Love at first-Cat

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"I'm a dog person", or so I thought. For years my family and I love and adore dogs. I grew up where we respect all animals, but hate cats. It's not that we kill cats or hurt them, we just don't want them around. My mom used to tell us stories connecting cats to evil or anything bad. I grew up believing that. I have birds, Guinea pig, rabbit or dogs but never a cat. Until that one fateful day that I met the cat that changed everything. I was in high school back then, I was falling in line while attending the flag ceremony. Out of the bushes came a fuzzy tabby little kitty, crying and it came right at me. It gave me that look, in my mind I know it's a stray kitten, they are dirty and can survive all by themselves. Others are shucking it off however its cries and seeing that nobody wants a dirty kitty somewhat touched me. I took the kitten with me after the flag ceremony, "my mom is going to kill me",  I said to myself. I gave it food but I was too afraid what my mom would say, so I decided to tie the kitty somewhere safe next to a box with its food and water enough to make it through the night. As weird as it may sound like I absolutely don't have a single idea of proper cat care. To tie the kitty was my only way to keep it safe and make sure to find it the next day just like dogs. And yes the next day it was there, safe and sound. I didn't tell my mom about the kitty, but I fed and cared for it everyday. Come to think of it, I never had a problem with my teachers either, the kitty was behaving at its best in class. My teachers never knew about the cat but my classmates and students from other sections knew about my little kitty. I didn't have the courage to name it because I still can't take it home and I am clueless if it's a male or female, so I just called it by the name, "ming-ming". We had a school activity that lasted for 3 days, I remembered that a classmate (his name is Jassum) of mine offered to give the kitty a bath. It was its first bath, Ming-ming was no longer a filthy kitty. As I caress Ming-ming, I thought to myself, "you look like a baby tiger". Comments like, "cats are evil, cold, dirty, etc.", none of it was Ming-ming. What I saw was an innocent, sweet, attention-seeker and lovable little kitty. Slowly, I'm falling for this kitty. For 2 years of trying to put up to all my bullies and convince myself everyday that my bullies where supposed to be the least of my concerns, Ming-ming was my sense of refuge, a friend, an ally, a companion and the only reason I wanted to go to school. School is no longer a living hell all thanks to my new found friend. But all happiness is short-lived. That day was different, because I didn't find Ming-ming in the same spot where I left her. It was gone together with its leash, it was devastating. I'm trying to remember if I tied the leash well or was it loose? "has it decided to go hide in the bushes?", I went looking for it. But it just disappeared without a trace, no one saw it and no one knew what happened to Ming-ming. I didn't lose hope that Ming-ming might come back, I wondered how it has been, what could have had happened to it. Days went by, until one day, one of my classmate told me that he wanted to tell me something important, it was about Ming-ming. My heart dropped because in his eyes I knew it wasn't something good. "let me be wrong, just for today", I said to myself. I was expecting that what he was about to tell me was that Ming-ming got ran over by a car, but no. The group of students from 4th year high school that always called me names and had been bothering me for years. They found where I left Ming-ming and took it. Ming-ming was found dead, Ming-ming was cut opened when my classmate saw her a day before he told me about Ming-ming. I insisted to see Ming-ming for one last time but the school janitor had buried her already. Ming-ming took a piece of me with her, something about what we had, had changed me from the inside, it changes the way I see cats though I know that no cat can replace Ming-ming for me. She has a very special place in my heart, I didn't have a picture of her, but I have our memories we'll remembered and will never be forgotten. It has been a very long time but I still remember that cat that changed me, not many of the people close to me knew why I had great respect to this fascinating creature. Their independence, their unique nature and way of expressing their love is what make cats special. If there is one creature who is cold and evil surely not cats, they are called, "humans". In memory of my beloved friend, "Ming-ming". *This is the closest picture of you that I could find online.