Pandora's Boxes
Today is a lazy day, no missions, no plans, just lazy and sunshine. I’m Marius and I am a black adventurer cat. I have an important, unrecognized, and unknown role in civilization. I keep this world safe from other dimensions. I know that sounds like a line, but it’s true as sure as I am black. I live with a nearly hairless creature us cats call caretakers. I named mine Rayne, not that she goes by that with other caretakers. Our caretakers are none the wiser when it comes to what we do. We are guardians.
My home is small, just enough room for my caretaker and myself. We have one bedroom, a food prep room, a relaxing room and a bathroom. Our bedroom is small, but it has a nice sized bed that we both fit on and is extra soft with fuzzy blankets. Rayne knows I love them. She has a great tree for me in our room as well. I can climb, scratch, nap and all sorts of things with it. Our relaxing room has some of the best toys for enjoyment. She likes to watch a picture box sometimes and I’ll watch with her if it seems interesting. Our sitting surface is older, a little worn but nice and comfy. There are usually a couple boxes in the relaxing room as well. I’m sure you can guess what is in the other two rooms.
Boxes are crazy powerful things. It doesn’t really matter what the box is made of it is either a window or a door. That is why we cats always go into them the moment we see an open one. We must know if it is a window or a door, and to where. Paper bags count too, but they are always windows not doors. Cardboard boxes are most often doors, but not always. Some go to another planet, some to a parallel universe, and some to the spirit world. Once we have seen what the box is, we determine its use and mark it as our territory. This is partly so that we know what we saw by how the box is marked, and partly so anything from the other side knows that this is protected ground. I’ve gone to some terrible lengths to protect my home and my caretaker.
I work with a group called Pandora’s Boxes. Not all cats can get a gig like this one. You must be curious, intelligent, unyielding. Most cats simply mark the box and let it be. If it is a scary one the urine mark it which the human usually will throw the box away after. Not those that work for Pandora’s Boxes. We will explore the other side, observe and report back the information to headquarters. Sometimes we’ll see a technology or new being with strange intelligence. After we report this to our headquarters we get orders on how to relay the information or if we should to our caretakers. Most often we dream-merge to pass on the information. Dream-merging is the most comfortable and accepted way for caretakers to receive the data. If you have trained your caretaker and they are smart enough to understand you then there are some options as well. But it’s not common for them to understand us. I had a particularly unnerving experience with a box realm some years back.
Before we moved into this home we lived in another. It was bigger, and more caretakers lived with us. Rayne had two kits and another caretaker living with us at the time. I remember the day that the other moved in with us and brought a ton of boxes with. I don’t consider the sealed boxes, they are safe while full and sealed, but some of the boxes he brought were terrible portals with darkness and dare I say evil. I was super busy testing boxes after he moved in and I had one box that was particularly problematic. It finally got to the point that I had to urine mark it so that my caretaker would remove the box permanently.
It all started with weird noises coming from one of the new boxes. I know caretakers don’t hear what is going on, it’s some kind of perception deficiency with their race. Something to note is that we cats see the spirit world just as it crosses into our own space. It has a translucence to it though, so we can tell the difference. This is why we seem to stare at blank walls for hours, we are actually seeing something there. With this box the spirits were also acting strange. The more benevolent spirits were avoiding as strongly as I had ever heard of. I also noticed that creepy crawlies started gathering around the house more. I had no choice but to investigate.
After I first stepped into the box I almost felt like I was choking on toxic fumes. I followed the breathing exorcises and calming meditation we learned just to come back to myself. I decided at that point it was time to check in with HQ. They needed to know I was heading on this mission and that it was off and potentially dangerous. That way if something happened they could track down the energies and contain the problem. Pandora is an ancient cat and is part of the spirit realm at this point. Having lived beyond her years she can only manifest in the spirit realm consistently. They talk about cats having nine lives, what they don’t talk about is that the ninth one is lived exclusively in the spirit realm and has no average lifespan. You exist until you do not. I told Pandora of the box and so far my experience in just stepping into it. I could see her spirit fur bristling. My orders were to explore as best I could and bring back anything I could from my observations. But at the first sign of trouble run.
I then headed into the box again, holding my breath this time. Instead of a chocking sensation I felt cold tingles all over my skin and couldn’t help but raise my hackles. The world was shadowed, there was seemingly nothing vibrant or alive. The colors were all dull and a sort of soot fell from the air all around me. The place seemed empty though like an empty city waiting for the world that forgot it. I finally had to take a breath in and it almost knocked me to the ground it smelled so strong. But I couldn’t put my nose to it of what the smell was. It was almost like the air itself was stale mixed with an after charge of electricity. I decided shallow breathing would be safest while in this world. Or was it a dimension. I can usually tell right away but this had elements of both, maybe all three. Different world in a different dimension mixed with the spirit world in some way? I figured I could contemplate that another time.
I sat in this place for a few minutes just listening. There was no sound. The leaves in trees rustled around like a wind blew through, but never made a single sound. I saw a plastic cup blow by on the wind and when it hit the ground it was a very dull thump almost to quiet to hear at all. A caretaker would definitely not hear anything in this place. I started to gather my courage and walk forward. I see buildings and cars all dilapidated and abandoned. As I start to get near to one of the cars I see that its rusting in parts and some kind of ooze is dripping down from the engine.
Suddenly I hear a clicking sound! My fur stands on end at once and I slowly back away from the car looking all around me. Nothing, and the clicking stops. I can only interpret it as a warning. I don’t know why I looked up when I did but the sight nearly paralyzed me. I could see storm clouds gathering into a form in the gray sky. As the parts gathered together more a black shape started to emerge from the sky and it was huge! As I scanned over it trying to see the shape I noticed the gleam of red glowing eye shapes. The eyes were looking directly towards me and getting closer.
“GET OUT NOW” I heard in my head. Pandora had been following along in the spirit realm it seems. As she said that in my mind the storm screamed a howl that shook the ground I stood on. From there I ran. I ran as hard as I could, feeling the ground beneath shake and doing all I could to remain steady. The moment I made it back to the doorway I suddenly felt exhausted. I remembered the sun being out when I entered into the box, but now it was dark and night was fully here. I lost almost a half of a day in that realm for what seemed like mere minutes.
I was very upset at the experience and sought out my caretaker. She always knew when I was stressed and gave me treats and love when I needed it. I definitely needed it now. It took a couple hours of cuddling before I was ready to check back in with HQ.
When I checked in I was in shock. Pandora was still not back. That worried me on many levels, so I walked back over to the box and peered inside. It was pitch black, not like it had been dark when I first explored but like a blackness overtook even the dark and it thrummed with a life its own. I paced around the box trying to keep from whining in worry. That’s when I started to notice some shapes coming into site around me. They were like ghosts but not your friendly Casper type. These were dark, hungry, and full of rage. I tried checking into HQ one more time, something had to be done quickly and I didn’t want to destroy the box if Pandora was still there.
When I checked in I saw her laying down exhausted. The relief washed over me until I saw her tail. She had lost her tail in that place! She wouldn’t tell me what happened for my own safety and she ordered the box crushed and urine marked. She had learned all she was willing to risk, and it would forever draw darkness to it as long as it existed.
I did not hesitate. I climbed up to the highest point I could and jumped down to squish the box. I did this repeatedly until I saw edges tear. Then, much to my caretaker’s annoyance, I urine marked the box for removal. I made sure to get it as soaked as I could so there was no thought of reusing that box for anything.
I was pretty young back then, but that is when I started taking my guardianship seriously. I’ll always watch over my domain and my caretaker.
