Demeter
It was a dark night in the Jellicle Junkyard when Demeter crept in, looking for something or someone. The moonlight shone on her golden coat as she crept from bedsite to bedsite. Finally she found him… "Old Deuteronomy?" she whispered. The old gray cat poked his head out of the box where he had been taking his repose and his eyes widened in surprise. "Demeter?" he asked incredulously. "Oh darling! We thought we had lost you forever to that dreadful Macavity."
"Shhhhh…" Demeter warned. "I don't wish to awaken any of the others just yet."
"Well, what happened dear?" Old Deuteronomy asked as he motioned her inside his warm home-box and offered her some warm milk.
And so Demeter proceeded to tell her story of the time she had spent in Macavity's lair…
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From the beginning, there had always been something mysterious about the way Macavity would stare at Demeter whenever he would happen upon the Jellicles outside the Junkyard. He would lock his cold amber eyes with her warm green ones and try to draw her to him. But her sister, Bombalurina, was always there to bring Demeter back to the present and take her home to the other Jellicles.
One warm spring afternoon, Demeter was on her way to the Junkyard from the villa in the country where she and Bombalurina lived with a wonderful family. Bombalurina had stayed behind that day, because the couple that the cats lived with, and loved, were having a baby, and Bombalurina decided to stay in case her help was needed. So Demeter went alone to the Junkyard to share the wonderful news of the new birth. She was a very happy young cat as she skipped and danced along the well-worn path. The world was wonderful and she was happy to be alive. So involved in her happy inner thoughts was she, that she didn't notice the movement in the tall grass to her right. Suddenly, a tall ginger cat stepped across her path.
"Macavity!" Demeter gasped, freezing with fear.
"Don't worry little one," Macavity said in a low, raspy voice. "I will not harm you." He locked eyes with her and used his mental powers of persuasion to invade her mind and make her follow him to the docks where he made his home.
The air was damp and stale around the old cannery, and there were many lean, prowling cats lurking everywhere. As the strays noticed the approach of their master, all activity stopped and all eyes turned towards Macavity and his young, beautiful companion. The eyes were yellow and filled with hatred, but Demeter's possessed mind didn't even realize it. Macavity lead her up to the main entrance of the cannery and ushered her through the door.
"Welcome home," he said as he shooed the strays out with one large, sharp-clawed paw. He placed his paw on her shoulder and guided her to the back room where a bed and a hot bath were waiting for her. "You see, we do not torture others here… we wish to pamper you and treat you like the queen that you should be." He nodded to the old gray tabby cat that was standing near the tub and she came forward. "This is Penelope, and she will meet your every need. All you need to do is ask," he told Demeter before leaving the room.
Penelope looked her charge up and down with disdain. "Ye're a Jell'cle, airn't ye?" she asked Demeter in a strange accent.
"Y-yes," Demeter stammered, still stunned to find herself in Macavity's lair.
"Well, Ah've naivah saw de Mastah braing us a Jell'cle to pamper afore," the gray cat said with a smirk. "But, Ah s'pose Ah've needs to give ye ye're baff." She nodded towards the tub and Demeter meekly stepped in it.
An hour or so later, Macavity came to the door of the little back room and knocked one time before entering. "Is she ready?" he asked Penelope.
"Yassuh," Penelope said and bowed out her leave.
Macavity stood and stared at Demeter, freshly bathed and primped. "You look even more beautiful than you ever have even in my dreams," he said as he stepped towards her.
Demeter could feel her flesh crawling under her combed and perfumed fur. She wanted to inch backwards, but there was nowhere to go, so she stood her ground and stared at Macavity. "What do you want with me?" she demanded.
"I want you to love me and be my partner," Macavity explained.
"That will never happen. I will NEVER love you!" Demeter cried as she recoiled from his very gaze.
"Oh…it will in time," Macavity said with a low growl. "And if it doesn't, you will still be…MINE!"
Demeter's eyes widened in horror as he advanced upon her and then her whole world went dark…
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The months passed quickly for Demeter as she was subjected to many tortures at the paws of Macavity's henchcats. One in particular, Jalopy was his name, seemed to be in charge of things when Macavity was away, and Macavity was away often. Sometimes, she swore she heard the familiar cockney accents of her fellow Jellicles, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, but she never got to see them. Through the months, she realized that those two were working for Macavity, but it got to the point that she didn't even care anymore. Many nights, she would wake up crying, and she never saw any way to get away from Macavity or his torturous gang.
The part of the arrangement that made her the sickest was that Macavity had forced her to be his lover and he demanded her to be ready for him whenever he wanted her. She would just close her eyes and let her mind drift to some remote place, full of flowers and sunlight, two things she hadn't seen since that fateful day when Macavity brought her here, and just drift while he made love to her. Then, after he left, she would bathe herself and just sleep and try to forget everything.
Then one cold moonless winter night, Macavity and his whole gang went out to Growltiger's ship to celebrate some major holiday of some sort. Demeter was not invited to accompany them, which suited her fine. She had no idea of what month or day it was and Christmas had crept up on her without her knowledge. Macavity left Old Penelope with Demeter to watch her and take care of her, but Penelope had grown tired of having to "baby-sit" all the time. So she crept into Macavity's private liquor storage and had herself a good old time, never once thinking about the poor, frightened Jellicle alone in the small back room where she was kept most of the time.
Demeter's ears pricked with every faint noise around her. She could hear the old boards creaking in the cannery warehouse where she was kept, the waves slapping against the docks and the pier, a lone seagull who had gotten left for the winter winging it's lonely flight over the dark water. Try as she might however, Demeter never once heard another cat. 'Maybe this is my chance,' she thought wildly, her green eyes darting glances all over the room. She crept from her bed to the door of the small room and peeked out. All she saw was darkness, but she decided to take a chance. She tiptoed down the hall and eventually entered the main throneroom, where Macavity kept court and saw visitors, or prisoners, as the case may be. She sprinted across the large room, her soft paws making no sound on the hard wood floors, and found herself under a cold night sky. She looked up. The stars were so bright. She took a deep breath and then proceeded to find her way home… to the Jellicles that she loved and missed so much.
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"…and so now I'm home," Demeter said with a soft sigh.
Old Deuteronomy looked into the green eyes that met his so levelly. He realized that those eyes would never look young and carefree again, as they did the last time the two of them had met. He placed his arms around the young queen. "Welcome home dear," he said softly. "And Merry Christmas."
"Christmas?" Demeter asked. She shook her head slightly as thought she couldn't believe she had been gone for so long. It had barely been past Easter when she found herself Macavity's prisoner and slave. Then her eyes darkened. "I have one more thing to tell you," she said softly, casting her eyes down to escape Old Deuteronomy's searching gaze. "I… I'm pregnant."
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Old Deuteronomy hid Demeter and told no one of her whereabouts until the kitten had been born, for there was only one, not a whole litter as Demeter had been expecting. "I'll name her Jemima," Demeter said with a soft smile, her tender face blanched with the pain of her first childbirth.
"We will raise her as a Jellicle," Old Deuteronomy said with a happy smile. "And no one shall know that she is Macavity's daughter…. Or yours…"
THE END (or is it the beginning??)
--by Jemima Kat aka Natalie Dean
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