My Friend Never Came Home

I once had a friend. He was a nice human. A long time ago I was living in a place where there were lots of other cats. We were all in little boxes with bars covering the front. Before that I didn’t have a home. I was living outside, eating mice and whatever other food I could find, and a human found me and brought me to this place. The humans here were nice, but I didn’t like living in a box.

One day this human came into the room in which I was living. I started talking to him and he saw me and came over. He picked me up and stroked by fur. I purred as loud as I could. He talked to me and I asked him to take me home with him, but he didn’t that day. He left and several feeding times later that I saw him again. This time he didn’t put me back in my box. He put me in a smaller box, which he carried and put me into a strange little room. I don’t know what this thing was, but it made a scary noise and I could feel it moving really fast. When my new friend let me out of this little box, I was in a new place. It was big and there were lots of rooms to explore. I remembered being in a place like this before I was living outside. I didn’t have to stay in a little box anymore and I was very happy about this. My new friend would let me lie on his lap and stroke my fur. I got to sleep on lots of soft places and I even got to sit at the windows and look outside. I couldn’t go outside though. I tried a couple of times because I wanted to see what was out there, but my friend always told me “No”. I don’t really know what that means, but he always said it every time I did something he didn’t like.

Sometimes my friend would go away and I would be in the home alone. He would talk to me, usually scratch me behind the ear and then disappear behind a door. Eventually the door would open and my friend would re-appear. This would happen a lot. I don’t know where he would go, but most days at around the same time, he would disappear and then re-appear. I started to know what time he would re-appear, so I would sit at the window and watch for him. I would run to the door and talk to him. He would always speak to me and stroke my fur.

One day my friend disappeared through the door as he usually did. I went about my usual day of eating, sleeping, looking out the window and playing with a small round ball.

I went to the window at my usual time to await my friend, but he did not appear at the usual time. Sometimes he would appear later that usual, so I waited, but did not see my friend. Eventually I decided to eat some food and then went back to the window, but my friend still didn’t appear.

Soon it was dark and my friend still didn’t appear. I went to my food dish and there wasn’t much food left. Sometimes my friend wouldn’t re-appear for a while, but he always left lots of food in my dish when this happened.

Sometimes my friend would take me to a place where there were other cats and humans. I would be put in a small room that had a window and a small hole through which I could go outside. I couldn’t go far though, as there was a cage around this little room. Other humans would feed me and stroke my fur. I wouldn’t see my friend for a while, but he would always re-appear and take me home.

I went to sleep and kept waking up thinking I heard my friend, but he wasn’t there. It got light outside and then dark again and my friend still wasn’t home. I was getting hungry because all my food was gone. I didn�t know how long it was, but before it got dark, I heard the door opening. I was sleeping and immediately jumped off my perch and ran to the door. I saw a human, but it wasn’t my friend. It was a lady human that I sometimes saw with my friend. She was nice and always stroked my fur. I asked her where my friend was, but she just picked me up and stroked my fur. I could tell she was sad, but I didn’t know why. She took me to my food dish and gave me some food. I was grateful and ate it up.

When I was done eating, the human lady put me in the little box that my friend always put me in when we went into that thing that makes the scary noises and moves really fast. She took me outside and put me a thing that makes the scary noises and moves really fast, but it was different than what I was used to.

When she let me out of the box, I was in a strange place. It had lots of rooms to explore and lots of soft places to sleep. I found new windows to look out and lots of new things to sniff. Every day I sit in the window looking outside at humans and other animals.

There have been many times that it has been light and dark. A lot of time has passed since I came to this new home. I see the human lady every day. She feeds me and strokes my fur and I really like her. She also disappears behind a door and re-appears before it gets dark. I am happy in my new home, but I miss my friend. I sit in the window every day looking for him.

Every time the human lady comes through the door, I always hope my friend will be there too, but he never appears. I don’t understand why my friend never came home.