Meet Nova

"Meow…"

Luca moaned as she stretched her body, opening her eyes weakly. From her blurry vision, the first thing she caught was a cat's black legs. She blinked twice and her gaze panned up only to see her cat, Nova, sitting on the side of the bed, meowing.

"Nova…?" Her voice was hoarse, still in a daze.

"Took you some time, bitch!"

Luca flinched when she heard an unfamiliar sassy voice, along with Nova's aggressive meow. But she winced and clasped her hair at the piercing pain in her head that came right after.

"My head hurts so bad…" she whispered, pushing herself to sit up. "… did I drink too much last night…?"

Huh?

Luca's brain went blank for a moment before her memories from last night surged in her head. She recalled the sound of water leaking from the sink, her sniffles, the voices from the television, the ringing sound of the phone, the moaning, and then a cat's meowing. She froze for an entire minute, eyes blank.

She killed herself.

That was right. With the pills she had taken last night and the chest pain she felt before she succumbed to the darkness, Luca was certain she had died.

"How…"

"I brought you back!" Luca jumped back from her daze when the voice came again. She looked around to find where it came from before her eyes fell on Nova, her cat, as it spoke, "here."

"Tch. Did you really wish to die? Leaving me alone?" Nova hissed, causing the hair behind Luca's neck to raise. "Who would feed me if you die? You're the only servant I am satisfied with, and I'm too busy to look for another one."

One…

Two…

Three…

Luca's head was loading while her cat was sassing at her. When her brain was finished troubleshooting, a suspending laugh broke out.

"Ha… haha…!" Luca ran her hand through her tousled light hazel hair with highlights and laughed. "Wow! Did I perhaps take a different drug last night? I'm hearing my cat talk for God's sake! Damn that Xander… I'm losing my mind because of that jerk!"

Nova, the black Persian cat, looked at her in dismay. Her servant was losing her mind because of a second-rate jerk and ignoring her!

How insolent.

"I sacrificed everything for him, but that bastard left me hanging…" Luca trailed off when she heard the sassy voice once again, moving her gaze, and it landed on Nova.

"That's what you get for being a mistress." Nova purred. "It's karma. How the hell did you think he will stay faithful to you if he cheated on his wife with you? Come on, human. Think!"

Luca's eyes went blank once again. After several seconds, she raised a finger and tried to touch Nova, but flinched before she could even touch her cat.

"Keep your filthy hands off me! I'm angry!" Nova hissed as she stood on her four feet. "How dare you choose that lowly bloke over me?! Was he worth dying for, huh!? Have you lost your mind?!"

"Nova…" Luca's face crumpled in fear, shock, and confusion. Before she could even think about it, she screamed at the top of her lungs and jumped out of the bed only to trip and stumble over the bed.

"Ah!" she winced as she hit her shin against the bed frame, making her curl into a ball in pain.

Watching this, Nova let out a sigh before jumping out of the bed. She landed soundlessly on her back and then jumped to her side, walking around and sitting in front of her. Luca's eyes dilated and slowly raised her eyes only to see a pair of haunting, cold, golden eyes with a light green undertone and vertical pupils that were as black as a void looking down on her.

Luca's lips quivered as her voice disappeared from her throat, scared witless at this phenomenon. Even if she wanted to stand up, she just couldn't find the strength to jump and run away. All she could do was stare at those hauntingly beautiful eyes that seemed to open and close like the aperture of a camera.

"You, my humble servant." Luca's heart stopped for a second because this time, she was certain Nova was talking! "Get a grip, will you? How will you understand you're not losing your mind if you keep screaming like most insufferable and stupid humans will do? Gosh… I knew you will regress after mingling with that insufferable foolish cheater."

Nova shook her head as she sighed in disappointment. "And I had to live being treated as his daughter…" Invisible fire flared up on Nova's back with the sheer thought of her 'sufferings.'

"Do you have any idea how hard it was, hah?! And then you're simply going to die?!" From zero, Nova screamed aggressively, which brought this unknown strength to Luca to run.

"Ahh…!" Luca rushed outside her room, screaming her lungs out, leaving Nova, who bore a poker face.

Nova sighed once again and glanced at the ajar door. "What a foolish human… but, maybe I did scare her for a bit." She shook her head as she stealthily followed the crazy Luca before the latter snapped.

******

"Kyah…! Help!" As soon as Luca opened the front door of her condominium unit, she bumped into Jacques, her manager. Thanks to Jacques's fast reflexes, she caught Luca's shoulder to stop her.

"Luca?" Jacques furrowed her brows as she searched for Luca's eyes. "Are you…"

"I'm going crazy, Jacques!" Luca clutched her manager's arms in panic. "My — my—"

"Luca, calm down first…"

"No…! Nova, she —"

"Meow…"

Luca's complexion turned even paler as she looked back, only to see Nova meowing behind her. And as if a monster finally caught up to her, Luca screamed and hid behind Jacques in fear.

"Luca…" Jacques whispered in worry as she glanced over her shoulder and then back at Nova.

"Meow…"

Jacques let out a deep exhale as she set her focus on Luca once again. 'It seemed she is still in character.'