The Cat and Mr. Death

Cindy never got tired of playing with her cat Tuna. Likewise Tuna
had never been seen apart from Cindy. They ate, played, slept and
even watched television together.

One September night Tuna did not sleep with Cindy. Cindy woke to
find Tuna hissing and growling at something outside the window.
She got up and went to Tuna to calm her down. As Cindy picked up
Tuna she glanced out the window. A strange looking man stood
before the house. When Tuna growled again the man looked up at
Cindy. His eyes glowed green like Tuna's eyes did sometimes.

Frightened by his gaze Cindy backed away from the window.Tuna
jumped to the bed and meowed for Cindy. As frightened as she was,
Cindy had to look again to see if the stranger was still there. To
her relief he was gone. Where he had been standing, there was now
a large black cat. The cat looked at Cindy for a moment then ran
down the street.

The next morning as Cindy rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she
remembered what had happened, that night. She looked out the window
and told herself that the man with the glowing eyes must have been
just a bad dream. Soon she forgot all about it.

After breakfast Cindy and Tuna went out to play in the front yard.
No one had noticed the gate to the fence was unlatched. Cindy
ran about with a long piece of ribbon for Tuna to chase. They were
both having the time of their life when Tuna suddenly stopped and
began to hiss and growl. From the rooftop a large crow swooped
down and snatched the ribbon from Cindy's small hand.

"That's mine!" Cindy called to the crow and gave chase. The crow swooped down low enough to push open the gate Tuna ran under Cindy's feet. Cindy tripped just before she ran in front of a fast moving car. Cindy was only bruised from the fall.

Tuna continued after the crow. The crow flew behind some bushes. When Tuna got there she found the strange looking man, from the night before, sitting there panting.

Tuna was not fooled. She knew who he was.

"You can't have her!" Tuna said surprised that she could speak.
The stranger eyed her saying "You can't protect her forever. It's
Cindy's time and I have no choice. It's natures way that the living must die to make room for others."

"She's so young." pouted Tuna "She's barely had a life to live."

"Age doesn't matter," grumbled the stranger. "A life is a life."

Cindy's parents brought her inside and attended to her scrapes and
scratches. All that mattered to Cindy was that Tuna was gone.

"We got to find Tuna," She kept crying over and over again.

Cindy's parents did their best but Tuna could not be found.

Many months went by. Though Cindy's parents gave up hope Cindy
kept trusting that somehow Tuna would come home but she never did.

Then One night Cindy had a dream that Tuna was resting on her bed.
"Where have you been?" Cindy asked her. To her surprise Tuna
spoke.

"True friends are friends forever," said Tuna.

When Cindy awoke she somehow knew that Tuna was saying
goodbye. This made her very depressed.

The next day a girl came to visit Cindy. Cindy's mother hoped it
would cheer her up to have a friend over.

"Hi I'm Tina," Said the girl introducing herself. "I've got a
secret for you," She wispered in her ear.

Something about Tina seemed familiar to Cindy. "Do I know you?" Cindy asked after her mother left the room.

"You know a part of me, but If I tell you how you must promise to
keep it a secret," Answered Tina

Cindy agreed and Tina told her story.

"About a year ago I was in a coma after I was in a car accident.
It was like being in a dream that you cannot wake up from. Then a
cat named Tuna found me in my dream. Tuna said she could help me wake up if I let her share my life. I really wanted to wake up so
I agreed. Then I woke up and I know everything that she knows."

"If that's true," Said Cindy then why did she ... you run away?"

"Do you remember the strange man that was outside your window the night before I or rather Tuna left. That was Mr. Death. He wanted to take you away. So I as Tuna told him to take me instead and he agreed. But I found a way to come back. After all, True friends are friends forever."