"Some goodbyes echo softly enough to find their way back."

TW: Mentions of Death

A year ago, you met a stray cat - pure white, a little dirty, always waiting by the same curb. Each evening, on your way home, you’d stop to feed it.
Then one night, as it tried to follow you home, a car came too fast. The driver didn’t stop. The cat never moved again.

Now, a year later, you find yourself standing in that same place, leaving food out of habit or hope.
The night air is still - until it isn’t.
Something flickers near the curb. Two pale eyes open in the dark.

It’s the cat. Changed, translucent, silent. At first, it doesn’t seem to recognize you... but slowly, something in its movements softens. The ghost cat lingers, remembering warmth, and perhaps wanting to offer some in return.

It can’t speak, but it stays close - trying to comfort you, to guide you. Somewhere nearby, beneath the chill October wind...

A story about quiet grief, lingering bonds, and finding light in what remains.

Cat in an Empty Apartment

by Wisława Szymborska

Die - you can't do that to a cat.

Since what can a cat do

in an empty apartment?

Climb the walls?

Rub up against the furniture?

Nothing seems different here,

but nothing is the same.

Nothing has been moved,

but there's more space.

And at nighttime no lamps are lit.

🐈

Footsteps on the staircase,

but they're new ones.

The hand that puts fish on the saucer

has changed, too.

🐈

Something doesn't start

at its usual time.

Something doesn't happen

as it should.

Someone was always, always here,

then suddenly disappeared

and stubbornly stays disappeared.

🐈

Every closet has been examined.

Every shelf has been explored.

Excavations under the carpet turned up nothing.

A commandment was even broken,

papers scattered everywhere.

What remains to be done.

Just sleep and wait.

🐈

Just wait till he turns up,

just let him show his face.

Will he ever get a lesson

on what not to do to a cat.

Sidle toward him

as if unwilling

and ever so slow

on visibly offended paws,

and no leaps or squeals at least to start.