Chapter 4-Consuming

Over the next few days, Callum developed a new schedule. He went to work in the mornings, returned to have his lunch break with Stardust, and then worked the afternoon.

Every day when Callum woke up, Stardust looked a little bit less emaciated than before.

Every day that Callum returned for his lunch break Stardust had a little more energy and could play for a little bit longer.

It warmed his heart to see Stardust recovering.

One day, when Callum got home, he saw Stardust scratching at a drawer. Confused, because Stardust usually only did that on the cat treat drawers or his scratching post, Callum opened the drawer. Stardust leapt upon the dresser, gently picked up the green orb with its teeth and curled himself around the orb.

Shrugging, Callum let him be and returned to work.

That same day, when Callum returned he saw the orb was considerably smaller than before and Stardust seemed to be bigger and healthier. Callum felt torn. He wanted to keep the orb because it was a link to his brother, but at the same time, he felt he should move on. Not move on from finding the killer, mind you. Just trying to make it so his absence doesn't hurt so much.

Callum elected to let Stardust have the orb. He picked up both cat and orb and lay down on his couch. 'I wonder what sort of changes this will have on Stardust.' He thought. 'It doesn't seem detrimental, so I'll just observe what happens.' Nodding to himself, Callum started petting the cat that was now the size of a small Doberman.

Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

....

Callum awoke the next day to a cat almost the size of his couch sleeping on him. He couldn't breathe so he tried to slide out from under the cat. Stardust didn't seem to understand why Callum wanted out from beneath him, but allowed him to move.

Breathing heavily, Callum saw a dime-sized remain of the orb. Picking it up, he wondered why Stardust didn't absorb it.

Glancing at Stardust, he saw that Stardust now had what looked like a night sky on his fur. Stardust turned to look at him, curious as to what Callum was doing. Callum looked into the deep, luminescent moon-like eyes and thought. 'Maybe I'm going crazy, but this cat seems to have a lot of references to night on it.' He didn't think too much about it, though. 'I'm probably just going crazy.'

Reaching out, Callum began petting his massive kitten that had turned into a panther. Stardust's fur had gotten softer and more silk-like. His massive head rubbed against Callum's shoulder, his purring sounded like a car engine.

"How am I going to feed you, hmm?" Callum asked the massive cat. Rhetorically, of course.

Stardust, to his surprise, nosed his left hand. His left hand was the hand that held the orb's core.

"You eat this?" He asked, wondering if he was insane once more.

To his shock, Stardust moved his massive head up and down as if he were saying 'yes'.

Callum held out the small bead, which now looked slightly larger. Examining it, it now had a thin, transluscent layer surrounding the core.

Stardust put his nose on it and Callum watched in fascination as the layer was stripped away in the form of a mist.

"Are you going to grow any more?" Callum asked, wondering if his apartment could hold him.

Moving his head side to side, Stardust said 'no.'

Callum decided to not even question the fact that his cat he had gotten five days prior was now an intelligent companion.

"I have to go to work." He began, stopping when Stardust sat next to the door.

"I can't take you. Not yet. I need to register you as an emotional support animal." Callum thought he saw sadness flicker in Stardust's moon-like eyes. "I'll see you in four hours."