Angel had been sick for six weeks.

Jacob remembered the cat when Kayla had brought her in last time.

He had been bored that day, as usual, sitting behind the receptionist desk at the clinic and watching the neon letters of the 'Open' sign fizzle out and flicker back to life every seven seconds. He was a smallish teenager, very skinny and meek, with thick rimmed glasses that tended to slip down his nose. His matted curls were not unlike some of the poodles' that had entered the clinic.

In had walked Kayla, carrying Angel in her majestic arms. She was the most beautiful girl Jacob had ever seen; her shiny copper hair and sky blue eyes seemed to light up the morose waiting room.

Angel had been a different story.

She was puffy and caramel, with one sagging eye and a twitchy ear. The very tip of her tail seemed to spasm every other moment in protest of imprisonment in the world of the living. Her eyes were dead.

Kayla had told him that Angel was very sick and had hardly been eating or making trips to the litter box. She said the only clue as to this change in behaviour was that the cat didn't like to be petted.

Jacob promised he would get the feline tested and took Angel hurriedly to Dr. Baker, a tall, gangly man with a crooked nose and beady eyes.

Dr. Baker spent a while in the examination room and emerged thirty minutes later only to tell Kayla that Angel had an expanding brain tumor.

Kayla had teared up and merely nodded when Dr. Baker continued by saying that Angel required an operation which would necessarily take a night to complete.

Jacob had smiled inwardly, reveling in the opportunity to see this beauty again.

Now, she was standing in front of him once more, her blue eyes welling up. "Here she is. Treat her well, please." She brought out the limp Angel from the folds of her winter jacket.

"We'll take care of her, don't you worry," Jacob gushed. He took the cat from her hands and whisked away, bringing Angel to the room that Dr. Baker had prepared.

"Thank you, my boy."

"You're welcome, sir."

"Boy?"

"Sir?"

"You'll have to spend the night."

"What?"

Dr. Baker turned a beady eye on him, placing Angel down on a clean, reflective table. "The radio has said those gusts outside are turning ugly. Storm's coming. Too dangerous to go home on the highway. Spend the night in the waiting room. Keep the girl with you, don't want her getting hurt either."

"Yes, sir!" Jacob burst.

"One more thing, boy."

"Sir?"

"Don't let the young miss get too close to this room. I still plan on doing the operation, if I have to spend the night. I don't want her upset by hearing the sounds." He grinned slyly.

Jacob nodded and hurried back to the main room, where Kayla was gazing out of the window at the blowing snow.

He explained the situation to her and she agreed to spend the night, forcing Jacob to contain squeals of joy. They sat by the reception desk for a while, talking about school and other things.

She'd just dealt with the recent loss of her mother, and had been having a hard time adjusting to regular life again. He just sat and listened to her talk, nodding his head and saying, "Yeah" every once in a while.

Eventually she switched subjects and asked him if he'd taken interest in anyone at school. When he'd replied that he hadn't, she seemed surprised.

"You seem like a really nice guy." She smiled. "Lots of girls would like you."

"I think you've got it backwards," Jacob mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Hours passed and the storm only got worse. Jacob kept Kayla behind the reception desk, sometimes talking to her and sometimes sitting in silence. He was glad that they couldn't hear a thing coming from the operation room.

The lights flickered out.

"Jacob? Jacob, I can't see you."

"I'm right here. Storm probably cut the power. But I guess I should go check and see if it's just a breaker," he said, already rummaging around for a candle he knew was in the desk.

"I don't really want you to leave me here. I don't know this place as well as you do," Kayla said.

"Found it," Jacob exclaimed, lighting the candle with a match that had been laying beside it.

Kaya's concerned face became illuminated. Her forehead crinkled in the dim light.

"I'll be right back, okay?" Jacob smiled weakly.

She looked as if she were about to protest but instead kept her mouth closed and nodded.

Jacob left her and crept down the back hallway towards the breaker room. The room was even darker than the waiting area and he had to fiddle around before he finally reached the breaker panel. He wrenched it open and held the candle close to the switches, squinting as he read them.

He found the one he was looking for and flipped it back and forth.

Nothing.

Jacob sighed and exited the room, starting back down the hallway from the direction he'd come. He was about halfway there when he heard a crash to his left.

Towards the operation room.

He paused in the middle of the hallway and gazed towards the room.

Perhaps I should go check on Dr. Baker, he thought. But he said to leave him be during the operation. Still, he could be hurt or something.

Jacob hung left and walked through the examination room, reaching the door. He grasped the handle and opened it cautiously, peeking around it.

"Dr. Baker?" he called.

"Boy?" an excited voice responded. "Come in."

Jacob stepped inside and shut the door behind him, shoving his glasses back up his nose as he held the candle aloft. "Dr. Baker? I can't see you."

"Here, boy."

He stretched out his arm until the glow reached the sleek outline of Dr. Baker, who was bent over the metallic table. The silhouettes of operation tools were littered about.

"You're just in time. I've actually just finished. You can see her if you'd like. She's still asleep," Dr. Baker said without looking up.

Jacob thought it best to comply and shuffled around the table to the same side as the vet. He looked down and realized that Dr. Baker had his own small light illuminating his project.

Angel was splashed in the blue glow. Her paws were tucked underneath of her body and her tail was wrapped tightly around her left side.

Jacob squinted. But ... her head?

The cat's head was no longer the same. Between the ears, a spongy pulsating thing was just visible through the fur. It was greyish and looked slimy, though Angel appeared to be sleeping contentedly.

"What is that, exactly?" Jacob whispered.

"That, my boy, saved the cat's life. To remove the tumor, I forced a brain transplant. I happened to acquire a healthy one from a friend at the hospital. Recently deceased works much better, you know." Dr. Baker's eyes shined black.

Jacob started. "At the hospital? But they don't have-"

"Quite right. It is, indeed, a human brain," Dr. Baker said nonchalantly.

The flame on the candle quivered a bit.

"Oh," was all Jacob could say.

"Would you look at that." Dr. Baker bent down to peer at the feline. "She's waking up."

Turning his attention to the cat, Jacob saw that her ear no longer twitched and even the spasms from her tail had ceased. Her eye still sagged but something was different; both eyes seemed in focus. They reflected the shine of the candle in Jacob's hand and he couldn't help feeling that there was something intelligent that hadn't been there before.

Then Angel looked at him.

Jacob stared back.

Ever so subtly, but with a sort of silent pleasure, the cat winked at him.

It was then that Dr. Baker said in a quiet voice, "Don't you think the young miss is wondering where you are?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. I should head back," Jacob sputtered.

He left Dr. Baker and Angel behind, making his way back to the waiting room as quickly as possible, shivers starting unwillingly down his spine. He arrived to find Kayla still huddled in the dark behind the desk.

"Your cat is going to be okay. The operation was successful." Jacob tried to sound upbeat.

"Really?!" The lines of her smile were cast in shadow.

"Yeah. I just saw her. She just woke up."

"I'm going to see her."

Uh oh, was all that came to Jacob's mind. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Why not? You were just in there." Kayla was on her feet and moving.

"Well, Dr. Baker doesn't usually let anyone in the operation room while he's working an-"

A crash snapped his voice in two. It was much louder than the first one Jacob had heard.

"That came from the room they're in!" Kayla said and started towards the hallway.

"Wait, Kayla! You won't be able to see!" Jacob dashed after her, carrying the melting candle.

They reached the door to the operation room as slowly as Jacob could go, leading the way with the soft light. There was no noise coming from the room now, but the entrance was slightly ajar.

"Ew," Kayla whispered from behind him, "Why is the floor sticky?"

Jacob could feel it too. He shifted his feet in the liquid below. Water? He lowered the light and felt his heart leap into his chest. Blood. It was seeping out from the opening to the room.

Before Kayla could get a good look, he stood up straight and whispered hoarsely to her, "We need to go back."

"But why?"

"Just go. I'll explain in a second."

They stepped back out into the hallway and Kayla looked at him incredulously. "Well?"

"Kayla, what was on the floor ... You, uh, you wouldn't want to go in there," Jacob managed.

Annoyance was evident in her voice now. "Look, I think I should be able to see my own cat-"

"Kaaayla." A new voice rang out crystal clear through the deserted building. It was unnatural, a woman's voice with a monotone air to it.

It echoed again. "Kaaaaaaayla."

Jacob was sure he heard it this time. The voice had a strange warble to it. It sounded something like ... purring?

It was coming from the end of the hall. The second one had been louder.

"Here, Kayla, Kayla, Kayla." It was very close now.

Both of the teenagers faced the end of the hall and Jacob shakily extended his arm forward, sending the shadows into a hypnotic dance as light bounced along the walls to the far end.

At first, nothing. Then the shape of Angel slinked around the corner. It stopped in the exact center of the opposite end of the hallway.

Then it turned its head towards them.

"Angel?" Jacob heard Kayla breathe. Her voice was wheezy.

It was hard to tell, but Jacob was sure he saw a lopsided grin spread across the cat's face.

It began to pad towards them. As it did, it spoke. "There you are, Kayla. I've been looking for you." As it got closer, it was apparent that it was looking directly at her, narrowed pupils locked with her round ones.

Jacob couldn't tear his eyes away from the cat. Did her mouth just move? But even as he watched, he could feel a change in Kayla.

"That's my mother's voice," she groaned. "That's my mother's voice. That's my mother's voice."

She repeated it continuously.

Angel stopped several feet short of them and tilted its head, the smile spreading into a wide grin. Its fur was dowsed crimson. "Now, now, Kayla. We have something to discuss. I don't think it was fair that you brought me here so many times to be fixed, do you?"

Kayla just kept muttering.

"Listen to me, Kayla, please. Kayla." Its mouth seemed to move in a blur when it spoke. "KAYLA, THIS IS YOUR MOTHER SPEAKING!"

At that exact moment, Kayla let loose a blood curdling scream that forced Jacob's shivers out of hiding and back into his body. He couldn't tear his eyes from the cat.

Its sagged eye turned on him for the first time. "Run," it whispered.

The candle hit the floor and darkness surrounded Jacob as he ran. He flew down the hallway and back into the waiting room. He felt his breath leave him as he tripped on something, falling hard to the floor.

Kayla's screams continued endlessly, flooding his ears and washing out his mind. He struggled to his feet and bolted towards the main entrance, pausing only once as a change in atmosphere made itself present.

Kayla's screams had ceased.

Jacob yanked the door open and ran out into the freezing cold, finally finding his voice in the storm and yelling as loudly as possible.

He ran and ran, just as he had been told.

Both Dr. Baker and Kayla had been killed, their throats ripped out and the word 'fixed' carved onto their foreheads. Police were baffled as to who had caused the murders, finding no evidence.

Jacob spent a few days in the hospital, having been found in a snowbank, before going to see a psychiatrist for two months. No one believed his story.

He returned to work the following week, against the opinions of those who knew him. His psychiatrist deemed him safe enough to work, even if he still believed in his insane tale.

At the end of his second day back, the newest veterinarian found him on the floor, an empty bottle of estradiol pills in his hand. All of the cats who had been residing in kennels were dead, killed with a steak knife.

Only Jacob was suspected in the murders of the cats, but police found the word 'fixed' scratched into the window of the waiting room. They had no idea how it got to be there, and they certainly couldn't blame Jacob.

It had been carved from the outside.