I was so happy when Mariane came to our home. And it made Noemi happy too, I guess. But more importantly, me. 

We played together, and she gave me treats. Mariane stroked my fluffy white fur with her warm soft hands, making me pur. 

Before Mariane came, Noemi would go out, and leave me with a cat sitter (ew). But since she moved in, Noemi goes out less, and gives me all the attention. Except when they give attention to each other, but I get it back eventually.  

One cool February morning, Mariane and Noemi were at the table, siping their coffee, and eating their human kibble with milk, while I sat on the floor, eating my better kibble. 

“I can’t wait to see what you have planned for me today.” said Noemi.

“Oh, you’re going to love it. I’ve been planning this since-”

“Since last March? Yeah, I know. I’ve been waiting.” Noemi chuckled. “Did I ever tell you I have the best wife in the world?”

“Really? I think I have the best wife in the world.”

They both broke into laughter. 

Then…There was a tremor. At first, we ignored it. But then there was another. And another. And another. It was rhythmic, like a song with a heavy bass that shook the room. Then all the lights flickered, and went out. A blue and purple smoke filled the room. I hissed at an entity that wasn’t there yet. 

The smoke formed a doorway, and out stepped this hideous green creature. Its skin was tight on its bones and ligaments, as if it had no muscles. Its head was huge, like there was a balloon stuck in it. It had long pointed ears that went all the way back, about an inch further than the top of its head. Its nose was long, very long, and curved at the end, As if someone had taken it and stretched it out. It had no lips, just sharp teeth. Its eyes also somehow seemed pointed, and they were sinister. The eyes of someone who has bad intentions.

I hissed at it. Surely it’ll go away if I hiss at it. It pulled out an empty heart-shaped beaker from behind, and started chanting in some sort of weird language. Its voice piercing the air. My fur was pushed up straight, and my claws extended. As it chanted, little red glowing beads floated out of Mariane and Noemi’s chests, and filled the heart-shaped beaker. 

That was it. I leaped, aiming for that thing’s head. But it dodged me, and stepped back into the doorway, laughing maniacally. Before I knew it, the smoke doorway disappeared, all the lights were back on, and the tremors stopped.

I landed on the living room carpet, on my feet of course, and looked back at Mariane and Noemi. Something unexplainable had changed between them. They looked at each other. 

“Are you okay?” Asked Noemi.

“Yeah, I’m fine. And you?”

“Yeah, fine.”

There was an odd air between them when they spoke. As if they were 2 strangers.  

“What the f*ck just happened!?” exclaimed Noemi.

After that, Mariane and Noemi spent all day on their computers or phones, and not petting and cuddling me! And when I sat on their keyboards to get their attention, they just shooed me away! When we watched movies, we didn’t snuggle up on the couch anymore, but Mariane and Noemi sat across from each other, occasionally glancing at each other and awkwardly smiling. It was the worst thing to happen ever! Until one day:

“Hey, Noemi!” Mariane called.

“What!?” she responded, sounding slightly annoyed. 

“I think I found something!” 

Noemi grunted and leaned over Mariane’s shoulder. 

“Is it really something this time? Or is it-”

“Yes! It’s really something this time!”

“Okay.” Noemi said, unenthusiastically. Mariane grunted, about to argue with her. And when they argue they make a bunch of loud noises and act like I’m not even there. So I sat in her lap to calm her down. 

“Oh hello Bubbles!” Mariane squeaked. She picked me up by my torso, and gave me kisses. I hate dirty human mouths on my face, but I’ll endure it for them. Not because I like them, or something, but I just…I like being pet.  

“Mari. Focus. What did you find?” snapped Noemi. 

“Right, right…I think it’s a love goblin.” Mariane said, confidently. Noemi sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Really, this isn’t funny Mari.” 

“No I’m serious, look at this!” Mariane pulled up pictures of the love goblin “It finds people who really love each other, and comes through a smoke door way, and steals their love.”

“So what do we do about it? Couples therapy?” Noemi said sarcastically. 

“No. There’s a ritual, to go to the goblin’s realm, or whatever, and get it back.”

“Okay then.” Noemi sighed “Let’s do it.”

After that, they went out more than ever! Sometimes, they even forgot to get the cat sitter. They just left me all alone in the house! I mean, I like that sometimes because I can play with things they didn’t let me play with. But it’s more fun when they’re there to yell at me for it! I cried out to try to stop them from going out. I pretended to be sick. But they still went out! It was the worst thing to happen ever! Way worse than the last worst thing to happen ever!

They set up whatever thing they had been going out for in the living room.  They looked at each other, nodded, and held hands. Mariane reached down and lit a candle. The sight of sudden fire frightened me, and I jumped and hissed. 

“Bubbles! Quiet!” Noemi yelling my name startled me, but I did what she said.

Noemi lit another candle. They closed their eyes, and concentrated.

The lights flickered and went out, as the candles flickered and got brighter. Tremors started, like before when the goblin came, except, they weren’t rhythmic, they were random, off-beat. Mariane and Noemi started to float. Blue smoke poured into the room. It started to form a doorway, but then, they fell. The candles went out. The lights came back on. And the tremors stopped. 

“What happened?” asked Noemi.

“It… didn’t work.” Mariane said. 

“Why not?”

“I…don’t know.-”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I don’t know!”

“Weren’t you the one who did all the research!?” Noemi snapped, more accusing than asking.

“Yeah, I did!” Mariane took a second, “Maybe it’s because you didn’t try.”

“What!?”

“You didn’t do anything-”

“What are you talking about!? I did so mu-” 

“No! I did all the research--”

“No.” Noemi interrupted.

“--And you didn’t--”

“No!” 

“--Do anything! You didn’t try! You don’t put any effort into anything!” 

“I do! I want our love back more than anything!” Noemi yelled “Maybe it’s you.”

“What?” Mariane was stunned. 

“You wanna be right so bad, and you're so stubborn that you won’t admit that you can do anything wrong, and you won’t listen to anyone else!” 

“Well that’s just what it seems--” Mariane tried explaining her way out of the hole she had dug. 

“No!”

“--Like to you! Because you don’t-”

“No! I do! But you don’t notice because you don’t listen to anyone else, even when you know you’re wrong! And you always go on about people not trying when you’re not even trying. It’s like you don’t even want it back!” 

“Well maybe I don’t!” Mariane snapped, then gasped and covered her mouth. There was a silence that seemed like it lasted an eternity. Not even I dared to meow. It gripped the room and held it, frozen in that moment. 

“You don’t want our love back?” Noemi said, tears in her eyes “But you were to one who-”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just… I was thinking and… I don’t want it back… I give up.” 

“What? But you never-”

“I know,” Mariane sighed, ashamed of herself. 

“And we only tried once-”

“I know. It’s just hard because I don’t love you anymore. And because of that, I don’t want to get it back, and I think the best thing to do is just to stop trying.” They stared at each other. Tears streamed down Noemi’s face, and a few dropped from Mariane’s too.

“Okay then. Go.” Noemi grunted. Mariane paused, taken aback. “Go!”

Mariane composed herself. Got a few of her things. As she opened the door, I screamed out to her. I latched my claws onto her pants to drag her back inside. Not because I’ll miss her, I’ll just miss…God dammit! Yes! Because I’ll miss her! Because I want her and Noemi to be happy together! 

She grabbed my arm and threw me off her. 

“Goodbye Bubbles.” She said softly. She took one final glance at Noemi, then closed the door and left my life forever.