The Cat Named Auburn

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Sara sat playing with Auburn, her favorite (and only) cat. It sat quietly in her lap and she stroked it gently in between the ears on the top of its head. Auburn arched her back and looked up and her, letting out a playful "meow". She was reminiscing of all the times she's spent in this very bean bag, with her cat in her lap, purring and bathing herself. After her heartbreak last year Auburn was there for her when human consolations meant so little. And when she felt self-conscious about how no one asked her to the dance, all it took was a stroke between the ears, and it was as if the cat was saying "It's okay", before burying its head in her lap once more.

It was November, after Thanksgiving and approaching the magical holiday season. Sara arrived home from her first day back at school since the Thanksgiving break. She rushed through the front door and found her mother crying in the kitchen. Before looking for her cat, she asked her mother what was wrong. "It's Auburn", she choked out through tears. "She's gone missing."

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Eight hours later and Sara and her mother were still searching for Auburn, but the neighbor's had said they hadn't seen her. They put up fliers with her picture on them, but holding the large stack of papers with a large photo of Auburn on them was too much for Sara. Shortly after she started to cry her mother began driving home. If it was any regular pet she could understand how a child must feel. But to Sara Auburn was so much more. She could talk to Auburn with more ease than any of her closest friends. Auburn never judged her or shunned her. She was always willing to hop on Sara's lap, no matter the hour, and give her undivided attention.

That night Sara went to sleep with the image of Auburn, alone, underneath some foreign bushes along the roadside. These thoughts carried with her through her dreams. She awoke when a car in her dreams was barrelling down on a cat similar to Auburn, and was only inches away from impact. She thought briefly that everything that happened yesterday was all just a dream. Any minute now Auburn would curl up beside her in her warm bed and she'd sleep a few more minutes before having her hand licked. No such thing occurred, and she began to cry once more.

The days crept along slowly, with Sara's mother trying everything imaginable to raise her spirits. She constantly made her favorite foods and rented her favorite movies, but nothing seemed to work. Day after day Sara would come home from school and sit in her chair, where she would pretend to be stroking a cat. Her mother was becoming increasingly worried for her emotional health, and thus made additional efforts to find Auburn. With Christmas only a few days away, Sara's mother could think of no better present for Sara than returning Auburn to her. Yet try as she may, she never received any solid leads on the cat.

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Three days before Christmas Sara was idling her time around the house, with little to no motivation to go out and join in on the Christmas spirit. Her mother was out most of the time trying to find Auburn, unknown to Sara's knowledge. One day she encountered a man in a large, dark blue trench coat. Rather, she accidentally bumped in to him at the local animal shelter. She was there to see if they had any leads on Auburn, which sadly they did not. On her way out, however, she mistakenly bumped in to the man who asked her what she was there for. After explaining the story, the man wished her and Sara the best, and said he would pray that Auburn returned safely. With Christmas only a few days away, Sara's mother prayed each night for that as well.

For Sara the days leading up to Christmas seemed to trek along slowly. She was almost ready for the holiday spirit to be over and done with so she could start the next year and attempt to move on with her life. The loss of Auburn was truly devastating to her, and she was still having enormous troubles overcoming the loss. Her mother was secretly planning to start investigating various counselors she could see in January to help with the loss of Auburn. Their house lacked its usual warmth that it had this time of year, the day before Christmas. Christmas Eve night Sara fell asleep in her chair, the chair that Auburn had accompanied her in countless times long in to the night. When she woke, her mother had to force her to the Christmas Tree in their living room. Sara knew that the thing she wished for most would not be there.

After reluctantly opening all of her presents (and trying her best to pretend she was happy), her mother was starting to prepare breakfast. Just then, the doorbell rang. "On Christmas morning?", the mother pondered. "Go answer it, dear". Sara got up and went to go peek through the small windows they had on either side of the door. She saw a flash of a blue coat and then nothing at all. She opened the door and nearly kicked the basket that lay on the first step of their porch. Inside was a warm blanket and a decorative note with "For Sara" written in cursive. By this time her mother had become too curious to stay inside. "What is it?", she asked. "It's...", Sara began, "It's.....", and she unfolded the blanket.

Inside was a cat that was sleeping soundly and looked just like Auburn. Her mother dropped a plate she was holding and it shattered on the porch. Sara had one hand to her mouth, the other reaching slowly towards the cat. "Is that...what I think it is?", the mother asked. Sara stroked the cat between its ears and it arched its back up, stared at her, and meowed.

"Yes", she said. "It's Auburn", before tears began flowing down her cheeks.