(foreshadowing flash story)

The sun was setting over the quiet suburban street, casting long shadows across the neatly trimmed lawns. Lina stepped out of the car, grateful to be home after a long day at work. As she walked towards her front door, she noticed a small black cat darting across the street, disappearing into the bushes.

Lina thought nothing of it and continued inside, where she settled into her favorite armchair with a book. But as she read, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. She kept glancing towards the window, feeling like she was being watched.

Later that night, as Lina was getting ready for bed, she heard a faint meowing coming from outside. She looked out the window and saw the same black cat as before, sitting on the fence. It stared at her with smart yellow eyes, almost as if it was trying to say something.

Lina felt a shiver run down her spine, but she couldn’t quite place why. She shrugged it off anf went to bed, but she didn’t sleep well that night.

Over the next few days, strange things began to happen. Lina found paw prints on her porch, even though she never saw the cat up close. She started having vivid nightmares about a cat attacking her, and she began to feel like she was being followed everywhere she went.

Finally, one night, as she was leaving her house to go to a friend’s party, she saw the black cat waiting for her on her front porch. This time, she could see something glinting in its mouth.

Lina froze as the cat dropped a shiny object at her feet: a silver key, with a small tag attached to it that read, “27 Voloshkova Street.”

As Lina picked up the key, she finally realized what had been nagging at her all along. The key belonged to the abandoned house on Voloshkova Street, where a terrible crime had taken place years ago.

She felt a cold sweat break out on her forehead as she realized that the black cat had been trying to warn her all along. But was it too late to heed its warning?