21. Chip

Chip is a cute little kitten, but he is missing an eye.

He sits in a cage in a shelter and waits for nice people to come and take him home with them. Most of the time it is quite boring, especially at night. 

Chip has been in the cage for a long time and he got used to it, but he still sometimes feels like just breaking into a sprint and run like the wind, but there is nothing he can do about it. So he just sits in his cage and waits for people to come visit the shelter. The visits are exciting and Chip always looks forward to them.

Occasionally people walk by and then, like the rest of the cats, Chip leans on the bars and purrs. He wants the nice people to take him out of the cage and give him a cuddle.

Everyone always gets spooked and disgusted when they reach his cage. Chip does not know he is missing an eye and that as a result he is repulsive.

He just wants to be hugged.

He does not remember the bad boy who hurt him. The one who hurt his eye.

He does not remember because he does not want to.

He also does not remember being born in a dirty alleyway. He does not remember his siblings or his mother. 

He does not remember wandering away and getting lost. He does not remember eating food found in trash and drinking dirty puddles.

Chip sometimes dreams about the bad boy and relives that painful night, but thankfully he does not remember a thing when he wakes up.

He does remember the little girl who found him when his entire head was soaked with blood. She took him home and cleaned him. She gave him a bath and took care of his wounds. She brushed him, hugged him and said nice things to him he could not understand, but enjoyed hearing nonetheless. Once he found the little girl he forgot anything that happened before that. None of that mattered anymore.

Unfortunately he also remembers the mean lady who yelled at the little girl. The little girl yelled back and there was a lot of scary yelling. After the yelling the little girl took Chip and she was crying a lot. Chip did not know why she was crying, but he did not like it and wanted it to stop.

Then they went into a big building and the little girl left.

That is how he found himself here in a cage.

Every time he hears the shelter’s metal door open with a bang he leaps to his paws in anticipation. Maybe the nice girl came back for him?

It was not the girl, but other nice people. They would always choose another cat without even giving Chip a second look.

It has been a year now and the nice people have put Chip down.

In his final dream the nice girl was petting him.