By Rachel H Grant

Black cat Mystic Molly prowled the dark Halloween streets, a mission unfolding her heart, a story reciting silently in her head. Distant fireworks lit the sky like shooting stars. Tonight, she would be the star for one lucky child.

The night was as black as a panther, and alive with molten mystery, the moonlight above like a promise of the impossible.

The sleepy village was quiet on this Halloween eve. Ahead stood a red brick house. A black and white cat stared from an upstairs window, dainty disdain in her green eyes.

Molly stopped at the house door. She had travelled for three days to find this one house, this one place where she was meant to be.

For Molly was a cat saviour, a feline hero with a mission to complete. And in this house, there lived a little boy who she was destined to help. Some cats had nine lives. Molly had nine missions. This would be her third.

A happy retirement in front of a warm fire loomed a long way ahead.

The cat in the window continued to stare, then began scratching on the windowpane feverishly.

There was something so familiar about her … eyes that she had once known.

Molly stopped, transfixed. The black and white cat charged through the cat flap like a gale force wind with white paws.

“Molly …” The word was in her head, the ancient art of telepathy. It was Suki, her mother.

Together, they entered the house, joy licking their eyes and sparking a fire of feline ferocity. “All my kittens were magical,” confided Suki, “but none more so than you.”

“I have come here for the little boy.”

“Ah, Tom. A special soul indeed.”

Molly scratched at the little boy’s bedroom door. His eyes lit up like stars as he opened the door. Molly rubbed around him, and shed one of her magical cat whiskers.

Tom played with her for half an hour, holding and cherishing the whisker afterwards, black cat magic burning in his heart, a feline fantasy beating fast inside.

The whisker grew hot in Tom’s hands. Then it started to grow, and grow! Finally it transformed in to a beautiful white fountain pen.

Tom retrieved a notebook, and wrote and wrote in to the night. This was a Halloween to remember. A secret cat world of black cats formed under his fingers, ruled by beautiful Divina the Delightful.

He drifted to sleep with the pen in his hands, and then was really there. Black Cat Star. Cats rubbed around him, overjoyed to find a gentle human boy. Meadows stretched to a distant horizon of low hills, a cat face in stone on one of them. Ladybirds flew by, and bees buzzed a melody of peace.

One kitten in particular played with Tom, Kerry the Joyful. They rolled in the grass and chased butterflies together.

When Tom awoke the next morning, he heard purring. To his disbelief, she was there on the bed beside him. Kerry, in full breathing reality. A dream come true.

With Kerry as his companion, Tom began to write in earnest of his fantastic cat world.

Every cat he created, suddenly appeared somewhere … anywhere in the world, where it would befriend a child. And help that child on the rugged path of life.

Meanwhile, Molly embarked on her travels. A little girl needed help. However when she arrived, Annette already had a new kitten, a feline from Tom’s magical world. Molly rubbed around Kitkat, and together they each shed a magical white whisker. The whiskers grew and grew, turning in to two sparkling white feathers. Annette clapped her hands in joy. A magic feather ring portal opened.

Tom’s fictional world had come true. And as Annette stepped through, Tom was there too. Together, they traversed Black Cat Star. Hours later, they each awoke in their own beds, a smile of forever on their faces and a cat in their arms.

Meanwhile Molly again walked unfamiliar paths through strange forests and unfriendly fields. Her mission burned inside like a phoenix rising from the flames, however at the back of her mind another voice shouted for attention. Black Cat Star. How she wished to go there. A paradise for cats like no place on this world. A place to finally call home … a safe space to purr forever.

She could hear it calling her name.

However there were still seven missions to go, seven lives to change.

So on and on she walked, days sliding into months like toppling dominoes. The stars seemed to shine brighter in the sky, as Molly looked up and wondered which one was Black Cat Star.

Molly dreamt of a better future, the happy ending at the end of all adventures. An end that was only a beginning. A world of wonder and whiskers engulfed her heart, as she walked and walked. Only five more children now, and after tomorrow only four.

So take time to say hello to all cats who cross our path, for you never know where they are going … or where they have been. And let’s walk in to the night and find our adventure, let’s dream of our very own star, let’s believe in the happy ending for all our stories. And above all, never stop believing in black cat magic, for one day you too may just meet that one cat who will change your world.