Alexander Cornelius III bounded toward her and leapt into her arms. It was this moment tears once again started streaming down her face. These were not tears of anguish but of relief and even though she felt a twinge of guilt, she felt happy for a brief moment. She enveloped Alex, her beloved cat, in her arms squeezing him until he meowed in disapproval but with affection.
He was in a way given to her by her Father on her 16th birthday and even though she could tell Alex was quite terrified he seemed to be alright. No injuries or fur out of place from what she could tell. His claws dug into her arms as he kneaded her skin and purred like a finely tuned engine. His body was rigid and his muscles taut as his eyes would not stop darting around the darkened room. It was as if he fully expected the devil himself to leap out at them at any moment. She gave him kisses as her tears soaked into his long, soft fur.
He was the odd one out in the litter he came from. In other words he was the runt but no one explained that to him. His brothers and sisters were all shades and patterns of charcoal and hues of grey. He was as white as snow. His siblings were also much bigger than him, scurrying around like kittens usually do whereas he would appear more like a clumsy, stumbling midget that had too much to drink. Even then she knew he had fight. Tinier but unrelenting he fought his siblings for their mother's milk and grew into a strong, beautiful animal.
The night she found him she was coming home from the movies. She was pulling into the driveway and her headlights swept across a barely visible cardboard box in the ditch. It was a wintery night much like tonight, blustery wind blowing powdery snow across the road making visibility difficult. She grew up in weather like this though so she was used to it. At first she thought nothing of the box, drove up to the house, parked her car in the garage and was about to go inside, eagerly wanting to get warm. Her curiosity got the better of her as she thought to herself that anything in this snow should be many feet deep buried in it. She knew the box hadn't been there long.
She trekked out to the ditch, wiped off the snow from the flimsy box, flipped open the lid and peering back at her were the big, bright eyes of five kittens and a very skinny, sickly mother. Her heart instantly broke. She couldn't conceive the type of person that would drop baby animals off to die like this. Perhaps they hoped someone would come along to pick up and take care of them but the chance was still much greater that they would freeze to death in this weather. They were one big, shivering ball curled up amongst one another.
She took her coat off and carefully laid the emaciated animals on it in hopes that her body heat would start to warm them. Placing her coat in the box, she picked them up and trudged back through the snow and the obstinate wind to the house. Her parents were in for a surprise.
He was in a way given to her by her Father on her 16th birthday and even though she could tell Alex was quite terrified he seemed to be alright. No injuries or fur out of place from what she could tell. His claws dug into her arms as he kneaded her skin and purred like a finely tuned engine. His body was rigid and his muscles taut as his eyes would not stop darting around the darkened room. It was as if he fully expected the devil himself to leap out at them at any moment. She gave him kisses as her tears soaked into his long, soft fur.
He was the odd one out in the litter he came from. In other words he was the runt but no one explained that to him. His brothers and sisters were all shades and patterns of charcoal and hues of grey. He was as white as snow. His siblings were also much bigger than him, scurrying around like kittens usually do whereas he would appear more like a clumsy, stumbling midget that had too much to drink. Even then she knew he had fight. Tinier but unrelenting he fought his siblings for their mother's milk and grew into a strong, beautiful animal.
The night she found him she was coming home from the movies. She was pulling into the driveway and her headlights swept across a barely visible cardboard box in the ditch. It was a wintery night much like tonight, blustery wind blowing powdery snow across the road making visibility difficult. She grew up in weather like this though so she was used to it. At first she thought nothing of the box, drove up to the house, parked her car in the garage and was about to go inside, eagerly wanting to get warm. Her curiosity got the better of her as she thought to herself that anything in this snow should be many feet deep buried in it. She knew the box hadn't been there long.
She trekked out to the ditch, wiped off the snow from the flimsy box, flipped open the lid and peering back at her were the big, bright eyes of five kittens and a very skinny, sickly mother. Her heart instantly broke. She couldn't conceive the type of person that would drop baby animals off to die like this. Perhaps they hoped someone would come along to pick up and take care of them but the chance was still much greater that they would freeze to death in this weather. They were one big, shivering ball curled up amongst one another.
She took her coat off and carefully laid the emaciated animals on it in hopes that her body heat would start to warm them. Placing her coat in the box, she picked them up and trudged back through the snow and the obstinate wind to the house. Her parents were in for a surprise.
