Here, kitty kitty!

**** My first story. not fully eddited so forgive me for the mistakes you may find.

I was walking in a dark alley in the city of charleston, when I encountered the one who was going to change my life. 

Why was I in that alley you ask, well because I have no sense of direction and I had gotten lost going back to the hotel I was staying. I had arrived the night before for a well deserved week of vacation. I had always wanted to visit charleston, so when my ex husband had taken our daughter on a trip, I had decided to take a little trip of my own. That was better that staying home alone which I had done a lot for the past 2 years, since the divorce. I was sick of feeling sorry for myself so I had decided to live a little.

Going back to the dark alley, I was walking into, I did not realize how dark or how isolated I was until I heard the most horrible scratching noise I had ever heard. "what the hell!" looking for the source of the noise and taking a few steps back. I was actually going to turn around and get the hell out of there, when I saw some kind of furry tangled mess. It was orange and bleeding, some kind or dark ropes were somehow wrapped around that poor creature and it was making some small pitiful noises. Being an animal lover, I immediately wanted to help it, however also being realistic, I did not want to get hurt in the process, I hesitated a few seconds, thinking maybe I should go and get help, but of course who would I be able to ask? I did not even know where I was. The poor thing did not look like it was going to last much longer, so I stopped thinking and decided to see what I could do. I wrapped one of my hand with the scarf I was wearing and got down on my knees to start un wrapping the ropes around the animal, they looked like they were choking it. So I started from the ones around its neck. 

Contrary to what I though would happen, it did not struggle against me, I think there was no more fight in it. So I kept on telling it " don't die on me, you will get better, I will make sure of it" over and over, finally I was able to remove all the rope. It was still a bloody mess but for the first time I was able to see was I was dealing with, a cat. He looked terrible, and I was sure I had gotten to it too late. When he turned its head to me and looked at me with the most piercing and sad green eyes, and I knew that he was going to die, right there and then. 

On impulse I leveled my head to his, tears in my eyes, And said again louder "don't die, I will get you to a vet". As I was saying that the cat took a deep breath and then closed his eyes. I touched his heart, thinking that he was dead but I could still feel a faint heart beat. So without wasting anymore time, I wrapped him in my scarf and hurried out of the alley into a main street where I got lucky and found a taxi. 

"please", I asked the driver, "do you know any emergency Vet clinic" 

The driver looked at me and my bundle and said "if you get any blood on my sits, you have to pay for it" 

"there won't be, just take me to a vet please"

The driver turned around, I could tell he was not too happy about it, but proceeded to drive. 

At the veterinarian clinic I was seen right away, they started to take the cat from me and told me to wait outside, but as they tried to remove him from my arms, it felt him struggle for the first time, so I asked if I could please help holding him, the vet said ok and then started working on the poor cat, looking for the places he was bleeding from, giving him some antibiotic shots. 

"is this your cat ?" he asked, I told him how I had had found him in the alley.

"it is terrible was some people can do to animals these days" he said sadly. 

"is he going to be ok?"

"well I have not found major damages, unless they are internal, but I can't see that without surgery and he is too weak to be able to survive the anesthesia, even healthy cats don't always do well with those. All you can do is wait and see how he is responding to the shots I gave him, he has been starved, choked and beaten from what I can tell."

I felt tears in my eyes again, how cruel, why would anyone do this.

"we can keep him here over night, if you want, but there is not much we can do for him right now, it is kind of a waiting game, plus it is very costly, about a $1000. Plus the fee for the services i have already performed. I am willing to give you a discount, because you rescued that cat, but it will be still be around $700 just for the medicine."

Wow, I had not thought of money during this entire evening, and it is not like I had a lot of it. My vacation budget had been seriously reduced all the sudden.

"what about a refuge for animal, wouldn't they help him?" I asked

"not really, they would probably put him to sleep, seeing his state, even if his injuries are not life threatening, they can't really afford to treat every single animals that come their way, plus this cat is an adult, therefore less likely to be adopted as everyone prefers kittens. No, your best bet if you want to help him, is to taken him home, try to get him to drink, I can give you a paste that will replace food, and let him rest. He might be able to pull through, he looks like a strong cat despite all the abuse he has been put through."

I bit my lips, I had not come here to take on another responsibility, I was in a hotel, not at home for gods sake, plus I did not want to see him die if he did not make it, however I could not just abandon him after all of this. All the sudden the cat looked at me with his green eyes, and that made the decision for me.

"I hope he is litter trained!" I said to the vet.