Then one day, when she was seven years old, the unexpected occured. She got a gift, a kitten in fact. She didn't realize it at the time, but this helpless little kitty was going to be her best friend.
Her name was Pidge, after the girl's mother's favorite book character, but the little girl soon changed it to Pidgeon. She was grey with cream flecks, and had a cream diamond right on the top of her head.
One day, Pidgeon's mom tried to chase her and the other kittens away...all of them got scared and left, but not Pidgeon. Rachel, the mother cat, started lashing out at her trying to scare her away, but she never left.
The girl saw this going on, and one day picked up the kitten and told her,
"I know that you don't think anybody cares about you, but I do. I am going to adopt you as my baby, and I will never leave you."
From then on, Pidgeon was the girls baby. The girl took care of her, but better yet, Pidgeon took care of the girl.
When she would get sad, Pidgeon would just know...she would crawl over and keep her company. When the girl would get sick, Pidgeon wouldn't leave her side until she got better. She was always there when the girl needed her, and for that the girl was forever greatful.
Then one day, under a saddening circumstance, the girl and her family had to move in with her grandparents. The girl's mom told her that Pidgeon would have to stay behind, but the girl made a promise and would not leave her. She pleaded with her grandmother to let her keep the kitty, and eventually her grandmother said yes.
All of the other kitties were given away or left behind, but Pidgeon got to stay.
After a few years, the girl and her family had to move again, and once again the girl was told she had to get rid of her cat, but once again she was able to keep her.
A week into living in her new home, a tornado came. The house they were living in was not stable enough to withstand the storm, so they had to leave to a safer location. The girl, about ten now, brought Pidgeon with her, even though her mom told her she couldn't come. They drove to a shelter, but because it was a public place Pidgeon wasn't aloud to come in. The girl tried to convince her parents to let the cat come, but she was left in the car. The girl did nothing but cry that whole night, because she thought she was going to lose her best friend...but fortunately she did not.
A few years later, the girl went away to Greece. She was gone for a whole month, and had to leave Pidgeon beind. She missed her cat dearly, but not as much as Pidgeon missed the girl. The cat spent that whole month looking for the girl, she would escape the confinements of the house and try and search for the girl outside, but she never found any luck.
Everyday the woman the girl was staying with would ask "do you miss your family?" and the girl would always reply "no, but I miss my cat." The woman didn't understand, and the girl realized that nobody ever really would. Pidgeon wasn't just a pet, she was really the girl's soulmate...they were destined to find eachother, and destined to stay together forever.
When the girl returned home, she opened the door to her house and caught the cat as she was trying to run outside. Pidgeon meowed in protest, but then realized who it was. She immediately started to pur, and the girl cried because she was so happy.
A few months later, the girl, fifteen now, went to her sophmore Homecoming. She was so excited, because she had the perfect dress, and had just got her hair cut, and thought she actually, for once, looked pretty. She went out that night, and had what she thought to be at the time, the best night of her life.
She came home, and changed into her pajamas, and grabbed her kitty to bring her to bed. Pidgeon made a funny noise, but the girl failed to think anything of it.
She told her kitty, like she did every night, that she loved her more than anything in the world...and that they would be together forever, and then she went to sleep.
At 3:17 AM the girl woke up. She turned and saw her cat breathing heavily. The girl knew something was wrong. She started to panic, and woke up her sister in the bed above her. The sister ran and got her parents.
Pidgeon was sprawled out in the girls bed, unable to move. She was breathing heavily, and her eyes were filled with pain. The girl was on the floor next to the bed, eye level with her baby, crying and telling her it was going to be okay.
"I promised I would never leave you, we are destined to be together forever, remember?" she told her best friend.
"please don't leave me."
The girl begged her parents to call a vet, she begged them to do something, anything to stop her poor baby's pain. But the parents said, "there isn't anything we can do, just let her go."
The girl started to sob, but her mom told her
"you have to be here for her, you can't cry now"
The girl continued to pet her beloved baby girl, she kept repeating things, saying she loved her, that she was so sorry, that she didn't mean to ever be angry or upset with her, that they were supposed to be together forever...
The girl's family sat around her and the cat, but did nothing. They just stared.
The girl turned and looked at her father, and gave him a look that pleaded him to help her. Her dad stared back with his blue green eyes, and gave a look back that was filled with nothing but sympathy.
Two hours later, what seemed like forever for the girl, Pidgeon closed her eyes. They opened again, but the girl just knew. There was something off about them. They weren't the same vibrant gold eyes she had looked into every day for the past eight years. They were dead. She was dead.
Life seemed to end at that very moment, they were supposed to be together forever. Pidgeon was her only constant, her only true friend, she kept her sane and protected from all the bad things that were constantly happening around her...and now she was gone.
There was a funeral for Pidgeon the next day. The girl's dad built a small coffin for the beloved pet, and placed the cat inside so the girl wouldn't have to see her. They buried her at her grandmother's house, and everybody said nice things about her. Even her grandmother, who Pidgeon had once bit so hard that her whole arm turned black and blue. The girl couldn't say anything, except what she said to her every night.
"Pidgeon Ann, I love you more than anything in the world, and we will be together forever."
That night the girl's sister was listening to Billy Joel. The song "Lullabye" came on, and at that moment, the little girl decided this would be their song.
About a year later, the girl, not so little anymore, started a blog.
And on November Eleventh she wrote about what had happened, as a remider of what she once had.
No comments:
Post a Comment