Where I'm Meant to Be

I - After the Rain

It had been pouring rain for the past few days. Everything was damp. The little black cat's fur was soaked. Even her usual shelter under the porch wasn't as warm as it used to be.

She hurried along the sidewalk, searching for something to bring back to her small abode. The garbage trucks hadn't come by yet, and usually the humans abandon perfectly good food in the bags they leave at the end of their driveways.

VVVRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Something drove by really fast, making a terrifying sound. The cat didn't manage to get a good look at the culprit as she jumped into the hedge.

The sound faded away down the street. She let out her breath and exited the hedge, continuing on her search. A few houses down, she finally found what she was looking for.

Chicken. She could smell it. She tore a small hole in the bag and found the elusive box, pulling the small scraps out of it. This would be enough for right now.

She chewed around the bones, tearing scraps of meat off with her sharp teeth. The humans wasted so much, there was still quite a bit of meat on these chicken bones.

Sadly, there was hardly any on hers.

The sun was finally starting to peek through the clouds, so the tiny cat figured she best find a good spot to go dry out. There was a construction area nearby that was empty for the time being. Once those big rocks warm up in the sunshine they would be perfect to dry off a little.

******zzzzzzzzzz************zzzzzzzzzzz************zzzzzzzzzz***

The little one woke up from her short power nap on the toasty rock. There were kids playing in the park and she could hear them hollering with joy. She tried to stay away from groups of humans, they made her a little nervous.

She decided to go for a walk to stretch out her little legs after her nap, so she made her way to her favourite street, the one with the house on the corner with the big hedge. It was the street where she currently spent her nights, one of the neighbours had a porch that she was able to sneak under.

But there was something about that house with the hedge that brought this little black cat comfort, something telling her she was meant to be there.

II - The Forest

It was getting late in the afternoon, but the spring air was still warm enough for a stroll through the forest. The sun shone through the newly grown leaves of the canopy.

The little one loved the sun. She loved the way it made her jet-black fur radiate. She could hear all the other creatures going about their business amongst the trees.

She wasn't scared in the forest. Mostly because there were no humans in the forest. Humans are unpredictable and loud. The forest is calm and quiet.

She came to a large bush where a gathering of squirrels was huddled about picking seeds from their teeth from the berries they just ate. It meant these ones would be safe for her to eat as well.

The squirrels kept their eyes on her while she munched on the sweet purple berries. She might be small, but she was an apex predator after all. They didn't want to take any chances.

Suddenly there was a loud sound behind them of sticks breaking. The cat made out two humans traversing through the forest a short distance away. The squirrels scattered and took to the treetops, so she found a fallen log and quickly hid behind it.

The humans passed by without incident. They were speaking loudly, but she couldn't understand what they were saying. She decided to continue her journey in the direction the humans had just come from, so as not to run into them again.

Soon she came upon a little dip in the path where a puddle of water had formed from the rain over the last few days. She stopped to drink, the water felt nice on her tongue, and she was able to clean the berry juice out of her teeth.

There came a disturbance in the forest back where she had come from. A hurried pounding of earth, followed by a bellowing roar. It was the humans again, but they were not smiling and laughing like before.

Terror showed on both their faces. Their arms flailed as they ran awkwardly on their backward legs. Behind them, crashing through the trees, was someone the little black cat had only seen once before, but at a distance.

The someone let out another roar. They were huge. They were crashing through the trees with ferocity.

They were a bear.

The little one was so young she didn't fully understand what was happening, but her eyes narrowed and her claws extended as her body instinctively went into predator mode to try and help her escape the danger. The humans continued to hurry in her direction.

She started toward a partially fallen tree and was scaling it when the humans ran passed her. A few seconds later the bear followed, unknowingly toppling the trunk the rest of the way.

She tried to run to the end of it to jump to the next tree, but didn't make it in time. She fell back to the forest floor and hit the ground hard, her tiny frame crumpling into the dirt. Her next breath came heavy, and she found she couldn't move very well.

The little cat pondered why she hadn't landed on her feet, she always had before. She looked over her shoulder, toward her tail. Her fluffy, luxurious tail was caught in tightly packed branches from the tree, and she couldn't shake it out.

She heard motion nearby again. The humans were coming back. They were getting really close. The little one could feel the ground shaking from their heavy footfalls.

They were too close. And she was partially hidden under debris from the fallen tree branches.

A heavy boot landed on the branch that was wrapped into her tail. She let out a weak yelp, but the human couldn't hear.

The next thing the little cat heard was the even heavier footfalls of the bear, but they were slowing as they got closer.

She wasn't sure what happened next, because she let out another heavy breath, her vision went blurry, then the world went dark.

III - Finding Balance

When she woke up, the little one found that it was nighttime. She wasn't sure where she was, but she felt around with a little paw and discovered she was surrounded by something soft, and she was really warm.

Perhaps the warmest she had been in a long time.

There was still a bit of a ringing in her head, but that was starting to get quieter and quieter. Now she could make out a steady sound of the wind.

Wait. It wasn't wind. It was a the sound of a calm, steady breath.

All of a sudden, her soft, warm surroundings shifted.

And let out a yawn.

The little cat had a moment of panic. Her surroundings were the bear. The chase was coming back to her. She stood up with a struggle, but stumbled back to the forest floor.

She looked back at the bear. They looked much smaller than she remembered. Heavy snores came from the bear.

She tried three more times to stand and walk, without prevail. She looked back at where her beautiful tail should be. The sight gave her a shock and her heart dropped.

Only about half of her tail remained, and the end of it was crooked. After seeing it, the pain came back to her. She winced, and tried to stand again. She had to get back to her street, back to where she was meant to be.

This time she made it a few steps before stumbling again. As she fell, something caught her. It was a large paw. The large paw picked up her tiny body and raised her into the air.

This was the bear she had seen before. The Mother.

The Mother held the tiny kitten close to her chest and breathed softly. She ever so gently pressed her head against the little one's.

The cat looked up at the Mother, her eyes widening as she began to purr in her arms.

She would be safe here.

The little black kitten would spend several weeks with the Mother and her cub. She learned how to walk again with her shortened tail, and would search with the cub for the best berries in the forest, climbing up on his back to reach the ones dangling from the tall bushes. She would use her sharp claws to cut them down so they could both eat.

When night fell, she would wedge herself in between the two great bears, thankful for the warmth and the safety they provided. She came to understand it was the Mother who had cut off the damaged portion of her tail, and cleaned it and tended to the wound to make sure she would recover. She was thankful for that too.

She became quite adept at getting around, and took great joy in chasing away the birds that would land on the Mother's back, not that they bothered her in the slightest.

After a time, she knew she would have to return to the house with the hedge. She was compelled to visit the place.

She had a happy time with the bears, but she knew they would need to move on as well. The Mother and cub had protected her, just as the Mother had protected her baby and scared off the humans.

It was time to say their goodbyes. The forest was the bears' home, and it was time for her to find hers. The little kitten wished to be as strong as the Mother some day.

The little thing didn't realize how strong she already was. She felt the tiniest of rumblings in her little tummy.

IV - Seeing them for the first time

Leaving the forest and being back in the city was strange to the little one. It was so much louder out here. The sidewalk was not as nice to walk on as the packed earth of the forest floor had been.

Nonetheless, she found her way back to the street with the house with the hedge. She stopped across the road to have a look at it. There seemed to be a new car in the driveway.

She sat there for a few moments, admiring it. Humans got into the new car and pulled out of the driveway. She figured she better get across the street quickly before the car came, just to be safe.

She skittered quickly across the road, but the car slowed down anyway and stopped on the corner.

The little kitten wasn't sure why, but she decided to look back at the car.

The door of the car slowly opened, and sitting inside were two humans. The one closest to her was pretty, with big eyes like hers, and just smiled at her.

She wasn't sure what to make of them. There was no yelling, or loud noises of any kind. They just smiled at her.

Just for a moment, she paused, then ran away down the street and jumped into a bush.

Her instinct so far with humans was to run away, but she felt different about these ones.

She really hoped she would see them again.

V- The Meaning of a Name

- a couple months later -

The little black cat struggled to get the kittens to calm down for just two minutes so she could tell them the plan for dinner today. There were four of them, and while they were small, she still wasn't all that big herself.

They finally stopped wrestling and listened to mom when they heard the promise of a snack. They were still too little to go hunting for food on their own, so they relied on their mother quite a bit.

The little one was proud of herself, she was a mom now, just like the Mother bear.

She slunk out through the gap in the porch, and the kittens returned to their wrestling.

She knew she would have to be pretty quick, her babies were quite demanding when it came to their snacks. Still though, she wanted to make a short stop at the house with the hedge.

Over the past few days she had noticed different movement at the house on the corner, there were different humans moving about and putting things inside.

She had seen the pretty human with the big eyes again.

In the front of the yard, hidden in the safety behind the hedge, the humans had turned over the dirt some, and there were flowers there now. They smelled really nice.

The upturned earth was even nicer for her to do her business in.

She would just have a quick visit.

As she trotted down the sidewalk, she looked up at the big window of the house with the hedge. There was another cat in there looking back at her. They had a friendly, silly look on their face.

As she was squatting in the garden, she heard the door of the house open up. So she ran across the lawn and hid in the hedge.

It was the pretty human. And she sat down on the ground in front of the big stone steps that lead to the door. She had a bag of something with her. The little one would have to investigate further to find out what the bag was filled with.

The little black cat approached hesitantly. The pretty human was quiet, calm, and still just smiled at her. She pulled a handful of something from the bag and lay it out in the grass.

The little one got close enough to see what the human had laid in the grass. It was small bits of what looked like cereal but smelled like salmon. She was close enough to touch it now. She stuck out her tongue. It tasted like salmon.

The human just sat there, smiling at her, while she munched on the little treats. They were really yummy. When she finished them all, the human tossed more into the grass.

This repeated a few times until the little cat was pretty full and the human set the bag down and held a hand out to her. She got even closer, close enough to smell the human. She smelled even nicer than the flowers.

When she licked her finger, the human let out a quiet laugh. The little one tried headbutting the human's knee to show affection. This caused her to laugh more.

The little black cat really liked this human, she made her feel safe, so when the human reached out to pick her up, she let out a little grumble, but let it happen. The human brought her onto her lap. It was warm. Just like the Mother bear... this was what she was looking for!

The door to the house opened up and another human stepped out, this one was a lot bigger. They stayed further away, sitting down on the big stone steps.

The pretty human looked at the big human, and a tear ran down her cheek. Oh no, the little one thought. She didn't want the human to be sad, so she rolled a bit to show her tummy. This caused more tears to come out of the human.

Oh, she wasn't sad, she was happy.

"Hi Charlie," the pretty human said, though the little black cat couldn't understand, "I love you Charlie."

Just then a big truck sped by, spooking the little cat, and she took off across the yard.

The humans didn't see it, but she turned to get a look at them before she ran away. She would see them again, just it was time she get back to the kittens.

Is that my name? she thought to herself, am I, Charlie?

Charlie may have only understood the one word the pretty human said, but she understood the feeling of the rest of it just by the way she held her.

VI - Meeting the Big One

Charlie hurried along the sidewalk with her pack of kittens, all four of them. It was slow going because every few steps one of them would tackle the other.

She had decided today was the day she would introduce her kittens to her humans.

She had also decided that the pretty one and the big one were her humans now. She really liked them, and would steal peeks at them whenever she could.

The third thing she decided was that her name was Charlie, because that was what the pretty human had called her, so that's what was meant to be.

The little crew were at the backyard of the house with the hedge now, and it was an effort to get the kittens to climb the couple of stairs onto the patio. Already three of them had jumped off and were goofing around the tree in the yard. One of them was sitting next to her by the big window, he was being such a good boy.

Charlie could see the big human through the window, he hadn't noticed her yet though. She called out to him. He turned his head and stood up immediately. Two other cats came to see her and her baby at the window. One of them with a mustache stood a bit further away, but he had a friendly face. The other was the one she had seen before in the front window, he said hello and now she noticed he had so many toes!

The human waved at her and her kitten. He had taken something out of his pocket and was speaking hurriedly into it. Then she saw him disappear, but it was only for a moment. He reappeared suddenly out a back door by the patio.

He walked slowly up the steps and sat down on the patio floor. He was much, much bigger than Charlie and her kitten, and he seemed very aware of that fact.

Charlie introduced her son to the big human, her son ran right up to him and headbutted his shin. The big human laughed, it was a nice sound. Then the kitten jumped off the patio to join his siblings.

Charlie let the big one pat her gently on the head before she ran after her children by the tree. The human followed them, but kept a good distance. One of the other kittens ran up to offer his own greeting, but got shy and ran back to join his mother.

The cats said a noisy goodbye before they all headed toward the hedge, while the big human stood waving and smiling at them.

VII - It's warm and nice, but not quite home yet

It had been nearly a week since Charlie and her kittens had been picked up and brought inside by the group of humans. They were very kind to all of them, but they weren't Charlie's humans.

Charlie and her kittens were off the street, and they were warm and safe. It just didn't feel quite like home yet, things were still a bit chaotic.

Only one of the kittens remained. Small humans had come and taken the others, they were all giggling and crying, which Charlie associated with happiness now after seeing the pretty human do it. That was a good sign her babies would be okay.

Charlie wondered where her human was now.

The little giggling humans were giving names to the kittens as they picked them up. Charlie was getting better at understanding humans, and had learned that when they called someone by their name, it was because they cared about them.

She was happy the kittens would have someone to care for them now it was time for them to go to where they were meant to be.

There always seemed to be quite a bit going on in the house, so Charlie mostly tried to stay out of the way. Right now she was hiding under the kitchen table. Her kitten was nearby, swatting at a towel that hung off the edge of the table. He was always so close, but never quite reached it.

Suddenly there was a sound at the front door. Charlie's ears perked up, the kitten stopped swatting for the first time. There was movement through the front hall before three humans moved into the kitchen, one of them was talking to a newcomer.

The new human stepped toward the table Charlie was hiding under, then crouched down so Charlie could see her face.

It was her!

The pretty human reached out to Charlie with both arms and in one motion scooped her up to her chest.

She held her close.

This felt like home.

Chapter VII - Leaving the Nest

Charlie had a bit of a whirlwind adventure when her mom came to collect her and her kitten. The humans named the kitten Robin, and Charlie liked the sound of that. She was happy that Robin got a name, it meant they loved him too.

The pretty human - Charlie's mom - brought Charlie and Robin back to the house on the corner with the hedge. Walked them up the big stone steps, and gave them their own room in the house. It smelled really nice in here, even better than the flowers in the yard.

Charlie and Robin would have the room to themselves for a little bit to get used to their new home. Though, they could always hear the other two cats, just outside the door, both curious to know who the newcomers were.

Both the pretty human and the big one kept bringing in snacks and water for Charlie and her kitten, even when they splashed them all over the place. They brought a bunch of toys in too. Charlie didn't really know what to do with them at first. She had never had toys before. Robin took to them pretty quick though.

Robin kept growing, and somehow seemed to have even more energy.

One day, the pretty human came in to the room with a friend and the carrier she had carried Robin in. Charlie was still getting better at understanding the humans every day, and gathered that it was time for Robin to go on to his own new home.

The new human was really friendly, and Charlie learned that Robin was going to have a new big brother. His new big brother Batman. They were both happy to hear this, because Robin had quite taken to playing with his uncle Elliot.

Charlie was somewhat relieved that Robin would be leaving the nest, but was very glad Robin would be going to a home as loving as the one she had now.

The two humans sat and played with Charlie and Robin, before saying goodbyes and Robin went on to start his new life as a rambunctious little brother.

Chapter VIII - Almost Settled in

The day came for Charlie to visit the vet.

She didn't really know what to expect, but she understood from the humans it would help her feel less anxious, and that it would mean she wouldn't have kittens again.

Charlie was proud of being a mom, but she was very okay with it being only a one time thing!

Dad - the big human - picked her up in the carrier and brought her out to the car. She was nervous leaving her warm new home, but dad kept sticking his fingers into the carrier so Charlie knew she wasn't alone.

Once they got to the vet, dad had to put his mask on before he went inside. Dad looked sad. Pretty soon, Charlie realized why.

Dad handed the carrier over to another human in a mask, who started to bring her through another door at the back of the room.

Charlie looked to her dad with big eyes. He looked right back at her, and she could see his mouth moving, but couldn't quite make out what he said.

When Charlie got to the back room she was pretty scared, but she stayed as calm as she could. The human who was carrying her set her down on a table and gave her a bunch of little snacks.

Then came the medicine, which tasted really yucky, but soon Charlie was feeling pretty sleepy.

******zzzzzzzzzz************zzzzzzzzzzz************zzzzzzzzzz***

Charlie opened her eyes.

She was encased in some sort of embarrassing cloth. But she was warm, and it was quiet. Most importantly, she looked up, and there were the faces of her mom and dad. Her mom was crying those happy tears again.

It would take a bit of time for her to heal after her surgery, but Charlie was where she was meant to be now.

She was a good girl and took all her medicine, even though it was gross. Dad would come into her room to read to her, and mom would hold her and tell her how much she was loved. Her favourite was when both of them would come in and she could just wedge between them.

Charlie recovered quickly, and soon was freed of her onesie and once again the whole world could bask in her radiance.

It took a little bit of time, but Charlie was slowly introduced to her new brothers more and more.

She got her own spot on the couch, and the bed. Charlie loves bed time.

Charlie loves. She grumbles, but she loves so much.

Epilogue - The Shadow Princess in her Castle

Charlie sat on the coffee table. She looked out her big window, over the large pillars on her step to the big green hedge. Her brother Mustache was on the floor playing with their banana toy. Her other brother Elliot was laying on mom's chest on the couch. She could hear them both purring.

Dad walked over and rubbed her on the head. Charlie let out a happy little yell. Oh right, it's snack time!

That concludes the tale of how Charlie ended up where she was meant to be. She would have as many snacks and cuddles and as much love as she wanted forever.

Her two humans knew the house on the corner with the big hedge was where they were meant to be. They first saw it on the 4th of May, the big one's birthday.

That was also the first day they saw Charlie, who had known all along there was something special about the place.

She was just yet to realize that she was that something special.

All was as it was meant to be now.