A Cat's Purpose

It’s not easy being cursed… or at least when everyone thinks you’re cursed, but what’s the difference? Even if you’re not, what does it matter if everyone thinks you are? After all, if everyone thinks you’re ugly, then you are even if you’re not, because of what the people around you think. 

That’s how it’s always been for me, being a one-eyed cat living in an abandoned temple. People walk in, kids, adults, teens... even the occasional old couple. They come looking to play around, but when they see me walk around the corner they scream, “Aaauugh! A cat! This place is haunted! Get out or we’ll be cursed too!” In the beginning, it was fun to scare people, and I found it quite humorous. But now it’s tiring, and a bit offensive. People are so stubborn; they think they’re so smart, but the second they see a cat in an abandoned temple all their witts leave them. Then they’re left with all that’s really there; superstition and stupidity. 

I hold my beliefs firmly, but I didn’t always think this way. As a cat gets older and older, he realizes that his thinking may have been flawed in the past. I am not the cat I was eight years ago. No, I have faced the harsh reality of life. Now and then memories of my past flood my brain. I try to fight them off, but sometimes I just can’t control them. All I can do is let the memories of my past consume me. As I closed my eye, a single tear fell from my large gold eye to my pink nose and dripped to the floor. 

-  

I still remember that fine day. I had been in the cat shelter for three hopeless months without being adopted when a young girl and a couple walked in. At this point, I had no hope. I was the last cat from my litter, but no one wanted me because I was a small and frail kitten with only one eye. This family looked too perfect for me. Why would they pick me out of all the other cats and animals here? I looked away, feeling the shame rush to my face. How could I even think that anyone would want to adopt me? I watched the little girl glance from pet to pet, and then she stopped and stared at me. I quickly looked away. The little girl laughed and said to her parents, “I want that cat! The black and white Munchkin with one eye, he’s so cute! Can we get him, please Mom and Dad?” The three of them walked over to me, and the mom looked into my eye and smiled, “This looks like a sweet cat. If you really want him, then we’ll get him for you.” Happiness filled the young girl’s eyes, and she started jumping up and down saying repeatedly, “Thank you, thank you!”

And before I knew it, I was part of the girl's family. They called me Bullseye. I grew quite comfortable with the girl and her family, and throughout her years growing up, I was always there for her throughout the middle school drama, the rough exhausting nights after school in high school, and finals week. I was the one constant in her life, the one thing in her life that was always there for her when she needed me. That is until her parents started fighting. It started small, but soon it got worse and worse to the point where she had to live with her mom in an apartment where no pets were allowed. It all happened so fast; I went from always being there for her to never seeing her. I lived in the house with her dad for the first few weeks, but he never acknowledged me. The only thing he did was feed me once in the morning and fill my water dish. The girl and her mother never came to the house, and I was all alone. Eventually, the father put me in a box in the car and dropped me off in the middle of nowhere. I guess it was too much work to take care of me, or he just didn’t like cats. But it didn’t matter; I was all alone in the world. 

There was nowhere for me to go. I didn’t recognize where I was. There wasn’t anything around me other than an abandoned temple. I looked at the temple and realized that it was now my home. I walked inside and explored, this was a new era in my life. Most days consisted of me aimlessly exploring the abandoned temple, but I had to constantly be on guard. A surprising amount of people liked to go to this seemingly abandoned temple, but whenever they saw me they would freak out and run away. I enjoyed this at first. It helped me to cope and adjust to the new environment, but as time went on I realized that I was no longer serving any purpose in life. 

-

And here I am now, in the abandoned temple serving no purpose. Everyone thinks I’m cursed, and everyone is afraid of me. If people weren’t so superstitious and stupid, then none of this would have ever happened. I would have never been abandoned, and I would still be with the girl to help her through these hard times. Nothing makes me feel better anymore, not even scaring people. I barely have the motivation to do anything. I’ve become so skinny from the lack of food since I have lost my motivation to hunt. All I do now is sleep all day. I feel my strength slowly leaving me. 

Then, one day I wake up to the sound of footsteps coming my way, but I know they won’t come near me because a cat without an eye in an abandoned temple must be cursed. But the footsteps keep coming near me, I look up and see a pair of blue eyes looking into mine. At first, I don’t recognize them, but the woman says, “Bullseye?” She puts her hand out for me to smell, and with the little strength I have left, I lift my head, smell her hand, and I know it is the girl I had once known years ago. “Poor thing! What happened to you?” She gently carries me from the abandoned temple, and I look back at the place that has been home for so long. She takes me to her house, and there I spent my last days watching the girl who I had known those many years ago. Her house is bright and cheerful, and she takes care of me as best as she can. She seems to be doing well. She is now twenty-four years old and has a good job as an archaeologist. She is always smiling and is so glad that I am with her for my final days. And before I permanently leave this world, I realize that I had a purpose, and it was fulfilled. I helped and comforted that little girl and helped her grow into the person she is today. I close my eyes for the last time with peace of mind.