And Then... I DIED

Sandya had lived a long, boring life with the twolegs, no, humans. And throughout that time, they'd had the annoying yet constant presence of Cosmo. But now he was gone. There were whispers that the vet (the cutter) had ‘put him to sleep’. Sandya knew that meant he was dead.

And now the humans were saying that they should be put to sleep too. 

Sure, they'd been in lots of pain as they aged. But why did that necessitate killing them?

It had been a struggle for the humans to catch them. In their better days, they would have been able to hide out. But the weakness in their legs meant that sooner or later, they were caught and shoved into a plastic box.

The ride to the vet was tense, the human controlling the monster silent. Sandya too remained silent, curling into themself and pretending they didn't know what was going on.

The monster rattled, and Sandya felt every bump. It was uncomfortable against their sore body, and they couldn't stop from wincing. The human reached back to stroke their fur, and for once they didn't fight back.

Sandya figured it was nice to have some amount of comfort before they died. That's what was going to happen. They just knew it, what with what had happened to Cosmo and the way the other cats had talked about the event, and them, and Cosmo.

In fact, Sandya found themself begging to be pet, to be touched. They hated the humans, but they were real. They'd cherish every moment they had left.

It was too soon when the monster came to a grinding stop and the uncomfortable roar faded out. The human gently picked up their crate, and it was smoother than the monster’s travels.

As much as Sandya hated humans, the sudden desperation of immediate death led them to cuddle closer to the hand that stroked them through the crate. They heard the human make a strange, soft sound. Perhaps a pitying one. Sandya only understood a few phrases in the human language after all. 

The human carried Sandya in the crate through the strange, dusty area filled with silent monsters and into the massive human den. It smelled wrongly clean. Sandya had come to expect that from the vet’s den. Personally, they preferred the smell of the medicine cat’s den. The smell of herbs may tickle their nose, but it always smelled nice.

Here though, it was too clean. Well, aside from the stench of dogs. Sandya could never understand why the humans kept those disgusting mutts around.

If only they could die with their clanmates around instead of being a kittypet. Other cats here in this strange place didn’t count at all.

They didn't know how long it was until they found themself on the cold operating table of the vet. Hands handled them in uncomfortable ways, and they heard the humans voice. There it was again, that phrase ‘put to sleep’.

A needle plunged into them, and everything went black.