January 14, 2016
A few days later...

An amiable ambient has swept through the Monarossabergie House in a clear San Diegan evening. The three roommates are around the dinner table, munching on squares of various-flavoured chocolate bars as their dessert after dinner. Yet they are not alone--they have dinner guests: the two goalies of their team.

So it is the five of them having the sweet treats together.

Until harsh notes of heavy metal guitar riffs starts slamming into the air: ERRRR!!! ERRRR!!! ERRR-ERRR-ERRRRR!!!

All eyes slide to the one who would even carry that music around.

“Oh.” Ryan Faragher drops his square of sea salt chocolate onto the napkin laid out in front of him and shoots his hand into his jeans’ pocket. “It-it’s my phone.” He brings his buzzing smartphone in view and peers at it. “It’s Kristen.” He peers at his teammates. “Hold up a moment, guys.” He then pushes out of his chair and wanders off into the living as he answers the phone. “Hello…?”

Everyone stares at Ryan’s back as he is chatting to his fianceé, Kristen Leet.

Then one of the Monarossabergie residents, Joseph Cramarossa, darts his piercing eyes at the other goalie, Matt Hackett.

“Next time you get Ryan’s phone, Hacker,” he begins to tell him menacingly, “change his ringtone to spare the world’s ears.”

Matt eyes him with fear with a white chocolate square in the air. “I-I can’t do that…! He likes that music...it’d make him sad if I do that…” He casts his wide eyes down with a small frown.

“And it’d make us deaf if you don’t.” Joseph bites off a piece of his stracciatella-flavoured chocolate bar.

Brandon Montour eyes his teammate as he snaps a caramel-filled chocolate square from its bar. “If it annoys you so much, then why don’t you do it yourself, Joseph?”

Joseph sharply whirls to face him. He narrows his eyes at him before stuffing the rest of his chocolate in his mouth and turns back around.

“Hey, guys,” Ryan calls out. The three look back up at him as he is strolling back down toward him. “I’m sorry, but I gotta go-- Kristen and I have a movie date.”

Brandon waves a hand at him. “Alright, have fun.”

“Sweet, thanks.” He then leans over and snatches a sea salt chocolate bar, snaps it in half, and begins gnawing on it. “Mmm…” He peers down at his hands, noticing that they are now smeared with chocolate goodness. “One moment: gotta wash up, then I’ll go.” He then stuffs the rest of the chocolate in his mouth, spins around, and ambles down the room.

Ryan makes the turn into the foyer and through the narrow hallway. Before he could make the right turn into the bathroom, he hears a soft CRUNCH… from below. He flicks his wide eyes ahead and stops in his tracks. He then backs up and peers down at the source of the sound.

Under his shoe is a paper bag stranded on the floor.

A curious expression crosses his face. “Huh, gotta pick that up.”

He leans over and reaches his hand out toward it to lift it up. He scoops it up and peers down at it to see if there is anything in it. Right away, he feels a strange, fuzzy sensation spiralling through him. “Wha--?” And with that, he disappears into thin air with a white spark.

---

Back in the dining room, minutes are passing by. Yet Ryan is nowhere in sight to say his goodbyes before heading out. This is making Matt in particularly extremely anxious.

“What’s taking Ryan so long?” he mutters. He then nervously nibbles on a white chocolate square.

Brandon shrugs and pops another caramel chocolate square in his mouth.

Silence then takes over the conversation. Matt shifts uncomfortably in his chair with shifting eyes.

Then they hear an unexpected sound: Meow…meow... meow…

Nick Ritchie, who has been asleep at the table this whole time, finally lifts his heavy head up with sleepy eyes. “I hear...a cat…”

Brandon turns his head from side to side in pure confusion. “Cat? What’s a cat doing here?” He peers at his teammates. “We don’t have a cat.”

Matt pushes himself away from the table. “I’ll go check…!” He slowly stands up and saunters out of the room.

He warily makes the bend into the foyer and peers through the hallway. In his sight, he spots a fuzzy, small animal perched on a pile of clothes.

His eyes widen. “GUYS!!!” He then sprints toward his discovery.

The three skaters pop into view from the other side of the foyer, looking ahead at their goalie.

“What, what is it?” Brandon asks with bewilderment.

In the hallway a few yards away, Matt is on his knees, gazing down at the animal. He turns to the others. “It’s a cat!”

Brandon looks taken aback. “Cat?” He goes in first deeper into the hallway with his eyes glued on the slim silhouette.

Finally, he halts when he sees the clear view of what is going on: On his hind legs, next to Matt, is a Havana Brown cat with wide, crystal blue eyes.

Brandon’s eyes are as wide as pucks. He points to the cat. “What’s a cat doing here?”

“I don’t know....” Matt eyes the feline. “But it doesn’t seem scared of us, which is odd.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be looking for Ryan, not ogling a cat?” Joseph snarks from behind the two.

Brandon and Matt whirls their heads to face Joseph, who is standing next to Nick impatiently.

“Uh yeah," Brandon scrambles out, "we just, uh, need--”

Meow, the cat cuts in softly. He places his paws on Matt’s thigh and gazes up at him. Meow...meow…

Brandon eyes the cat as Matt scoops him into his arms. “Wow, that cat likes you for some reason…!”

Joseph storms deeper into the hallway and peers past the two huddles Gulls. “Where is Ryan?” he grumbles to himself with narrowed eyes.

Meow, the cat replies.

“Aw, you’re so cute!” Matt smiles sweetly as he scratches the cat’s neck. The cat purrs happily in response.

Brandon peers down at the floor. He sees the pile of clothes the cat is on. “What the--?” He scoops up the clothes to reveal a flattened object: a paper bag.

He makes a curious expression. “Huh.” He kneels down and snatches it into his possession with his free hand. “How did this get…” He then senses a strange, fuzzy sensation spiral through him. “Whoa--!” Immediately, a white spark emits from him and he vanishes into the air.

The three remaining Gulls instantly snap their eyes down and back away with horror.

Among them in Brandon’s spot with more clothes now laying around is another cat: a brown York Chocolate cat with big, brown eyes.

“Monty?” Joseph gasps, slack-jawed.

Nick leans over to the fluffy cat. “Awww, fluffy cat!” He then scoops the feline into his arms and pets him while lumbering away.

Joseph eyes dart from Brandon the cat to the pile of clothes that marked where Brandon was just kneeling. “Monty just turned into a cat…”

Matt stands up with Ryan the cat in his arms and peers down at the paper bag that is left on the ground. “When he touched that paper bag, he turned into a cat!”

Joseph snaps his eyes down at the paper bag with a disgusted look. He then kicks it away from him and storms back into the living room. Matt quickly follows from behind him.

Joseph enters the living room, immediately catching sight of Nick cradling the cat in his arms. He strides up to him and slips the cat up into his own arms. He then sits on the other side of the sofa and lightly scratches the cat’s neck with his two fingers.

He leans over to his pointed ear and murmurs softly, “I got you.” He then rests back into the sofa’s cushions and stares ahead with a menacing expression.

Brandon the cat perks his head up at Joseph and peers at him with hopeful eyes.

Perpendicular to the roommates, Matt settles in one of the reclining chairs with the brown cat cradled in his arms.

Then the room falls into an awkward silence as the two cat-sitters are mindlessly petting their used-to-be-human roommates.

Nick reaches his hands out at Brandon the cat. "Can I—?"

"No." Joseph shields the cat away from his roommate with a turn of his body.

"Guys…" Matt starts off, grabbing the attention of the three, including the cat. "…this is Ryan." He takes one hand off from his feline friend and points across to the other victim of the cat curse. "And that is Brandon." He sighs wearily. "This is crazy."

"All because they touched a paper bag?" Joseph growls as he runs his hand down the cat’s back.

"It only makes sense," Matt replies softly. "But—"

Then that same ringtone blares out into the air again: ERRRR!!! ERRRR!!! ERRR-ERRR-ERRRRR!!!

Joseph shoots his hands over Brandon’s perked ears as he bares his teeth in pain.

Matt’s eyes snap in all directions hastily. "That’s Ryan’s phone!" He then gets up from the reclining chair, places Ryan the cat on the chair gingerly, and speeds off around the foyer. A few seconds later, he comes back out with Ryan’s screaming phone in his hand. “I got it!”

Matt takes his place back in the recliner chair while the cat hops onto the armrest to make way. He settles on his the chair and takes a look at the screen; he immediately goes pale.

"Eeehhh…" He lifts his wide eyes at the skaters. "…guys…it’s his fiancée…" He slowly turns the phone around for them to see the screen, which is showing Ryan’s fiancée’s smiley face.

"Don’t pick it up…," Nick cries out as best as possible, which sounded exactly like a mumble.

Joseph whirls to him. "If we don’t, then she’ll end up coming here herself!"

"What do I do!?" Matt wails, on the verge of crying.

Joseph waves his hand at him. "Just-just answer it—!"

Matt quickly presses the green button on the screen and presses the phone against his ear. "H-hello…?" he squeaks out pathetically with his face turning red.

Joseph sighs in embarrassment as he looks away. Nick on the other hand slowly gets up and trudges out of the room, calling it a night.

"Yeah, he’s still here…," Matt replies after a pause with a strained voice. He eyes Joseph for help.

Joseph reverts his gaze at him.

"Can you…come—?"

Joseph makes a vigorously, obvious hand signal saying "NO!" by crossing his arms up in the air to make an "X."

"No! No!" Matt shouts louder than need. "No," he corrects himself much softer. A pause. Then: "Why…?" he repeats after her softly.

Joseph gazes around the room for a quick answer. He then lands his eyes back on Matt and mouths, "Chocolate…we’re eating chocolate…"

Matt stares at him like he is a mad man. "What?" he mouths.

"Chocolate—"

Matt stiffens up with a frozen, petrified face as he hears Kristen speaking. "Mancala!" he blurts out. "He’s right now in the middle of a…very, very intense game of…mancala! Really, really intense, I’m on the edge of my seat…!"

Matt then stops speaking for a moment. Then: "Oh, um, I think this game’s gonna go till tomorrow. Very intense, y’know? So, uh, tomorrow he’ll come home, yeah…" He spots Joseph gawking at him; in response, he begins to slump in his reclining chair.

"Okay…okay…yes… We’ll see you tomorrow! Bye-bye!" He then holds the phone out in front of him and presses on the screen. "Whew…!" He raises his eyes on the ceiling with an exhausted look.

"By tomorrow…he’ll come home by tomorrow?" Joseph restates with rising ire.

"I-I had to tell her something she’d like!" Matt quickly straightens himself up. "I felt so bad lying to her!"

"BY TOMORROW‽" Joseph leans forward toward Matt as best as possible, being prevented from standing up due Brandon the cat being perched on his lap. "You think we’ll have them normal by tomorrow‽ I suppose you know how to turn them back to normal then, eh‽"

"I-I don’t—!"

"THEY’RE CATS!" Joseph roars. "How are we supposed to turn them back into humans in less than twenty four hours if THEY’RE CATS?" He then pushes himself deeper into the cushions of the sofa while steaming in anger. His hand is deep in the cat’s fur.

Matt stares at his angered teammate with wide, glassy eyes and a quivering mouth. "I’m sorry, Crammer…" He fiddles with the phone. "I-I’ll call her saying—"

"Don’t." He straightens himself up with a deadly look. "It’s already been said." He then casts his eyes on the floor as he begins to mindlessly pet the dark, silky fur of Brandon the cat.

On the other side, Matt cuddles Ryan the cat close to his chest as he is struggling to hold back his tears. Yet it is very obvious that he is losing the battle as he sniffs and tears roll down his face.

Joseph snaps his eyes up, catching his whimpering teammate. He face drops with compassion. "Oh no,” he mutters softly with disappointment. Then: “I’m sorry for yelling at you. I should’ve not have done that."

Matt whimpers as he nods his head with his reddened face. "It’s okay… I forgive you…"

The cat on Joseph’s lap reverts his head to face Joseph. Joseph continues petting his fur. "My teammates are now cats and it’s getting late," he explains as a reason to why he yelled at his goalie.

Matt spots the empty sofa space where Nick was once sitting on. "Yeah, it is late— Ritch is gone."

Joseph darts his eyes at the empty space. "That bear can go to bed when he wakes up."

Matt then presses the home button of Ryan’s phone to wake it up. "It’s past midnight."

Joseph lets out a heavy sigh. "We should go to bed then."

"But what about Ryan and Monty?"

Joseph peers at Brandon the cat, then up at Ryan the cat, then back down at Brandon the cat. He shrugs. "We’ll work on them tomorrow." He scoops Brandon the cat up into his arms and slowly rises to his feet. "The last thing I want to happen is to make some stupid mistake due to lack of sleep." He then begins to step toward the edge of the circle of furniture.

Matt follows him with his eyes as he is walking by. "Okay…" He peers down at his cat, then back at Joseph, who is now at the foyer. "So I take Ryan to my place?"

Joseph halts in his walking, then spins around to face the goalie. "Stay here for tonight. You can take Monty’s bedroom, if you’re okay with sleeping in that hole in the wall."

"Yeah, I’ll sleep there." Matt climbs out of the recliner chair and rounds it to reach to the skater. They then begin walking down toward the dark, narrow hallway.

"I think we’ll get them normal by tomorrow," Matt states happily.

"Do you even know where to start?" Joseph mumbles harshly.

Notes

E.4 "Cat Café"
Part 1/4
Episode 4/20