A Cat

        It was just a cat. That's what the prick kid tried to tell me during questioning. It didn't take long. He broke quickly. Most of them do. It wasn't long before he gave up the names of the two others who participated. And he told me the whole story:

        "It was just a cat."

        There was a heavy pause.

        "Yeah, so... it was just a cat, but— but anyway, it was one of the cats that's always hanging around the farm. There's tons of them. And it was nothing special. I mean, the cat didn't stand out in any way. Just a cat. A farm cat, y'know? And no one cared about it. Derek's dad feeds them, but only so they'll hang around and kill the mice. I wouldn't do it to a real family cat. I'm not nuts. I don't even care, man. Like, I care. But like, what do you care?"

        "I just care about hearing the truth."

        "The truth is I stabbed the cat. We did. We all did it. And I wasn't first. I didn't start it... Derek's mom is so obsessed with cats. If you go in her house, it's all just pictures of cats and Jesus. It's just weird. Blankets tacked on walls. Jesus and cats. And she never pays any attention to Derek. He gets so pissed about it. She just loves those barn cats. So we snatched one up and got it with our pocket knifes."

        "Knives."

        "Yeah."

        "And?"

        "And... we probably stabbed the stupid thing 12 or 15 times, and it didn't bleed as bad as I thought until we started twisting. Derek's idea. It made crying noises at first. It wailed a bit. And—"

        "And did you ever feel any guilt?"

        "There was one sec. There was a sec there where it made a noise like a baby. Like it was a human."

        "And then you felt guilty for what you'd done to it?"

        "What? No. Well, naw. I mean, I'm just telling you 'the truth' like you said. But, it was just a cat."