Tears of Blissful Sorrow Chapters 1-9

Chapter 1: The Claws Come Out

“Come here Pretty Kitty!”
Man, I really do hate being called that. Ever since 7th grade when all the guys hit puberty and realized I was something they would call hot, they have been calling me that. Look, I may not be the most popular girl at school but I am one of the most attractive and everyone knows it. From my height of 5’7” to my Black and orange streaked, wavy hair to my thin yet curvy body, I am the envy of most of the “prep” girls at Scarsmith Middle School and the desire of all the guys here. The worst of them is Jacob Diaz. He and I have been in the same classes since 2nd grade and he has always picked on me, who knows why. He was the one who first came up with that little “pet” name. He is a major pain in my…
“You better play nice Kitty! I am a big, mean dog sometimes.”
If means he is a little b…
“Stop teasing her David or she might pull out her claws!”
I swear, if I could I would.
“Maybe if we got her a lil’ catnip she wouldn’t be such a sour pussy cat.”
Maybe if I got you a lil’ blood on your face you wouldn’t be such a stuck-up brat.
“I bet she likes to be scratched behind her ears.”
I bet you have a soft spot behind your ears.
Okay so maybe I am a little bit violent but I can try to explain. It really is simple, I have an anger problem. One time last year, I punched that guy David Glover in the face for kicking my chair in Pre-Algebra. How he got into the Advance Math class, I have no idea but he did. David, Jacob, Tony, and the rest of the “Prep Bully Gang” are in most of the Honors and Advance classes with me. Just because I am attractive doesn’t mean I can’t be smart too because I can do both. Most of the girls in those classes are also attractive but they’re all preps and I am nowhere near being a prep. The preps are all cheerleaders or jocks on football or basketball teams. I seem to be one of the only sane students at this school. I don’t know what I would do if it wasn’t for my soccer team and my best friend Scott Falconn.
“Hey, leave her alone you tools!”
Ever heard of the saying, “Speak of the devil and he will appear?” Well the same is true with Scott with anything from speaking of him to thinking of him sometimes.
“Yeah, and who’s going to stop us, Bird Brain?”
“Me.”
I never said Scott was street-smart, I mean taking on the most athletic guy at our school and his buddies by yourself? Pretty stupid. But he is book-smart and my friend.
“Okay, bring it on.”
Did I mention he happens to be the luckiest person I know? Right after Jacob said this, the bell to end lunch rang and we went off to our classes. I, however, have terrible luck. I just so happen to be heading to P.E. with Jacob and the Blowfish. UGH! I dislike gym in general because it just basically exploits those of us who are athletic and those who are, let’s just say, not athletic. But today is Friday and Mr. Jaeger thinks that the word “Friday” mean “Dodge Ball Day.” He puts all of us in the first category on one team and everyone else against them on the other team. He “claims” to make it fair by putting one of the athletic people on the second team and one of those who are not athletic on the first team. Guess who is the lucky winner today? That is right, it’s me! I am the one who gets to play with those losers. Again I say UGH!
After spending a minute changing into my gym clothes and another two minutes not going out to the gym, Mr. Jaeger called us out. I left the locker room reluctantly. He took attendance and told us today he had something special planned for us, we were playing dodge ball with the grade below us. Great, just great, more people I don’t want to do this with. How did he make the teams you may ask? The same way as always, one good player for every other bad player in the class. Some freak from that seventh grade class and I got put on the losing side. We hadn’t even gotten to the walls to start and I knew we were going to lose. Let’s just say that after whistle blew and all the morons from my side of the gym tried to run up and get a ball and were hit before getting anywhere near a ball left the court, I was one of not even twenty. There’s more than twenty girls in my gym class! That’s not even counting the guys! Everyone else but I and that one athletic guy got out in the next five minutes. I have to say, he and I made a good team. He warned me when a ball was coming at me and I did the same for him. Together, we got all but Jacob’s gang out of the game. Two vs. six may not sound like great odds but we made do. I didn’t expect anything to happen that wasn’t normal but who ever does? Three things happen almost at once: The other guy on my team yelled at me, Jacob yelled “Kitty want to play with a ball?”, and I spun and caught the ball with my fingertips which seemed to stick into the ball.





Chapter 2: A Flight Away From a Fight

Look, I have no idea what just happened but it’s not normal. Mr. Jaeger had to pry the ball from my nails. When he did, my nails looked about a half inch longer than they were and sharpened to point. He told me to go down to the nurse’s office. I don’t know if she could do anything about it but I went anyway. I would have done anything to get away from the looks everyone was giving me. From shock to awe to disgust to… I don’t know how to describe it. Even Jacob didn’t have a smart-aleck response to this. I almost sprinted into hall, wish Scott was here with me. Again, think of the Scott and he shall appear. I had barely turned the corner when I literally bumped into him. He was walking the other way on the same side of the hall as me and SMACK! His stuff went everywhere. He just stood and locked his gaze to my green almost yellow eyes. He told me to run. All I know is that after I asked why, he just grabbed my hand and ran down the hall with me keeping pace right behind him. We went down halls and through doors I didn’t even know this school had. We finally burst through a door into a blinding light. I think it might be called a sun, but don’t take my word for it. All I can say is it was bright and I couldn’t really see through it but I did feel someone grab my hand and pull me along. As I have said before, I’m not that lucky. As soon as my eyes adjusted to the light, I tripped and tree root. Talk about smooth. I looked up and say that there was two guys standing around me but I was kind of dizzy from the fall but I think the one was Scott. After that, the one that seemed like Scott said we need to go towards the “Nest” whatever that is. The “Might-Be-Scott” picked me up in his arms without a struggle and began to move. I looked down and saw the other guy running along the earth next to us while we seemed to be flying about two feet of the ground. That’s when I blacked out.













Chapter 3: A Cat in the Cradle.

Talk about a killer headache. I came to with a headache about the size of a Texas Bar-B-Q party in early July. I tried to sit up; so you can’t call me lazy when I tell you it was much easier for me to lie down. I moaned and looked around the room I was in. It was strange to say the least but the weirdest part was the fact that the guy from my dodge ball team was in there with me. Or it might have been the fact that he and Scott were talking about me. They stopped when they heard my moaning.
“Hey Tabby. How you feeling?”
Scott only calls me Tabby when in I look like I don’t feel well which is seldom. I must look pretty bad then.
“If a rabbit was skinned alive, I would still be in more pain than that rabbit.”
He laughed, which is good sign.
“So not too bad then, huh?”
I swear he is the only one who could make jokes like that in this circumstance. What is this circumstance anyway?
“So where are we and why are we here and not at school?” I asked.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that until later. Guess I might as well tell you. We’re in the ‘Nest.’”
“But what is the ‘Nest’?”
“It’s a safe house for people like us.” Said a voice I knew wasn’t Scott’s but that seventh grader again.
“What do you mean ‘People like us’? Who is ‘us’?”
“Listen Kathrine, you and I are more than just friends, we’re partners. We were assigned to each other at birth even if you don’t remember it. I only know it because my parents told me. They were assigned to each other too, as were your parents. Why do you think we are both only child’s? We’re different in all sorts of ways.”
“Wait, what? Do you mean we were arranged to get married at birth?
I don’t think so!”
“That’s not what I mean, I just mean that you and I are meant to work well together in some sort of way. I don’t know yet but those might have something to do with it.” He was pointing at my fingers whose nails were still longer than they should be. I think they even grew more while I was unconscious.
“What do you mean by that? So what if I have long nails?” I didn’t even notice the strange things hanging from his arms, I was too busy glaring at his strangely beautiful, beady eyes.
“Katherine Tabitha Devon Rex Calico, don’t you dare think that your nails have been that long. You and I both know that is not true. You never let your nails grow past your fingertips because if you do you know that people will start thinking you are a preppy girl. Those are not normal. Except for the fact they are.”
“What do you mean by that? These are 100% not normal and they are 100% not mine. Why would you even think they were?!?”
“Flex your hand back.”
“What?”
“Just do it. If I’m right, you listen to me and if I am wrong you can bite them down to the same size they always are.”
I don’t know what to think of this but I have this nagging feeling that he is right. I flex my hand back. My nails shorten to their normal length.
“There, see? I’m right. Now just sit up, shut up, and listen.”






Chapter 4: The Obsessed Souls and a Toad.

“It started so far back that no one knows the exact day or year but some people were always different, just like us. People with a gift that others considered a curse. This gift is one that was given to the descendants of the first men to kill animals. These animal’s spirits were obsessed with returning to life so they merged their souls with those of man. Not all men, but those who were joined with found the others to not be appreciated of their merger. The Merged, as they began to be called, were not accepted by those who were normal and were out casted because of that. They did not agree with these feelings towards them and the hatred from the animals began to rise and with them the animal’s traits. They soon began to call themselves The Perfected. The hostility between the two groups elevated to an extreme point: Man formed a group to hunt down and kill The Perfected. This group was known as The Dynasty. The Perfected heard of them and they knew that the inner animal of all them had to be released or they would die. Most survived but not everyone did. They fled to every corner of this world by ways of the air, earth, and water. The Dynasty did not give up but worked even harder to find them. They hunt relentlessly; day or night, hot or cold, rain or sun, snow or hail, they persisted in hunting every last one of The Perfected. The majority were found and killed, those who weren’t went in to hiding or faded into society without a trace. Our ancestors were some who join society. We all worked together, helping each other, never knowing if your friends were Perfected or Sons of Man. This is they way it should have been from the start but even now Dynasty hunts for us. We are alone for now. The three of us can only rely on each other.”
“The three of us? Who’s the third?”
“Me.” The seventh grader wasn’t just my dream. He was really here. He seemed to have stepped out of the darkness literally.
“My name is Rainette Grenouille Crapaud, but most call me Rain.” I never even noticed that he spoke with a French accent. I mean he looked part French and part something else, like Puerto Rican or something. He didn’t look or sound French earlier, did he?
“If you are wondering my about my accent it is because I was born and lived in France till I was nine. By then I had the accent and my inner animal released. When I do not let my inner beast roam free I look like a typical Brazilian teen.”
Well that explains so much.
“On my ninth birthday my parents and I moved back to my father’s homeland of Brazil. I lived there until last year when The Dynasty attacked our town. I was the only one to survive. I fled into the Amazon and was met by a person my age who seemed to move like an animal. He is the reason I am here today.”
“That’s where I come in. When my parents got this strange call saying it was about to happen again we grabbed our travel bags that we always have packed, took enough money from our stash for three tickets to the nearest airport to there that would take us, and made our way to search the destruction. We could tell that The Dynasty had attacked by how precise the destruction was. Every single house ripped apart piece by piece. Every single person who was killed was placed in stacks of five for easy counting and then drenched in crude oil for burning. They never got to the last step: burn everything. The government got to the village too soon. Lucky us, we were there to see the whole thing. I thought I saw someone run short distances and lie down as not to be seen. They made it to the forest but I was on them. I flew through the trees and found Rain here lying under a bush. I almost passed by him if it wasn’t for the croaking sound he made. Such a deep, mournful cry of help. That’s when the unthinkable happened, the place where my parents were waiting was blown up. Now not only did this attack make Rain an orphan but me too. Ever since then he has been under the alias of Thomas René Crapaud: the Brazilian exchange student living at our house.”
“You never told me your parents died.”
“No one could know. Anyone I told could be a Dynasty member. To keep myself and Rain safe, we buried the fact of my parents’ death. I told you the same thing I told most people: They were on a business trip. This trip just one that ended in their death.”
“That’s horrible.”
“That’s life.” Said a new voice.





Chapter 5: The Wolfhound of Scarsmith.

Great, how many people are in this stupid room anyway? Both Rain and Scott had this weird look on their face, as if they didn’t know this voice. Strange considering it was the voice of our Principle. OUR PRINCIPLE WAS HERE TOO?!?!?! What was he here for? I spun my head back a forth, trying to see if they knew why our Principle was here. That’s what those faces must have meant because they both looked at each other too.
“Come down from there, kids. I know you’re up there!”
I guess if your Principle heard a conversation that would leave Confucius in confusion you better listen to him.
“Check the back, make sure all alarms are set and CONNIE is online.” Scott said in a whisper. “And don’t make a single peep. We better not get caught.”
“Get down here now or I will come up!” I couldn’t believe such a large man could climb up but better safe than sorry.
“I’m going.” I said
“What? Are you crazy? After all we just told you about The Dynasty trying to kill us all, you want to risk it for him?”
“I always have trusted him and I can now too. I think.”
“Fine. Let’s go.”
I followed him out of the room which led us through another room, and another room, and another room. Finally we made it out to a spiral staircase that led out the trunk of a tree, three feet off the ground. By the time we got there Mr. Aengus was waiting for us by the same tree. All of his features seemed a little more… how do you say… a little more of them today. His sagging eyes to his wild, grey hair to his slightly-too-large-for-his-head ears to his incredibly-too-large-for-his-face nose, they all seemed to just be more noticeable.
“Took you long enough! I smelled you coming this whole way. You” he said pointing at Scott “need to learn how to cover your scent. No, wait,” Just then Rain jumped down from a tree so silently I don’t think I would have heard him. Mr. Aengus spun around and pointed at him “you are the one who can’t mask his scent. You smell like pond scum so I guess that makes you a Crapaud doesn’t it?”
“Sir, you know my name is Thom…”
“Oh, cut the crap Crapaud! I knew who you were since I first meet you.”
“So if you know who he is by his smell then you must be one of us right?”
“That I am. My name is Brain Aengus. Both mean strong for that is what I am. I’m a canine type.”
“A what?” I asked.
“A canine type. My ancestor was given the spirit of a wolf that was killed and his wife was a fox. Both are canines.” Mr. Aengus tried to explain.
“But how do you know all this? And how did you know about us?” I asked
“As I said, I knew about the frog here and I knew about the bird and his parents but I was shocked when I heard you talking. I never expected such a person to be one of us. How in the world did you learn to mask your scent?” Mr. Aengus asked
“I don’t know what you are talking about sir. I honestly don’t have a clue what scent you’re talking about.” I tried being polite.
“Strange. Tell me, when did your parents tell you about your gifts?”
“They don’t know sir. I only found out today in gym.”
“You mean Thursday in gym.” Mr. Aengus said. “Today is Sunday.”
“What? How could it be Sunday? I swear it is Thursday.” What is he thinking? How could Mr. Aengus think its Sunday?
“Look, Tabby I may have forgotten to tell you that you were out for more than you thought. I fact, I was certain you were dead on the first day. In fact, you were dead. When you fell you smacked your head on a rock and there was a lot of blood and your skull was cracked pretty badly. I had to fly you all the way back to the Nest.” Scott said.
How could he say that? I was only out for an hour or two. I wasn’t out for three days and sure as heck wasn’t dead.




Chapter 6: Eight Lives Left

“That’s it! You’re a cat! That’s how you’re still alive!” Brian exclaimed.
It’s still weird to think of him as Brian but that is what he wants us to call him. Today is Monday. I called my parents to let them know I was safe and were camping with Scott and his family and that we lost signal for the past couple days so I couldn’t call and tell them.
“What?” I asked
“You’re a cat so you have nine lives! It all makes sense now! You really were dead!” Brain again exclaimed.
“Not really.”
“Yes it does. The first people who merged cat’s souls had nine of them merged into one person. That meant that they could be killed nine times before they died. It was a defensive move on their part so the Dynasty would think they were dead and they could come back in a day or so time. The also had an almost untraceable smell because they had multiple souls in their body. That’s why I couldn’t tell you were a cat! My nose still works! Ha-ha!” Brain screamed the last part so loud it woke Rain up. He had fallen asleep after the run he toke. Wow that kid could run. Always in short burst but still.
“That doesn’t make sense. How can a person be killed more than once?” I asked
“Not a person but each soul. When a person dies what happens is their soul leaves them and takes their life with them so if a person has multiple souls then each soul that leaves can only take part of their life force. That’s why you have more energy and a higher level of endurance. You always have. Why do you think you are so good at soccer? It’s not just your skill but your souls’ skills too. Each of your souls are the souls of a cats’ and all cats have incredible blance and reaction time. You are the same way only ten-fold. You not only have your own balance and reaction time but that of nine cats. Only now it’s down to you and eight cats since one of them took the blow to your head for you.” Brain stop to take a breath and I pounced.
“Well how do you know that for certain? And how do you know that…” I was cut off by three things: a loud explosion followed by an automated voice saying “Intruder alert.” And Scott swooping in not so gracefully through the wood ceiling saying “They found us.”




Chapter 7: The Snakes’ at the Gate.

“What?” I exclaimed
“I don’t know how they found us but they did.” Scott moaned
“Who? The Dynasty?” Brain inquired.
“No. I didn’t recognize them but they literally looked like they were part of the tree, like the trees and they were one. They slipped off the trees with the ease of a…” At the Scott stopped and looked shocked. As if the boogieman was his uncle. As if Peter Pan was at his windowsill. As if every single story that scared him growing up was real. (And yes Scott really was petrified at that name Peter Pan) Then he continued “With the ease of a snake.” It was almost louder than a whisper. At that notion Brain sobered up from his joy of ability to solve why I wasn’t dead.
“We need to get out now!” But it was too late for Brain to take any action because now these people were sliding through the roof themselves. They took action and in a matter of seconds, had all of us pinned on the floor, hissing at the other three when one more slid through the ceiling. He was bigger than the rest yet he had a soft, smooth voice.
“Ah you must be that girl that lived through our trap.” He said with that silky voice.
“What are you talking about?” I screamed at him.
“Don’t be an idiot. You tripped over one of ours in the forest just a few days ago. You didn’t even say sorry and that made him upset. So he poisoned you yet here you are alive.” The creep said almost as a question.
“No I didn’t. I tripped over a tree root.” I retorted
“No. You tripped over one of our youth. YOU TRIPPED OVER A SEVEN YEAR OLD CHILD!” How a creature that large and scary could ever have a wife let alone a son was beyond me.
“I… I thought I tripped over a root. I didn’t know it was a child. I am so sorry. I didn’t know.” I was upset at the fact I tripped on to him and might have hurt such a little thing. “Is he alright?”
“No he is not alright. He is, in fact, most definitely not alright. I want you to see what you did to little Garter.” In his hands he held a little tiny child that looked to be in pain. To say I felt sorry for him was quite an understatement. This child looked as if the only person in the world to care for him was himself. I was shocked this man even cared. This child did have one thing that gave me hope though: his eyes shot open at that moment revealing two beautiful, perfectly round, light brown eyes. The same eyes that were on the snake that ran over my hand once when I was a child in the woods. The same eyes that I thought showed compassion to me as that child. The same eyes my younger brother had before he died.









Chapter 8: The Past is a Slithering Serpent.

“Garth.” I whispered. “Garth, it can’t be.” By the time the third word left my mouth I was in tears. Tears of joy and tears of gloom. These were tears of blissful sorrow.
“He cannot speak. Or at the very least he hasn’t yet. He is only three though so it is not something to worry about.” Said the same silky voice.
“No you don’t understand. He shouldn’t be alive! He can’t be alive!” I screamed. It was more at myself and not at this over-sized man. “He can’t be alive when I killed him five and a half years ago.” I did more than cry at this statement, I wept, I bawled, I died inside.
From the look on everyone’s faces I knew that this boy was no longer the center of attention.
“I killed him. It was an accident but I still am the one that killed him. We were camping in the woods and I left the tent screen open. A snake came inside and bit him. It was my fault Garth died. It was my fault that those eyes haunt my every thought.” The words I said were just me mumbling but everyone heard them. It really was my fault. My parents and the psychiatrists all said I did nothing wrong but I did. We buried Garth’s still-corps outside of those woods. As I think about it these might be those woods.
“Tabby, you know you are not to be blamed for that freak accident. Your parents don’t blame. No one does. It was an accident. You shouldn’t blame yourself for something that isn’t your fault.” Scott said in a smooth voice.
“Look, I’m sorry for your loss but this boy was found alive, lying the dirt outside of a cave with a bunch of snakes around him. We call him Garter because that was the type of snakes that were surrounding him. We took him in to our care.” The silky voice now sounded slightly ruff, as if he was now from the Southern states and moved to this state.
“That can’t be true. My brother was dead, capital D-E-A-D, dead.” I said louder than I should have and I was sorry for it later because after I said this the guy holding me dropped me and sat on my stomach while the others holding my friends did the same. The big guy seemed to have snapped.
“YOU WILL NOT CONTINUE TO MAKE A FOOL OF TAIPAN KRAIT!” He hissed at the volume of a thunder storm.
I thought I was dead as this man swung a whip off of his waist and cracked it twice before he let it go at me. I was afraid for my life. I thought I would at the very least have an impressive mark across my face. I was ready for the pain and possibly death when a tiny voice said a single phrase that froze the room. A voice that could cause anybody within a mile to hear a pin drop. A voice that said “Mr. Krait, please don’t hurt my sister.”












Chapter 9: The Serpent’s Speech

To say that the room was quite was an understatement. There seems to have quite a few understatements in the past few days. Well anyway, the room was more than quite. The tiniest part of a pin could drop and sound louder than a sonic boom. The buzzing of a fly like that of a low flying jet. The chirp of a bug was like a rock concert at central park. A bird sounded like a dinosaur. You might now be beginning to understand how quite this little boy made it.
“What did you say?” Ask Taipan, still holding him.
“I asked you to please not hurt my sister.” Garter said. It was a voice so sweet and charming yet was seemed to be able to inflict poison into any word he could say. I guess the name Garter worked well for him.
“But… but you have never spoken before! Have you always been able to speak?” Taipan asked. He seemed kind of worried as he spoke, almost intimidated by this small child.
“Yes sir I have. I just never had anything to say until now.” How marvelous it is that such a small child could say so much. It must have been his spirit was speaking and not him.
“No sister, I am the one speaking, not my spirit.” Garter said. I jumped because he knew what I was thinking. This kid was not the same one I remembered him as. He still looked like Garth but it wasn’t exactly him. He seemed more mature. Too mature. A seven year old shouldn’t be saying things this wise.
“Garth, is it really you?” I asked still crying slightly. “Are you really alive?”
“Yes sister. And I have been with you for the past couple years. Watching and waiting for you to release your beast inside. You see, the snake that bite me was an ancient serpent from the time of the Merge. He fused his soul with mine in order to tell me about what he knew. He knew that a child was or was to be born within ten years of that date. He told me he thought he was late for the birth and that he was about to die. He needed an heir to his job. He needed someone who would keep an eye out for anyone over the next ten years who would return there. He taught me so much over the next series of years with him that by the end I knew I would miss him. I do miss him but I have a task yet completed: Find the child and protect them with my life. I didn’t die that day. I was merely moved out of my time line. I aged there but not here. I am only seven here but truly I am close to three hundred years old. Still young and spry yet old and wise at the same time. I am the Serpent of Old, Long foretold through tales and stories. The Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians all knew of my coming and praised the day I made myself known to the world. That day was the day the war was to begin. The day all time was to stop ticking. The day you learned who you are. You are not just a Merged, you are The Merged. You are not one of many, but the leader of those with you. You are the one to end this world and begin the next. The one who will bring the Merged and the Dynasty to peace.