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Peaches was a lovely cat. She always wore a light pink collar around her neck and she had bright blue eyes not unlike Tommy’s own blue eyes. Not to mention that she had the fluffiest white fur that would shed all over whoever picked her up and held her.
She was a very snuggly and affectionate cat. Peaches would run right up to you and circle around your legs, rubbing her face on them, whilst begging to be picked up. It was always funny watching Techno complain about how she would chew on his hair every time he lifted her up and held her in his arms or balanced her on his shoulder.
At random times during the day Peaches would beg to come into rooms with closed doors so she could hop up onto the beds and burrow into the blankets and pillows, making a nest for herself. She had ruined one to many pillows by kneading them with her paws, claws out and picking apart the fabric.
Peaches was drawn to boxes like a magnet. Anytime they had a box lying around the house there was a good chance you could peer into it and find the cat sleeping or playing in it. She was also drawn to articles of clothes left around the house. Missing socks could be found underneath where Peaches had spent her day sleeping. Coats would be picked up from where they had been left on the couch only to find that they had been covered with cat hair. Laundry days could be ruined if Peaches found her way into the clean clothes pile. She did like jumping into the laundry baskets after all.
Phil also liked to call Peaches a mischievous cat. Tommy figured this was a given, since she was a cat. Weren’t they made for mischief? So along with chewing on Techno’s hair Peaches liked to purposefully lay on his books and attack the pages of them when she sat with him while reading. Wilbur’s missing guitar picks could be found when Peaches kicked them around the house and chased after them. Phil had his ankles attacked every morning when Peaches demanded food. And the wires and cables to any sort of device could be found with cat bites on them, which had ruined the majority of Tommy’s phone chargers.
All in all, it was easy to say that Peaches was the best cat ever.
And she was also a dirty traitor .
“Tommy I’m not going to disturb Peaches' sleep just because you want her in your room tonight,” Wilbur said, sitting on his desk chair as he stared at his computer monitor, typing away on his keyboard. He barely spared Tommy a glance when he let himself into his older brother’s room unprompted, wondering where the cat was before he went to sleep and secretly hoping that the cat would sleep in his room tonight. But instead of Tommy’s own bed, Peaches was dead asleep in Wilbur’s bed, laying on top of a pile of clothes Wilbur never put away after they did laundry today. Traitorous pussy.
“But I want to snuggle with her,” Tommy said with a frown. “And I’ve been looking for her for ages.”
Wilbur rolled his eyes, still focused on whatever was on his monitor. Probably schoolwork, but Tommy wasn’t paying attention to whatever it was. If it wasn’t video games then he tended to lose interest rather quickly. Wilbur was pretty boring like that, he stayed up into late hours of the night to do homework, not game like him and Techno occasionally did. Maybe it’s because Wilbur was the oldest, he just was born to be boring like that.
“Leave the cat alone Toms,” Wilbur said, typing away at his keyboard. “If you wake her up then she’ll be all pissy anyway. Just let her sleep.”
Tommy hated that Wilbur was right. Peaches hated being woken up from her nap more than she hated the neighbor’s dog that lived across the street. And she and that dog had been at each other’s throats for years. If Tommy woke her up not only would she be pissed at him, but she’d probably be up for the next couple of hours causing chaos that no one wanted to deal with in the middle of the night. It was getting closer to midnight with every passing minute and everyone just wanted to sleep at this point.
“Fine,” Tommy hissed out, pouting. He really enjoyed when Peaches would curl up in his bed at night. She knew better than to sleep near his face, usually curling into his side or sleeping on the blankets and stuffed animals he kept on the end of his bed. She warded off any bad dreams that he had the chance of getting and provided a sense of comfort. But she had chosen to grace Wilbur with her precious presence tonight, and Tommy would just have to deal with that.
He wasn’t happy about it, but it was what it was.
So with a heavy heart and one last look at the cute sight of Peaches hiding her face in one of Wilbur’s beanies as she slumbered on his bed, Tommy left Wilbur’s room to go to sleep.
⇥ ⬫ ⬦ ♢ ⬦ ⬫ ⇤
Tommy wasn’t one to have dreams very often. Most of his dreams he couldn’t remember, unless they're so obscure or bizarre that they keep him lying awake in bed moments after they end. The “wait, what the fuck was that?” kind of dreams that could either be mildly terrifying, insanely cool, or just really confusing. The other types of dreams he tended to remember were very mundane and easy to forget right after he woke up. They would manage to come back to him in a moment of deja-vu later in the day, startling him with the sudden memories of the dream he had the night before, but they were never very interesting. Just regular tasks that he did in the dream world to repeat in reality. Then, finally, he had the classic “forgetting to wear shoes” recurring dreams that always managed to show up at the most random times in his brain.
That may seem like a lot of dreams he remembered, but it really wasn’t. He could go months without remembering a dream and instead have a relatively peaceful sleep. Compared to Wilbur, who had daily dreams that he could remember with vivid detail most of the time, Tommy’s dreams were nothing special. Phil and Techno were between the two of them, having dreams regularly but forgetting them half of the time. Tommy never really considered his ability to recall his dream unlucky, especially with some of the dreams Wilbur described to him, but sometimes he wished that he could remember more of his dreams.
He didn’t mean it like this though.
There was a door in front of him. He was surrounded by darkness, but this door stood out, white in the abyss of black. He couldn't help but be drawn to it and his feet took cautious steps forward. The gravity was low and there was a slight bounce to each of his steps that gradually faded the closer he got to the door.
Just as he rested his hand on the doorknob, gravity crashed down onto him and with a jolt his whole body felt heavy as he settled. Tommy stared at the doorknob, a sense of dread washing over him quickly. He’s not sure why he felt so nervous all of the sudden, but it didn't stop him from twisting the doorknob and pushing the door open.
He only took a couple steps into the room, just enough for the door to close behind him of its own accord, before he froze in place.
Sky blue never looked so obnoxiously beautiful. Red never looked so horrifyingly dirty.
The room was empty. The floor of the room — or well carpet — was white, and Tommy could recognize it as the same carpet that ran throughout parts of their house. The walls were a pretty sky blue that was a shade too bright, too high in saturation that they almost hurt to look at. The more he looked at the walls the more obnoxious they became, startlingly bright and hurting his eyes. There was one bright light embedded in the ceiling that was a stark white, probably contributing to the brightness of the walls. All in all, the room was bland. However, that’s not what caught Tommy’s attention and managed to freeze him in place.
Wilbur was sobbing as he kneeled on the ground next to the still body of Peaches. Blood stained his hands and his yellow sweater, like he had either held the cat to his chest or wiped the blood on his sweater. Tommy could believe either of those things if someone told them that they were true.
Peaches herself was stained with blood as it pooled underneath her. Crimson had never been such an ugly color, and it had never looked so hideous next to this offensive shade of sky blue that painted the walls of the room. Peaches was still, so very still, and laid sprawled out on the floor, Wilbur’s hands hovering over her as he sobbed.
“I didn’t- I didn't mean to- I didn’t-” Wilbur stumbled and hiccupped over his words, fat tears rolling down his cheeks as he turned to his younger brother. His body trembled as he hugged himself with his bloodied hands, collapsing onto his butt as his legs bent underneath him. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry- I didn’t- I’m sorry!”
He continued to apologize as he wept, snot dripping out of his nose, tears running down his cheeks, and hiccups escaping from his lips. Tommy just stared at him. Stared at Peaches. Stared at the body of the dead cat that his brother was apologizing for. Stared that the cat that his brother was suggesting that he killed through his apologies. Tommy was emotionless, frozen, as he stared.
Peaches head was smashed in. It looked like someone had peeled the fur away from her skull, exposing the white bone that had been stained with red. Brains, blood, and guts were splattered on the floor around her, clumps of cat hair lying in the puddle that was growing around the cat’s prone body.
That was- that was her brain . Her skull was exposed and the sockets for her eyes were hauntingly empty, especially considering the fact that her eyes were not amongst the mess on the floor. The blood was all over her fur and her formerly pale pink collar, staining the carpet beneath her. There was just so much of it. So, so much blood.
Tommy lurched forward and if his dream self could have vomited Tommy thinks that he would have. He’s not sure how dream Wilbur didn’t vomit as he was quite literally sitting in and right next to the puddle of cat blood on the floor. Sitting right next to the corpse of their family pet. Sobbing at apologies still continued to fall from his lips as he hesitantly reached and pulled away his hands from their cat.
Oh poor Peaches. Tommy had watched that cat grow up, helping to raise her since she was a kitten. He remembered the day of his eighth birthday when Phil had finally relented to his pleas of getting a pet, driving him and his brothers down to the shelter to pick out a pet together. They had brought home the cute, tiny, and fluffy white cat home that same day. They had named her together in the back of the car, sticking their fingers into her carrier and giggling as she tried to bite their fingers. For six years now that cat had lived in their home. Now Tommy felt sick to his stomach as he watched his brother cry next to the mutilated corpse of their beloved pet.
Not being able to stomach the scene before him anymore Tommy turned and quickly twisted open the door behind him, running out of the room as fast as he possibly could. He didn’t care if he slammed the door behind him, he wanted the sight of Peaches’ corpse out of his mind. He let his back slump against the door behind him, shocked, as he stared out into the abyss of black that surrounded the room on the outside.
For a little while he leaned against that door in silence, his heart racing. He blinked slowly, trying to erase the mental image of the bloodied Peaches from his memories. He didn’t even care about the way Wilbur had cried, how he had apologized for her death, he cared about forgetting.
And for some odd reason, the impulse to open the door only grew the more he wanted to forget.
Without his permission his body moved on its own, standing up straight and turning around. His hand reached for the doorknob, twisting it as he pushed the door open again, stepping back into the room. Tommy couldn’t even close his eyes to try and avoid looking at the scene, forced to take it all back in.
The same sky blue walls greeted him. The white carpet and the light in the ceiling had remained the same. Silence fell over him and so did relief as Tommy took in the sight of the room.
Two cats sat on the other side of the room. Peaches, fur as pristine and fluffy white as ever, was cleaning her face with her paw. Her collar was back in place and her eyes would open every so often, revealing the bright blue orbs that shone in the light. A light brown tabby cat was sitting by her side, staring at Tommy with yellow-green eyes. There was no blood, no guts, and no Wilbur surprisingly enough. But there was a book, sitting in front of the cats, flipped open with its pages facing up toward the ceiling. It was like the book was inviting him to read it, and Tommy wasn’t one to turn it down. Not when he felt so curious and so confused about all of this.
Tommy crossed the room and stopped in front of the cats. He crouched to pick up the book, eyes already beginning to scan the pages before he stood up completely. He only stopped before reading to glance down at the cats in front of him.
Peaches was looking up with her bright blue eyes, her little eyes sparkling as they looked into his own similarly blue ones. She mewed a little greeting at him before getting to her feet, affectionately rubbing her face along the legs of his pants as she walked in circles around him. Her friend just stared up at Tommy with his yellow-green eyes, not moving an inch. Tommy returned his attention to the book.
The ink was messy, along with the handwriting. There were a couple of paw prints of the page, creating a big ink stain in the corner. There was little writing, but enough to give Tommy context on whatever had happened, answering some of his questions.
I called in a friend to help revive me, using one of my lives to return to you. I loved you and your family too much to leave this soon. I’m happy to stay with you for the rest of my second life, and maybe we will meet when my third life comes around as well!
Peaches’ yipped a happy little greeting at Tommy before rubbing against him again. She really was an affectionate cat. Tommy just was shocked that this other cat helped use one of her lives to- revive her?
Cats actually had nine lives?
Peaches continued to circle around his legs as Tommy slowly began to wake up, his consciousness being dragged out of that room with the obnoxiously bright sky blue walls and away from the cats that had decided to reside there.
⇥ ⬫ ⬦ ♢ ⬦ ⬫ ⇤
Tommy woke up with a start. Not the kind of waking up with a start where you’re breathing heavily and you sit up really fast as you try to get your heart rate under control, no. Tommy woke up and his eyes fluttered wide open as he stared up at the ceiling with the realization that he was not going to be able to fall back asleep for a while.
What the fuck kind of dream was that?
The images of the dream were already beginning to fade from his mind as his grip on the memories loosened, but it was still freaky as hell. Tommy involuntarily shuddered in his bed as he thought about Peaches' mangled body that somehow, with the power of revival or some shit, managed to reverse back into a perfect state. And then there was Wilbur, who had been covered in her blood and cried over her corpse, only to disappear at the appearance of another cat.
It was weird and disturbing as hell, especially the first half of the dream that was definitely off putting, and Tommy couldn’t help but worry for both his cat and his brother as he lay awake.
Slowly sitting up Tommy threw off his blankets, coming to the conclusion that he couldn’t stay here and think about that dreadful dream any longer. He slipped out of bed, his bare feet hitting the floor with a soft thump as he stood. He stumbled for a second before getting his bearings, blinking as he made his way through the dark.
He had left his door cracked open as he slept in the hopes the Peaches would run from Wilbur’s room to his. Now it just left one less obstacle in his way as he left his room to go search for Peaches. He walked the short distance down the hall to Wilbur’s room, ignoring the closed doors of Phil and Techno’s room. He needed to get to his older brother, to see if he was okay. To see if Peaches was okay.
As was the rule for anyone who let the cat sleep in their room overnight, Wilbur’s door was left cracked open just a pinch. It didn’t look like it had been moved at all, so maybe Peaches was still in there, sleeping peacefully. Even with the hopeful thoughts in his mind Tommy hesitated as he rested his hand on the door. Because Peaches couldn’t be dead, and Wilbur wouldn’t be crying and apologizing, and everything would be fine. It didn’t stop dread was building in his stomach and his throat felt clogged, but he pushed the door open.
Even though he knew it was a dream Tommy had expected to find a dead Peaches and sobbing Wilbur. Instead, his oldest brother was asleep underneath his blankets, breathing softly. Tommy could see his chest rise and fall as he slumbered, blissfully unaware of the worried younger brother that entered his room.
At the foot of Wilbur’s bed, atop the pile of clothes he never put away, was Peaches. Her little chest rose and fell in her sleep, and she even had a blanket curled around her now, contributing to the nest she had made for herself. She was alive, so very alive, and Tommy felt his body sag with relief when he realized both his brother and the cat were perfectly fine.
He walked over to Wilbur’s bed, and reached a hand out to Peaches. For a second, his hand hovered over her until he let it gently fall and run over her fur. He scratched behind her ears and pet her gently, smiling when the cat purred in her sleep, flexing her paws happily. He pet her for a minute before retracting his hand and walking over to his brother.
Pulling the blankets back Tommy stared at his sleeping brother. Then he sat on the bed and wiggled under the blankets and into Wilbur’s side, gently shoving his brother over to make room for himself. The bed really wasn’t made for two teenagers, one who was nearly six foot and one that was taller than six foot, but it didn’t matter.
Wilbur grumbled in his sleep and his eyes fluttered open as Tommy got comfortable beside him, leaning into Wilbur and letting himself relax a little.
“Tommy?” Wilbur slurred, half asleep. “Why the fuck are you in my bed?”
“Go back to sleep bitch,” Tommy whispered as he buried his face into Wilbur’s chest, wrapping his arms around him. “I wanted cuddles.”
Neither of the brothers mentioned how strange Tommy was being when it was three in the morning, but neither of them cared. Wilbur only chuckled softly which made Tommy relax into him, closing his eyes as he smiled. He felt comfort in the safety of his brother's arms, and even though he would be teased relentlessly for this in the morning he couldn’t bring himself to care. Mostly because he was too tired but also because he knew actions like these made Wilbur happy too.
Tommy was just happy to know that not only was Peaches alive and safe, but that Wilbur was okay as well, and everything would be alright.
It was just a dream anyway.