Spirit Dust

Beginning

If you looked at Kora Walters, you'd immediately know she had an odd sense of style. Specifically, her jewelry. On her wrist was an old and tattered blue collar. It had white and black fur deeply stuck to the ends. She wore it day and night, in school and at home. It smelt of cat nip and something else you couldn't quite place. To a stranger, it looked like she just had a peculiar fashion sense, and she liked wearing collars on her wrist. But to Kora, this collar represented much, much more. 

Each time her fingers grazed it a thousand memories came back to her. This collar once belonged to her black and white tuxedo cat, Whiskers. He would proudly prance around the house, showing the faded blue collar to anyone who laid eyes on him. He would lay on Kora's bed and hang from curtains. He reminded everyone of those mischievous racoons you find at campgrounds. He was a deep black color with white patches here and there. His paws were all white and made it look like he was wearing knee-high socks. He had all black whiskers, except for one that was unusually brown. His eyes were a sparkly golden-amber, they looked like pools of sunlight. They always made the Walters jump when they saw two gold eyes staring at them when it was two in the morning. Kora's parents wanted to name him "Domino", or "Oreo", but she thought that "Whiskers" would've been a suitable fit, considering he had very cute and unique whiskers.

Exactly one summer ago, on July 1st, Kora found out that Whiskers developed cancer, and passed away. Kora lost her one and only best friend, her partner in crime, and her faithful companion, always up for a game of fetch or some light wrestling. Kora and her family chose to put his ashes in a gorgeously brown vase, called an urn. It had golden specks along the top and bottom. It sat in her room near her window, so that when the sun was rising it would reflect off the gold paint and cast yellow, shiny shadows throughout her room, On the first of July, every year, Kora went to a nearby forest and picked 1 rose and 1 stone as a memorial for her cat. The rose represented loving and happy times, yet as the flower shriveled after a few weeks, it showed that happiness doesn't always last. The stone, however, represented struggles, but also eternity. That stone would never wither away or die. It stayed strong forever, much like her love for Whiskers. Photos of the handsome tuxedo cat were hung on the walls throughout the Walters' house, and each served as a reminder that Whiskers would never, ever be forgotten.