The next week, Brian and Eric had a party at their house. Their parents, of course, had no idea of this because they were away on a trip to the Bahamas. The twins invited their girlfriends and all their friends, which pretty much meant that it was a free-for-all. Beer was flowing, the pizza and chips were plentiful and the music was loud. All in all, life was good.

Until the cat came along uninvited. Brian, who was by this time halfway drunk, was making out with his girlfriend when he felt something brushing itself against his leg. He stopped and looked down. It was the same gray cat he and Eric tied up in the woods. It still had red tinsel around its neck. "You're a regular homing pigeon!" he yelled, letting loose one huge kick. The cat spat at him and scratched him, giving his leg three long, thin red lines.

"You're bleeding, Bry," his girlfriend said, dazed. She was a lot more drunk than he was.

"You are going to get it tonight, you bloody bastard!" Brian swore at the cat. He picked it up by the red tinsel around its neck. "I'll be back," he told his girlfriend, as he dragged the struggling cat away in one hand and a beer in the other.

Sticking the cat into the trunk of his car, Brian drove off to the creek near the woods. He parked his car near the bridge and found a short piece of rope in the trunk from one of Eric's science projects. Using that, he tied the cat's feet so that it wouldn't be able to move.

Finally, when that was done, he threw the cat off the bridge, into the dark rushing water. He drunkenly figured that if the cat didn't drown, it would be carried downstream and be crushed by the rocks at the far end of the creek.

"Ha. Gotcha there. This should turn you off for good," he muttered. "Goooooodbye cat. So long. Rest in peace!"

When Brian got back to the car, he wiped his hands off on a piece of kleenex which he kept in the car. There was blood where the cat scratched him and he didn't want to get the white car covers stained. He got his beer and toasted to no one in particular. "Let the good times roll!" he said. Taking one more drink, he started the car and got on the road home.

"Finally turned the cat off," he told Eric, laughing drunkenly when he got back to the party. "Turned the damned bloody bastard off!"

Eric just shrugged. "If it makes you happy," he said.

* * *

Under the heat of the noonday summer sun, Eric stretched out on a beach towel in their backyard. He closed his eyes, feeling the warmth on his skin. Brian was away with his girlfriend and several other friends to the mall. Eric decided to stay behind, to just have the house to himself for a short while. He wasn't going to miss anything. It was only a trip to the mall anyway. He wanted some time alone. Besides, he was going on a date with his girlfriend that night and that was something to be excited about more than a trip to the mall.

As he tanned in the sun, he thought about going on the backpacking trip with Eric and three of their best buddies across Europe the following week, his parents' graduation gift to them. He was already excited. After all, it wasn't every day that you get sent to Europe for free. He, Brian and their friends have been planning for it their whole senior year, marking their route with blue pins on an old map that they stuck on a cork board. They were ready to begin the rest of their lives.

Eric didn't see the cat coming. Dirty, disheveled and wounded, with its guts hanging out of its ribs. The red tinsel ribbon from the Christmas before was still around its neck. Eric heard a soft meow. He opened his eyes. The last thing he saw were sharp claws scratching his eyes as he screamed in terrible pain.

confession | twenty