It was dark. I was hungry. I was lonely but worse than that—I, Zoe the Fabulous (and usually fearless) Feline, owner of one human named Emily—I was scared.

Hello, Everyone. I have a rather dark story to tell you. I am still a bit shell-shocked, so please forgive my lack of enthusiasm as I tell you about the worst experience of my life. I am still here, so my story does have a happy ending, but that is beside the point. The point is: What started out as a cool adventure turned into a frightful encounter with… 

“The Thing.”

There I was . . . exploring the downstairs level of our home. I had snuck into a room that I had never been in before, a room way in the back of the house. Still under construction, this room did not yet have a door, but to get to it, you had to go through a room that did have a door. Which Emily keeps locked at all times.

Yesterday, while Emily was not home, the male human of our household was in and out, coming and going, bringing in all kinds of stuff. Annoying actually. But the upside was that he left the door open one time. One time . . . and I was ready. (I was born ready, just sayin’.) Like greased lightning, I was in the secret room beyond the door.

The room had lots of stuff in it. Stuff I could climb on, jump over, hide under. And that’s what I was doing when I heard some noises. I thought Emily had come home and was coming downstairs, maybe to play with me. Suddenly the room went dark.

Now that didn’t bother me much. We felines can see pretty well in the dark. So, she wants to play Hide ‘N Go Seek? Game on! I found a great hiding place in a box behind a bookcase, and waited for her to find me. And waited. And waited some more. Being all curled up and cozy in that box, I promptly fell asleep.

I awoke to find I was still alone and in the quiet dark. Nobody calling my name. Clearly, there was no game of Hide ‘N Go Seek going on. What was going on? Curious, I decided to go back upstairs and check out the situation. I strutted over to the entrance, only to find it blocked by something big, something that filled the entire doorway. I don’t know what The Thing was or how it got there, but I could not squeeze around it. It was tall, too, but not too tall for me. I jumped on top of it, but to my dismay, I found that The Thing almost touched the doorframe above; there was not enough room for even the Holy Ghost to slide through.

.

“The Thing.”

I jumped back down to the floor and sat there, calling my human. No response. I meowed a bit louder; still nothing. Where were they? Did they abandon me? I started to cry a little. I mean, I had no food, no water, no litter box – no treats – on this side of The Thing and I wanted out. Now! I cried even louder and, after what felt like forever, I caught the scent of my human and heard her coming down the stairs.

I am saved!

And so I was. But it had taken her a pretty long time to trace the sound of my cries to that secret room where The Thing held me captive. I forgave her, though. I mean, why would she even think to look there? Then, too, the first words she uttered when she realized where I was and what had happened was “Poor baby.”

“Poor baby”? I saw treats in my future!

I have to hand it to her. She didn’t even wait for him to move The Thing; she moved it single-handedly, all the while making soothing, sympathetic noises at me. The male human was not so lucky. She yelled upstairs to him, “Why did you put the fridge there? And when? Didn’t you see that Zoe was in there?!”

Finally, The Thing was out of the way. I leapt out of there and into her arms.

“Poor baby! How long have you been stuck in there, Zoe, hmmmmm?”

I meowed, “Too long!” She stroked my fur, and what do you know? When we got upstairs, she gave me a treat.

So there it is. My saga, my time of terror—the first scary experience of my life. I guess life cannot be all fun and games all the time. Darn it.

ZOE THE FABULOUS FELINE

Zoe (currently residing at Emily’s home HERE)

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My Previous Story is HERE