Everything, Everywhere, All for My Cat

§PROLOGUE

Five years with my little cat ended in his death, and I had been drowning in grief ever since.

Until one day, two months later, a friend request popped up on my phone.

Mom. Send money.

Met a calico up here in heaven. She's drop-dead gorgeous, but I'm getting nowhere with her.

"Burn some of those chicken and salmon paté cans and the freeze-dried minnows. She loves them."

"Your loving cat."

§01

When the message came through, I thought it was a hallucination, a cruel trick played by my own broken mind.

My cat had been gone for two months.

Besides, how could a cat use a phone, let alone add me on a messaging app?

But after a moment of hesitation, I tapped 'accept'.

Maybe I wanted to see who this imposter was, what their game was.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was for the tiny sliver of hope flickering in my heart.

The profile picture was a blur of white.

I had to squint to realize it was an extreme close-up of a white cat, its eyes narrowed to slits.

The fur was matted and dull.

Utterly hideous.

I shook my head. This wasn't my cat.

Before I could back out, a flood of messages poured in.

"Mom, why aren't you answering?"

"Mom, I learned to take selfies. I even made it my profile pic. Don't I look handsome?"

"Mom, it's me, Jasper."

I frowned.

Scammers these days were getting alarmingly sophisticated.

They even knew my cat’s name.

"Mom, you don't recognize me?"

"It's really me! I can prove it!"

"I saved you when you were drowning!"

"And after your scent faded from the apartment, I helped you mark it all over again!"

I froze for a second. Those things… they did happen.

Sort of.

The "drowning" was me, soaking in the bathtub.

Jasper had been wailing outside the door, then launched himself in a flying leap, landed in the water, and in a panic, scrambled up onto my neck.

He left me with three scars that would never fade.

And as for "marking my scent"!

My fingers flew across the keyboard, fury and grief warring within me.

"You peed all over my brand-new sheets and duvet, and you have the nerve to bring that up!"

The other end went silent for a few seconds, then a new photo appeared. Another close-up.

"Don't be mad, Mom. Look at my new picture."

The more I looked, the angrier I got, and the more I wanted to cry.

Finally, I was just clutching my phone, sobbing.

"Is it really you, Jasper? Is it really you?"

This time, he sent a voice note.

"Meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow."

My sobs grew louder.

"I don't understand what you're saying."

A text followed.

"You're such a silly mom."

"I said, don't cry, Mom. I'm still here."

§02

I stared at Jasper's pictures, cycling through them again and again.

His once sleek, white fur was now so matted it looked like it could form knots. His round belly was gone, replaced by a hollow thinness. One of his beautiful, mismatched eyes was swollen shut.

After I asked him several times, he finally, reluctantly, answered.

"I got beat up."

"They don't like me 'cause I'm a white cat. They won't let me eat, and they steal the crunchy birds and little fishy treats you burn for me!"

"It makes me so mad!!"

"That's my stuff from my mom!"

My heart ached. "How could there be such mean cats!"

Jasper sent a smug-faced sticker.

"But don't worry, Mom. I fought back and got them all."

"And Poppy licked my wounds for me."

He sent another sticker, this one of a cat looking blissful.

"Poppy is the gentlest, most beautiful girl-cat in the whole universe!"

I suddenly remembered his first message.

"Jasper, how are you even able to message me? And is Poppy that calico you like?"

He sent a nodding sticker.

"Yep! I'm gonna win her heart!"

"I joined the Soul Guides recently, doing volunteer work here in The Other Side."

"Animals who do a good job can get a WhiskerLink phone to talk to their parents!"

"I missed you so much, Mom. It took me forever to save up enough Karma Points to talk to you."

He sent a "pouting cat" sticker.

Tears welled in my eyes again.

Jasper was the laziest cat alive. He’d lie down rather than sit, and sit rather than stand.

He must have gone through so much just to see me again.

As if he could read my mind, a three-second video popped up.

Another face-on shot of the white cat.

In the video, he meowed twice, then lifted a paw to gently tap the camera lens.

He didn't type anything this time, but I knew what he was saying.

He said, "Don't cry, Mom."

§03

Jasper kept typing.

"I have another surprise for you!"

"I helped an old lady here in The Other Side catch her chirpy bird, and I got a reward!"

I reflexively praised him, just like I always did.

Only after I’d typed it did I remember to ask what the reward was.

But Jasper was being mysterious.

"Not telling!"

"Go to bed early tonight! You'll know when you're asleep!"

"My phone time is up! I have to go."

I quickly sent a few more messages, trying to ask him what he meant.

But every message I sent was met with a red exclamation mark.

I sent a dozen more. All failed.

I stared at my phone, stunned.

It had all happened so fast.

I started to wonder, had I stopped taking my medication? Was this all a hallucination?

But what if it was real?

What if I could really see Jasper again?

My eyes drifted to the bottle of pills next to the bathtub.

Finally, I pushed myself out of the water, twisted the cap, and swallowed a few. Then I lay down on the sofa, waiting.

For a long time after Jasper died, I couldn't sleep properly.

I could only drift off when I was utterly exhausted.

Even then, my sleep was restless, filled with images of him in his final moments.

Sleep had become something I feared.

But not this time.

As I lay on the sofa, feeling drowsiness wash over me, I was filled with a sense of anticipation.

§04

When I opened my eyes again, the world outside was dark.

I was still on the sofa.

Nothing around me had changed.

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