Déjà vu

Connections. A Spellbound Story

Angie put her shoes on, and picked up the bunch of keys from the small owl-shaped log cabin, hanging on the wall. She opened the door, which seemed to her as cumbersome as an ancient stone, perhaps one of those that had contributed to building the Holy Roman Empire.

Formerly the stairway outside her flat was emerald-green, but it was faded now. Each floor was separated by 9 steps, and they were worn out and slippery. She walked down to the ground-floor inattentively, lost in her thoughts, humming one of hers Siouxsie and the Banshee's favourite song And don't forget/When your elders forget/To say their prayers/Take them by the legs/And throw them down the stairs.

It was raining cats and dogs that night. Angie exited the condominium and opened her see-through umbrella, looking up at the gloomy sky spellbound. Thunderstorms fascinated her since she was 6, lightning bolts mainly, which cut clouds through the rain. She used to spend her school summer holidays at her grandparents' country house, wandering around in her lonely afternoons. One day she had a walk alone, as usual, in the woods. She had been chasing a little black cat which meowed at her from behind an old conifer and then disappeared in a low-lying, greenish fog. But she didn't find it.

What she found was a big log instead, that had fallen on her way, and she decided to perch on on it, looking at the cloudy sky. It had been raining for hours, and the smell of drenched leaves and black, wet terrain penetrated the air. Soaked with rain, she put absentmindedly the yellow oilcloth hood on, staring at the sky. Through the screen of centuries-old trees, she was enjoying the summer storm, which had illuminated the dark sky with bursts of light, and a blustery wind was making the highest branches of the trees dance. She had forgotten the black kittie entirely.

After a while, the storm enchantment was broken from a ray of sunshine, and Angie came down to earth. She sauntered, singing in a whisper Following the footsteps/Of a rag doll dance/We are entranced/Spellbound.... And that had been the time in which she fell in love with storms.

It was drizzling when Angie came back home. It had been an arduous night: pub’s customers were hard to please, and kitchen’s staff was botching with orders. She closed the umbrella, taking the last gaze at the nightly, cloudy sky. She opened the front door, and a strange feeling came over her. Inside, a low-lying, greenish fog had been floating upon the consumed steps. She felt a chill down the spine when walking inside. She was experiencing the odd feeling of a déjà-vù.

Angie noticed a weak overhead lighting as she stepped curiously towards the stairwell, facing upwards. All the floor lights were off, the one of the top floor excepted. At the fifth level, the terrace, a light was on, and this was really strange, as she was pretty sure that the light bulb was burned out. Two nights ago, actually, Angie went up to the terrace to look for her cousin's cat, Cagliostro. The cat had been missing since the day before, and he had not happened in a long time. She turned on the light of the terrace floor, but it didn't work. She tried to call the cat, whispering, but he wasn't there. In fact, Cagliostro came and went as he wanted, and he hasn't come at home yet, not even for eating.

Angie lived with her cousin Sally, also the owner of the cat, at the third floor of the condominium. At the moment, Sally was involved in a scientific project for the university, and she wasn't at home.

But apparently, none of the lodgers was at home now, because all flats were silent.

Cagliostro was still missing then, and that was the reason why Angie felt a little bit worry about. Sometimes, when he vanished, unusual things happened, especially to her: she was never able to recollect entirely what had happened during Cagliostro's missing.

Looking the stairway upwards, she attempted to call Cagliostro, but she got no answer. Only a weak gasp arrived at her, and she asked if anybody was there in a frightened voice, but just one more gasp came. It was neatly pronounced, and a strange feeling run down her spine. It sounded inhuman, but it could have been a weird effect of herself voice, which had probably been reflected by the stairway echo.

She put her right feet on the first step softly and started climbing the stairway. She heard an irregular breath above her head, and tried to think as rational. When she arrived at the second floor landing, she realized that she had been walking up the stairs for a time that had seemed endless to her. Angie asked again if anybody was there, and all in one breath at this time.

Only a whispered meow arrived unexpectedly to her. But it came from the ground floor. She turned brusquely and directed a glance at the front door, which was half-closed, and she could see raindrops hitting the pavement violently. Strange as it may seem, Angie was sure that she had closed the front-door, recollecting the exact moment when she came inside the condominium. Afterwards, she walked down the stairs covered with light green fog, moving slowly.

A dull sound arrived from upstairs. Someone had started to sing  "Spellbound" from Siouxie and the Banshees in a jangled voice, kept repeating the strophe which Angie had intoned in the noon: And don't forget/When your elders forget/To say their prayers/Take them by the legs/And throw them down the stairs... 

It resounded disquieting, and she didn't go behind, climbing briskly down the stair.

And another meow arrived again to her, and it was also upstairs. BUT she didn't call Cagliostro at this time, because - if it was here -, it was playing with her, and it has happened in the past already. Sometimes Cagliostro used to disappear. Usually during a violent storm indeed, and it used to reappear soon after. It would seem strange, and it could exist a connection between Cagliostro disappearance and her childhood love for storms. Probably.

She remembered the night when Sally found Cagliostro, one year ago. It had rained non-stop for almost five days, and Angie had been outside of the terrace floor, enjoying a spellbinding rainstorm. Sally had called her from the stairwell, and she didn't answer awhile, hearing her cousin's voice from far away, lost in her mind. When Angie finally had climbed down to their apartment, Sally was sleeping on the couch. Angie had reached the couch and had given her a caress on the head; her dark blue hair was all wet, and she probably felt cold. Angie had taken the blanket at her feet then, and had covered her. But something happened. Angie had made a sudden gasp of fear when glimpsed a different purple light under her cousin, below the coach. A small black cat had leapt out from below the coach, and it had run far from there, put itself over against Angie, looking deeply into her eyes. At first, she had had a feeling of fear, but soon after it had become a feeling of relief, as she had already met it, in fact as it has ever been close to her. From that moment on - she supposed - they had become friends. But she had never mentioned that odd circumstance to none.

The odd voice was closer and closer, and it made Angie really upset. She was standing on the ground floor landing, looking toward the half-open front door. It was pouring down outside and looking closely at short steps outside the front door, there was something leaned against the doorjamb. She found a small black cat, rolled into a ball. It looked a-shiver when she took it from the pavement. The cat started to meow, and a loud rumble came. An electric storm arrived: Angie walked absent-mindedly as looked enchanted at the sky, unmindful of the inhuman voice and not worry about the rain.

Someone screamed. Angie woke up with a start as soon as Sally, her cousin, shouted frightened. Angie looked dismayed at the living room, struggling to remember what went on. She recollected strange facts in the stairs and when she went outside, looking at the stormy sky, heedless about the rain and carrying a small black cat. But she couldn't recall what had happened later, and she felt like a drunk who suffers after-effects of too much alcohol.

Sally went into the living room, looking confused at her, asking why she slept on the couch with wet hairs, wearing also soaked clothes. Angie looked at herself, felt instantly cold. Sally had put on her a pile cover, she said when she saw a bizarre purple light under the coach, and then shouted when a little black cat leapt out from below the coach, and it ran far from there, put itself over against her, looking deeply in her eyes. At first, Sally told, she had had a feeling of fear, but soon after this became a sensation of serenity. At the end of her story, Sally smiled at her, announcing that she would make a meal for her cousin's loving cat.

Angie had kept shocked silent when Sally told her the story, and she was more astonished at the end. She couldn't open the mouth for a while, thinking about Cagliostro the cat, who played a joke on her. But how could it be possible that it got inside her, playing mind games? It was only a Cat! She was dreaming, maybe; or probably Sally had joked about the cat, because she knew about their encounter, one year ago, with the purple light under the coach and everything else. Definitely. Of course.

Angie smiled, ready to tell Sally that it was a good joke, she was made interpreting a spectacular performance like a professional actress, and she could stop it now. But she felt speechless when Sally started to shout from the kitchen: ""Oh Angie, tell me...did you already choose the name of that cat?"

Angie answered upset: "What the hell, Sally! It is Cagliostro....Why do you keep teasing me?!?".

At that time the small black cat jumped on her legs, looking spellbinding at her. She instantly felt lost in its mind, relieving their first encounter, in the woods, and Cagliostro showed her what she couldn't remember: she was 6 years old, and she had been missing for 9 hours. She was sitting on that long died fell, looking at the exciting show lightening, when she heard someone singing in a whisper. That voice sounded inhuman, and it was gradually nearest. 

 From the cradle bars/ Comes a beckoning voice/ It sends you spinning/ You have no choice. 

She seemed frightened, looking closely at the direction were the inhuman voice came from. She was gazing a lightening emerald green fog at the feet of the foreboding wood, and fades were stretched in front of her.

You hear laughter/ Cracking through the walls/ It sends you spinning/ You have no choice/ Following the footsteps/ Of a rag doll dance/We are entranced/ Spellbound...

The voice was closer and closer, and Angie was utterly paralysed on the log fell. From the other side, something was moving in the brushes. That little black cat had found Angie, and it was direct to her, moving slowly, stared her straight in the eyes. The song sounded far away, And don't forget/ When your elders forget/ To say their prayers/ Take them by the legs/ And throw them down the stairs, and she looked more chilled lost in cat's eyes. After a while, she felt asleep.

The storm ended, and her grandparents found Angie 9 hours later, dripped wet, slipping on a big log fell. And there was a little black cat, kept still on the right side of the trunk fell, guarding her granddaughter.

Angie woke up from her daydream, Cagliostro in front of her. Its eyes were hypnotic, and there was a something similar to a human smile in its mouth. The cat had undoubtedly unfolded in her mind a false memory about their first encounter, one year ago. And there was a disquieting presence that time in the woods when she was 6, and she had felt the same presence on the stairway tonight. And she realised that Cagliostro had protected her, once again.

"Angie... Do you have a name for the cat?... Are you sleeping again?" Sally shouted from the kitchen. Angie woke up from the hypnotic suggestion and answered in a loud voice, gazed at the cat: "No Sally, I've got it! Cagliostro... the name of the cat is Cagliostro!". Cagliostro was still smiling, nodded slowly at her. "What did you say? Cagliostro?... Such an original name... but a like it! - Sally said - Come on, Cagliostro, your dinner is ready!".

Cagliostro, the magic cat, jumped off Angie knees' and wended feline to the kitchen, conscious of earning a well-deserved dinner.