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CHAPTER TEN OF TWENTY

❝ REVELATIONS  ❞

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THE SKY IN THE OTHER WORLD WAS AN ONYX-COLOUR, SPLATTERED WITH GLOWING STARS AND A LARGE, FULL MOON, dancing in the sky like an ethereal being. It was always nighttime in the Other World. Eros smoothed down his black blazer, adjusting the collar of his crisp white dress shirt and matching white trousers. He clicked the heels of his black shoes together, button eyes gleaming under the light.

He heard a thump in the distance. He smiled. She was coming. His precious wife was returning to him. (Name) entered the yellow-tiled kitchen, dressed in a black, long-sleeved top with a turtle neck, with a thin-strapped, blue and white floral dress on, black tights and black slip-on shoes. She looked around, finding Eros to be absent. She frowned.

"Eros?" she called, voice echoing around the house, as she wandered from the kitchen to the hallway, hand rest on the mahogany bannister, looking upstairs to catch a glimpse of her button-eyed, other husband, "Eros? You up there?".

As if on cue, Eros walked downstairs, dressed in his usual formal attire. He smiled lovingly upon seeing her. "Welcome back, my angel," he smiled, voice still sugar-sweet and silk-smooth as usual, "I've made us lunch, it's on the dining room table if you're not already full, that is~".

He led her by the hand, which she willingly offered to him, and guided her to the dining room. It was small lunch, consisting of a few sandwiches and traditional picnic foods. She gingerly picked up a (favourite sandwich) sandwich and ate it. (Name) didn't eat too much, as she'd just eaten that rather-light, shop-bought salad with Charlotte.

After the majority of the food had been consumed, Eros exited the room and placed the extra food in the fridge. On the kitchen counter, laid two boxes, gift-wrapped. One smaller one, striped a vibrant green and pink, with a bow tied on it. He reached for it, before moving his hand away hesitantly. Not yet. He still had another wonder to gift her, not to mention giving her the one thing he wanted more than anything in the world.

He reached for the bigger, sleek matt black box and carried it back into the dining room. He saw how her eyes lit up at the gift, opening it to reveal a brilliantly made outfit. It was a black jumper with silver stars stitched onto it, some black jeans and lace-up blue boots. He let her leave to the bathroom to change into the outfit, submerging her further into the web of his perfect world.

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EROS HAD EXCUSED HIMSELF TO THE STUDY WHILST (NAME) EXITED THE PINK-PAINTED HOUSE, which looked more vibrant and alive than its real-world counterpart. She walked down the white-painted, wooden steps from the porch, boots crunching underneath the soil of this world. Tonight, Mrs Spink and Forcible had invited her and Eros to their subterranean apartment to watch them perform.

She wandered around the pitch-black, star-lighten world. The meowing of a cat almost made her jump of out of her skin, glancing up to the porch roof above her. (Name) raised her brow, studying the animal momentarily. The cat was identical to Wybie Lovat's "feral" cat, which Leela was fond of. The same matted, black fur, twisted tail and large, cerulean eyes.

"Hmm, Wybie's got a cat like you at home," (Name) mused, "Leela, my dog, likes the cat ironically. Maybe this world has a Leela too. You've gotta be the Other Cat,".

The midnight-coloured feline lept down from the porch roof, sleekly landing on the railing adjacent to the basement stairs, which cast a glow of bright, illuminating lightbulbs that outlined the door to Mrs Spink and Forcible's underground flat. "No," the cat said, in a baritone voice, making (Name) flinch backwards, eyes widened, "I'm not the Other anything,".

The cat tipped his head to one side, opal blue eyes glinting underneath the large, full moon that danced in the sky ethereally. To say that (Name) was surprised was an understatement. "Jesus Christ..." she breathed, "I gather that now, given you don't have button eyes. But how the hell can you talk? I only thought animals spoke in Disney movies,".

"I just can," the cat cryptically spoke, shrugging from the tip of his tail to his whiskers. He lept smoothly from the railing onto half of a fallen tree. (Name) ran a hand through her hair, "And this is far from any Disney movie,".

"Well, cats don't talk where I come from," (Name) clarified, "Only in Disney movies. Or Barbie movies. Or any animated kids movie ever,".

"No?"

"Nope,".

The cat climbed up the tree's upended roots, holding his head up high and proud. The sound of paws tapping against the floor dragged (Name)'s eyes to the floor, eyes widening in horror. The small, red-furred figure of her beloved Leela sat on the floor, looking up at her owner with her beady brown eyes.

"Well," Leela said, in a chipper, British-accented voice, akin to that of Emma Watson's. (Name) felt faint. Her puppy was talking to her. Her dog. Who sniffed her own bum and loved cat food, "Clearly you're the expert on things here, Mum. After all, we're only animals in your one-viewed, logical sense, right?".

Leela stood up, hopping up to the uprooted tree, managing to successfully climb the roots with ease. "Wait! Leela, please come back! Both of you," she beckoned, "I didn't mean any offence. I really didn't...".

(Name) sighed as the chocolate, beady eyes of Leela and the large, opal-blue eyes of the cat looked her down. "Well, how the hell did you guys get here, anyway?" she queried, folding her arms.

"I've been coming here for a while," the cat answered, "Leela, here, has been coming here since you opened the door for the first time. I needed all the help I could get to prevent something like this from happening again,".

Again? (Name) frowned. The cat disappeared, swiftly followed by Leela, behind a thick root that stuck up. Leela hopped out of a large knot hole beside (Name), startling her. Leela sat down next to her owner. "It's a game we like to play," Leela mused, gesturing one of her front paws to the pink house, "He...hates cats and dogs. Causing him to try and keep us out. He can't, of course,".

The cat poked his head down into the knot hole and pops out, and up, of another knot hole, ten feet away, in the other half of the severed tree. "We come and go as we please," the cat vaguely answered. As vague as his answers were, they made sense. Crystal clear sense.

"Eros- The Other Husband hates cats?" (Name) beckoned, wanting to know more, "And dogs?".

Leela laughed bittersweetly. "Not like any husband I'd ever known," Leela answered contemptuously, "And I've lived with you and Dad for six months, Mum,".

(Name) was shocked. "What the hell do you mean?!" (Name) sharply asked, "He's amazing and wonderful. Even slightly creepy but he's given me more attention and acted more husbandly than Eric had since...y'know...".

Leela sympathetically smiled at her owner before following the cat as they climbed up the branches of the tree onto the house's roof. "You probably think this world is a dream come true," the cat ominously spoke, "But you're wrong. The Other Wybie told me,".

(Name) frowned. "Other Wybie?" (Name) parrotted, making the cat nod singularly, "There isn't another Wybie. At least not one that I've met,".

The cat bitterly laughed. "He hid the Other Wybie away," the cat responded, "And silenced him. Only because the Other Wybie went against him, wanting to save you rather than trap you here,".

The cat looked at her, pitying her obliviousness. "It's tragic how oblivious you are to his true nature, Mum," Leela continued, "He's not a good person. And besides, we know his devious schemes. Us cats and dogs, we've got far superior senses than humans...and we can see and smell and-".

The cat pauses her speech, dropping into a crouch and freezes. He'd sensed something. Leela knew it. "Shhhh!" the cat whispered, "I hear something...right...over...". The cat pounced in the opposite direction, sprinting away, as Leela quickly raced after him, across the roof and they both disappeared around the corner.