The tires screeched, smoke filled my nostrils, the taste of blood was on my tongue, I felt the glass pierce my skin, and I saw my life flash before her eyes, then it all went black.

“No!” my mother cried, “Kali! Wake up! Please wake up!”

“Mom?” I called, “Mom! I’m right here, why are you-” I was interrupted.

“Oh Kali, please don’t leave me!” my mom continued to cry.

“Mam, I’m going to have to ask you to step aside,” a strange voice said.

I watched as the man pulled her away giving me a chance to see who she was standing over, I looked at the beeping monitor and soon realized my mother was crying over my own dead body and the screeching of tires filled my mind. I saw my death replay over and over in my head. It couldn’t be true but the nightmare was reality, I was dead. I moved towards my mom and reached my… Paw? 

“What? Is that a paw?” I asked myself.

I was dead but somehow I had come back in the body of her cat, Tickles, a ginger tom cat. I attempted to get my mother’s attention, I meowed and pawed at her desperately and before I knew it my mom turned towards me. Yes!

“Oh Tickles, she’s gone, I shouldn’t have let her drive, I should’ve been there, she was only sixteen and now…” my mom began to cry a river of tears.

No!

“Mom, please don’t cry, I’m right here,” I tried to console my mom but it only came out as a soft mew.

“First my husband and now you,” my mom weeped then grabbed a hold of my hand and whispered, “Say hi to him for me.”

I watched as they took my body away, I was covered by a large plastic cover and watched as my mother cried only able to watch. I climbed into her lap and purred in hopes to make her feel better but she only rubbed my back and continued to cry. Finally, she picked me up and placed me in the cage she had brought me in or Tickles anyway.

“Let’s go boy, time to go home,” my mom sobbed.

Ugh. I forgot this cat was a boy, I hate boys and I definitely don’t want to be one.

As we pulled into the driveway and I was brought into the house, she unlatched the cage allowing me to run out. I needed time to process what just happened and how I was supposed to be a cat. I wandered around the house and the more I thought about it the more I began to worry. I stared up at my mother. I would never be able to hug her again or tell her how much I love her, I was dead as far as she knew… A ghost.

The hours passed and the sun began to set, I trodded up the steps and passed down the hallway I had walked down many times but it had never felt longer. I only stopped when I came across my own room, I looked at the door, “KALI.” The bold letters stretched across the door which was cracked open so I nosed my way inside the room. The walls were plain red and had many posters scattered on them and my bed was neatly made. I was so fixated on my room I hadn’t noticed my mother standing behind me and then I saw a familiar face walk in. 

“She loved this color, you can take anything you like from her room,” my mother told Maddie, my childhood friend. 

“It all will be alright Mrs. Jazz, she would want you to be happy and be strong,” Maddie said to my mom as my friend looked around the room.

She stopped in front of my picture of me in my running uniform.

“She looks just like you, ginger hair, short and skinny, a big beautiful smile, and the most beautiful blue eyes and-” my friend stopped as she saw my mom begin to cry.

She hugged her and grabbed the box of things she was bringing home then exited the room leaving me and my mom alone. She looked at me but she had no idea who she was looking at. I’m here but I’m not and all I could do was sit there and watch as my mother cried. I placed my paw on her hand and looked into her eyes but she didn’t get the message.

“You’re a great cat Tickles, I’m so lucky to have you,” my mom said and patted me on the head then stood up leaving the room with me following close behind.

She laid down in bed pulling the covers over her and I hopped up on the bed beside her, I cuddled close and wrapped my tail around my body allowing myself to drift into sleep.

I gripped onto the wheel and pushed on the brakes the tires screeched and my car tilted, It rolled and threw me out the window into the other car’s front bumper. 

“No!” I screamed but it was just a nightmare, it was my death. 

My tail was all fluffed up and my fur was sticking up, I shook my head and jumped out of bed heading down the steps. I found Tickles' food dish, now mine, laying on the floor but it was empty so instead I chased a toy mouse around. I might as well get used to being a cat since it’s clearly my fate, I darted across the room batting the mouse in front of me. It wasn’t as boring as Tickles made it seem, it was kinda fun or maybe that was just my new cat self talking.

The sun finally began it’s climb to the sky and the moon started it’s decent, the morning was here at last and as if on cue, my mother’s footsteps awoke the house. 

“Hi Tickles! Watcha doin old boy?” my mother said in a babyish voice.

That explains why Tickles gave a face every time we talked to him like this, it was so annoying and a higher pitch then I remembered. I simply meowed in response and walked over to my food dish and gestured for her to fill it up and then weaved around her legs purring. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll fill it up,” she told me.

She picked up the food and water dish taking them to the sink, she washed out my water dish then grabbed the bag of cat food and filled the food bowl up. She set them both down on the mat, “Purrrfect,” the mat read.

After I ate I swiped my tongue across my lips and purred with delight, maybe this whole cat thing wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought. 

Nevermind.

“Come on Tickles! Time to go!” my mother called.

Tickles was her therapy cat so I would have to take on that responsibility in his place or was I technically him? Afterall, this is his body. I padded over to the cage and slipped inside.

We arrived at the funeral home and she put my harness on and clipped the leash on, yes, a leash, I know I’m a cat but cats can have leashes too. I walked in beside her and the towering casket’s loomed above me. I am a cat after all and there were enough of these things to appear as a tower to a cat. My mom talked to the guy in charge and he showed her a red casket with a blue stripe on each side, the inside was white. A tear fell from her eye as she looked at the casket.

“She loved red and blue, I think this one will be perfect, what do you think Tickles?” my mom looked at me and asked.

I purred my approval, weaving my body between her legs looking up at her.

“I thought so too,” my mom said.

For a second it seemed as if she knew it was me, her Kali, but it was just my imagination that she knew I was right there beside her.

“Hey, Tickles! Look who I brought home…” my mom told me.

I was in the middle of grooming myself when she opened a small crate and out came another cat. No. A kitten!

“Meet… Princess!” my mother exclaimed.

I stood there in bewilderment, not amused by the kitten standing before me. She was small, probably about six months old, a dilute calico kitten and a twelve year old ginger tom cat. What could possibly go wrong?

The kitten was so annoying. It was a constant battle to keep away from her tiny, sharp claws and her annoying little mew continually asking…

“Will you play with me?” Princess asked.

Speak of the devil.

“No.” I replied sharply. 

“Why not?” Princess proceeded.

“Because I’m a therapy cat so I must sit here and help my human control her emotions.” I said with an eye roll thinking to myself that because I said so and I’m old.

Princess finally got the message that I wasn’t going to play and continued to play by herself while I got some down time with mom. I moved closer to her and purred happily as she reached down to pet me then gave me some scratches under the chin. 

“The funeral is in a few days, Tickles,” my mom told me.

I felt a teardrop fall onto my back and as if it was instinct I stood up to rub my head into hers in an attempt to comfort her while Princess watched from afar.

“Poor Princess,” my mom said in a babyish tone.

She stood up and moved towards Princess holding her hand out which Princess had portrayed as a playful notion and batted at her hand but my mom simply laughed and grabbed a toy mouse that was dangling from a string that was attached to a stick. I had played with it with Tickles when he was young and my mother was using it for this, this, kitten! I rolled my eyes and trotted off leaving the two youngsters to play but before I left I saw a smile flash across my mothers face for the first time since I died and I thought, maybe this kitten is so bad, just maybe.

I dreaded the funeral all day as I was going to be attending my own funeral so when mom called me for the crate, I had other plans. I ran as fast as I could then slid under the bed hiding myself from her. When she walked in it was as if she knew where I went. The bell collar! She heard me and now she was going to take me to the funeral!

“Tickles! Get over here now!” my mom yelled.

Reluctantly I stepped out of the safety of my hiding spot and allowed her to pick me up and place me in the crate. 

She held onto me tightly almost squeezing the life out of me as she stared down at the dead body then began to cry into my fur.

“Oh Tickles!” she said crying hysterically, “She was too young! God why did you take her from me!?” 

I could do nothing but sit there and look from myself to her unsure of what to do and I myself wondered, why did you take me?

As we entered the house, my mom ran upstairs crying the whole way unlocking my cage and pulling me out holding me tightly. Princess watched on with a confused look on her face and once I was set free from the suffocating grasp of my mom, I went up to her.

“Wanna-” Princess began but I quickly interrupted her.

“NO!” I yelled but reminded myself this is a kitten I’m talking to, “Me and my- our owner have returned from m- her daughter’s funeral.” 

“I almost said my mom and my funeral,” I thought.

“Oh… Can I help?” Princess asked.

I have never seen the kitten so serious, she really wanted to help so I smiled and nodded. 

“Yes. Crawl into her lap and purr, rub, and well, make her happier,” I told Princess.

“Okay!” Princess said excitedly.

She really wanted to help and that is what she did, she did actually what I told her to, then I thought for a second, she would make the perfect therapy cat for her. I smiled and left the room so the pair could be together in peace. 

Months passed since the funeral and Princess still had growing up to do but she was going to make a fine therapy cat.

“Hey! Tickles!” Princess called, “Whatcha doin?”

“Trying to sleep young kitten so could you-” I was interrupted.

“Oh! Yes yes of course,” she said and bounced away.

After a quick cat-nap I went looking for Princess.

“Sorry about earlier,” I told Princess, “I am a cranky old man afterall.”

She laughed and nodded.

“No need to apologize, I understand,” Princess assured me.

“How’s Mrs. Jazz?” I asked.

“Sad but okay otherwise,” Princess told me.

I nodded looking over at her, she was watching the football half-time show with her friends as it was time for the SuperBowl. She looked at me and started to talk to her friends.

“Something about that cat reminds me of…” she paused as a sad gaze swept over her face, “Of my daughter.”

“You know, there have been stories of people coming back as animals,” one of the friends spoke.

She laughed but the friend held a serious gaze.

“You’re serious?” she asked and he nodded.

“Yep, it’s happened before,” another friend chimed in.

She held her gaze on me as if she was thinking if it was possible but she never said a word as their game came back on and she cast her gaze on the TV.

Years past and I grew older as well as Princess, she was now a full grown cat and not as annoying for sure. I worked alongside Princess as a therapy cat for my mom but I knew what was coming and there was no delaying the inevitable.

“Princess, I need to talk to you, it’s important” I called.

She hopped off my mom’s lap and rushed over.

“Yeah?” Princess asked.

“You’ve been a wonderful partner and I just want you to tell me you’ll promise to take care of Mrs. Jazz.” I told her.

She gazed at me for several seconds as if she knew I wasn’t telling her something but didn’t question me, then gave me a brief nod to show her understanding.

“I promise,” she told me.

I nodded and walked away slowly.

“Tickles? Tickles!” my mother called.

She gasped as she saw Tickles laying on the floor.

“No…” she fell to her knees, too shocked to move or speak.

Princess stared down at Tickles knowing why he had made her promise to take care of their owner so she did as she promised. Gently she pawed at Mrs. Jazz and as she lifted her up, she rubbed her head into hers and after a long moment of silence they both stared down at tickles and unknowingly they said in unison.

“Rest well Kali,” they told the dead cat