The Cat Who Chose Me

It was a cold evening in Multan. The month was December, and a sharp, cold wind was blowing through the empty streets. The kind of wind that cuts through your sweater and goes straight to your bones. The street was silent. No one was outside. The shops were closed, the doors were shut. Everyone was inside their warm houses. I was walking home from college, tired. My bag was heavy on my shoulder, but my heart was heavier. There was a strange sadness inside me, and a thousand worries running in my mind. My exams, my future, my home. Life felt very lonely that day. Like I was walking alone in a very big, empty world. That’s when I saw her. At the corner of the street, near the pile of garbage, a small white kitten was sitting. So small that at first, I thought it was an old piece of cloth. Her white fur was no longer white. It had become black and grey with mud and dirt. Her soft little body had small wounds on it. Her paws were frozen from the cold. She was shivering so badly that her teeth were chattering. She wasn't shivering from hunger, she was shivering from fear. I stopped right there. I looked closer. She had no one. No mother, no home, no human who cared for her. She was just sitting there, alone in the cold, just like me. Exactly like me. I also often felt like I was alone in this crowded world. She felt it too. We were both alone in a street full of people. In the morning, I hadn't been able to eat the roti my Ammi made for my lunch. I had saved it in my bag. I took out that piece of roti. I am afraid of cats. Or rather, I was. My family says that stray cats in our street bite a lot. So I didn't go too close. I put the piece of roti a little away from her, on the ground, and took a few steps back. She didn't eat it at first. She looked at me with fear. Her big, beautiful blue eyes were full of hunger and fear at the same time. Her eyes seemed to ask me, "Will you also hit me? Will you also shoo me away like everyone else? Just like everyone tells you to go away?" After a while, she slowly came closer. Then she slowly, very slowly, started eating. One small bite at a time. Her way of eating told me that she was very hungry. She started eating with a lot of fear. She hadn't eaten anything for many days, maybe many weeks. While eating, her eyes were watering, not from cold, but from relief. Within two minutes, she finished the whole roti. She didn't even leave the crumbs on the ground. I thought now she would be full and she would go away. But she didn't go. She sat on the same ground and started staring at me, without blinking. Now her eyes were not full of hunger. Now there was something else in them. There was hope in her eyes. A question. A belief. As if she was saying, "You are the one." I had to go home. I turned to leave. I took four steps. Then I heard something behind me. No one was calling me. No one was saying anything. It was the sound of small, soft paws on the cold street, following me silently. She was following my footprints. I stopped. She also stopped. I looked back at her. She looked at me. Without making any sound, without meowing, she was just quietly following the marks of my shoes on the dusty street. I tried to shoo her away. "Go away, little one," I said. I waved my hand. Many people on our street hit stray animals. Many people throw stones at them. Many people say they are dirty. But she didn't go. Despite all the hatred of the world, this small life trusted me, on a strange street. Out of all the people in the world, she chose me. I didn't choose her, she chose me. I slowly bent down. I slowly put my hand forward out of fear. At first she moved back a little, but then she slowly put her small head under my hand. Her first reaction was fear, but then she gave in. I picked her up in my hands. She was so light, so light that she felt lighter than a flower. Like a cotton ball. Her bones I could feel through her fur. My shirt got dirty from her muddy paws, my hands got dirty from her dirty fur, but I didn't care. She was saying in her own language, "Please don't leave me. Take me with you." I talked to her as I walked, "Are you alone? I am also alone. In this big city, I also have no one. Come, from today we both will not be alone. We will take care of each other. Let's go home." It was very cold outside, the wind was sharp, but inside me, a strange warmth and happiness was born. After a very long time, after so many lonely months, I felt that in this world, someone needs me. And I also need someone. I had no idea that this small meeting, this one small roti, would change my whole life. I had no idea that this small, lonely, white kitten would teach me the biggest lesson of life. She would teach me that a real home is not made of bricks and walls. A real home is made of love and trust. That scene still feels like a dream to me. The door of my home opened, and with her, cold air came inside. But with her, warmth also came. And today that warmth is not just for me. Today that warmth is for her too. Today this house is not just mine, it is ours. That night I made her sleep in my room on an old blanket. She fell asleep immediately. There was peace on her small face. No fear. The whole night I kept looking at her. I felt like Allah had listened to my prayer. I was not alone anymore. Allah had given me a best friend. --