My friends Anna and Susi are running another flash fiction contest, the Once Upon a Time flash fiction contest. The challenge is to write an unexpected fairytale within 350 words.
The Guardian
Cassie found a fluffy orange cat in the bushes outside her bedroom window. He was growling and hissing and looking very grumpy. He was huddled under her bushes and he looked as if he’d been through a fight. He had some small cuts and he was dirty with lots of twigs and leaves stuck in his fur.
She couldn’t leave him like that, so for the next hour, she coaxed and cajoled, trying to get him to come out to her. Finally, with the help of a can of tuna from her kitchen cupboard, she managed to get the dirty and hurt cat to come out from the cover of the bushes. She left him eating the tuna and was surprised when she got up to go inside her house and he followed her right in.
Later that night, as Cassie slept, her window flew open and the dark creature entered. It had been watching her for days. She was destined to fight his kind, blood suckers, evil fae and demons alike; her birth had been foretold centuries ago. But he would stop her before she ever even came into her power.
A cat lay at her feet and he pushed it aside as he closed in on her. He leaned in close over her, preparing one long, sharp fingernail to slice her throat. That’s when he felt the burning pain of the silver sword pierce his heart. He turned, surprise on his face and saw a boy standing behind him, sword in hand. “Where did you come from?” he whispered as he fell into eternal sleep and his body crumbled into dust.
The boy put the blade back into its scabbard. He leaned over, giving Cassie a gentle kiss to her cheek, and slowly shifted back into the rough orange cat he had been moments before. He jumped back onto the bed and settled against Cassie’s leg. He would protect her. It was his duty.
327 words
