hi, i'm tom. i go by "tom bombadil" online. i'm an investigative journalist and reporter based in ann arbor, michigan. this is my personal blog, where i ramble about my daily life and cool new findings and leads. if you'd like to reach out to me, this is my email: [redacted] Neocities.
so i went to the store today and bought some fish. like normal, right? on the way home, this weird russian blue cat showed up out of nowhere and started following me. i figured she just smelled the fish, so i ignored her. a few minutes later i stopped to check my phone. looked down for literally one second. fish was gone. the cat was sitting a few feet away staring at me. no fish anywhere. i walked over to her and she just got up and left like nothing happened. honestly i don't even know if she stole it but im pretty sure she did kinda impressed, not gonna lie.
hung out with amy today. we ended up sitting outside a coffee shop for like two hours doing absolutely nothing productive. mostly just talked about random stuff. amy spent ten minutes complaining about a movie she voluntarily watched three times. i pointed that out. she threw a napkin at me. other than that, not much happened. it's nice hanging out with her because she's one of the few people who can make boring stuff entertaining. we're supposed to meet up again next week. hopefully she picks a better movie this time.
saw that russian blue cat again today. same spot by the fence, just sitting there. when i got closer, she stood up and walked away. not weird on its own, but she kept looking back at me like he wanted me to follow her. ended up behind the old grocery store. found a folded note on the ground where she stopped. it just said: "don't go tomorrow." no idea what that's supposed to mean. looked up for one second and the cat was gone. kinda hoping i see her again tomorrow.
went to the store to grab some tea today. nothing exciting. got what i needed, headed for the checkout, and then the whole place went dark. like, completely dark. people started freaking out a little, phones came out, someone knocked over a display somewhere in the back. i just wanted to leave. while i was making my way to the exit, i swear i saw a pair of eyes looking at me from the end of one of the aisles. could've been a person. probably was. but they didn't move. they just stayed there. the lights came back on for a second, and there was nobody there. when i finally got outside, that russian blue cat was sitting by the door. she looked at me, blinked once, and walked off. the tea was still in my bag. checked three times.
went to the store again today. yeah, the same one. i was grabbing some snacks when i noticed something weird. nobody else seemed to be around. not in the aisles, not at the checkout, nowhere. it wasn't late or anything either. then i heard a can fall somewhere behind me. when i turned around, i saw that russian blue cat sitting at the end of the aisle. just staring. i went over to her, but the second i got close,she ran off. followed her through a couple aisles and ended up near the back of the store. there was a door there. pretty sure it wasn't there before. the cat was sitting in front of it. then the lights flickered. i looked away for maybe a second. when i looked back, the cat was gone. and so was the door. at this point i'm starting to think i'm either really tired or this cat is messing with me on purpose.
haven't seen the russian blue in a couple days. thought maybe she was finally gone. then last night, around midnight, i heard something outside. looked out my window and there she was. walking circles around my house. just slow loops around the yard like she was following some invisible track. every time she passed my window, she'd look up at me. same pace. same path. after a while i grabbed a flashlight and went outside. nothing. no cat. the yard was completely empty. i went back inside and looked out the window again. she was there. still circling. still looking up. i don't know how that's possible. i stayed awake watching until almost 2 a.m. then she stopped. stood perfectly still. stared at my window for a few seconds. and walked into the dark. this morning i found paw prints in the dirt around the house. one complete circle. and right under my window, she'd left something. a tea bag. i don't even drink that brand.
decided i should probably learn more about this cat. sounds reasonable enough. started by asking around. showed a picture i took of the russian blue to a few neighbors. nobody recognized her. one guy said he'd never seen a cat like that around here. the weird part is that i took the picture three days ago, and she's standing right in the middle of my driveway. you'd think someone would've seen her. later i tried looking through some old photos on my phone. found one from a month ago. she was in it. way in the background, sitting by a tree. i don't remember seeing her that day. checked another photo. same thing. different place. same cat. now i'm going through older pictures. she keeps showing up. always in the background. always looking at the camera. i don't know when it started. i don't know why i never noticed. but she's been around a lot longer than i thought. and now i can't stop looking for her. sometimes i think that's exactly what she wants.
i think she knows i've been looking into her. every time i try to find something, something goes wrong. yesterday i went through my old photos again. found a picture where she was sitting on my porch. i zoomed in. the file corrupted. just that picture. today i tried setting up a camera facing the yard. checked it tonight. three hours of footage. the second she would have walked into frame, the video cuts to static. every single time. i'm not kidding. i even found paw prints near the camera. like she'd been standing there looking at it. the worst part happened a few minutes ago. i was reading through my old diary entries when i heard a thump outside my window. she was there. just sitting in the grass. staring at me. i don't know why, but i looked down at the notebook for a second. when i looked back up, she was gone. instead, there was something scratched into the dirt under my window. it only had three words. "stop looking. now." i don't remember ever going outside. and i definitely didn't write it. for the first time since all this started, i'm thinking maybe i should listen.
I'M NOT CRAZY. she's inside. i saw her at the window an hour ago. looked away for ONE SECOND and she was gone. then i heard something upstairs. there shouldn't be anything upstairs. i checked every room twice. nothing. then i found muddy paw prints in the hallway. they led to my bedroom. and stopped. i locked every door. every window. i can still hear her moving. scratch. scratch. scratch. right outside my room. i called amy. no answer. the scratching stopped a minute ago. that's worse. oh god. i just looked under the door. there's a shadow. it's not the shape of a cat. it's trying to get in. i can hear the handle movi
hey. this is amy. tom's been missing for six days. before anyone asks, no, i don't know where he is. he stopped answering texts and calls, which isn't that weird for him, but eventually i got worried and went to check on him. his car was still outside. his front door was unlocked. the house was empty. his phone, wallet, and keys were all still there. the police have already been told. they think he left on his own and will turn up eventually. i don't think so. his house looked... wrong. not trashed, just disturbed. chairs knocked out of place. papers all over the floor. one of the doors looked like someone had been slamming it over and over. i found his laptop open on the desk. the last thing on the screen was this blog. i ended up reading all the recent entries. honestly, i wish i hadn't. for the past month he'd apparently convinced himself something was following him. i don't know if he was stressed, sleep deprived, or what, but it got pretty bad toward the end. if you're reading this, tom, call someone. seriously. i'm leaving this post here because people keep emailing me asking where you went, and i don't have an answer. if i learn anything, i'll update the blog. until then, that's it. come home, idiot.
