He nodded again, and broke the seal of the can with the can opener, began turning.  Cocoa stepped toward the bars of the cage, her feet moving without her control. "You...monster," she whispered, the purr escaping her lips as she spoke.

She wanted blood, and I gave her laughs. Because that’s what I do. That’s what my muse told me to do. I didn’t want her to kill anyone. Wouldn’t be much of a comedy if she did.

With a howl, Cocoa lifted the potted plant over her head, her hind legs precariously balanced beneath her, and she heaved the plant into the air. It sailed toward the television, shattering the screen, destroying all two million, seventy-three thousand, six hundred of its plasma pixels.

Cocoa Tael! Your time has come! You must enter into the world! You must assassinate a human being! You must return with proof of death! And you must not return until you perform your first kill! Then you will be a member of the sacred order of the Felidus!

Removing my hands from my tear-stained face, I draw a deep breath through my nose. "I lost," I state, "my muse."