The room was locked, and it was safe until the time came to show his treasures to the world.

Benson smiled from the confines of the dining room, where he had invited a group of his closest friends. It was his chance to show off his new skins that would complete his collection.

Wine glinted off of crystal chalices; plates left with only miserable crumbs were cleared away by quick-handed servants. He had amassed a collection of luxuriant cat skins from around the world, and it was time to show them off.

It had begun as a little hobby, started at the precocious age of nine, at his grandmother's funeral. His grandfather, wrecked with grief, gave him the skin of a Bengal tiger and told him to keep it safe, for he no longer could. It was only moments after that he threw himself ten feet in to the open grave. A loud crack told all there that an ambulance was unnecessary.

It was that event that made him start his collecting, first with the neighborhood cats, and later with bigger animals when he was much older and had the means to find them. He was, after all, supplied with an infinite fortune, left to him by his late parents, and innumerable time, as he was still very young. It had been a long and arduous journey, but finally he had collected all of the skins of big cat game known to man, and tonight would be the night to dazzle the world.

Benson clinked a fork against the cup, and with vacuous smiles they turned to their host. He doubted that any of his guests really cared about what he had to say. They all came for a bite of his fortune, and he couldn't care otherwise. As long as they were there as a living testament to culmination of the years.

He had lived a nocturnal life until till today, and had promised himself to never see sun again till his mission was complete. The last wish from his grandfather.

He could feel the sun trembling upon his shoulders, soon to grace the feline furs.

"My friends! Dawn is here!" he cried, and with a great flourish, cast aside the drapes that covered over the great cats. He looked greedily to their faces, eager to feed upon the wonder, the astonishment, and most of all, the praise.

But alas! Something was wrong. Where his guests faces should be filled with wonder and delight, it was replaced by fear and loathing. Why were they staring at him like that?

Slowly, Benson felt many a gaze on his back, and turned.

There, her white face stretched across his wall, smiled his grandmother and her friends.