“Have you ever heard of the tale of how curiosity killed the cat and satisfaction brought it back?”
“You mean that old saying?"
"Yes my dear, I can tell you the origins of that story. It all started with a girl named Sally.
You see, Sally was always a curious girl, which in many cases is healthy for a child. However, Sally lived in a very strange town.
You see, this town had some interesting rules that all the townsfolk listened to,
Rule #1 don’t look up
Rule #2 don’t listen to strange cries in the night
Rule #3 don’t let curiosity get the best of you
These rules were to apply to anyone within 2 miles of the town park, or anyone else who could see it. It seems the unspoken rule was to avoid looking at the park and not to go looking for anything in the park.
Some may think these rules are strange, and they would be right. But they had a strong, eerie hold on the town. Only the oldest generations remember when the rules didn’t exist, and why they were made. To everyone else, it was simply a fear and a fact handed down to them from their parents and grandparents.
Of course there were consequences to breaking them as well, or the rules would be worthless. The legend said that if you broke the rules a man would sweep you away and you'd never be seen again. Most attributed these deaths and missing persons to the large river flowing through town, others truly believed their safety relied on these rules.
Sally knew these rules, and did her best to obey them. Like most townsfolk, they had existed long before her birth, and were a part of daily life. But she was quite young, and one night, curiosity got the best of her. That night she broke two of the rules. She heard a cry from outside her window, which faced the river, and across the river was the park. She left her home and walked to the shores, where in the pale moonlight, she saw a black cat stuck on the other side of the river, unable to get ashore.
Sally was a strong swimmer, as she had lived by the river her whole life. She tied back her hair, and she dove in.
She swam across the dark, deep river, and reached the cat. Upon reaching the shore, she realized the cat wasn’t trapped by the current, but was stuck in a small cage, floating by the shore. It had been attempting to escape its cage.
She hauled it onto land, and did her best to calm the cat down. Then she studied the cage in an attempt to free the cat. She figured breaking it was easier than looking for a key, so she grabbed a nearby rock. She broke the lock off the cage. As she opened the door, the cat began hissing, and a twig snapped behind her. As she turned around she was struck over the head, and passed out.
When she awoke it was morning the next day and she was laying down on the park bench. She was confused, as to why she was there, and wasn’t sure if she had dreamt about finding the cat, but knew better than to go looking in the park. She walked home, and her parents warned her not to disappear like that again. She spent the day worrying about the cat, and what may have happened.
That night, she heard the cry again, but it was much more faint, and farther away. She got dressed, and decided to figure out if she had been dreaming or not. Once again letting curiosity take hold, ignoring the rather violent warning she had previously gotten. She walked across the bridge, and into the park. She heard the cat, but could not see it. She went back to the shore, and the cage was empty.
The cat cried for help, and she knew where the noise had come from, it came from above. But she knew that if she looked up she would break the town rules. She knew that she had already broken the rule by coming out to search for the crying cat. So she gathered herself, and looked up.
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