Warmth of the sunlight

The second day after school, the sun was setting and the entire sky was crimson red. The streets were starting to get empty, and there were no other ponies near the lake. It was windless, and the lake was still like a giant piece of glass, sucking in every noise. It was so quiet that I could hear my own heartbeat.

The street lights lit up one after another. The shadows of the trees became darker as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. I sat down on a bench nearby, and finally Pinkie showed up, jumping and bouncing all over the place.

“Hey! So why did you get me all the way over here?”

She walked in front of me and said. I moved over a little so she could sit down next to me. She saw the huge black bag I was carrying. Inside the bag there were sound of cat bells and animal claws scratching against the inner surface.

“Hey! Looks like you found him, congrats!”

I looked at her, “Pinkie, there is something I want to talk about.”

“Well… what is it?”

I started telling her about Sunny and the kitten, about how I moved in, how the previous owner’s ghost was still hanging around, how she couldn’t stand me not opening the curtains, how the kitten followed the invisible filly… everything.

The sky had gotten even darker. We sat under the street light motionlessly. Surprisingly, Pinkie didn’t interrupt met at all.

“That’s it?” Pinkie said as I finished up, “You got me all the way over here to tell me this story?”

It was obvious that she didn’t believe a word I said.

I looked at her with a straight face. I really wanted to tell her that it was just a stupid joke. But I can’t let everything go by like this. I think I should not ignore and avoid this problem anymore.

“When Granny Woods took the kitten to me, I suddenly realized something. For example, why had Sunny opened the drawer to the films and exposed them?”

“Sunny… that’s the dead filly you were talking about right?”

“After the kitten went missing, Sunny had made quite a mess in the house. There had been plenty of times when furniture was moved without me noticing, so I thought it wasn’t a big deal. I thought she searched the film room too, but would she be so stupid that she expose all of the film? I couldn’t imagine her opening the curtains and the drawer with all the films inside at the same time. It must have been done by some other pony. This certain pony lack knowledge about photo shooting and since film looks just like a normal piece of paper. She was searching for something, and had to leave when the owner comes back, so she didn’t have any time to clean up the scene.”

“Ha Dan, I think you are having a fever. This Sunny ghost joke is getting a little old, don’t you think?”

Pinkie jokefully said, trying to light the mood up a bit. But the dark and silent forest surrounding us made it quite impossible.

“Pinkie, why did u suggest us to get booze? Because you wanted me to go someplace else so you could stay in my house alone. You knew I don’t drink. You told me to go buy some booze so you could search my house.”

“Oh come on Dan, why would I need to do that?”

“Because there are things you need to get rid of. You took a film that day didn’t you? You looked around and found the film room. Unfortunately, Sunny had organized the film according to date in neat folders, so you easily found what you needed.”

“Okay Dan you are being a little mean now. Did you hear this from some pony?”

“Of course. When I wasn’t there, Sunny was standing RIGHT behind you. You thought you were alone, but you didn’t know that Sunny was with you the entire time. She must have been curious too. But when she saw you taking out the film you wanted, she understood what your intensions were. So she brought the newspaper to me, the newspaper that was published on the same date the photo was taken.”

I showed her the newspaper, on the front page there was the article about Pinkie’s friend drowning.

“The conclusion was that he drank too much and accidently slipped and fell. But the truth was, you killed him, Pinkie Pie. You made him drink a lot, and then you pushed him down. You guys fought the night before, which triggered your crime. Am I right?”

Pinkie looked at me as if I had just chocked her pet alligator. I hated this. God, why do you want me to tell these to my only friend?

“Dan, I think you might have some mental problem now. You sure you aren’t making this up? What evidence do you have?”

I showed her a photo taken by Sunny. Luckily, Sunny usually makes a photo right after she got the film. Before I came here, I compared all of the film with photos, and found the one that was missing. The photo was a picture of the lake, and it was a nice sunny morning. Next to the lake there was a cute pink mini cooper.

“This is your car Pinkie, parked right next to the lake on the day the ‘accident’ happened. The license plate was clearly visible. You knew you got caught on a photo, and you were afraid that she find out about this and show the photo to the police. Your friend had seen you fighting with him. If the police asked you why you didn’t help when you watched your friend drown, you wouldn’t be able to explain it. So you tried to get rid of the film.”

Pinkie looked at me silently, her iris reflecting the dark forest.

“What happened next… please listen calmly Pinkie. I really hope I was just overthinking, but you followed her into her house and brought a knife with you. You threatened her at the front door. At first you only wanted the film, but Sunny refused. So you killed her. Maybe you wore sunglasses or some kind of disguise, so she didn't recognize you right away.”

The atmosphere was creepy. I felt my back and my spine was getting sweaty.

“You got away with killing her. Because there was no witness, so you didn’t get caught. However, you still wanted to get rid of the film. The police didn’t find it, and they considered the crime a robbery. You must have been relieved. Sunny was dead so she couldn’t tell the police about it, and if you can find and destroy the film, the whole thing would be over. But because occasionally police patrols around here, you couldn’t just break in and look for the film. That’s when I moved in.”

I took a deep breath and continued.

“I didn’t know what you wanted when you first became friends with me. Maybe you thought it was just fun, or maybe you thought getting close to me would give you a chance to get rid of the films once for all. You couldn’t give up the chance to destroy the last evidence.”

Pinkie closed her eyes and turned her head towards the neck.

“I didn’t know how you felt about the friend whom you killed. But when you talked about it on the car, your sorrow didn’t seem faked. If you really regret it, I think you should confess. That’s why I told you to come here.”

Pinkie stood up, “Dan, you really need help. You are making up things.”

The kitten inside the bag meowed.

“Pinkie, remember the night when you helped me look for him? I asked you ‘I had a cat, but it’s gone missing. It’s a white cat, have you seen it?’ and you answered ‘I haven’t seen a white kitten.’ ”

“Yeah I remember. What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t realize anything wrong at first either. Because even though he had grown into an adult cat, I still call him ‘kitten’. But when I told you about him, I said cat, not kitten. You knew it was a kitten because you have seen it before. It was March the fifth, the day Sunny was murdered. You were right there in the hall way, and you saw the white kitten next to her, and you remembered it. That’s why when I said I have a white cat you assumed that it was the same kitten Sunny had.”

Pinkie shook her head as if she wanted to get rid of something in her brain, “Even if that’s my car on the photo, the date could be faked. Do you really believe in ghost or spirits?”

The kitten meowed once again. Its bell jingled.

“Good thing I found him.”

I put the bag in front of her and opened it, making sure that she could see everything inside. The bag was empty, and there was nothing inside. No kitten, no bells. I put my hoof inside the bag and I could feel warmth. Not like I have touched anything warm, there was just a sphere of warm air inside.

Sound of cat meowing and bell jingling came out from the empty bag.

“Sorry kitten. You can come out now.”

The invisible kitten jumped out from the bag and landed on the bench. He was invisible, so I could only guess where he was from the bell. Pinkie’s eye opened up wide from the sight, then she sat down and covered her face with her hooves.

Yesterday Granny Woods brought the dead kitten to me. She was at the edge of tears, confessing to me that the break on her bike was broken and she couldn’t dodge the kitten who suddenly jumped onto the road in front of her.

Sunny and I were both very sad about this, but then something incredible happened. The shirt I folded up had magically opened up on the floor as if kitten was still playing with it. I could even hear him meowing and the bell on the collar jingling, but he was invisible. Then I knew that he had come back, even though he was invisible just like Sunny.