Cacophony
By Casey Douglass
for #fridayflash
A low groan brought his
consciousness back, the sound pitiful and gut wrenching. Opening his
eyes, he struggled to see anything in the gloom around him. He tried
to lift his hand to rub his eyes but found that his arms were pinned
tightly with some metal contrivance.
‘Lilly!’ he
shouted.
‘Shhhh!’ came the
reply from his left. The quiet male voice whispered, ‘Keep it down
or it will go badly for all of us!’
He tried to turn his
head to look at the speaker but found a sharp cold piece of metal
near both cheeks, making any movement nearly impossible. As awareness
flowed back to the rest of his body, his limbs began to send back
messages detailing his current position. He felt like he was upright,
but his arms were cruelly pulled behind his back and clamped into
something. His legs were folded under him, his behind resting on his
heals. A metal collar held him firmly around the neck, his skin felt
hot and itchy against it. All he could see ahead were the metal bars
of his cage, framing the darkness ahead.
‘Oh my God where are
we? Where is my wife?’
‘Quieter for goodness
sake, they’ll hear you! There are some women here. How large is
your wife?’
‘How large?’
‘Yes!’
‘A little shorter
than me and much slimmer.’
‘She’ll be at the
other end then.’
‘The other end?’
‘Hush. It’s about
to start. The first time is the hardest but it gets easier. You and
your wife will be okay, trust me. I’ve been here two years now. If
you don’t misbehave, they treat you well. If you do misbehave...’
‘Who’s they?’
‘You’ll see in a
minute. Listen.’
He listened. Faint
music was playing somewhere not too far away, the sound of chairs
moving and instruments being tuned and wrestled with.
‘Why can’t I move?’
‘You are in the
machine.’
‘Machine?’
A dazzling light came
on above them making his eyes sting. The metal around him began to
rattle and squeak as he felt the structure move. He heard the odd
whimper from various points around him, followed by much shushing and
pleading.
He whispered, ‘We’ve
been kidnapped! We went to bed as normal last night and now we wake
up here!’
‘That’s usually the
way.’
A large velvet curtain
loomed into view now, whatever contraption contained him pushed fully
up to the material. It smelt dusty and damp, like a drape in a run
down church. The vibrating metal around him settled to a standstill.
He panted quickly, his heart making his chest feel like it wouldn’t
contain it for much longer.
A few chords from a
violin sounded from somewhere. With a sudden rustling, the curtains
jerked open, rapidly vanishing from the edges of his vision. The
sight before him made him open his mouth in utter horror yet no sound
escaped his lips. A massive space yawned ahead of him, the columns
supporting the ceiling dark and mottled with ivy, the ceiling itself
some dark abyss that his eyes could not penetrate. It was not the
room that held so much terror for him. It was the occupants. Row upon
row of chairs climbed away from him, his location seeming to be a
stage of some kind. In each and every chair, a large human
proportioned cat sat upright, pupils large and black, nose wet,
whiskers quivering, ears pricked forward as when enjoying the thrill
of the hunt. Some turned to the others next to them and meowed and
purred, furry heads nodding or shaking as they conversed in their
inhuman language. They were all wearing evening wear, some wore hats
or scarves. If not for their faces, it could be any run-down theatre
in the world, but the faces...so many cats!
A shadow fell across
him as a large cat walking upright on its hind legs strode past, its
back to him as it bowed to the audience, its black suit and trousers
immaculate and with not a crease to be seen. It disappeared from
sight behind him and there shortly followed the sound of mechanical
levers clunking into life. A violin sputtered a few notes somewhere
to the side, other instruments joining the maudlin music. He mustered
himself to scream when somebody beat him to it. It was female and
sounded off to the right of him.
‘Lilly!’ he cried.
A wooden stick pelted
the metal bars in front of his face, the impact making his ears ring.
A low warning growl gusted fishy breath into his face making his neck
muscles strain fruitlessly to pull back from the whiskered silhouette
in front of him. The shape moved to the side and away once more.
‘Keep quiet you
bloody fool! What did I tell you!’
Another scream sounded
nearer to him, and another. Each one mere moments after the previous.
‘I don’t know
what’s happening!’ he whispered.
‘You will soon,
just-’
The whispered voice
changed tone into a shrieking scream that lasted for some seconds.
‘Are you okay?’
There was silence.
‘Answer m-’ his
whispered voice became shrill as the metal either side of his face
pressed tightly into his cheeks. Pain flared across the inside of his
mouth, a warm metallic tasting liquid dripping down over his teeth.
The blood dribbled from the side of his mouth as the metal plates
relaxed and then tightened once more. He screamed again, his voice
joined by others near and far on either side of him. Male, female and
child, their cries merged into a cacophonous sound that threatened
the sanity of any who might hear it.
A final whimpering
scream sounded far to his right and the violin music ended. The
strange audience stood in a rush, a flurry of furry paws making
muffled claps, tongues licking noses, meows and growls ululating into
the dark space above them.
The velvet curtain
swished closed in front of him once more, the metal frame around him
jostling and jiggling around as it was dragged back, the light
finally going out once more.
Silence closed in
around him like a warm blanket, the darkness in front of him giving
his mind a rest from the sights that had so disturbed it. The
momentary calm was soon punctuated with sobs and quiet cries for help
but there was no movement, no comforting hand nor shoulder to cry on.
The whispering man to his left coughed thickly and spat before
speaking. ‘It gets easier, really it does.’
The End
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My inspiration for this
story came from a macabre instrument that appears in a number of
historical stories. The ‘cats’piano’. Various cats would be put into cages and
the ‘musician’ would then play a keyboard that jabbed a nail into
their tails to make them ‘sing.’
Descriptions have
popped up a few times, so it is unclear who refined what with the
design. In 2010 a version of the instrument was recreated by Henry
Dagg, utilising squeaky toys instead of live animals, and was played
at a garden party attended by Prince Charles. I thought it might be nice if the cats got some revenge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_organ
