I had a cold. Headache, cough, runny nose, the works. My doctor prescribed a very bitter medicine. Just as I morosely geared up to take my next dose, Kitten decided to have a sip of the hot water I’d poured myself. She couldn’t get her snout into the glass, so she reached in to scoop some out. No sooner had her paw touched the water than it dissolved like salt, followed quickly by the rest of Kitten.

Cat and I were frantic at Kitten’s disappearance. We stared at the completely clear glass of hot water, not knowing what to do. Cat quickly picked out Kitten’s scent in the water and jumped onto the table to investigate further. Bringing his nose close to the glass, he confirmed that it was indeed Kitten he was smelling. He leaned in to lap at the water, but as soon as his tongue made contact with the surface, he went the same way as Kitten, melting without warning.

Having witnessed Cat and Kitten dissolve before my eyes, I gaped as if I’d seen a magic trick close up. This was completely unbelievable. No time to figure out how this had happened. I quickly lifted the glass and studied it. Where had my kitties gone? That was the only question on my mind.

The cats were gone. The volume of water in the glass remained exactly the same, and it looked like regular water but smelled different: an acrid, botanical reek that was growing stronger, not dissimilar to my cold medicine.

I shouted into the glass but got no response. All I saw was a slice of my own face reflected on the surface. I pinched my nose and glugged down the entire glass. Right away, my taste buds screamed that this tasted bad, and I stuck out my tongue, feeling my features contort. At the same moment, coziness flowed through my gut, and there was heat in my chest too, as if I was embracing both kitties and their warmth was spreading throughout my entire body.

I kept calling their names, but still there was no answer. Before long, a strange weariness overtook me, and my eyes drifted shut. Lying down on the sofa, I fell asleep.

By the time I woke up, the sky was dark, and city lights were glinting through the thin cloud cover. How had I slept so long? I sat up and felt quite a bit lighter, and my headache was better than before. The kitties ran out from who knows where, coming over and begging to be petted. I felt them both all over and found them whole. I stroked Cat, then Kitten. Both were solid, not changed in the slightest.

The water glass stood on the table, also unchanged, empty.