Before she was Piper, she was Whiskers – awaiting a home at a PetSmart adoption event. When she was adopted, it was not because the family truly wanted her; the dog that they had chosen was part of an adoption deal in which the family must also adopt a cat. They choose Whiskers and took her home with their new dog. As timeAs time passes, I met that family. The husband often came over to our home and every time, he would ask “Do you want a cat? She’s free.” We were unable to take her; we lived with my mother so it wasn’t really our choice, we had two cats already who were confined to my bedroom because that was the rule upon taking them from my father, and my mother’s dog whom I grew up with. I didn’t get to meet her until I agreed to house sit while the family went to Cedar Point and I learned that her name was Whiskers. Upon entering the home, you could not tell that they had a cat. She was no where to be found and I wondered if she actually existed. I took care of their dog and crated him once I was done, then began looking around the house for this mystery cat. I had passed her on my first trip around the house without realizing it, the only proof she existed was the litterbox in the basement that hadn’t been changed in months, clumps of urine and feces overflowing onto the floor around the box. On my second trip around, I spotted her, hiding on a ledge in a stairwell that I could not reach. As with all animals I meet, I greeted her and spoke to her as if she were able to talk back. I tried calling her down, but she refused to move. She had an odd looking face – not flat but not long either like normal cats – and was small. After attempting to get her out failed, I made her a bowl of food and called to her from the kitchen until she finally came to investigate. The dog went crazy when he saw her and attempted to escape his crate, but luckily could not. She became timid but with some coaxing, she eventually made her way over to me and we properly met.She adored the attention she was given, following me around the house as I tried to find a toy for her to play with, though I never did. Eventually, she went back to her bowl of food and her hiding spot, and I made my way home, feeling guilty for having to leave her behind. I spent the next few weeks trying to find ways to take her but with no luck when my mother and my husband wouldn’t budge. I had found out from the neighbor of her owner that the dog would chase her and they wouldn’t stop him, the kids would smack her with toys and no reprimands, and the husband would sometimes kick her if she did something he didn’t like. It was until my husband wanted us to move out for a month into his parents house while his parents went to Delaware to assist with their parents after a hurricane. I refused the move, telling my husband that I would only go if I could take Whiskers. Finally he agreed and they began the process of handing her over.The wife brought her to me. She informed me that she had never been around other cats before, had never been outside, and her age? She had no idea. She couldn’t even remember what vet she took her to. She thought she was four, her husband thought she was seven, and I never got a straight answer from them. I knew one thing and it was that she needed a new name. I named her after a character my friend had made: a small black and white cat, with green eyes, who could sometimes be sassy. Whiskers was quickly named Piper, and she could be sassy, as she would try to bite you if you pet in the wrong spot. It was never too hard and eventually I called it her ‘love bites’. When we brought her home, she was scared and quickly hid in a pile of boxes in the basement. Eventually, I was able to get her out and she soon became happy to see me visit her. She had no idea how to use the litter box properly, how to play with toys or interact with the other cats. It was a slow process but she eventually learned.She became a normal cat in her own way, but she mostly became attached to me. Whenever I would come home or seek her out, she would happily rub against me and crawl into my lap. She never wanted to leave my side. We tried taking her outside once, just to see how she would do and she hated it, instantly running back to the door so she could go inside. We were able to comfortably leave our front or back door open if we needed to around her, knowing that she was not going to go anywhere. She always wanted to snuggle with me and do nothing else.The day before she passed, I called off of work. I didn’t feel well, but I had also wanted to try and get Piper to eat something. A few days before, I had noticed that she hadn’t really been eating much but she would take some cat puree treats and canned food. A ‘ghost balance’ appeared in our bank account and we rushed to the store to get whatever we could for the next few days until we could get more. Our bank overdrew, as we knew it would, but we were hoping and we didn’t care, so long as it meant she would eat something. But as the night went on, she kept getting worse and I started pleading with whatever deity there was that they would take her if it meant she wouldn’t be in pain. I told her it was okay and that I loved her. I was scared to leave her alone because I didn’t want her to die alone, I didn’t know if she would make it through the night but I was hoping she would. Her brother, Pan, sat with us until I went to bed because I still had to work the next day. Within moments of going to bed, her sister Harley attached herself to my arm. I hate myself because I feel like I let her die alone. My husband woke up first, Pan still next to her but she was gone. We buried her at first. I had always planned to have my pets cremated, but my husband didn’t know what else to do, so he dug her a place underneath a Hibiscus tree in the back yard and quickly brought her out while I was to inspect it. All I could think about was how I had failed her. That night, I couldn’t sleep, I was having panic attacks and horrible visions of what was happening to her in the ground, what if we had to move again and we had to leave her behind? She hated being outside so why would I leave her out there? We had no money at first to cremate her. In some weird way that fate works, she passed exactly a month after my birthday. And a few weeks after my birthday, I had bought myself an iPad. It had been a terrible purchase at the time, when we had so little money to work with. But if I hadn’t used that money to buy that iPad, I wouldn’t have been able to return it so I could bring Piper back inside where she belonged. I can always get another iPad, I can never get Piper back as she used to be. And she’s all that I want, I don’t want anything else …I miss you. I miss your cute little squeaks when you meow. I miss the way you would bite my hand. I miss how you would stick your face into mine without care of personal boundaries. I miss how you would crawl under the blanket to sleep at my side or watch rescue videos with me on my laptop. I miss how you would perk up when you saw me and how you knew you could be confident when I was around. I miss calling for you, and I’ll miss calling out Pip, Pipsey, Pippi, Pippin, Pipsqueak, or Pippy Longstocking.I will never forget you. I will never stop thinking about you. I can’t stop thinking about you. I found a video of you ‘purr-snoring’, not realizing I had it. I thought I saw you and was so happy, but realized it couldn’t be you. I can’t wait for you to come home. I love you so much, now and always.”I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if theres a life after that, Ill love you then.”