15 Years of Happiness

The Kitty Years - Part Two

Day 76

I've kind of lost track of all the days I've been through because no one was feeding me. I eat the ahpel on top of the table, other than that there was nothing else. I feel very lonely. I don't know how Hayley opened the TV. Her room is locked. I ended up just staying at the hairy carpet. 

God, this is like torture. 

I'm living on ahpels and carpets. The only thing I can do is rub my fur on the carpet until it makes a terrific blue shock. I'm bored.  I remember the thing Hayley was holding that activated the TV. I search for a huge black rectangle with colorful circles on it. She pressed it with her finger... maybe I should press something too.  I pressed a number. Nothing happened. I pressed an arrow. Still nothing. I thought of something.

I pressed a huge red circle. Beside it, it says "POWER". Hm... nothing. I nudge the remote a bit, apparently trying to fix it. After moving it aside and stepping on the huge red circle, it finally turned on. Yay! I see what's on. Let's see...

Ellen? Who's Ellen? Two people sit on a comfy chair. They seem real comfy (I want to sleep in their chairs). Hm... this seems boring. They're just talking. I have no idea of what they're saying. I press the arrow.

Ow!

My ears hurt. This TV is too loud. I press the arrow again. Oh no!

It became louder! It hurts!!!

I press the arrow below the arrow I just pressed. I press it again. Phew. I press the other arrows. FINALLY! The screen changed to a movie channel. Although... I think it's not a movie channel. There's a whale in the background. Then there's this voice saying: "The Great White Shark is one of the feer-soum predators of the see." 

Something on the window catches my attention. "Hey!" 

I cannot really make out the thing behind the glass because the curtain is covering it, but I see a small faint sillhouette. "What? Who are you?" 

He had a masculine voice. "Portland," 

"Portland? Is that a name of a town or city or whatever?" I also thought of something. This must be the very first thing that understands me. This is strange.

"Portland was the name they gave me." He continued knocking on the window.

I trot off the couch and climb the window. 

"Who's 'they'?" I was interested.

"Kelly and Bryce? My owners?" He seemed uneasy. "Can you open this window? Do you have a catdoor?"

"Are you a pet or something?" 

Hayley's house was high-tech. I saw her press a button and the curtains were undrawn.

"I'm no pet to them. They treat me badly and they pull me by the tail."

"I feel sorry for you...." However, I still did not trust Portland. "I think there's some button to undraw the -..!"

"Whoa!" I freaked out and let out a little shriek. "How'd you get -"

"Get in so fast? There's a one-way catdoor on the main door. I thought you already knew of that." he said, licking his paws. Portland was a cat, like me. He had a wonderful white coat and a black patch on his left paw. "I can't get out your house, though."

"There's only an ahpel-"

Portland looked up with delight. "Apples? I love 'em. Kinda hard to chew, though."

I didn't like Portland's interruptive behaviour. He seemed full of adrenaline.

I pressed him. "Can you please stop interrupting me? I don't like that."

"You're not like the other cats... you're just a kitten. And not that, too, many of the others get mad at me when I knock on their window." There are many more like me? "You don't get mad, though."

"I can think that you have lived your entire life in this house."

"Maybe. I was counting on how many days I have been here. I think it was Day 70 or something." I cannot recall.

"Counting? What's that?"

Now it's my turn to impress Portland of my intelligence. 

"Counting is ... uh..." Oops. "Just some word I heard from my owners."

"Let's eat some food," Portland seemed very hungry. "I can eat an entire apple!"

I just slept on the couch while Portland munched away at the apples. I wish I could open Hayley's door... I miss her so much. 

The moment I woke up, things were bad. Very bad. It turns out Hayley and her family went home a few days early as a storm was raging through the campsite. Her family was not amused when they saw Portland on the table. "That... thing ate all our fruits! Even the plastic ones!"

I was awoken by the sudden commotion. The last I saw of Portland was Hayley's father throwing him out the front door. He locked the catdoor soon afterward. "Portland?" I looked up at Hayley.

"I'm sorry, Molly. You have to go."

"What?"

"You're going to the Carsons, some people who live up the street."

I'm going to miss her. "Hayley..."

"Goodbye Molly." Hayley seemed emotionless. But I know her, she couldn't hold a tear.

Hayley started crying. She told her mother that if she could think of something else, she couldn't. We had nothing. Oh well then, I'm going to miss this place. As they carried me to the car, I looked back at this place. I looked up the street and wondered what the Carsons' place looked like.

I seemed to had no idea on what was going on. Why was Hayley crying? Why does she even cry? I never shed a tear in my life. It started raining. Hayley put on her headphones in the short car ride. 

The last I saw of Hayley, as Mr. Carson carried me, was a tiny wave of goodbye. A goodbye I will never forget.

A goodbye that will be forever in my heart.