I had been walking for ages, or so it feels like. With every step I took, my paws bled out from all the rocks, sticks, and glass that were now embedded into them. I knew I couldn't go on much longer, because of dehydration and the pain. Looking around, I found a tall tree about two feet away from me. I picked up my pace and hurried over to it. My eyes wandered up and down to see what the tree had to offer for me. I saw nothing until my gaze passed over a small hole embedded into the tree. Although my paws protested, I scaled the tree, digging my claws into the bark. Finally reaching the top, I let out a big sigh. I noticed that the hole was just my size and I could sleep there tonight. I turned in circles a couple of times before finally curling up into a little ball and drifting off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I awoke the next morning to the sound of leaves crackling and they were caused by heavy footsteps as they approached my tree. Slowly, I let my eyelids slide open and I looked down from the tall tree. I was amazed to see a very large and muscular lumberjack standing at the bottom of my oak tree. Maybe he can help me, I thought as I looked down from my tree. He took his axe and went CHOP right into the tree. The whole tree shook from the force and then slowly came to a stand still. My claws had gone deeper into the bark of the tree, so if he swung again I wouldn't fall off.
Watching the man swing the axe for the second time, I waited for the tree to shake again. The vibrations went through the tree and my body harder this time. I let out a frightened yelp and hoped the lumberjack heard me. Peeking down, I saw his head swivel this way and that trying to find the source of the cry. After about two minutes, which was dreadfully slow on his part, he finally looked up. His eyes widened to the point that it seemed like they might come out of their sockets. After the shock wore off, he started to call out to me, "Here kitty, kitty. Here kitty, kitty."
Slowly, I started my descent head first, a skill that I picked up from rock climbing in my younger years. When I came within arms reach of him, he grabbed me so fast that my claws could not retract fast enough. Some were plucked from my paw, causing me more pain. I let out another sorrow-filled cry as my paws began to bleed again. The lumberjack, feeling the blood on his hands, looked closely at my paws and said with a booming voice, "Well little kitty, I will have to get those wounds cleaned and bandaged before you do any sort of walking." My only reply was a small little meow.
His home was a little cabin in the middle of nowhere. It looked like it would be a great place for a haunted house. It was a darker shade of brown wood that made up the outside of the cabin. The chimney was made of limestone. There was a small porch with a rocking chair that moved to and fro with every gust of wind. The inside was just as glamorous as the outside. There was a small twin-size bed with a quilt lying on top in a corner. In the other corner were a stove and other kitchen necessities. A table with two chairs was in the middle of the room. There was no decor. Even on the windows, there was nothing. As he carried me through the door, my cat eyes could see spiders lurking in the far corners and I could hear rats crawling under the stove.
His hand brought my gaze back to him as it rubbed the back of my ear, making me purr. He laid me on the bed and started talking, "Okay, lets see here, little kitty. We have bandages, scissors, and pocket knives-"
Hold on just a minute, Mr. Lumberjack. There is no way in hell you are using a pocketknife on me! I thought to myself.
Apparently, he was able to read my expression and said, "Calm down I am not going to be using that to take care of your wounds." I let out a sigh of relief and could feel my muscles relaxing. "Where is the healing cream? I know I put it in here," stated the lumberjack.
Healing cream? Doesn't he mean Neosporin? I thought just as he shouted, "HA there you are! All the way in the back."
I stared at him for a minute or two. How long has he been here for? He must have been alone for a while, if he has grown accustomed to talking to inanimate objects. I felt a lump in my throat just thinking about how lonely this man really was. Where was his wife, children, friends, or family? Or was he always like this. I watched as he moved about the cabin fiddling with a bucket, scissors, tape, and the bandages. I couldn't help, but pity him. I wanted to talk to him or at least show him that someone cared because it was obvious that he didn't have visitors often or at all.
He came up to me and grabbed one of my paws and started to clean it. He was humming a random tune and had a small smile on his lips. It felt like someone was pinching my paws repeatedly, but it was not the worst pain I had ever felt. It took him about 15 minutes to bandage up each paw. Once he was all done, he gave a throaty chuckle. Seeing the confused look on my face, he responded, "You look so cute with your wee little boots on now." Looking down, I realized that the bandages made it seem like I was wearing white boots. I gave a happy little meow and rubbed against his arm in approval.
"Now, you, little kitty, need a name. What shall I call you?" he asked with a thoughtful look on his face. I couldn't tell him that I already had a name, so I let him figure one out. He lay down before he started naming names. "How about Fluffy?" My expression gave it away that I did not like that name at all.
"No, okay what about Rose?"
"No, Fee-Fee?"
"No, Tiger?"
"No, Shadow?"
"No, Angel?"
"No, Mittens?"
"No, Buttercup?"
"No, Misty?"
"No, Kiki?"
"No, Kit-Kat?" Now that one perked my interest. It was close to my human name. You take Kitty and Katie and combined it to create Kit-Kat. It was perfect! I stood up and crawled into his lap. I was very please with the name so I let him know but purring as I sat on his belly. He ran one of his hands along my fur making me want to arch my back. "I am glad you like it. Now let's get some sleep," he said as his words started to slur together at the end. My eyes started to droop on their own accord as I tried to picture what tomorrow would bring.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up with the lumberjack shifting to his side causing me roll off his belly and on to the mattress. I saw a clock on the bedside table and it read seven a.m. I let out a little mew and stretched my legs. I gave a little yawn where my jaw went slack, my tongue rolled down the inside of my lower jaw and curled at the end. I squeezed my eyes shut for about a minute and then reopened them to see the lumberjack staring at me. His eyes glistened with happiness as he watched me. I found it a little creepy, but shrugged it off. I mean he hasn't had a companion since I don't know when so I will let it go. I walked on his chest and meowed in his face.
He blinked a few times and then said, "You know Kit-Kat, I don't think I have any cat food here."
I don't need any cat food, I thought.
"So we are going to go into town to get some for you," he concluded. Gently, he picked me up and set me on the table. He walked through a door I never noticed and shut the door behind him. Uh, so he did have a bathroom. I curled into a ball and waited for him to come out. I was nervous and excited to be going to town. The last time I stepped foot in a town was three years ago.
Mr. Lumberjack came out of the bathroom; he was dressed in a plaid long sleeve shirt that was rolled at the sleeves. He had ripped jeans and muddy shoes. I could tell that he combed his hair and bread. The lumberjack grabbed a leather satchel and picked me up. He put me inside and let my head stick out as he left the house. Heading down the walkway, I could see the path that would lead us to town.
When we finally reached the town after about two hours of the lumberjack walking, I could see all the humans walking about. I wish I could join them, but that would cost me dearly. I couldn't let them find me after all my years of running. 'No, Katie stop thinking about it!' I reprimanded myself. The lumberjack briskly walked into a store called, "Growshire." I guess it was the town's funky way of saying grocery.
My new friend went through the aisles, grabbing things like bread, different types of meat, bottles of water, and more. People turned to look at him, but quickly went back to what they were doing when he looked in their direction. I could tell that he did not notice. He was just looking for things to get. I admired him for being oblivious to what people think and not feeling self-conscious around people. I watched as little children would look at him and then hide behind their parents. The way these people acted was as if he was a yeti or the monster from Frankenstein.
Before I could hiss at the people around us, Mr. Lumberjack tapped me on the head to get my attention. Looking up at him from his bag, he spoke in a whisper, "What looks most appetizing to you?" I turned my gaze on the shelves that were full of cat food. I looked for something that looked like the most eatable. The moist food looked like a block of mush. So, I looked further down the aisle to see cereal and being the little greedy monster I am, I meowed softly and inclined my head to the cereal. He looked at the cereal and grabbed the Lucky Charms.
With all the goodies gathered in the cart, we got in line to checkout. The checkout lady looked up from her dinosaur of a computer and did something rather peculiar. She blushed and gave a nervous smile. My eyes widened and I stole a glance at the lumberjack. He too was blushing and looking at her.
The lady at the counter cleared her throat and said, "Did you find everything you were looking for, Mr. Brun?"
"Yes, I did." the lumbe- I mean Mr. Brun replied.
I rolled my eyes; these people are so oblivious to the chemistry going on between them. I had made a little meow that caught the attention of the woman. Her mouth opened and a little squeal was released. She started to talk really fast about how cute and cuddly I was. Mr. Brun quickly started working on trying to calm her down so that the public would not notice. "Martha! Martha, breathe in and out. Calm down!" he repeated about three times.
"Oh my god! Henry, where did you find that darling little thing?" She spoke after calming down.
"I found her in a tree that I was about to chop down. I named her Kit-Kat," he replied.
"Awww, such a cute name! I jus-" She was cut off by her manager glaring at her from across the room. She quickly composed herself and continued to scan all the goodies we wanted. I glared at the manager for being rude to Martha. When she was done checking us out, Henry spoke up, "Thank you, Miss Palmer, have a nice day."
As we left I couldn't help, but be astonished that he could just end it like that; so abruptly and very business like. They looked like childhood sweethearts. It's sad that they both seemed embarrassed by it. I could have ranted about that for a long time, but I was discombobulated, when falling out of the bag. Thank god for being a cat, it saved me from face planting onto the concrete. I looked left and right trying to figure out what had happened. What I saw was Henry having a conversation with this dude, while the dude's buddies picked up all the groceries that had fallen.
The main dude had blonde hair that hung in front of his eyes. His eyes were a miraculous shade of blue. He was about 5'10." He was muscular and looked like he could play any sport. He wore a black beanie, and black finger-less gloves. Focusing in on the conversation, I was quickly picking up the words that were being said by the dude, "I'm sorry mister! My friends and I didn't mean to bump into you. We were just messing around. I will pay for anything that is broken or damaged."
"It's fine, I had nothing that could get damaged," Henry said back. I ventured over to where they were standing and rubbed Henry's leg to get his attention. Mr. Burn picked me up and started caressing my head. The dude and his friends looked at me with wide eyes. I gave them a confused look by tilting my head to the side. The dude cleared his throat and then spoke again, but the whole time he kept his gaze on me. "Well now that we got everything cleaned up, I guess we will be going. See you later," and with that they walked away.
By the time we got home, it was already dark. As Henry got ready for bed, I sat there thinking of the boy outside the grocery store. He seemed to know that I was not just any ordinary cat. His last words seemed to be directed at me and not Henry. He confused me, but fascinated me. I wanted to know his name and other things about him. While I thought about this, I fell into a deep slumber.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was abruptly woken from my slumber by being shoved off the bed. How rude of Henry? He really should figure out a way to stay still. I slowly got up from the floor. I stretched my stiff legs and back, hearing multiple pops. After I was done stretching, I started to look around. He had shifted around so much that there was no longer a spot on the tiny bed for me.
I didn't get to think about how rude he was for long because my amazing hearing heard bushes rustling outside of the cabin. It was too harsh of a noise to come from the wind. They weren't being very stealthy at all. I could hear every footstep, every breath that went in or out, and every beat that come from the heart. Whoever it would suck at being a ninja or Edward Cullen, that's for sure.
Deciding it would be a good time to protect my new home, I tiptoed across the room and through the open window. Where I leaped down from it's ledge and made my way over to the bushes. They had stopped moving and I could feel the stranger's eyes on me. They watched me sit right in front of their bush. My ears twitched every so often as I tried to listen for any sound from him other then its heart. I could hear it clear as day. It was like a little hummingbird. My tail moved back and forth as I waited for it to make the first move.
Whoever was out there suddenly took a step with one of their paws. I could tell it was a paw because of the heaviness that came with it. This gave me the exact location that they were standing. I was able to spring up and land on them before they had the chance to react. There was a lot of rolling around, dodging paws, and hissing. I got the creature in a firm hold and waiting for it to stop struggling.
I was surprised that I got the creature down on the ground. He seemed to know what he was doing, because of the way he trying to escape. Maybe all the training I have been doing has really been paying off. With my eyesight, I could see the animal's fur coat, which was black with a few white specks. This fury beast had ears and a tail, which kept twitching every other second. His muscles relax as he finally realized that I would not hurt him. I slowly let go off of him. My tail started flicking back in forth waiting for him to get up. He started to stand on his fours. I finally could see what he was. The silkiest cat stood before me. His fur was a little ruffled and his tail had a white tip. His eyes captivated me. They glowed a very bright yellow that lit up his face. I could tell he was a male cat because he was a larger size than me. Not by fat though, just muscle.
He had tilted his head and studied me until he seemed to have a realization. I could almost see the little light bulb go off in his head. His eyes widened with happiness and excitement. I gave him an expression of utter confusion. What was he so happy about? I just kicked his ass. I analyzed him for a while to see if I recognized him, but I am positive that I have never seen this cat in the 16 years that I have lived.
All the sudden I got a major headache. It was like someone was trying to compress my brain. The pain was horrendous and soon I started to feel light headed. My vision started to blur and I could not see any detail on the cat, but his glowing eyes. The eyes seemed different now, than before. The yellowed eyes glowed with wonder, devotion, passion, and concern. I knew he could tell that I was not feeling well. My body started to sway and my eyes started to droop.
Right before I blanked out, I heard a voice in my head. The voice sounded rough, but velvety at the same time. I had a hard time concentrating on the voice though, because of my headache and drowsiness. It whispered, 'Let me in. Relax your mind and open up to me. I want to help you,' and with that I passed out.