It was a cryptic night in Chicago, Illinois. Again, the cars sifted through with speed. The stores began to let down their old sensor rails. I am in the middle of this busy city thinking only about one thing, food. The man that sells hot dogs is gone. Maybe he dropped some crumbs of the sweet meat. But ugh, the wind is too strong and it’s showering! I sprinted back to our alley. There’s my beloved, and our beautiful children.
“Mother can you stop licking me!?”
“Alright, alright there you go Max, don’t jump in those puddles anymore! Girls come here you’re next.”
“I couldn’t find any of that good food. I’ll have to go catch us some rats for tonight.”, I said.
“Okay darling, be safe.”

I ran out from the alley, pawing down the blocks, sniffing the dirty sidewalks. I realized something was different today. Something was suspicious. No other cats were out? That’s weird. I continued to the rat sewer two more blocks down. Then I heard a familiar scream. I knew I had to get out of here. I turned my head around and started sprinting back home.
“Get ‘em boys!”, yelled a angry looking man on the blue truck. A man reached out with a net and scooped me into the air.
“MEOWW!!”, I purred as loud as I could. My nails struck out of my paws and I tried to rip the net. No no NOOOOO! It was Animal Control. They put me in a box and laughed obnoxiously. I couldn’t escape, I couldn’t run, I couldn’t even panic, and all I could think about is my family. My children. Will they be safe? I became overwhelmed with anxiety. I could no longer think, tears fell down my face and stained my fur.

We traveled on the truck for two hours until the it finally stopped. The people had left. All of a sudden it became silent. I was the only one on the blue truck. For a minute, I thought they forgot about me. Then randomly, they brought out four other cats from the front of the car that I haven’t seen. One of them was cousin Jo!  Looking out the dusty window, I saw the humans abusively carry all four cats in one cage and take them inside this building old rusty building. I no longer saw them. The trunk opened and the man who caught me with the net made straight eye contact with me. “Your turn you ugly stray!”, he said to me with his raspy voice.
He gripped me in his rough hands and walked me inside the building. I was mesmerized. I thought to myself, how could they do this?  Animals of all different kinds in rows after rows of cages. It was disgusting. The man took me and put me in a cage with two other cats. Both of them were sleeping and didn’t even wake up when I was placed inside. I laid in the tight space in the corner, then to realize I layed in urine. I was hopeless.

I turned to try to communicate with the other cats and that’s when I realized, they weren't breathing; they were dead.