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The year was 1995, and Summer had crept into Fall.
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As October was just around the corner, local children were already fantasising about Jack-o'-lanterns
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and Halloween Candy.
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But behind all the rubber witch noses and plastic vampire teeth, a real monster lurked.
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Something terrifying and dangerous, hiding where few dared to tread.
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Among those few were Kyle Ellis and Johnny Rogan, two teenage boys who were about to
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experience a horror beyond imagination in the dusty halls of their local dead shopping
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mall.
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In a previous video, we've explained Sirenhead, the 40-foot-tall humanoid entity that can
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make whole families disappear without a trace.
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Now, we've got an even more dangerous creature from the twisted mind of Canadian Master of
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Horror, Trevor Henderson.
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This is the story of Cartoon Cat, the ferocious feline that can turn childhood dreams into
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living nightmares.
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(Use this image: https://tinyurl.com/ycdhypry) Let's see if we can peel away the layers
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of mystery and find out what this monster really is, and why you should be so afraid
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of it.
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Despite its whimsical name, Cartoon Cat is the furthest thing from child-friendly, seeing
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as it's responsible for a huge number of unexplained disappearances.
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While Henderson himself has described the being's form as “malleable”, it's
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most commonly seen as a large, black, cat-like humanoid around nine or ten feet in height.
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But it doesn't bear any resemblance to an actual cat.
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If anything, it looks more like the stylised, black-and-white cartoon animals depicted in
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old silent cartoons like Felix The Cat, or early Mickey Mouse, complete with spiffy white
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gloves.
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If you're unlucky enough to run into this creature, you'll also notice its huge, glaring
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eyes, and its giant, crooked teeth, often stained with blood.
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Cartoon Cat has been in our dimension in this form since at least 1939, when the obscure
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cartoon from which the Cat takes its form was believed to have been quietly discontinued.
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Whether the end of the show itself released him, or if this was pure coincidence, we may
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never know.
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But what we do know is that Cartoon Cat is pure evil.
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While the minds of entities like Sirenhead are a mystery, it has been confirmed that
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Cartoon Cat is fully aware of the moral implications of what it's doing, and even worse, it enjoys
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it.
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Cartoon Cat is not a being that hunts humans out of hunger; it hunts because it takes pleasure
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in the suffering and fear that it causes.
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Its tendency towards unspeakable cruelty makes it more like a human serial killer than an
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animalistic predator, but Cartoon Cat can do things that no human serial killer could
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ever be capable of.
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According to Henderson, Cartoon Cat is merely a physical representation of a far more powerful
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and incomprehensible being – and he's able to take a number of other forms based
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on the popular conception of what a “cartoon” is.
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One such form is the “Cartoon Dog”, with that same unsettling, rubber hose appearance.
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(Use this image: https://tinyurl.com/y9k9gsvv)
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Rubber hose was the first popular animation style standardised in the US, and would have
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been what the Cartoon Cat was originally animated in.
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The name is derived from the fact that the characters' limbs would move as though they
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don't have bones, more like rubber hoses.
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Cartoon Cat's long, stretchy, boneless limbs are no exception.
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However, as people expand their definitions of what a cartoon can be, Cartoon Cat can
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theoretically take almost any form – from Spongebob Squarepants to Homer Simpson.
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This shapeshifting ability has led to comparisons to similar beings like the legendary Boogeyman,
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and Pennywise The Dancing Clown, also known simply as “It.”
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Though we can't be certain if there's any actual relation between these shapeshifting,
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child-snatching beings.
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The true extent of Cartoon Cat's power is unknown, and it's possible he's capable
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of many more atrocious feats we don't even know about.
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As Cartoon Cat encounters rarely leave survivors, there are plenty of blank spaces in the mythology
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of this frightening internet urban legend.
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Cartoon Cat is said to stalk and make rudimentary lairs in abandoned places such as homes, warehouses,
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and malls, but he could conceivably turn up anywhere.
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Anywhere at all…
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Back to Kyle and Johnny, and their terrifying Cartoon Cat encounter.
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Like most fourteen-year-old boys in the mid-1990s, the duo believed they were invincible, and
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felt the need to constantly prove their fearlessness.
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They'd picked up spiders, played Bloody Mary in the dark and laughed off the results,
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and even approached and knocked on the door of the local “haunted house.”
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But the jewel in the crown of teenage machismo would be daring to venture into the local
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abandoned dirt mall, and take pictures to prove their courage.
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This would be at least a decade before the Urban Exploration trend would take the internet
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by storm, so in a sense, the boys were real trail blazers.
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Though neither of them had any idea what was in store for them at their intended destination.
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The duo may have had more bravery than sense, but they weren't stupid.
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As they prepared to take on their most ambitious expedition yet, they packed two flashlights
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and some spare batteries, a Polaroid camera generously and unknowingly donated by Kyle's
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mother, and most serious of all, Johnny's dad's revolver.
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Johnny knew that he'd be grounded until he hit his forties if his dad found out, but
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he didn't expect his dad would even notice.
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After all, they'd only be in the mall for an hour or two – and the gun was good insurance
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if they ran into a crazed meth-head while they were inside.
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They never expected that their lives would ever actually depend on them using it.
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As the afternoon bled into evening, the two boys snuck into the dirt mall via a broken
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back entrance.
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The mission was simple: Get in, take some pictures of all the abandoned stores, and
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then get out.
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Easy.
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They probably had more to worry about from asbestos left in the building than anything
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malicious, or so they thought.
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The two boys began exploring the dusty old husk of the building, everything covered in
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cobwebs and shrouded in complete darkness.
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Were it not for the flashlights, they probably wouldn't have been able to see a thing.
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Occasionally, they heard quiet skittering sounds echoing out in the dark around them.
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The boys just wrote it off as rats.
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Nothing to worry about.
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Kyle snapped a few Polaroids of the crumbling food court, and an old Macy's with a few
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dusty racks of moth-eaten clothes.
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Johnny could swear that, during the camera's flashes, he could see the shadows moving in
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the corner of his eye.
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Maybe it was just his imagination, or a trick of the light.
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But every now and then, he couldn't quite escape the thought that the two of them weren't
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alone in the dirt mall.
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Even with his dad's revolver, he didn't feel quite as safe as he hoped.
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But neither of them had any idea of just how much danger they were in.
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Soon enough, the boys felt that they'd hit the jackpot: An abandoned arcade.
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These things were huge in the 1980s, and many of the classic machines were still there - from
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Street Fighter to Double Dragon.
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Of course, power to the machines had been cut off for years, but Johnny figured that
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if they kicked a few open, they might be able to score enough quarters to keep them in bubble
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gum until the turn of the Millennium.
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They kicked away at the lockbox on the back of a Space Invaders machine, having no idea
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that something was moving towards them in the dark.
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While Johnny continued kicking, Kyle stepped back to take another Polaroid and mark the
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occasion.
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One more quick flash in the dark, and already, the photo was developing in Kyle's hand.
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Their expedition into the abandoned mall seemed like it was shaping up to be a phenomenal
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success, but when the picture fully developed, Kyle's face fell.
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It took him a second to even process what he was looking at, but when the image came
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into focus, he almost screamed: As Johnny kicked away at the lockbox, a huge, looming
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figure was leaning over the machine.
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Its staring eyes were the size of baseballs, and it was packing more long, white teeth
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than a piano.
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Its stretchy, rubber hose arms were beginning to coil around the machine, white gloves reaching
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for a distracted Johnny.
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Without even knowing it, these two poor kids had wandered into the domain of Cartoon Cat.
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Kyle looked up at Johnny, heart pounding, and saw that the creature was gone.
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Johnny hadn't even noticed, as he still pounded at the back of the machine.
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But that didn't mean they were safe.
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Kyle grabbed his friend, and, without a word, began dragging him towards the exit.
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There wasn't time for conversation - they just needed to get the hell away from whatever
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was in that arcade with them.
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When Johnny tried to protest, saying he was probably only one kick away from scoring them
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at least fifty bucks worth of quarters, Kyle just showed him the photo.
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In an instant, Johnny understood the need for urgency and was on his feet running as
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fast as his legs could take him.
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But Cartoon Cat wouldn't let these two get away this easy.
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No, this fatal feline preferred to toy with his prey before devouring them…
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As Johnny and Kyle turned the corner out of the arcade, they were stopped dead by the
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huge figure standing right in front of them.
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The Cartoon Cat was back - crooked, bloody smile wider than either of their shoulders.
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Rubber hose limbs wriggling like snakes.
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It towered over them, its inky black skin seeming to almost swallow the beams of their
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flashlights.
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Johnny reached into his pocket and whipped out his dad's revolver.
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He was no Clint Eastwood, but surely six bullets would put anything down - or at least scare
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it off.
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Johnny drew a bead on the advancing creature and pulled the trigger again and again, gunshots
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echoing through the hollow expanse of the abandoned mall.
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Two shots missed, and the four that actually connected just seemed to disappear into the
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creature's mass.
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Cartoon Cat didn't even bleed, and it didn't stop grinning, either - not even for a second.
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It was going to enjoy this.
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Before Johnny could even scream in terror, a stretchy, cartoon arm shot forward and snatched
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him.
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It yanked Johnny's thrashing body up into the air, and effortlessly lifted him over
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to the Cartoon Cat's huge face.
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The creature's jaws swung open, revealing a gaping maw with hundreds of teeth.
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This time, Johnny really did scream.
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Poor Kyle could only watch, paralysed in fear, as the Cartoon Cat swallowed his unlucky friend
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whole.
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It was only when he saw Johnny's kicking legs sinking down the creature's throat
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that he finally snapped out of his trance and started to run like hell.
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With one final gulp, Johnny was gone, and Cartoon Cat was ready for seconds.
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As Kyle scrambled towards the exit, running for his life, Cartoon Cat was gaining behind
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him - bounding forwards on impossible, spring-like limbs.
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That thing has just eaten his friend alive right in front of him, Kyle was sure that
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he was a goner, too.
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But, as luck would have it, Kyle managed to cross the threshold out of the dead mall mere
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seconds before his feline pursuer.
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He kept running, as Cartoon Cat spilled out of the mall behind him and continued the chase.
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Kyle ran so fast and for so long that his legs and lungs burned, and he felt like was
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going to throw up.
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But, in the end, he finally escaped with his life - Cartoon Cat fading into the distance
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behind him and then disappearing entirely.
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Probably heading back to the lair to digest, Kyle grimly assumed.
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As Kyle finally collapsed from exhaustion on a grassy patch about a mile away from the
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mall, the horrific realisation hit him that he'd just lost his best friend, and nobody
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would ever know why or how.
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In his frantic escape, Kyle had dropped the camera and photos back in the mall, and like
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hell would he ever go back to fetch them.
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His proof of what happened was gone.
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Cartoon Cat would only live on in his nightmares, and in the shadows that seemed to move out
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of the corner of his eye.
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And so ends the tale of Cartoon Cat, for now.
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Another terrifying beast in the vast monster catalogue of Trevor Henderson.
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Of course, it's all make believe, right?
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You have nothing to worry about.
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I'm sure those rustling noises you've been hearing lately have a perfectly rational
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explanation.
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And everyone sees a shadow move behind them now as then.
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...Right?
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Check out “Russian Sleep Experiment – EXPLAINED” and “How A Meme (Slenderman) Became Real”
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for more on the spookiest corners of the world wide web.