Today is a gift. That's why its called the present.

A dark hole in the ground. Lined with stone and a pulley with a rope attached to it. It went down, deep into the hole.

I accidentally slipped and fell into the icy water.

I find a wooden thing inside the water and climb into it.

Shivers down my spine. I yelled for help, but no one came.

The icy waters cut into me as I whine, wail, and cry, trying to get someone's attention.

So cold. Freezing.

My body kept me warm, but just enough to keep me alive. The cold biting into my skin like a small thorn in your foot. It hurts so bad, but you can't do anything about it.

I sit in the hole. Wondering, shivering, hoping...

I start to feel hopeless until I just have my last cry of hope.

I yowl. A shadow forms above me. A small one.

It yells something, but I couldn't understand.

I yell again. Then I hear it clearly,

"Are you okay?"

I yell again, crying to bring me out of this quiet, freezing, and terrifying hole in the ground.

The shadow frantically starts moving, and the bucket and I start moving up.

I was so cold...

Just freezing. I see the light, and I faint into darkness.

I don't know how long I stayed dark, but it was a while.

Finally, I open my eyes.

I was out of the hole.

I lay on the ground. A warm blanket surrounded me.

I sigh. The darkness, coldness, hopelessness, and loneliness were gone.

I sit up, and the warmth still hung.

I smile with glee and start jumping around, yelling for joy. I try to find the shadow that saved me.

I see the stone hole.

I see a thing in black darkness.

A long stick with a shiny blade at the end.

"Hello? Were you the one to save me?" I ask.

The thing in black turns around. An opening in the face of darkness. A skull.

I shiver at the sight.

"Yes. Tragically. Humans should be more careful with their wells." The thing says, looking back down the well.

"What's a well?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about little cat."

I feel young. Like I was on my first life. A young, adventurous, excited, and boisterous cat.

I start to run, jump, and yell.

I smile with glee, finding light in what was darkness. I walk back to the stone hole, and the Thing was still there.

I look down where I was lying down.

"huh? Myself?" I asked.

I poked at it. My paw went right through.

I jumped back.

"I don't like this" I wail.

"I know... It's something that you have to deal with. But before you come with me, You can look around at the world one last time." the Thing said.

I nod.

"Who- who are you anyway?" I ask.

The Thing pauses before saying, "Think of me as a Guide."

"What's your name?"

"Death..."

the birds chirp, in the silence of it all.

"Why do we die?"

"Everything is temporary. So today is a gift. That's why they call it the present." Death says, looking straight at me.

"Can I go? I want to help..." I ask Death.

He pauses before telling me, "Sure. A guardian cat you will be."

memories fly by. The world turns, flowers bloom, flowers wilt.

People live, people die.

an endless circle.

I never appreciated how hard my old friend Death's job was until this one small family.

I smile and runoff. I rush into the endless woods.

Bags scatter the floor. I see little bunnies inside.

"H-hello?" I ask.

"h-hi." one says.

"You can see me?" another said.

"Yes. Yes, I can. Would you like to meet a nice man?" I offer.

"The last time someone said that to us, we found ourselves in a plastic bag being thrown out of a car and into here." another said.

I open the bag and see the three little bunnies inside.

"Y-you're transparent..." one said.

"And you are too!" another said.

the other one cried.

I sit down and cuddle the little bunnies in my fur.

"You're free now. come on." I said.

I walked out of the woods, and slowly made my way back to Death and the stone hole with the three bunnies.

I start to run around, jump, and smile.

The bunnies do the same.

"You're free now little ones," I said.

Death walks up to us, and one by one he picks them up, throws them up into the air, and they fly up into the air. They laugh, sing, and dance.

But they fade into the distance.

"I don't want to leave..."

"You have to." Death said, "You are going to be missed a lot, but that's the price for being so loved."

"It's not contagious, you know." I say, " Death is as natural as life. It's part of the deal we made."

The bunny looks at me.

"Okay... I trust you."

The bunny turns to look up at Death.

"I trust you."

It hops onto Death's hands.

Right before Death throws the bunny up, the bunny says, "You know what I've realized?"

"What?" Death asks.

"Life is made of ever so many partings welded together."

We stand there. The words floated around us. Taunting us to say something.

"Are you ready?" I ask.

"Are we ever ready?" The bunny says but nods.

Death releases the bunny up into the air.

Slowly as the bunny fades away, we hear, "I'm coming, Mom! I'm coming, brother and sister!"

I look back down at Death.

He looks at the sky. A tear falls down his face.

"This was the first time..." He gasps for breath, "The first time I have ever cried while giving someone away to the angels of the past..."

"It's natural," I say.

Out of the woods, I see foxes, owls, bunnies, badgers, hawks, lizards, and other small animals walk out.

"Hello...?" a little pack of kittens walks out in front.

A mama cat walks out of the whole assembly line. She's alive.

"Little ones?" She yells.

The kittens didn't reply but instead cried.

the mama cat was breathing hard.

"Where are they..."

She fell to the ground. Heartbreak overtakes her will to live.

Death walked up to her.

He picked her up and brought her to her kittens.

We started to let the animals up into the atmosphere to rest in peace. Forever.

Until the Mother cat and her kittens.

"Mama?"

"What?"

"Will it hurt?"

"No. It will feel refreshing." I say.

The mama cat looks at me. Tilts her head.

"Camael?"

I look at her.

Death smiles at the two of us.

"Mother and daughter. Reunited in death." another tear falls down his cheek.

"Let's go, Mom." I say, "It's your time. Not mine."

She nods.

"I love you, honey." She said, looking at me.

"Francis, go first."

The kittens fly up, and they sing with joy.

"I am ready." Mom said.

"I love you."

"I feel the bonds lifting as you hold me," she said to Death.

Death lifts her up, and she flies away, screaming, feeling like new.

"I'm free!!"

Her shadow drifts out of sight.

We walk away from that place. Only returning for the little ones.

Animals no matter the size, fly away into the distance.

Resting forever in the folds of the clouds...