Dead Acceptance

• Karla Porteous, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2023

As I spray painted the brick wall of Melbourne City, I could tell everyone was looking at me, my face was hidden, and I tried not to make eye contact. Some people stopped to ask me if I was doing legal graffiti, I told them I was. Some stopped to watch me as I grabbed a black spray can from my duffel bag. My grey cat, Silver, purred at my feet and got in the way as I tried to add the finishing details to my art. I glanced over my shoulder and saw people walk away as now they new what the picture was, darkness and in it was a young cat, its fur the color was brown and it had amber eyes. Some people questioned why it was a cat, some rumors were that it was Silver, but it wasn’t. It was me, my previous life before this one, that is. Before this life I was a simple pet cat, but I had lived to be very old, and with age comes wisdom. I had seen and experienced many things in my life, but none as questionable as this. In my previous life I died from old age, I went to the afterlife and found out that reincarnation was a thing. Because as I entered a new body, my memories weren’t erased like everyone else, like they were supposed to. Someone allowed me to return to a body with my previous memories for a reason, but I have found no clues as to why. Now I am in this cursed cat human hybrid type body, I guess it came as a bonus with the memories. I shoved my spray cans into my duffel bag, picked up Silver and walked away. My ears were squished under my hoodie, my tail stuck hidden under my jumper, I never wanted to be like this. This was more then a curse, this was life, not even my current parents new about me being this way, they were enchanted to not see me like this but instead a normal human. Because of this I tried to keep my distance with others, I was home schooled and didn’t do much socializing, because when you’re like me, why would you? I’d lived with this curse for nearly fifteen years, but only now I decided it was time for a change. Why? Because I don’t want to let this curse get in the way of life, I refuse to let it. I organized to visit the after life that night, in my dreams, because I also shared a connection to the creature who made me this way. I was unaware of the consequences that would follow, unaware that that night would change everything including my life forever.