A Cat Called Angel

A flicker of Joy

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.-Revelations 21:4

My heart thudded, and it seemed for that long moment that everything in existence was frozen. The wind seemed to come to a stop, the towers seemed to stop waving their branches, and the creature met my gaze, her eyes almost as sharp as her teeth. Surely, I thought. This must be a coyote. Almost at once, that long moment of stillness ended, and the coyote sprang towards me.

I let out a fearful, long, yodeling "merrowwww!!" A sharp, white hot pain shot through my back, as the coyote held me in her clutches.

"Run!" I exclaimed to my siblings. "Run away! Go!"

All at once, my siblings started pelting down the sloped ground, lead by Basil. I felt warm liquid dripping down my back and collecting on my fur from the places where the coyote had her teeth in my flesh. Then, through clenched teeth she let out a splitting cry that seemed to tear through my ears and split my fur. "HOWEEEEE! HOW HOW HOWWEEEEEEEE!"

All of a sudden, a jolt of shock shot through me as I heard the echoing reply, much, much, closer than I expected. "Howeee! Howwweeeeee! How How Howw Eeeeeeee!"

From the vibrations of the howling I could tell at once that there was multiple coyotes. I winced as the vicious creature shook me in her jaws and let out a sort of bark-like laugh that echoed through my soul. Straining to turn my head, I was relieved to see that my siblings were still pelting downward, and away from the coyote.

Suddenly, I was terror stricken as I felt the vibration of the running paws of a stronger animal running through the papery carpet of the ground. I gasped in horror as five more coyotes sprinted out from behind the towers.

"No!" I exclaimed as they pelted down the sloped ground after my siblings.

""Run!" I screeched. "Run like you've never run before!!"

I caught sight of them flashing down the slope as mere blurs in the light of the globe, but the coyotes had longer, stronger, legs and quickly caught up to my siblings. I hid my eyes as the heart-wrenching cries of pain from my siblings cracked through the night. The coyote who held me in her clutches trotted down the slope to join her fellow beasts. Pain exploded from every area of my body, and it was an effort just to move. I felt the coyote's jaws clenching deeper into my flesh and let out a weary cry.

"Angel!" I looked up to see Misha using her last ounce of strength to call my name from within the jaws of a fierce-looking coyote. Her fur was stained red. "Why did you lie to us? We trusted you and you let us down!"

"I'm...I'm sorry. I just wanted to lead you away from danger." I choked. The coyotes let out barks of joy.

"Cats blood!" exclaimed the male-bark of another coyote merrily. "How I've been longing for the taste of cat's blood!"

My vision started to blur and my siblings shrill squeals began to die down as I felt more warm liquid streaming down my coat. My life, I thought, is coming to an end.

Just as the silver light of the globe was fading away into darkness though, I felt saturated fur on the back of my neck begin to stand up. A black figure with radiantly shining wings soured in front of me, and with hand-like paws ripped me from the coyotes clutches. The last sound I heard was the infuriated, confused cry of the coyote who had lost her prey, before my world was plunged into darkness.

I wasn't sure how much time I had been in this darkness. It felt like a few long minutes, but a split second at the same time, before a brilliant light flooded my vision. All of a sudden I felt no more pain, no more suffering, and a rush of great joy and freedom came upon me. The brilliant light flooded into a vast field. It was filled with the green stems that we had encountered when we stepped out of the carrier, but they were long and beautiful. At once I knew that these were called grass. They were dotted with colorful plants that had soft-looking petals growing at the top of their green stalks. At once I knew that these were called flowers. The sky was a beautiful, bright blue, and was lit by another light. A light so bright that it was unearthly, but yet so real.

And then all at once a soft, gentle breeze blew in from the wonderful world before me and kissed my fur. It caused the grass to blow towards me in waves, as if upon a sea of joy and beauty. At that very moment I wanted nothing more than to be in that wonderful place. I pelted forward into the field, running alongside the wind. My paws were lifted off the ground and I felt wings protruding from my back. Diving up and down, in and out of the grasses and flowers, I caught sight of my siblings, gazing up at me spellbound.

"Angel!" Exclaimed Rose. "Your flying! You have wings!"

"I know!" I replied, elated. "Don't you have wings too?"

"No," she replied. "None of us do."

Why am I the only one to have wings? I thought to myself. All of a sudden my thought was interrupted by a deep, wise voice. I turned around to see a man standing in the field. Once again, he looked so familiar, but yet I had never seen him before. He wore gleaming white robes that flowed behind him in the wind. He had long hair and a beard around his mouth. His eyes were all knowing, and all powerful.

"Not yet Angel," he said. "You are needed down on the earth. Come to me my kitten."

When he held out his hand, I saw that there was a hole in his palm. Lowering myself down, I laid my paw upon the hole in his palm. I could feel great power within him, and also a deep sense of security. I wished that I could've stayed here forever, my paw in the the palm of his hand.

I met the man's gaze and he met mine for a moment, before everything faded away into darkness again. Looking around at my new surroundings, I realized that I was back in Mt. Airy Forest. The globe was now lower in the sky, and the sky itself had a soft, grayish tint to it.

But something was different. I was at the place where the attack of the coyotes had taken place, but I not on the ground. I felt light, completely weightless actually, and I was hovering over the body of a lifeless, grey and white kitten. It took me a moment to realize that it was the body of myself. I still had wings protruding from my back, but they weren't very powerful and were almost misty-like.

Finally, after another unsure amount of time passed by, I was slowly lowered back down to my body. The sense of exhaustion was overwhelming, and I fell into a deep sleep.