Precious was my best friend, she was my nurse and my doctor. She was my constant companion and someone I loved so very much. She was the sweetest little cat in the whole world and she is gone. She had been sick for a few months with a bad urinary track infection and I was treating her everyday with apple cider vinegar so she could eat and she was ok. But this is not how she died. She died a martyr, I guess. She died alone.
So on that fateful Friday, she motions she wants to go outside so I go over to her and kiss her on the forehead and pet her very gently and I look in her eyes and tell her, "You want to go outside?" She wags her tail and jumps on the window. So I opened the window and swat her on the butt like I always do. I thought to myself, that she wants to go and play and be happy.
Precious was my constant friend and she has demonstrated over and over again how much she loves me. She has been my nurse when I was sick and she sleeps with me in the winter under the covers. Precious just loves the heater. She is fun, caring and yes she does kiss me gently on the lips when she is trying to butter me up for food. She never ever complains and only on occasion turns her back to me.
I remember one day when she was lost and trying to find her way home. The neighbors call me that they had found her, so I run to get her. When I see her, I call out, "Precious." She sees me and runs to me so very fast. She jumps in my lap and kisses me right on the lips. The whole neighborhood clapped for joy. They had never seen a cat who loved her mom so much. Precious was so happy as her mom had saved her. I call Precious and she walks beside me and the both of us go home. Precious became a rock star after that and everyone would always ask, "Where's Precious?" They are asking the same thing today, where's Precious?
I never imagined a day would come when Precious would not be here. I never imagined how cruel people can be but indeed they are very cruel. For indeed she was murdered and so were many other cats on that day.
I called Precious and called her but she did not come home. I searched and searched for her but Precious did not come home. I finally realized that something had happened to her and I became incredibly sad and incredibly worried. I went to the landlord and told her, someone is trying to kill all of the animals. I felt my inner child screaming this out. She laughed at me and I locked Baby my other cat in the house that night.
The next day Noor and Muhanin were missing and so was Panchie. I had locked baby just in the nick of time but where was Sweetie? Sweetie and Panchie were stray cats that just sat in the yard and we feed from time to time and Noor and Muhanin belonged to the landlord. Someone was killing our entire family. Someone was committing genocide of our most cherished love ones. It was just too horrible to even think about. I was just too horrible to imagine.
The next day I grabbed Sweetie and placed her for adoption in the local shelter. They do not put them asleep here they keep them forever till they get adopted. They have tons of food and water and they are very well taken care of, I hope. She did not even say goodbye to me but gently goes to the other cats and then runs when she sees the food. She was happy, but I was not. So besides the pain of losing our family cats now I had to give away a friend who depended on us all.
As I return to the home, I am in shock. I had to do more and more to find Precious. I looked everyday and walked everywhere and I prayed. Yes, I prayed so much and I cried even more. I implored my lord for mercy and I asked him to rectify the affair. But to my dismay and my horror, she never returned.
I have tried to cope with the loss, but I cannot. I have tried to handle the pain, but I cannot. I want to scream and scream that this is not fair but the words won't come. My soul aches and I can see Angels everywhere and I can see emptiness everywhere. When I look to see her place where she slept, I see emptiness. I see that she was never there and I see yes she has gone on. I want her back, I want her to be in her place and yes I want the people to pay who did this.
My sorrow is so much and my pain is so deep and I am nothing now without her. Deaths come to many as it did to my husband 7 years ago and yes we eventually do accept it was for the best but for now, it is pain.
The hardest part is not knowing how she died and knowing if she suffered. I so want to bury her body and wrap her in a cloth so beautiful. I so want to dig her grave and lie her in it gently, not even wanting to think of her being thrown in some trash dumpster somewhere. I want and hope she did not suffer much and that indeed she was not afraid but that it happened very quickly. I do know that she is better off now as I know Allah is merciful. I know he is all forgiving and I know that his bounty is much more than on earth. So as I part with her on this day, try to think of her as I do with the Angels.
