I was eating some leftovers from yesterday. I shared 'em with Mingski, one of my cats that was standing near me, and he was also hungry. Then all of a sudden, I saw a cat. A dead cat, to be exact. But nah, nah, he's not the cat I possess.
Initially, I thought he was sleeping. Sleeping like a baby, and well, he is still a kitten actually, a cat's baby. I was mistaken, though. I was shocked when I found him unconscious on the floor. He lay down there without breathing anymore.
"Dad, I found a dead cat!" I told uri abeoji (my dad) about the cat. "Yeah, I know," he replied to me. "He is dead bcoz of you. You never gave him food, right?" added abeoji. Jokingly. I kinda felt guilty eventually. Nah, the cat doesn't belong to my family. He is a mere wild cat living outside. Living in our backyard, to be precise. And oftentimes he and his fam sneaked in through my back door (the door has a hole FYI) to steal Mingski's food since they knew Mingski is always fussy and never finishes his meals. But I never thought he (the dead cat) would die this young. He is a mere kitten. Around 3 months old, I reckon. He looked super healthy before. He could even run fast, and I couldn't keep up with him. Yeah, coz I'm heavy. Heavy people can't run fast. Hmmph. Seriously, though. I was totally surprised when knowing the fact that his life was this short.
No wonder he acted strangely last night. Well, he entered ma house through the back door again. Then I asked him nicely to get out. Commonly, he would hiss and stare at me. He was into hissing as if he said, "Stay away from me, Hooman! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" whenever he met hoomans before he left, yet he stayed put. He didn't move. I tried making him get scared by splashing his body with cold water. Normally, he would run immediately, but he stayed there and didn't wanna get out. "Alright, it seems like you don't wanna go. I'll let you sleep here tonight," I said, then I left.
This morning, unfortunately, I found him dead. Then I realized that last night apparently, he was dying. It reminds me of my old cat that died almost a year ago. He showed the same signs as this young cat demonstrated before he died. I once read some articles informing us that one of the symptoms that dying cats show is that they won't have energy to move, to walk, to drink, to eat, to purr, or to meow since their bodies become so fragile, so weak. And they can't breathe properly. They are in pain, but they hide the pain they sense. Also, they'll seek out cool or shaded spots that can provide comfort before they die. Additionally, they always have instincts when they're gonna die. It's truly heartbreaking when finding out that a cat or another pet is about to die, right?
Well, it was a gloomy morning for me. Last but not least, I'd like to say, "Rest in peace, lil kitty. I know I'm not your owner, but I feel blue when seeing you leaving this world forever."
By: Yeni Fadillah
P.s
This story is adapted from a real story. I felt so sad when I lost the kitty I just knew, so I wrote it in a story. I'm an ailurophile, FYI, and I'm into writing cats' stories both in Indonesian and in English.