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This was not happening: It’s true that I hadn’t been in a happy relationship for many years, and I had always been fascinated by magic, but certainly there was no way that I could have ended up in this situation. I had a happy life in my house, I had my cat and my passion for gardening, and everything was fine. I was happy. Rupert was with me for ten years and I loved him more every day.
Truly, I feel like I was one of the lucky ones. I know I sound like a broken evangelical missionary, but I think ours was a genuine relationship. Cats are the most independent animals in the world, but he still liked being loved. We watched TV together, we slept together. He was always there.
Then, one day, he started throwing up. I had never seen him throw up like a human and I was worried. I called my vet and she recommended that we take him to the surgery and have him checked out.
This is when it happened. I never believed in those coincidences of nature, but I am beginning to think that they are facts. Even now it all feels like a really bad dream, but I remember it very well.
Rupert’s brother was one of my customers. I think he was an accountant, or something like that. One of those boring office jobs that I tried to remember that I had. He was a fairly tall man, dark hair, with those piercing blue eyes that make you think that you are the only person in his life. He was the kind of guy who you want to hate because he is so hot and yet you can’t.
Our eyes met when I went in to pick up Rupert’s brother’s order of cat food. He softly asked me if Rupert had been sick. We talked for a few minutes, and then he asked me to join him for coffee. We ordered it and I told him that I had a cat that had been ill for two days.
That was when it happened. At the end of our coffee, he asked me if he could have a kitten. He was not joking.
I thought that I knew his face well, after all, I had been seeing him for months whenever I went to his house, but this time he seemed totally different. It’s as if everything he had been holding back for months was released. I could hear what he was saying in spite of the noise in the cafe, and I could count every hair on his head. It was as if I was smelling him, and the rest of the world was gone.
When I got home, I got out two forks and a thick piece of rope. I liked Rupert and I wanted to do well by him. I wanted him to have a good life, even though I knew there was nothing I could do for him.
His brother came over the next day. I could not believe it. When I saw him walking up to my house, I felt as if I was dreaming. I opened the door, and he walked in as if he was at home. He looked around, touching every plant in my home.
“If you want to ask me something, go ahead.” I said, “this key is not going to fall into your forehead.”
He looked at me and started to laugh. It was as if I had poured a freezing cold bucket of water all over him.
“Where is the cat?”
“What?”
“Where is the cat?”
I told him I was afraid that he was so sick that we had to have him put down. He said nothing, just went out back of the house.
There, he picked up the small white cat that had been my companion for ten years. Rupert opened his eyes, and I saw them glow with a red light. Everything that was happening felt unreal. It was as if I was watching a movie in slow motion.
I lost all control of my body. I felt like I was drowning. It was here that I looked back and realized that the cat that had been by my side for more than ten years was gone. It felt like the sun had swallowed me whole.
When I looked at him, I could hear the cat’s voice. It was a sad sound, saying that it had been put down. Telling me that it was sorry.
I yelled out to him, but he didn’t hear me. It was as if he was lost in his life, and I was nothing but an intruder.
He looked at me, and said “We have come together. The time has come. This is the beginning of a new life.”
He went outside and I followed him. I was under his spell, I didn’t think I could move. When I was near him, I almost felt as if I was being crushed under the weight of his presence.
The next day he called me and asked me whether I wanted to go on a date with him. I couldn’t say no. It was as if I didn’t even have a will.
We had two dates. They were incredible. I couldn’t help but be happy. I was in the best company, with the greatest person I had ever met. We were a perfectly paired team. The fact that we were walking on the wind was more amazing than the fact that we had been walking next to each other for ten years.
The next night, he told me that he loved me.
It was breakfast in bed, and he told me that he was in love with me. He told me that he had never felt about anyone the way that he felt about me. This was unlike anything I had heard. I suddenly wanted him to apologize for not saying it sooner. He told me he was depressed, and he thought that he had lost hope.