| “ | The real monsters are us. Murderers, rapists, arsonists… They’re the real beasts… So far from humanity they’re no longer capable of feeling compassion or guilt. They’re the ones we should really be afraid of. But whether they’re lurking in the woods… or fog… or the darkness of our cellars… Its all irrelevant. You can’t predict what happens. You can’t do anything to stop it. There is only one way… To turn into a beast yourself… And, like them, show no mercy… | „ |
| ~ Susan Ashworth |
Susan Ashworth, also known as "The Cat Lady" and later "The Cat Widow", is the titular protagonist of the 2012 indie horror game, The Cat Lady. She is a depressed woman who committed suicide and must kill five psychopathic serial killers called "Parasites" in order to live a normal life again.
History[]
Many years before her death, Susan was a nurse who at some point of her life, she married a taxi driver named Eric Ashworth, and nine month later, she gave birth their first and only daughter, Zoe.
One day, a "secret admirer" sent her flowers, which she kept in her daughter's room, unknowingly to Susan, Zoe had a lethal and rare alergy to pollen, killing her; Zoe's death resulted in Eric divorcing Susan and killing himself days later.
Following these tragic events, Susan became depressed and her only company were stray cats, whom she regularly summoned to her flat by playing the piano; as result, neighbors started calling her "The Cat Lady".
One night, Susan commits suicide, transporting her to an alternate reality ruled by a mysterious and dark entity named "The Queen of Maggots", who gives her immortality and a quest, kill five "Parasites", people who live only to cause pain and suffering. Eventually, Susan returns to the world of the living and wakes up in a hospital. In the hospital, she meets Liz, a young nurse working for Doctor X. One night, Susan sees Liz committing suicide and attempts to escape, only to be stopped by Doctor X, who stabs her to death.
Later, Susan wakes up in a basement, and there, she discovers multiple artworks made of bodies, revealing that Doctor X is a serial killer who kills his patients and is the first "Parasite". The player can then kill Doctor X with either a spear or a mace, saving a girl he had previously kidnapped in the process. Susan then returns home and meets a woman named Mitzi, who is interested in being her roommate, Mitzi reveals to Susan that she has cancer and had a boyfriend named Jack, who was manipulated into committing suicide by poisoning by an internet troll going by the name of "Eye of Adam", the fifth and final "Parasite" who coincidently lives in Susan's apartment complex.
However, when leaving the building to check on her cats, Susan is kidnapped by the pest controller and taken to his home, where he discovers that not only the pest controller is a cannibalistic serial killer and rapist, but his wife, Gladys, is also a sadistic torturer who desfigures Susan's face with bleach, making them the second and third "Parasites". After gathering enough supplies to make Adam's poison with Mitzi's information, Susan kills the pest controller and steals his shotgun, using it to shoot Gladys in the head.
Afterwards, Susan returns home and is visited by a mysterious mute man wielding a hammer, Carpenter, the fourth "Parasite", who offers her a bouquet of flowers, but then stomps on it before fatally bludgeoning Susan with the hammer, killing her, though she eventually returns to life and wakes up in the bathroom, being tied to Mitzi.
The man appears and takes Mitzi to the living room, where he attempts to hang her and forces Susan to play the piano. Unfortunately for him, he was unknowingly alerting the cats, and is mauled and eaten to death by them, giving Susan a chance to save Mitzi. After killing Carpenter, Susan and Mitzi roam around the building, and eventually succeed in finding Adam's apartment, where they are poisoned in a trap created by Adam, Susan can either give a gas mask to Mitzi or let her die.
If the former option is selected, Susan will die but later come back due to her immortality, and then confront Adam with Mitzi; Adam can either be killed by killed by Mitzi or left to die alone. After killing all the "Parasites", Susan escapes from the Queen of Maggots' clutches and even creates a blog to help other people with depression.
Though Susan survives, Mitzi's fate is up to the player's actions, as mentioned above, she can either die in Adam's apartment, survive and later die from cancer, and finally survive and defeat her cancer.
Trivia[]
- Though being the game's heroin, Susan can do many bad things, examples include:
- Being a rude and offensive woman to Mitzi on numerous occasions.
- Escaping from the hospital and not killing Doctor X, letting him torture and kill an unnamed girl he had kidnapped and possibly more women in the future.
- Not giving the gas mask to Mitzi when they are about to get poisoned by Adam, despite knowing that she is immortal.
- Encouraging Mitzi to shoot Adam or throwing a lit cigarrette in his gas-filled room, both of which would result in the room blowing up, killing not only Susan and Mitzi, but possibly many other people living in the building.