When I was eight years old I had a toy cat that was remote controllable. Now when I say remote controllable, I don’t mean I held a box with a long antenna and a few little buttons on it, I mean it had a wire that went through a leash with a forwards and backwards button that made the cat crawl.

I loved this kitty up to the day it began moving by itself in the middle of the night. I would play with it all day long. When bedtime rolled around I would tuck it into its bed that I had made for it on one side of my dresser.

When I woke up it was on the floor by the bedroom door.

The first time this happened I thought to myself, “Oh, I just forgot to put her to bed.” The second time it happened I began to get scared.

I recall one night that I stayed up to watch it. Of course my room was pitch black, so I couldn’t see anything. But I heard it. That’s all that mattered. I heard the little motor running inside it. I heard my favorite kitty moving.

Too frightened to get out of bed, I pulled the covers over my head and closed my eyes tightly. Only until the moving subsided I was able to sleep. Morning rolled around, and once again my kitty was by the door.

It was then that I decided I would no longer put the kitty to bed, and I would leave her out like I did with all my other toys. However, I would still wake to her being in a different spot than where I left her. I began to be afraid of it.

A week or so down the road I was in my sister’s room playing Barbies with her. It was all fun and games until I hear coming from the other room, “Crys, look out! There’s a bat!”

I came running out of that bedroom faster than you could ever imagine an eight year old could run. I was screaming my head off and I jumped over the couch and into my mother’s arms. Mind you, I’m barely three feet tall at the time, so that was quite a jump for me.

I was shaking so hard. “Crys, calm down. It was only a joke. Your brother brought your kitty out here to make you think it moved by itself. That’s why I said ‘come look at your cat’.”

I just stared at her. “You mean there is no bat?”

I never feared my kitty again.