The Anointed, Kinda

It had been raining, and the water soon turned to ice.  I was a long way from my destination, and the trees and moonless night kept me from seeing anything in the way of a guidepost.  As I reached a crossroads, there on a hill above the forest I spied what looked like firelight through a window.  Maybe someone will give shelter to a hapless traveler, I thought, and made my way up an old stone pathway that apparently led to the building above.  It did, and when I stepped out of the trees I saw the place was a crumbling ruin of an old manor, but there was a fire seen through the one ground floor window that was intact.  I walked up some steps to a door and lifted the heavy, skull shaped knocker and hit the door with it three times.  Nothing.  I tried again, pulling my old coat around my shoulders and adjusting my tail to keep some of the rain off it.  Still no answer.  Well, shoot.  I pushed against the door in a gesture of futility and it swung open on recently oiled hinges.
'Anyone home'?  I called, but there was no response.  I could see the lit room's doorway down the hall so gathering my nerve I walked to it.  Looking inside, I saw a fireplace glowing with burning wood and a blessed heat permeated the place.  I took out my electric torch and walked back to the hall, but a quick look told me I was in the only habitable part of the house.  Other than that cheery fire, the rest was tumbled masonry and rotting furniture under open roofs.  I walked back to the fireplace, thinking that maybe the owner might shoot me but I would die for sure out in that horrible weather.  There was a chair in front of the hearth and I sat down in it and worried.  I must have fallen asleep, then was awakened by the feeling of a presence.  I looked up and there in front of me was the biggest tomcat I have ever seen, bright orange, eyes glowing with the intensity of the sun.  'Here kitty' I said as I reached out a hand to stroke his head, and then that cat said, 'Fuck that, rabbit.  Are you John'?  Astonished, I could only stammer, 'No.  My name is Billy'.  The cat yawned and told me he could wait.  He settled on a carpet illuminated by the coals and looked at me before he began licking his fur.  Frozen with terror I could only stare at the demonic apparition, my ears standing straight up from fear.  I twitched my whiskers in a reflex brought on by great alarm.  The big cat stopped grooming himself and seemed to fall asleep.  At that moment another cat appeared from the dark and materialized in front of me.  Pure white, his eyes were glowing emeralds of contempt focused on me.  'Are you John'?  he asked and then the orange cat spoke up and said, 'No, he ain't'.  The white cat replied that he could see someone in the appointed place at the scheduled hour and for damn sure no rabbit ever looked less like a cat.  'I guess I'll wait'.  It turned and settled by the fire and then said, 'Whoever heard of a talking rabbit?  Asshole must be lost'.  Then it too closed it's eyes and seemed to fall asleep.  A demonic purring could be heard.  Frightened out of my wits, I decided to risk freezing and leave that terrifying place.  As I stood up a third cat, coal black with the eyes of Satan himself, twice my size, put a paw on my shoulder and hissed, 'ARE YOU JOHN'?  The other two cats said 'Hell no!  We don't know who this is'.  The black cat then put his face inches from mine and said, 'Well that's too bad.  The prophesy said here, tonight, and in this very chair'.  He snarled, and then all three stood and bowed.  'What's done is done', the black one said, and then took a shining object from between his feet and placed it on my head.  'You're now King of the Cats, bunny, try not to screw it up'. I must have passed out, when I awoke I was in a crumbling ruin of a building, the sun was coming up and the rain had stopped.  I got out of there and found the town was only a few miles away.  A dream, I thought, as I checked in to my hotel.  After changing clothes I decided a drink was in order and getting directions from the bored clerk I set off for the tavern.  That is, I would have set off for the tavern except the street, as far as the eye could see, was thick with cats.  They followed me to the bar where I was immediately told told to take my custom elsewhere and to take my cats with me.  It's been days now and I cannot buy food or shelter, fortunately the cats would bring me mice and once a fat squirrel to eat.
I even tried to exchange my crown for a dish of milk but the old rustic laughed maniacally and then hit me with his cane, kicking my bottom as I tried to stand up, cows splashing mud onto my torn rags that were once so natty and fine.  I am blanketed by cats when I sleep as kittens tear endlessly at my tail. 
Oh, for the orphanage again!

Photo property of Diamond Pet Foods.