Eldritch Thoughts

Kitten

I have a kitten sleeping in my lap. Sprawled out to his full length, draped over my legs looking for all the world as though he's dead. His eyes are tightly shut, his head lolled back, his white belly proudly displayed and begging to be rubbed. He almost seems to be smiling as he lies there, completely without care. He has no worries. He has nothing to fear. In the total trust he shows me, he can sleep at peace.

The psychic ability of the feline is active even while the body sleeps. This tiny kitten, once small enough to sleep in my palm, now large enough to dangle forelegs and hind off either side of my lap, still manages to move my mind to places it would rather not wander. Perhaps the manipulation is accidental. Perhaps the budding cat still trapped within this small frame is laughing as it effortlessly controls my thoughts. He looks so peaceful lying there. But what does a cat care for human concerns?

There is another head that I would like to lay in my lap. Another head that I wish I could bring to this state of peacefulness and trust. Another head that, perhaps even now, is day-dreaming, wandering through the impenetrable shadows that cover each of her waking hours. I can see her shiver there in the dark, huddling in the cold, embracing the chill, waiting for the numbness to wash over her. Waiting for care and worry and fear to be frozen and blown away by the arctic wind.

Oh, that I could bring light and warmth to that frozen world. Oh, that by the fire blazing within me I could burn away the darkness and drive off the ice. That in my arms she could find refuge and peace. That by words of love I could coax her from her self-interment in that midnight tundra where no flame can sear, no past haunt, no humanity live.

The kitten twitches, stretches, yawns. He shifts into another contortionist's pose that he seems to find more comfortable. The spell is broken. My thoughts are once again my own. But still I feel the pull. Still I feel her call. Perhaps it is not the kitten that holds sway over my imagination. He looks so peaceful lying there. Would that he could share that secret with me.