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“Sabbath!” Eddie exclaimed loudly, letting out a huff of frustration as he glanced over his shoulder on the sidewalk, trying to listen in for soft scurrying or a rustling in the bushes. The stack of flyers lay neglected in his loose grip. “ Sabbath ! It’s Eddie! I’m not someone evil, it’s just me!”
“Dude, no offense,” Dustin sighed, fumbling with the masking tape and messily trying to rip off a piece, “but I don’t think your cat knows you have a name, let alone that it’s Eddie.”
Dustin finally managed to tear off a piece of tape, holding the stack of flyers between his knees as he brought one of them up to a power line, holding it firmly against the wooden pole and taping it down. It was a Missing poster, one that Eddie had hurriedly begged his uncle to make the day after his cat had disappeared. It included a shitty, blurry photograph that Dustin had taken a month back as well as a phone number someone could call. And a reward. $10. Because no one seemed to do anything nice for free anymore.
“She knows my name,” Eddie insisted firmly, clearing his throat. “Sabbath! Sabby! It’s Eddie!”
“C’mon, you’re gonna wake the whole neighborhood up,” his friend reminded him, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “She’ll turn up eventually. She’s like, an outdoor cat, right? Outdoor cats run around outside, that’s like their thing, I think.”
“Not Sabby,” he protested.
In all truth, of course, Sabbath was an outdoor cat. Before Eddie unofficially adopted her, she had been a stray. He had often seen her, on no particular occasion, lurking behind the wheels of neighboring trailers, her frail body bounding to the top of trashcans as she rummaged through for something to eat. Eddie had sometimes curiously watched her through his window, noticing how she sometimes sprawled out in the grass, her dark fur lightly illuminated by patches of sunlight.
His uncle would always be muttering about the ‘damn cat’ that would rummage through their trash, occasionally knocking the enfeebled bin over, leaving plastic wrappers and various discarded items scattered across the grass in front of their trailer.
Eddie could never get close to her, however. Sometimes he would find himself sitting out on the small front porch, resting politely on the steps and peering out into the darkness, wondering if he could find her. She blended in almost perfectly with the night, however, and Eddie would almost never catch a glimpse of her. And, if he did, she would see him and run away.
One evening, though, after eating dinner, Eddie had heard yowling from outside across the way. He had opened the door, peering out across the lawn, his eyes scanning over the direction where the sound had been coming from. Sure enough, across the way, it appeared as if some sort of animal had gotten itself stuck underneath a chain-link fence. Eddie had scrambled over, realizing it was the same cat who was always prowling around the trailer park, her leg caught in one of the links.
Despite being hissed at while the cat attempted to scratch him, Eddie had clumsily managed to get her leg unstuck, the cat almost immediately darting into the night the second she had been released. He had watched her go, noticing how she disappeared off somewhere, the light glow of her amber eyes vanishing.
Eddie had seen her the following week, limping across the grass before settling underneath a pool of sunlight. He had carried his lunch out onto the small porch, the cat’s head darting toward him. She had let out a soft hiss, back arching up slightly as her tail curled defensively around her leg. Eddie had hesitantly reached for a bit of hot dog that his uncle had grilled the night before, tossing it across the lawn.
“It’s kinda burnt,” he had admitted softly, plopping down on the steps as the slice tumbled across the grass. The cat had eyed it carefully. “And it’s, like, leftovers, so…you know, not the best. Figured it’s better than garbage though.”
The cat had reluctantly scampered over, grabbing it quickly in her mouth before rushing off.
It hadn’t been the last time that Eddie would be able to get a bit closer to her. Routinely, every other day or so, the black cat would linger by the porch steps, her tail flicking curiously as she waited for Eddie to come out. He would exit the trailer with a smile on his face, being mindful not to get too close to her, for she would hiss and scratch at him. Eddie would rest down a small plate of food on the cement steps, hesitantly returning inside because she wouldn’t approach it until he was gone.
Eddie would watch her through the window, waiting for her to finish before he went out to retrieve the plate, usually catching a glimpse of her as she ran off.
“You know,” Eddie had mentioned one day while resting down the plate, the cat’s amber eyes dully looking up at him, “I’m not gonna hurt you or anything. I’m the one who got your leg unstuck, remember? If I wanted to hurt you I would have left you there.”
Eddie would eventually reluctantly sit down beside the plate, his way of reminding the cat that he didn’t want to hurt her. She at first would stare at him, her tail flicking with annoyance each time before scampering up the steps, eating beside him. On one occasion, Eddie had reached out to pet her, drawing his hand away as her back tensed against his hand, although this time she hadn’t tried to bite or scratch him.
Eventually, the cat would be curled up beside him each evening on the porch, rubbing her forehead gently against his ankle.
“I think I’m gonna call you Sabbath,” Eddie had decided with a smile, gently scratching behind her ear. “Cause like…you’re a black cat. Black Sabbath. You’re a black Sabbath. I think that’s pretty neat. I can call you Sabby.”
“I mean, yeah, I let her outside when she scratches at the door,” Eddie continued reluctantly, crossing his arms loosely against his chest, “but she always comes back. She’ll bring me like…leaves and twigs and dead shit. Gifts.”
“See, that’s why indoor cats are superior,” Dustin sighed. “Tews doesn’t bring me dead stuff.”
“Well it’s not like I’m gonna just trap her in the trailer,” he reminded his friend.
Eddie generally allowed Sabbath to do whatever she wanted. She would often prowl around the living room, curling up peacefully on the arm of the couch or sprawling across his bed, hissing lightly whenever he tried to relocate her. Sabbath enjoyed knocking absolutely everything off of the counter, and Wayne was always complaining that ‘he couldn’t believe Eddie let the damn cat inside’, although Eddie had seen him on a few occasions allowing Sabby to crawl into his lap while watching television.
Whenever she wanted to go outside she would scratch at the door, mewling loudly until Eddie dropped whatever he was doing to let her out. She would rush out across the lawn, often disappearing into the woods and reappearing a few hours later, a day at the latest,, where she would return with something she had found. Usually, a dried up leaf or a twig that look particularly interesting, although once she had left a dead squirrel by his uncle’s foot…and he hadn’t been exactly pleased about that.
“If you can train her to bring you gifts,” Wayne had complained, “you can train her not to bring you dead shit.”
Regardless, Sabby would always come back. But the last time he had let her out she hadn’t returned, and after seven months of her living in the trailer Eddie felt too attached to her to simply just let her run off. After all, she had been dangerously thin as a stray.
“She always comes back,” Eddie insisted. “But this time she didn’t. That’s not just an outdoor cat thing, I think there could be something wrong. I haven’t even seen her around the trailer park. It’s like she disappeared.”
“Well, maybe someone’s found her and they just haven’t been able to bring her back,” Dustin reminded him. “These flyers aren’t exactly helpful. They’ve got like, what, some shitty photo of her and just your phone number? Give them an address, give them your name, then you’ll get your cat back.”
“People in this town fucking hate me,” Eddie answered firmly. “I don’t even wanna know what they would do to Sabbath if they found out she was Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson’s cat. People hate black cats as it is, they think they’re evil. Which is why I gotta find her before someone…I don’t know, before someone hurts her.”
Dustin glanced at him sympathetically.
“Look, dude, we’ll find Sabbath,” Dustin reassured him. “She’s probably just lost somewhere in town and doesn’t know how to get back to the trailer. If she was able to survive before you then she can survive after you. It’s like, animal instinct.”
“Yeah,” Eddie sighed, reaching for the masking tape to put up another flyer. “Yeah, maybe.”
-
“Jesus fucking Christ, again?” Steve huffed with frustration, dragging the trash bag behind him as he walked down the driveway, already noticing that the bin at the end of the driveway had been tipped over, the metal lid lying in the street. A fucking driving hazard, that was what it was. “Christ almighty, these fucking raccoons.”
It was the third time that week that the trashcan had been left tipped over in the driveway. Steve had been picking it up each morning while backing down the driveway to go to work, making disgusted faces while having to return all the trash to the bin. There wasn’t even anything edible in there at that point, it had all been picked at by raccoons. The fact that they kept breaking in was just fucking annoying.
Reluctantly, Steve rested the trash bag down, muttering underneath his breath as he looked both ways, darting into the street to fetch the lid that was lying in the center of the road, retrieving it and rushing back to the end of the driveway. Steve sighed, beginning to carefully pick up the pieces of trash littered around the grass and by the mailbox, being mindful to simply pinch at it so he wasn’t grabbing it with his hand. Steve was in no mood to touch anything disgusting that morning. He had just wanted to enjoy his Saturday, yet there he was picking up garbage.
Steve sighed, slamming the lid on top of the bin once he was finished, wiping his hands on the fabric of his pants before turning on his heels to leave. However, before he could make his way back up the driveway, he heard a soft chirrup from above him.
Hesitantly, he glanced up, lolling his head back and peering into the tree branches. Steve couldn’t see anything for a few seconds, standing on his toes to get a better look before smiling to himself upon noticing an obsidian black cat perched politely on a limb, amber eyes glowing down at him. Steve let out a huff of laughter, resting his hands on his hips.
“Whatcha doin' up there?” He hummed, shifting to get a better look.
The cat’s tail flicked before curling around its side, obviously content up on the branch.
“Are you the one who’s been fucking up my trash can all the time?” Steve continued, laughing lightly at the thought. “If you had come to the door I would’ve given you something to eat, you don’t have to go digging through the trash or anything. Makes my life harder.”
Steve simply looked up at the cat for a few seconds, just smiling to himself and wondering why it was just sitting up there. After another second, however, he could have sworn he recognized it from somewhere. After all, it wasn’t often that Steve saw cats wandering throughout Hawkins, certainly not outside of his house.
“Wait a second,” Steve breathed out, “you’re that cat from those Missing posters, aren’t you?”
The cat was unresponsive. Obviously.
“Yeah, wait a second,” he continued softly, giving a quick snap of his fingers before turning on his heels, quickly darting over to a power line pole not far over. Steve scanned the wood, reaching over for a flyer that had been messily taped down, ripping it free and holding it close. He glanced down. The photograph was a bit grainy and blurred, and there wasn’t much information about the cat apart from the name.
“Sabbath?” Steve questioned, wrinkling his nose. Weird name. He crumpled up the flyer, shoving it hurriedly into his back pocket before turning to walk up the driveway, the intention of calling the number on the poster in his mind before he stopped, shuffling back to the tree and looking up. “I should probably get you down from there first, huh?”
The cat, presumably Sabbath, blinked, its ears twitching.
“Uh…here kitty kitty?” Steve suggested, feeling a bit stupid before snapping his fingers up at the cat. “Here kitty kitty, c’mon down so I can call your owner…whoever that is.”
Sabbath shifted on the branch.
“Here, Sabbath,” he cooed lightly, making a hopeful ‘pspspsps’ noise with a click of his tongue, lightly patting his thighs and hoping it would eventually scamper down. “C’mon, uh…c’mon boy…girl…cat? Jesus, could you just come down?”
The cat was obviously unaffected by his frustration. Steve huffed.
“You’re not coming down, huh?” he continued, pressing his lips together firmly before making it to the base of the tree, reaching up for a limb. “Fine. We’ll do this the hard way.”
-
Eddie muttered underneath his breath, kicking at a pebble with frustration and watching it tumble down the sidewalk. He held a small stack of posters in his hands, although there wasn’t a single lamp post, power line, or road sign that didn’t have a flyer taped to it, that same shitty photograph of Sabbath pasted on the front. His uncle had insisted that they weren’t made of money and that printing flyers was getting expensive, and that they had already done all that they could.
Even still, Eddie would make sure the volume of the television never played too loud in case Sabbath would come back scratching at the door, and he would always leave a small plate of food out on the front porch with hopes of enticing her back. Nothing seemed to work. Sabbath had been gone for over a week, and part of him feared that something horrible had happened to her. That she had gotten hit by a car, or eaten by a fox, or that some jackasses had thought it would be funny to kick her around.
“You’ve got to be realistic, Eds,” Wayne had mentioned one day while they were sitting at the kitchen counter, Eddie pushing food aside that he would leave out for Sabbath. “It’s been almost two weeks. I know you loved that cat, but she just ain’t coming back.”
Eddie had loved that cat. If anyone were to ask him to name his three best friends, the list would follow: Dustin Henderson, his uncle Wayne, and his black cat Sabbath. She was always a wonder to have around the trailer, and Eddie would giggle every time he found her curled up somewhere obscure, from the top of the fridge to tucked away underneath a pile of flannel shirts. He missed the banter of Wayne gently scolding the cat whenever it would knock something down from the counters, or when she would claw at the legs of the furniture.
“We’re not made of money, Sabs,” Wayne would say, picking her up every time she used the couch leg as a scratching post. “You can’t just go around destroying whatever you’d like.”
Eddie missed waking up to Sabbath’s tail swiping annoyingly in his face, fur prickling over his eyes. He missed reading Lord of the Rings to her when he was bored, cross-legged on his bed while she pawed around at the mess on the floor. The house remained dull while his uncle was at work, leaving him alone with nothing but his thoughts.
“Sabbath!” Eddie called out reluctantly, letting out a huff and brushing the hair out of his eyes with frustration, continuing to mutter. It was pointless, really, he didn’t know why he bothered. Mumbling to himself he walked over to a nearby trashcan, opening the top and tossing the remaining flyers inside. There wasn’t an empty spot in town left to hang them.
Eddie sighed defeatedly. That was that.
“Uh…hello?” someone called from behind him.
Eddie flinched with surprise, quickly glancing over his shoulder and spinning behind him. He wrinkled his nose slightly when he realized there was no one there, hesitantly taking a step back.
“Jesus,” the voice muttered, “up here!”
Eddie glanced up, cocking his eyebrow with confusion before his gaze settled on the limbs. To his surprise, a boy was sitting up there, legs hanging awkwardly over the side while one arm was hugging the tree, as if fearing he would tumble over the edge. In the grasp of his other arms was a black cat, amber eyes glowing down at Eddie, whose lips began to curl into a delighted smile.
“Sabbath!” he exclaimed with surprise, grinning with disbelief as he peered into the tree.
“What?” the boy questioned, wrinkling his nose before looking down at her. “Oh, yeah, the cat.”
Eddie giggled softly.
“I can’t believe you found her,” Eddie continued, brushing a hand through his hair while trying to find the words. “ Thank you . I’ve been looking for her everywhere, I thought she was dead or something, I didn’t think I would ever see her again. How did you find her?”
He couldn’t believe he was talking to someone in a tree.
“Well, uh,” the boy answered, giving a loose shrug of his shoulders, “I sorta just…saw her? I think she was the one who was getting into my trash cans. She was just up here, though.”
“And…you’re up there… why ?” Eddie questioned, letting out a soft huff of laughter. The last way he would have expected to find his cat was up in a tree with some stranger who looked terrified out of their mind from heights. “I mean, I’m not complaining, you found her…just confused.”
“Uh, well, she wouldn’t come down,” the boy continued awkwardly, “and I didn’t wanna just leave her there cause I had seen the flyers all around town. So I figured I would climb up and bring her down…but I don’t really know how to climb down while carrying the cat.”
“Wait, how long have you been up there?”
“Um…” the boy started, clearing his throat. “Uh, an hour…or two? Maybe?”
Sabbath perked up as she stared down at Eddie, her ears twitching before she climbed carefully out of the boy’s grasp, nimbly bounding down to a lower limb, tail curling around her leg. Eddie just smiled up at her, watching as she leaped down from branch to branch before padding gently to the ground, scampering over to his ankles.
“Hey there, Sabby girl,” Eddie cooed gently, smiling as he crouched down and carefully picked her up, balancing her weight in his arms. Sabbath nudged her forehead gently against his chin as he lifted her up, causing him to laugh softly. “I know, I know, I missed you too.”
He scratched gently behind her ear.
“Thank you so much,” he repeated, staring up into the branches. The boy just nodded hesitantly.
“Now I’ve gotta figure out how to get down…somewhat gracefully,” the boy huffed, shifting to lower his leg to another branch, holding on tightly to the tree. Eddie watched him, bouncing Sabbath gently in his arms. However, after reaching the third branch down, the boy’s hand slipped and he tumbled down onto the edge of the sidewalk, hissing lightly under his breath.
“Shit, are you alright?” Eddie questioned.
Sabbath leaped out of his arms, padding gently over to the boy and nudging her forehead against the boy’s hand.
“If it makes you feel any better,” he continued hesitantly, walking over and crouching down beside the boy, allowing Sabbath to climb into his lap, “I think my cat likes you.”
The boy huffed, smiling a bit as he straightened up into a sitting position, wiping his hands on his jeans. Eddie took a quick glance at them, noticing the blushed scratch marks that tore lightly at the skin that had skidded against the sidewalk, not mentioning it as the boy sat across from him, his gaze lingering down at his cat.
“Your cat has a weird name,” he mentioned finally.
“Sabbath?” Eddie hummed.
“Mhm,” he answered. “Kinda weird.”
Eddie would have been offended if it weren’t for the smile curling onto the boy’s lips.
“Well, what’s your name?” Eddie questioned, shifting a bit closer to him. “Since you seem to know so much about good names.”
“It’s Steve,” the boy, Steve, huffed in return. “What about you?”
“Eddie,” he answered simply, gently petting Sabbath. “What about that name, is that a weird one?”
Steve chuckled softly, giving a slow shake of his head.
“No,” he hummed. “No, that’s a good name. I like it, it suits you. You look like an Eddie.”
“You look like someone stupid enough to get stuck in a tree for two hours,” Eddie continued, grinning as he stood to his feet. Steve simply gave a good-natured roll of his eyes, scrambling to stand up.
“You know, you’re really cute,” Steve mentioned absentmindedly.
“What?”
“Your cat,” he continued hurriedly, clearing his throat and gesturing his hand to Sabbath, who was practically beginning to slip away into a nap in Eddie’s arms. “Your cat is really cute. Just thought I would mention it, you know? Cute cat…worth getting stuck in a tree for.”
Eddie smiled shyly, giving a small nod.
“I figure you probably want that ten-dollar reward now?” he questioned, giving him an expecting look.
“I mean, that’s not the reason why I found her,” Steve mentioned, giving a loose shrug of his shoulders. “I guess that ten bucks wouldn’t hurt, though.”
“I don’t think I have my wallet on me,” Eddie admitted, allowing Sabbath down as she began to squirm impatiently in his arms. She instead chose to sit beside him, tail flicking gently against his sneakers. “So, I would have to run back and get it…which isn’t me trying to get out of giving you ten dollars, I swear. I know I didn’t exactly put the address on the flyer.”
“Well, uh, how about this,” Steve continued slowly, uncrumpling the balled-up flyer in his hands before glancing down at the information on the sheet. “I’m kinda busy doing chores right now, so by the time you drive back to your house and come back I’ll probably be running errands. So…how about I just call you when I’m free?”
“Call me?” Eddie murmured softly, smiling regardless.
“Um, yeah,” he answered, scratching the back of his neck. “Your number’s on the flyers. If you’re, you know…if you’re cool with me calling you, or whatever…I guess maybe you could just come back another day and knock on the door and I could come out and–”
“Calling sounds fine,” he interjected hurriedly, giving a quick nod.
“Awesome,” Steve breathed out. “I mean, great… cool . Very cool.”
“I know I already mentioned this,” Eddie continued, taking a half-step toward him, “but, uh…thanks for finding her. Really, you have no idea how frantic I was. I was running around Hawkins like a fucking mad-man.”
“I could tell from all the flyers,” he joked lightly. “You can’t go anywhere in Hawkins without seeing one.”
“Yeah…” he hummed, letting out a small huff of admitting laughter. “Yeah, I guess I went a little overboard with it. I’ll probably have to take them all down now that I’ve found her, which is going to be a pain in the ass and a half, but I’m just glad she’s back.”
“I can help you with the posters,” Steve suggested hopefully.
“I would…I would love that,” Eddie admitted, a bit bewildered as he found himself just absolutely grinning.
“Awesome,” he breathed out, giving a justified nod. “I, uh…I have to get back to doing chores and stuff. You know, taking the trash out and cleaning the pool and stuff. But, uh…I’ll call you, when I’m free. To talk, and uh…and for the ten dollars, obviously.”
“Sure thing,” he answered, reaching down to scoop Sabbath up again after giving a half-wave.
Eddie turned to leave, smiling to himself, practically grinning from ear to ear. He glanced over his shoulder briefly, expecting to see Steve climbing back up the driveway and returning to his house, his heart skipping a beat upon realizing Steve was continuing to stand there on the sidewalk, his gaze lingering. Steve seemed to sink into himself with embarrassment, hesitantly waving and wearing a shy smile. Eddie waved back at him again, taking a small breath before continuing on his way.
“Thank you , Sabbath,” Eddie whispered to her, scratching behind her ear.