The Day My Tabby Cat Became My Sugar Daddy

§PROLOGUE

The shimmering, ethereal text bloomed in the air before my tear-filled eyes.

It translated the tinny meow coming from the security camera's speaker.

"Stop crying," it read.

"Cats have to work, too."

§01

Five days.

For five agonizing days, the silence in my apartment had been a physical weight.

Milo was gone.

My Milo.

My little shadow, my tiny overlord, my reason for racing home from a soul-crushing job that paid just enough to cover rent and cheap ramen.

I had wept until my throat was raw, calling his name into empty corners, my voice echoing back in the suffocating quiet where his purr should have been.

I was a human kettle, constantly boiling over with grief.

My salary at Innovatech Solutions was a joke, barely thirty-five thousand a year, but my one, all-consuming dream was to have a cat of my own.

The kittens in the pet store window might as well have been priced in gold bars.

So I wished.

I wished on every fallen eyelash, every 11:11 on the clock, for a stray to wander into my life.

And maybe the universe, in a rare moment of pity, listened.

One evening, on my way home, I found him.

A tiny tabby, his dark stripes a perfect camouflage against the twilight shadows of the alley behind my building, Cedar Creek Commons.

I scooped him up, my heart hammering against my ribs.

Finally.

I wasn't a catless nobody anymore.

That little ball of fur changed everything.

My work ethic skyrocketed.

I started taking on extra projects, staying late, fueled by the image of his little face waiting for me at home.

In a few short months, I even got a small raise.

The day the new paycheck hit my account, I practically floated home, eager to share the news with my furry roommate.

But the apartment was silent.

Milo was gone.

§02

A cold knot tightened in my stomach.

I checked the windows, the front door.

All locked, all sealed.

He had to be here.

"Milo, sweetie," I called out, my voice trembling.

"We're not playing hide-and-seek today, okay?"

Silence.

Panic, sharp and acidic, clawed its way up my throat.

I tore the apartment apart.

I looked in closets, under the bed, inside the laundry hamper, behind the rattling old refrigerator.

Every nook, every cranny.

Nothing.

In a fit of desperation, I posted on Reddit, on the r/catadvice subreddit.

@Theas_Shadow: HELP! My indoor cat has vanished inside my apartment! Checked everywhere! He didn't get out, I'm sure of it. Where could he possibly be hiding?

The comments flooded in.

"Check the washing machine."

"Inside the kitchen cabinets."

"Behind the books on your bookshelf."

"My cat once got inside the sofa lining."

I checked.

And checked.

And checked.

Finally, I replied to the thread, my fingers shaking.

"Nowhere. He's nowhere."

A kind stranger offered a virtual hug emoji.

"Don't worry," they wrote.

"Just wait it out. He's probably just mad at you. Tabby cats are famous for it."

The next day, I typed with tears blurring my vision.

"Still nothing."

I started plastering "LOST CAT" flyers around the neighborhood, my own face on the posters looking as lost as his.

My life became a miserable loop: work, search, go home, cry.

The Reddit thread stayed active, a small community of strangers checking in.

"Any luck, OP?"

I finally broke down, typing through a fresh wave of sobs.

"No. I think... I think he left me."

Another user replied, their words meant to be a joke, but they hit me like a physical blow.

"Hey, it happens. You didn't lose a cat. You just got dumped by one."

Dumped.

The word echoed in the silent apartment.

§03

The world went dark.

I dropped my phone and let out a wail that came from the depths of my soul.

Why?

I gave him everything.

The best food I could afford, endless cuddles, a warm bed.

He loved me, I knew he did.

Why would he just... leave?

It felt like the worst kind of breakup, a ghosting of the highest order.

The accumulated panic and anxiety of the past few days erupted.

I was a complete mess, pulling on my shoes through blurry eyes, ready to go search again, anywhere.

As I sobbed, a sound pierced through the ringing in my ears.

"Meow. Meow."

I froze.

The sound vanished.

Just my grief-addled brain playing tricks on me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, ready for the next wave of tears, when the shimmering, ethereal text bloomed in the air right in front of me.

I blinked, wiping my eyes.

The words were still there, hanging in the dusty afternoon light.

[OMG DON'T CRY ANYMORE!!]

[Milo, where are you? Your human is crying so hard I'm getting a headache!]

[Hang in there, girl. Your life is about to get a whole lot better.]

What in the world?

I didn't understand.

I just wanted my cat back.

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