that made Tray freeze Both were equally large pointed and ready to tear into his flesh This only made Tray madder You’re not going to get away with this I want you out of my yard now he hollered Tray rushed around and grabbed Old Gray from behind He meant to snatch him up and toss him over the fence It wouldn’t hurt Cats always land on their feet But when Tray clutched the sides of the scuzzy old thing it flipped over in his hands Old Gray bared his claws and sank them right into Tray’s arm OW Tray tried to turn him loose but Old Gray had buried his claws deep Prying them loose was like ripping barbs from his flesh The pain blazed though Tray’s veins causing tears to form in his eyes He finally slung the cat away
Old Gray crouched back looking at Tray with victory in his glimmering eyes Then just as quickly he shot away up and over the fence The ten holes in Tray’s skin were now streaming rivulets of blood Lots of blood It poured out quickly pattering onto the dirt He rushed to the back door holding his arm out so it didn’t dribble on his clothes Mom Tray’s mom ran out her face turning white when she saw him Oh no Stay right here I’ll get a wet rag The blood ran thicker beating the ground where it fell Tray grew weak just looking at it His head felt like a balloon losing air I can’t pass out Mom soon returned with ice a rag Band Aids and ointment
Tray took them from her I can do it He wasn’t going to let Old Gray get the best of him He’d be tough After using the rag and ice to stop the bleeding he looked at the tiny holes in his arm They reminded him of teeny bugs burrowing into his skin And why were there thin blue streaks snaking off from each one He quickly applied the ointment Can’t let this fester He fumbled with the Band-Aids until Mom took over to help him out It’s hard to stick on a Band-Aid one-handed After the doctoring was done Mom ran her fingers through Tray’s curly black hair I called Animal Control They’ll be patrolling the neighborhood Tray looked down at his punctured arm I hope they brought armor
weird nightmares That night Tray was plagued with weird nightmares In one the holes in his arm had turned into blinking amber eyes and the hair on his knuckles sprouted cat whiskers In another dream he was trapped in a room full of fun house mirrors In each one he saw Old Gray’s reflection warped and twisted and ready to rip him to shreds Then he dreamed his arm turned a putrid yellow and swelled to the size of a tree trunk He saw himself fading into sleep as a surgeon held up a saw ready to hack off his bloated arm Old Gray sat at the end of the operating table grinning like the Cheshire Cat
