Purr-fect Match

2-Abandoned

Mother POV.

Twelve years ago, we decided to adopt a baby Neko when I couldn’t get pregnant, we thought a little girl would be the completion of our family, I always wanted a girl. We picked one with fire red hair and a personality to match even when Oliva was only three she had the temper of the devil, she didn’t take no for an answer, she was a rule breaker. But her big brown eyes got to me and we decided to take her, after paying and getting her license, she belongs to us.

Neko looks and acts like a human but the government counts them as a pet, they belong to their owners, Olivia belongs to us. She’s not the little girl I always wanted, she’s not my princess, although I’m the one who raised her, who changed her diapers until she was potty trained. She hates me, I see it in her eyes, it’s like she wants something else, something different, but what is that thing that I can’t give her.

Today’s accident was one of the frequent ones she has, she refuses to obey my rules, even if I punish her or my husband does she’ll still go back and do the same thing. I ended up threatening her with our neighbor Andrew, he doesn’t like little, to begin with, my baby brat always gets on his nerves. I would never give her up to Andrew but the threat is usually enough to make her behave, I sent her to her room first thing once we got home.

I’m waiting for my husband to get home so we can talk, we’ve been having the chat about giving Olivia up, we tried everything with her, giving her what she wants, punishing her, taking away her thing but nothing ever worked with her.

It’s not that me that can’t take her attitude or troubles anymore, the thing is she’s hurting herself. Her life with us, she’s not safe most days, I have to lock all doors for Olivia not to run out, we had to lock the backdoor from her, every time she gets too mad at us she’ll run and sit upon a tree, the number of times she fell from the said tree was scary, it’s a miracle she’s still alive. I guess having cat reflex really helps with her, that’s the only part where being part cat came useful, she hates the water, scared to death from it. She hates loud voices since her ears are extra sensitive, she eats like a cat for sure, but she also thinks she’s the queen of the house, she can be a princess if she wants but still need to obey her rules.

Olivia stays at home with me most of the day, we tried getting her a nanny when she was younger but every Neko little nanny in the state knows about Olivia now and refuses to even babysit her for a day. Our time alone is usually after Olivia sleeps and we make sure she’ll stay in her bed locking the window and her door.

She’d wake up sometimes and cries wanting attention, but the second her door is open she’s off to god knows where, our date night would be spent searching for her, punishing the naughty kitty then sending her back to bed. We stopped opening the door for her when she wakes up, she’s way too naughty for that, she’s also getting more and more independent.

She’d hide things from us, being hurt, having an accident at night, or even being hungry, her little age is three but I never saw a three-year-old do what Olivia can do. Overall I’m exhausted, the second glass of wine is in order for this day to pass, and Olivia for once obeyed me and stayed in her room. When my husband came from his work he looked at the lack of dinner and absence of Olivia, she stopped running toward him when he comes in the house after she was ten, he has to go search for her and maybe if the kitty is feeling generous she’ll give him a kiss.

They didn’t have a much better relation either, Olivia who used to be a daddy’s girl changed drastically. Maybe she’s going through puberty, but Neko kittens, well they do go through puberty, she’s supposed to regress to her little age not become a rebel teenager.

“That bad?” my husband asks walking in and landing a kiss on my head.

“We had another ER visit today,” I tell him and he sighs.

“I’ll have a talk with her, did she eat yet?” he asks, as got bigger she became fussier with food, I knew she stole candy from the cupboard but sometimes I just leave her favorite milk chocolate in the open hoping she’ll drink it.

I got the only Neko in the world who hates milk, other Neko littles I know still bottle feed, and hell one of my friend actually breastfeed her Neko.

“She stayed in her room obeying me for once” I reply.

“Honey..” my husband start but I cut him off, this has been going for way too long, maybe they had her classification wrong, maybe that’s why she doesn’t like anything littles are supposed to like.

“I think it’s time,” I say and he understood what I meant.

“You sure?” he asks me, I was the one who always wanted to have a Neko, and now I’m the one saying it’s time for her to leave our home.

“I can’t take this another day…you don’t understand how hard it is to drive her to the ER every day or so” my husband came in close and hugged me, only if he knew how much it killed me when Olivia asks me to stay outside when she doesn’t want my love to care while she cries in pain.

“Honey…I know…I know…shush,” my husband says helping me to calm down, I was sobbing now, just like the little girl did today in the car ride.

“I can’t believe she hates me that much” I whisper to him crying.

“If this isn’t working…you’re right it is time,” he says agreeing with me, it’s time.

“Can you do it?” I ask him.

“I’ll do the call,” he said kissing me one last time before picking his phone.

I heard him talk with a local Neko shop, asking them about taking Olivia in, he gave them a quick rundown on how she looks, how’s her personality, he described her as “Active and full with life”, well not my first choice of words when describing Olivia but that would do.

“They said they’ll send someone for her tomorrow,” he says in a final voice.

I heard a gasp from upstairs, I looked up to see Olivia standing on top of the stairs her eyes were filled with tears that are running freely down her face now. I raised my hand wanting to kiss her tears away but she went back to her room slamming the door shut behind her.

“Olivia…” I call to her starting to go up the stairs to get her, she thinks I’m abandoning her, I just need her to have a better life.

“Don’t honey” my husband pulled me back.

“But…” I say.

“I’ll go talk to her it’s okay, how about you go to bed,” he says before walking me into our room, this room was filled with memory with baby Olivia when she used to sleep with us in the same bed to stay safe from the closet monsters when there were a storm and the thunder was too loud for her.

He tucked in our bed, kissing my lips one last time before moving to talk with our pet Neko, we’re doing what’s best for her, I keep telling myself.