This was a short ficton story that I wrote for one of my classes.

All she wanted was a kitten. Something she could cuddle and love when her parents would get in yelling matches for hours. A kitten that would purr and rub up against her face while she cried in her closet. A kitten that would tell her that everything would be all right. Every birthday or holiday it was the same thing. What do you want for your birthday? A kitten. Ah, well, we’ll see. That was always the answer. But then Christmas or the birthday would arrive and she would rush downstairs, only to find the latest Barbie or other non-living toy would grace the tree. No mewing, no collars, no fur, no kitten.

It was her birthday and just like every birthday, she had asked for a kitten but knew it would not happen. As she came downstairs that morning, she looked at the presents on the fireplace. One looked remarkably like a cat carrier. She screamed in excitement! The wrapping paper came off in one clean rip and when she opened the box, she saw not a kitten but a toy, a stuffed animal kitten with beady glass eyes. She felt her eyes moisten and looked to her parents, who were quietly giggling to themselves. She yelled and dashed madly back up the stairs with the imposter toy cat in her arms. She threw it on the floor and cried and cried. More than once her mom tried to come in and comfort her, but she would just throw a pillow out the door and yell “go away!” She spent the rest of the day moping and at dinner refused to speak to her parents.

The next day at school, she was distracted. Mrs. Morgan had a big piece of lettuce stuck in her teeth that made it very hard to focus so instead she spent the day doodling cats and horses and flowers and other random creatures. At recess, Macy tripped her when she was walking outside. All the kids laughed at her. She sat alone at lunch, eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. When the bell rang, she rushed out of the building like it was on fire and skipped home. No one was there so she went up to her room to relax. She started hearing a sound that sounded like a motor when she realized it was a cat purring. Looking around the room, her eyes landed on the toy cat.

Hello. She was almost sure she heard the cat talk. Yes, you heard me. Hello! I’m Sam. She was pretty sure she had lost her mind. She stood there looking at the stuffed animal, her jaw hanging open. Can you get me some food? I’m starving! She realized the toy cat was actually talking to her. “What do you want?” she asked cautiously. Chicken. I’m sure there is some in the fridge downstairs. Just sneak some up to me. And anything else that looks good from down there.

She snuck downstairs and opened the fridge. She started piling up chicken and meats to bring to Sam. She grabbed a bowl of milk.When she got upstairs, Sam seemed particularly happy. He began to purr. Mmmm! Thank you. This is great! He ate a lot of what she brought up, trying little bits of everything. After he was done, she gathered up the plates and threw out the left over’s. She started talking to Sam. She told him about school. How there was a bully who would pick on her and call her names like Lice Head (even though she had never had lice) and Powder and would trip her in the halls. She told him about the boy she liked at school, and her best friend Sara. She said her teacher was annoying because she always had bad breath and looked like a bird, her nose was so big it was a beak! Sam told her that he was a wild cat, but decided he wanted to have a family instead. She didn’t really believe a stuffed animal would be a wild cat, but then again, stuffed animals don’t talk either so she kept her questions to herself.

When her mom got home that evening, she was called downstairs. “Have you seen the chicken that was in the fridge? It was for dinner tonight. It also looks like we are almost out of milk.” She said she had not seen the food or milk but her mom looked at her disbelievingly. She was sent her to her room for the night without food. She was angry that Sam had eaten everything, but it was better than getting spanked for stealing the food. Besides, what would her parents say if she said she had stolen the food for a stuffed animal? She felt it was better to not say anything at all. After her dad got home, the yelling started again. He was mad because he didn’t get a home cooked meal and he mom said it was because of their little brat that he didn’t get to eat. They screamed at each other, and the girl sat upstairs in her room, crying and holding onto Sam.

This became habit. Everyday when she got home from school, she would steal food from the fridge for Sam. Sometimes she would eat with him, because often her mom would send her to bed hungry. Her mom knew she was stealing the food, but she would never admit it. Sometimes Sam asked for more difficult things, like pie or doughnuts, so she would walk to Price Chopper after school and sneak food into her backpack. She had a few close calls, but no one ever saw her steal and she never got caught. Other times she would steal from the cafeteria at school, putting extra juice boxes and candy into her backpack when no one was looking. When she wasn’t able to get anything, Sam would get mad and start growling at her.

One day Sam decided he wanted to do something different. We have been working so hard. We need a reward! He said they should dress up in fancy jewelry like superstars, so they snuck into her mom’s bathroom and stole necklaces. He had her put it around his neck and put another around her neck. He loved fancy jewelry and always wanted something new and sparkly. Sometimes when she was at a friends house, she would go to the bathroom and steal a bracelet or ring from her friend’s mom. She might take a knick-knack. Anything shiny, that is what Sam liked.

I feel lazy, I want to be like a tiger! Let’s go hunt! But by hunting he meant knocking bird nests out of trees or throwing rocks at neighbors’ dogs. Sometimes he would make her catch a butterfly and squish it. She didn’t like hurting the dogs or bugs, but she was more afraid to face Sam than the dogs.

Sam told her to not take cruelty from anyone, even the bullies. So at school when Macy started calling her names, she pulled Macy’s hair. She started calling the other kids names before they could call her anything. She would sit at other people’s tables, and no one would say anything because they were afraid she would hurt them. She felt powerful.

Her teacher realized she was becoming a troublemaker. She got put in detention a few times for tripping other kids. School called me mom, and her mom said she would take care of it, but her mom was never home and nothing happened. Food kept being taken from the fridge, and her mom just started bringing home food from restaurants so her dad would have a meal when he got home. Sam started asking for more bizarre things, like CDs and movies. She had to take money out of the savings jar. She would take a couple dollars here and there, so no one would notice. Sometimes she would sneak into the backpack room and steal kids lunch money. She would sneak change at her friends’ houses. Then she would go to the music store and buy a movie or CD. The people there didn’t care because she paid cash. She pretended like it was her allowance.

One day, a friend’s parent caught her rifling through a drawer. Her mom was called and she was grounded and sent to her room. She wasn’t allowed to go to friends’ houses anymore or do anything but school and go home. No TV, no movies, no computer. Her mom even put a lock on the fridge. Sam was particularly upset. I can’t believe they would do that to you. You’re parents are horrible people, he said. She saw images in her head of her house burning down, of her parents screaming while she and Sam watched safely from outside. “No” she screamed! “I won’t do it!” She stared at Sam in horror, realizing for the first time, that Sam was not trying to help her, but to ruin her. She grabbed the toy cat and rushed downstairs. “What are you doing out of your room, young lady?” her father asked. “It was Sam! Sam made me do it!” she screamed, crying. She ran outside and threw Sam in the trashcan.

Her parents stood at the door, just watching. She walked back in calmly and apologized to her parents and went back upstairs. Vowing she would never steal again, she started over. At school she didn’t touch the lunch money or trip the bully (though the bully left her alone, too). At home, she never took from the fridge or opened her mom’s jewelry case. She had impeccable manners and always did her homework. Mrs. Morgan and her parents were impressed with her rapid change in behavior. She stopped asking for a kitten; she knew know what could happen if she did.

It had been a year since she had first received Sam, and it was her birthday again. She went downstairs and looked at the fireplace. Again, there was a cat carrier on the fireplace, but when she peaked in she saw no beady eyes, but live brown eyes looking back at her. “Meow!” She opened the cage in delight and held a real kitten, who purred but did not talk.