Felinethrope

I

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I growl sleepily, slapping my alarm. I open my eyes slightly and squint at the clock. I've got to do something in an hour, but due to my drowsy state I can't for the life of me remember.

I fling the quilt back and stretch lazily, arching my back. When I go to get dressed, I fall out my bed. Straight on to my face. 'If only I were a cat, i'd land on my feet', I whisper to no one in particular.

Then I remember what I was meant to do, I'm going to pick up my new kitten, Mae. I couldn't sit in my apartment on my own all the time, mourning my broken heart. I figured a new kitten could fix it.

So I got dressed and did makeup, taking care with my feline eyeliner flicks. It's kinda my thing.

I've never had a cat before, but I've been reading all over the Internet and stuff on how to look after them, an I know what I'm doing. I think. I mean, how hard can it be? it's only a cat.

While I drive there in my red Mini, I keep thinking it over. 'It's only a cat. It's really easy to look after. I only need to feed it twice a day. I should put on its cat-flap-activating collar. Piece of cake.'

But in reality I was scared. like, what if I forgot to feed it? What if it gets fleas or something? She. It's a She. Erm, She's a She.

I think I better have a fruit polo. I pull one of many packs from my glove compartment, and pop one in my mouth.

I pull in at the house of the lovely lady who's giving away the kittens. She took in a stray cat not realising she was pregnant and so she's giving them away to loving people. she practically interviewed me before agreeing to let me have the kitten, lecturing me on how I had to neuter her when she gets old enough, how she can't go out until she has had her injections, etcetera etcetera.

I walk up to the door. It's shiny, polished red, with an intricate door knocker in the shape of a roaring leopard.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

After a few terse moments, a tiny crooked lady opened the door.

"Hello? Ah, you must be Shal." She croaked with a smile, opening the door wide to allow me inside.

"Yeah, thanks Mrs Marr." I respond, smiling warmly. I can just stop myself from gazing in wonder with my mouth open at the glory that is the inside of her house. It's huge, and surprisingly modern.

Everything was white and glossy. There is a twisty staircase in the centre of the room, a huge bookcase covering two walls completely all the ceiling and a fireplace in the corner. Arranged around the fireplace were a couple of ornate armchairs and a beautiful black coffee table covered with a mixture of random books, each in various stages of being read.

"Just this way to the room where the kitties live." She gestures through a doorway to our left. I follow her through, looking up and around me at the items on her walls; A portrait of a tiger silhouette stalking through some trees; A huge ornate mirror, made of lots of smaller mirrors  took up several square metres of her wall, and in passing, I glimpse my shock of messy dark hair and startling green eyes, sticking out of my pale, slightly freckled skin. My eyeliner exaggerated the above features even more. heh heh heh.

Then we enter the room of the kitties. They're everywhere, jumping on eachother, on little mice toys, catnip blankets, climbing frames, scratching post. If you can buy it, and cats can play with it, these were. The mother, a shocking white long haired kitty, was sprawled in the corner underneath the radiator, looking rather proud of herself. There were so many tiny kittens, i daren't wonder how such a cat could birth them all.

"How many are there?" I ask Mrs Marr, not even attempting the daunting task of counting the tumbling terrors.

"13, an unlucky number I know, but Emili was huge just before she birthed them, I'm surprised she didn't have 20! hm hmm." she chuckled to herself, it was the kind of humour most women her age have, that younger people, like myself, don't really find too impressive. I chuckled along anyway, just to be polite. She was giving me a free cat after all.

I looked around at the brood. It's obvious there was more than one father to the litter, as there were white ones, black ones, black and white ones, tabby ones, tortoiseshell ones, ginger ones, silver ones, even a couple with a mixture.

"Now, there are 7 girls, which i know is what you want." (what? I like the thought of having a girl cave.) "So if you point out one you like, I'll tell you the gender."

I look over the pouncing pets, scanning each one. A tortoiseshell one catches my eye at first, but after watching it for a few moments, I realize it's big and sullen, not really interacting with others. So, looking again, I see a silver one. My initial thoughts are that it's elegant and sleek, but then I realise that as it's playing with the others, it snatches the toys away, and doesnt let the others play with it. 

Then something catches my eye. Sat on top of a platform, is a beautiful white kitten, with green/yellow eyes. As the other kittens jump at it, she bats playfully, before cleaning her fur, almost urgently, then reaching a paw out again. She's graceful even when she plays.

"How about the beaufitul white one, playing with the two tabby's?" I say, walking towards her and gesturing. Mrs Marr walks over and scoops the kitten up. She lifts up it's tail and after a quick glance she announces;

"She's a girl. You want to hold her?" She gently hands her over. I scoop up the kitten and look into her face. She squirms around, places a paw on either cheek and quickly drags her tongue upwards between my eyebrows. I giggle and she kneads her paws gently on my face. I can't help but laugh at her adorable antics, so I'm smiling when I say;

"Hello Mae."

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Hello readers! If you're reading this, you rock! To celebrate my first completed chapter, i'm placing a competition! Whoever can guess how many feline hints and cat references are in this chapter (other than when discussing the actual cats themselves), gets the next chapter dedicated to them! And the more you share this story, the more of an effect it'll have on you if you're the winner <3 Just be the first to comment the number below, and my next chapter will be dedicated to you :) So get commenting. before I get the chance to post the next chapter!

Love and kitty cuddles, Charlie :3