I grabbed my books and coat and left the cafeteria, pulling my coat up to my chin once I went out to the cold.
Crap. I must me going crazy. Ashley was right. Being stalked by a jungle cat? I really was going nuts!
I shivered miserably. I seriously was going to freeze to death here. Why on earth had I decided to go to college here? There must be plenty of colleges further south, where it was undoubtedly warmer.
I wasn’t sure what would kill me first, my (apparently) phantom cat or the cold.
The cold was doing a good job, but speaking of the cat…
There he stood, on the sidewalk, watching me from about ten feet away. As I had glimpsed him so many times before, he was black-spotted over a golden base with those damn, haunting amber eyes. Tear markings ran from his eyes to his lips like running mascara and three thick stripes of black ran down his back. His tail was made of rings of gold and black, ending with a white tip. The feline’s body was long and lean; he was leggy, with a small head, a deep chest and a long tail.
Cheetah, I realized. Great, now I had absolutely no chance of running to safety.
His spots were weird, though. Instead of many small spots running across his body, he had fewer, larger spots, as if the small spots had gathered into clumps. I’d read about these in National geographic or something: this cat in front of me was a king cheetah.
We stared at each other, the gaze between predator and prey, until the cheetah made his move—
Back into the forest.
I must have stood there for a full minute before moving. Um… what the hell? Why the hell was there a cheetah on campus?! It could have, like, freaking eaten me!
Needless to say I ran to my dorm as if there was hellfire (or a cheetah) at my heels. Once within the shelter of four walls and a door, I went straight for my phone.
“Ashley!” I cried into the phone the moment my friend answered it.
“Tara? Are you ok?”
“As if! I saw it! Like, on the sidewalk behind the science center!” Looking at me!”
“W-what?”
“The cheetah!”
“You mean your stalker?” There was a moment of silence; I could hear muffled giggles.
“I shit you not! It could have freaking eaten me!”
“Where did it go?”
“Hell if I know! It just loped into the forest and was gone!”
“Did you take a nap yet?”
“Ashley! I was nearly eaten!”
“Tara, seriously. Go take a nap or something. You really sound crazy. You’re freaking me out.”
“You’re freaked out?! I’m freaked out! Ashley, it was a cheetah!”
“Okay, you seriously need to take a chill pill. Call me after your nap and then we’ll talk.”
“But—Ashley—”
“Goodnight Tara.”
Click.
Crap. I shakily pocketed the phone. I’m crazy I’m crazy I’m crazy I’m… Distracted, with a gradually fraying sanity, I managed to knock into someone. I looked up. Well hello, crush.
He smiled at me and I wanted to melt.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi.” I drew the greeting out, awkward and clumsy. “I… I have to go.” I quickly slipped away, up the stairs to my floor.
Snap. Door shut. Now I was safe. Sigh of relief. Maybe Ashley was right. If anything, I needed sleep, big time. I pulled off my shoes, threw off my coat, and closed the blinds.
I retreated to bed, and without a moment’s hesitation, promptly fell asleep.
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