It was one of those late afternoons in the middle of August when the roads were empty and the asphalt was still hot from the sun that’s been mercilessly spilling its fiery arrows over the ground all day. A few miles away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, where a thin forest pathway joined the highway, a little brown creature was sat at the junction, staring at the red sky slowly burning down over the tall buildings in the distance. His little tail wiggled. Sundays are so nice, he thought. It was so quiet, only the crickets’ neverending serenades could be heard from somewhere deep within the forest. The rest was just silence. Beautiful, peaceful silence.

Okay. Dinner time.

The creature gracefully got up from his little patch of sparse grass and shook its paw lightly to get rid of a dry leaf stuck between its nails.

Chanyeol has been a cat for eight human lives now, he just started his ninth and last one after a very unfortunate event including a heavy truck that happened on this same highway just a few days ago.

To say that he’s walked these lands a thousand times still wouldn’t sum up the time that Chanyeol has spent around accurately enough. He was here when the wars happened, he was here for the invention of the mobile phone and the computer, he’s been around for over 600 years now. Long enough to learn one thing – to stay away from people.

Things were not always this way though. In the past, Chanyeol did try to find an owner, a friend or just a fellow traveller more than once but as time went by and the people he got attached to were leaving him one by one, he realised that not being alone was impossible.

He cursed and cursed the day he lost his copper bell, the bell that was responsible for his endless misery.

Chanyeol could barely recall his life before permanently turning into a cat now. He only remembered certain things clearly, one of which was that he was the merchant who gave him the little copper bell. The man had sworn to Chanyeol that the item was magical and had claimed it was more than enough. “More than enough” for what? Chanyeol has been trying to remember for centuries now the reason this man gave it to him but the memory was just gone. All he knew was that when he was human he used to wear the little bell on his anklet and it would turn him into a cat whenever he wished for it. Back then this was the best thing ever, it helped him escape from trouble countless times, even though he couldn’t even remember what kinds of trouble he used to get in anymore.

He did remember the day he lost the little bell though. Chanyeol was twenty-one at that time and he was unsuccessfully trying to run away from someone when he decided it was time to transform. But he didn’t realise that the bell got lost somewhere along the way. After proudly galloping like a stealthy gazelle through the streets, as a cat, he made sure that the people casing him had truly lost his trail and stopped to catch his breath. What? Even cats get tired.

He hid into a dark street corner away from the human eye and wished to go back to his human form. And when nothing happened he was puzzled. So he tried again. And again. And then he noticed that the bell from his little collar was missing. So he naturally went back and searched for it even though he knew too well that nothing as shiny would remain on the streets for too long.

Chanyeol didn’t give up when he didn’t find it though. He entered countless shops, merchant shacks, even homes through their windows, looking for the magic bell, he didn’t leave a single stone unturned. Being a cat made sneaking in waay easier, but then again, being a cat was the reason he was doing it in the first place. And no bell he found.

After losing it, it all started going down. He spent his whole first life looking for that little thing and died from the axe of an angry shop owner.

A big part of his second life he spent looking for the merchant but then he realised he was probably dead already and decided that anyone who knew how to break the spell would do.

In his third life, he tried to accept he was probably going to have to live as a cat for the rest of eternity. He tried living as a cat – eating mice, trying to communicate with other cats… Mice tasted disgusting. And he didn’t have the slightest clue what any of the other cats were saying.

In his fourth life, he met this kid, a little girl from a poor family. She took him to her home even though Chanyeol was trying really hard to break free of her hold. She hid him under her bed all winter and Chanyeol was thankful for it, he really hated being cold. When the girl started going to school and learned how to read, Chanyeol felt left out, forgotten, because she was no longer playing with him for hours but instead she was sitting hunched up over those made up stories about dwarfs, dragons and whatnot.

“Did you know that cats have nine lives?” she asked one day. “Do you have nine lives too? Are you going to outlive us all? You must be very wise.. I wonder why do you look so stupid then.” the girl laughed and petted Chanyeol’s head.

Cats have nine lives?

This was when he realised he wasn’t going to live forever as a cat. And even though it was relieving, it also made him feel fear. He decided to lead a safe and happy life together with the girl. Years passed and she grew up to a lovely lady, she gave birth to two beautiful kids and even though they weren’t the kindest to Chanyeol he stayed in the house as they were growing up and spent his days sleeping on their mother’s lap peacefully. Wrinkles appeared on her face, her hands started shaking and she couldn’t see properly anymore but Chanyeol had grown too attached to her to leave die on her own so when her hour came, he silently curled up on the bed next to her cold body. He didn’t realise it immediately but losing her crushed him. It seemed like the will to live left him together with his little girl. He stopped eating and very soon he too fell ill. Chanyeol still remembered the last words he heard before dying: “I’ve never seen a cat live for so long. He probably outlived all of his family. It’s amazing, he aged like a human, not like a cat, always next to her. And now that she’s gone, he’s going with her, like a good old friend.”

"He outlived all of his family."

These words made him realise that everyone he’s ever loved was dead now. The times were changing, humanity as a whole was different now. He had no place in this strange new world. He belonged to the past and therefore, he had to disappear, for good.

He lived each of his next three lives for a month or two before finding a way to kill himself, not wanting to go through the pain of losing someone he loved ever again.

In his eighth life, Chanyeol couldn’t pick a way to die so he decided to give himself some time to think. He spent one year wandering around and the world as it was, somehow grew on him. He liked these fancy new vehicles people called cars, he liked the music, he especially loved the car park cinemas. Realising how much he had missed, he found himself wishing to spend more time in this world and dying quickly became his number ..3 priority, after finding food and finding shelter. He somehow got himself into an animal shelter but even though it was providing him with both food and bed, he hated it. It was like a prison! And I was surrounded by filthy animals!

Chanyeol ran away and quickly learned that going back to how it all started was the only way to survive this wild new world. So he started sneaking into stores and stealing little bits and bops to feed himself. Sometimes he’d even dare to get a piece of meat from the local steak shop while the butcher was taking a piss.

Yes, he ate food from the bins too when he had to. Look, there really is nothing wrong with some of the food people throw away, it’s ridiculous! Everything was better than mice and that disgusting dry food they were offering him at the pet shelter. Okay, maybe he was a cat but he still had taste buds! One of the hardest things was to stay clean. Chanyeol refused to himself like some animal but he couldn’t find a bath he could use anywhere. All he had were those street fountains but bathing in them was drawing too much attention to him because apparently being a cat and loving water was something unusual.

He lived for nearly forty years before that stupid truck got him. Everything was wonderful and perfect, he had his system and no one could catch him, he learnt the ways of the new world and got used to all the mechanical things. Chanyeol was still keeping his promise to himself though – to never get close to a human being ever again. So whenever people would try to pet him or give him treats, he would run as fast as he could and never look back.

The only thing he hated about this world was the noise.

The music was just weird, there were machines everywhere and the vehicles were so loud! He found it absolutely impossible to sleep in such terrible noise so he just had to go somewhere outside of the town for his nightly beauty sleep. He found himself a great tree 15 minutes away from the nearest bakery but still far enough from the loudness of the city. Chanyeol was on his way to the forest when he encountered the heavy truck that was definitely moving over the speed limit and lost his eighth life. It left him bitter for a few days but he was going to get over it very soon. He found the modern world fascinating, he didn’t need people for his life to be interesting and bright anymore. He could watch the giant screens for days, the fireworks, the planes and ships that were departing.. Sometimes he’d stay around the street performers and secretly admire how good they were in making music, making art. Sometimes he’d get lost in the tunnels of the metro, mingling between people’s feet. Sometimes he’d stare the owner of some random street food place until they gave in and let Chanyeol have a piece of their delicious fried food. Back in his days they didn’t even have fried food! And it was so tasty! He was so, so glad he was alive.    

Do I want fish cakes or do I want squid skewers…

Just as he was about to cross the street, on a green light of course, as a civilised citizen would do, the skies suddenly opened and rain started pouring down like it was the end of the world. Chanyeol did wish to take a good old bath but rain was never his thing. Especially when it was right before dinner!