I just about had a heart attack last night�. In the throes of online arguing, after returning from H, the All-Knowing�s place for a Smallville break, it took me awhile to realize that I hadn�t seen Bandit in quite awhile. I looked around the apartment, shaking his treat can, but he did not come out.
I checked his usual haunts, under the couch, under my bed, in my closet�nothing.
I started to get edgy, frantically calling out his name while RP, the Roommate, and her boyfriend helped me look.
Nothing.
I started to lose it.
RP and the boyfriend went outside to see if he was in the corridor or nearby, but that�s when the unthinkable hit me�.he had somehow gotten outside.
I could only remember one time where my eyes didn�t automatically go down to the floor when I was exiting or entering the apartment. When I was coming back from H�s place, I thought that I�d heard my name being called and I turned around to look. Somehow, in that time, he must have run outside and I never heard the bell.
I started to break down, �Bandit! Where are you? Baby please don�t be missing� as I tried in vain to find him in the apartment somewhere. RP tried to snap me out of it and told me to get my shoes on; they thought they�d seen a cat running around in the next parking lot. Sobbing, I put on my shoes and grabbed his treat can.
I walked along the grass calling his name, thinking the absolute worst. Of course it was dark, so I couldn�t see anything.
What if someone had found him? Would I ever see him again? Would he or she keep him? Would he or she torture him? Would he or she ever take as good of care of him as I would?
What if he�d been hit by a car? Would I ever know?
What if he was lost and scared?
What if he was hurt?
Would I ever see my baby again?
I was absolutely hysterical by this point. I thought of the worst, would I get another kitten? Who could replace him?
I ran inside to call my mom and ask her what I should do. My stepfather answered the phone, as it was almost midnight, and told me to try leaving a food bowl by the door. I was already opening a can of food when my mom came on the phone.
�Please, just leave food outside�he might come back��
I could hear the strain in her voice. This didn�t help me to calm down.
�I�m going to sleep outside, next to the bowl. I can�t go to class if I can�t find him. I can�t think.�
I was putting the bowl outside when I heard the bell jingling.
It was teasing me.
I looked around again, �Bandit?�
My mom was still on the phone, hearing what I was hearing.
�Bandit?�
Suddenly, there was this loud cry from above me. I ran up the stairs to the apartment above and saw him emerge, shaking, from behind a closet door. He leapt into my arms.
�Bandit��
I had found him.
It was truly, a heartwrenching experience.
I�m thinking of having the little rascal microchipped now.
