It's been a year now since my cat disappeared. It was last January, just a few weeks before my birthday, that we let her out in the evening as usual but she didn't come back in the morning, and we never saw her again.
It's been a year already, and I still miss her terribly.
I remember her, from when she was a stray kitten we'd found one night who would always try to run away, so we took her with us to the seaside because we knew if we left her home, when we'd come back after a week she would've been gone. So we took her to the seaside with us, and I remember one stormy cold afternoon I just curled up with her on the sofa and we both slept there.
I remember that she used to always sleep on my bed, whenever she could, and my mother would get angry at her for being on my bed and at me for letting her stay. And one morning I left my bed undone and went to do something else, and when I came back she was sleeping in the bed, under the blanket with her head on the pillow. I ran to get the camera, of course... when the film got developed and mom saw the photo, she could not get angry, but instead just laughed.
I remember that she always used to know when I was sad, and come find me, no matter where I was, and curl up next to me and not leave my side until she was certain I was feeling better. And when I cried she'd lick the tears off my face... sounds silly, but it's true.
I remember that she always did her best to be as close to me as possible, going as far as getting up from a warm comfortable place she was sleeping on (ie. my bed, among the pillows) to go sleep on a less-comfortable place (ie. the kitchen table, while I was doing my homework). I remember that, when I was away from home, on holiday for instance, she always disappeared, only to come back when I came back.
I remember that she always waited for me on the doorstep, sometimes even at the beginning of the street that leads to my house, when I came back from school.
I remember that she let me carry her on my shoulder, draped across my shoulder and completely relaxed, not even trying to cling to my shirt or anything. I remember her weight on my shoulder. I remember how she felt under my hands, nice and soft and warm.
I remember how much I cried when she didn't come back home after leaving that night.
I still remember, and it doesn't matter if people say "come on, she was just a cat", because she wasn't. I still see her out of the corner of my eye sometimes, and it still hurts when I turn to check and she isn't there.
If there is a heaven somewhere, some sort of afterlife, I am certain she will be there to wait for me when I come, as she always used to wait for me when I came home.
She is not forgotten.

rarr

*hugs you*

Cats make better friends than humans.

=^.^=