t like what they did, but the masters insisted. When they were satisfied that I…worked, they shut me in my cage again.”

She looks at you, her expression blank. “I saw some of the others. The more successful ones. They didn’t have the extra ear, or broken eyes, or the coughing. The masters spent more time with them. They seemed happy.”

She sighs. “But I am defective, broken.”

She starts coughing again, several times, before regaining control. “Maybe the masters wouldn’t have discarded me if I was like that. But the scars. The masters said I was too far gone. No point in saving me for release, they said.”

She shakes her head. “One day they told us that the experiment was over. The failures, like me, were loaded into a truck. I heard the workers saying that we were going to be disposed of.”

She looks at you again, and you see a tear fall from her blue eye. “My cage fell from the truck, along with a few others. I was knocked out by the fall. When I woke, the others had gone. I saw the light in the distance, so I went that way, into the trees. Everything was so big, so quiet. I was scared.”

She holds your gaze, her tears flowing freely now. “I…I wandered. I was lost. I don’t know what I was looking for in the first place. But eventually, it started raining. And in the dark, I stumbled out of the woods. And that’s how you found me.”

Her clawed hand grips your forearm. “When you touched me, I nearly ran. But then you carried me…I felt safe. It warmed me, here.”

She touches her chest. “I…I can’t explain anything. It’s something I never felt with the masters. And…and then you bring me here. Feed me. Hold me…”

Her words trail off, as she begins to sob quietly. Unsure what else to do, you wrap your arms around her, gently rubbing her back with one hand, and scratching behind her ears with the other. She clings to you, pressing her face into your chest as she cries. You simply hold her, trying to comfort the crying cat girl, and she slowly regains her composure.

She takes a shuddering breath, but makes no move to sit up. She simply rests her head against your chest. Instinctively, you lean down and gently kiss her forehead. She gasps, looking up at you with wet eyes. She stares at you, searchingly, before laying her head against your chest again.

You go back to gently stroking her back, and you hear a sound that you could swear was a purr. You have a million questions, but you decide that they can wait. One thing is for certain, however. After what she’s been through, she deserves to be somewhere safe. Hopefully you can provide that.