Kat lived alone, but she didn’t feel alone at all. Her apartment was in the neighbourhood where you could find the best food but not the best air. The smells from the street were always worse when it was hot. There were too many rooms and too little space. She could hear every sound of everyone in the building. Her room was 28 sqm. That included a small kitchen space, so when she cooked the whole room was a kitchen. Her bed smelled like sausages she had this morning and some spicy meat from a room downstairs.

Kat was not very good with names. She could remember all the faces and voices on her floor but knew none of their names. She had never heard anyone in the building complain about the noises and the smells, so she just assumed all her neighbours were tamed to the bad environment. Not like her, when she started to hear someone, the noises would never stop until they finished whatever they were doing. One guy liked to exercise at 6 in the morning and she could hear him breathing hard like he was running out of air. The worst part was it sounded so close like he lived in a wall between them not a few metres away. An old lady at the other side of the corridor breathed weakly, Kat felt like her lungs could give up at any minute. That, she could hear it in her ears like $200 in-ear headphones. Unfortunately, she did not own any headphones like that, so she had to hear everything that was happening in the building. The old lady also smelled like cats, but Kat had never heard any of them meowed or purred.

That’s why she loved nighttime. Especially when it’s a new moon. There was only darkness and silence. She could not hear or see anyone in the building. It’s like they were gone elsewhere or stopped breathing at all. Sometimes Kat went out to get a drink at a grocery store nearby, a black cat would run to her when she opened the door straight into her room and she would give up going out to spend some time with the cat until he was bored and standing in front of the door waiting for her to open. It’s a bit weird that this cat never meowed or purred. So Kat assumed he came from the old lady’s room. She never named him anything. He must have a name from the old lady already.

It was Saturday. Kat didn’t want to go out anywhere. She just wanted to lie in bed and do nothing. The weather was weird. The clouds looked heavy and ready to fall on the roof of the building across her window. It’s hot and dark like the sun was going down soon but it was just 2 pm. The air felt like it had turned into solid matter, fitting all the space in her room. A strong scent of bourbon vanilla hit her, hard and heavily. Someone must be so into baking right now. And there he was, the black cat from the old lady’s room, staring at her. Kat looked at her window, which opened wide. Maybe the cat got in while she didn’t look. She usually didn’t open the wire because insects always got in, but she wanted to look at the sky today.

“Come sit here.” Kat patted at the small space on her bed.

The cat was displeased. He didn’t make any noise, just gave a judgemental look.

Kat ignored the cat and looked back at the sky through her window. It was getting darker. She felt like taking more naps. So Kat closed the window and the wire, better be safe now than waking up in a swamp. It made the room hotter. Even though Kat couldn’t feel the Sun on her wall, it’s hotter than she expected when she touched the wall. She didn’t have an aircon. So the only fan she had was blowing hot air to her.

She started to drift. The room seemed smaller and smaller. Now the wall was near, pressing her at the edge of her bed. The cat was close to her feet. Kat couldn’t feel him. She only saw him. The vanilla scent was really bad now, it made Kat feeling nauseous. She tried to breathe and calm herself down, but the air seemed to be sucked out. It’s like she was in a vacuum-sealed bag and concentrated perfume oil.

The ceiling was not more than 60 centimetre away from her. Kat wasn’t sure if the walls were closer too. She couldn’t trust her senses anymore. Her hands and feet were numbing. The numbness crept up to her arms and legs in few minutes. In between the chaos, she felt a small paw touching the left foot. Then the dark bloomed from the cat’s paw and swept everything in black.

Kat woke up from the noises of the guy next door. He’s probably doing a bench press. Her room finally looked like how it was supposed to be. It’s dark inside and out. Kat opened the window and the smell of rain hit her, mixed with the smell of deep-fried sausages which made her tummy growling. She turned on the light and realised the cat was not in her room anymore. He must have sneaked out while she was tumbling in that weird dream.

“Meow meow” Kat’s calling didn’t work. The cat was disappeared. Her room still locked. Maybe she would try to talk to the old lady tomorrow. But for now, Kat was craving for dinner. It’s time to turn her whole room into a kitchen again