So I have just moved into this new place: me and Nikoo my cat.
I like our new place, and one of the nicest things about it is the row of overhead cupboards running through the kitchen, living room and bedroom, giving plenty of storage space.
Nikoo is an outdoor cat- I found her as a street kitten wandering the back alleys of London not far from our old place, and I knew I had a cat after she followed me home. She seemed pretty chill with being on streets, and came and went freely.
I knew that after the move, I would have to keep her indoors in the new place for a few days, just so she understands this is her new home.
Being imprisoned in an unfamiliar new house is very hard for her. I tried putting a leash on to take her out, but she was having none of that. We went into the garden so she could get a breath of fresh air, although the fences around the gardens are quite low and I had to keep a sharp eye on her. Within minutes, a skinny grey tailless cat jumped the fence and began introducing himself to Nikoo.
His owner was not far behind. A pleasant unremarkable woman appeared in the yard, and we began chatting. She wasn’t sure how Stumpy lost his tail- like Nikoo he had been a stray and he had no tail since he made his home with them. “hopefully it was nothing too too awful” said our new neighbour, her kind eyes welling with tears. I glanced at Stumpy- for some reason he gave me the chills, with his weird yellow eyes and that uncomfortable healed protrusion where the tail should be. Nothing like my gorgeous fluffy Nikoo. Also, he was one of those odd cats who don’t meow, just make random squeaky noises instead.
I had to go in and get back to unpacking, so I had to separate Nikoo from Stumpy, already showing signs of becoming best friends. Stumpy tried to follow, squeaking restlessly by the back door.
That night I woke up. I thought I could hear scratchy noises from inside the overhead cupboards. I remember thinking please don’t let there be mice in this place. Nikoo was not beside me in her usual spot. I found her in the kitchen, staring at one of the cupboards with a startled look. Although to be honest, she is sometimes startled by motes of dust in the sunlight, so I tried not make much of it. I picked her. I peeked inside the cupboard, but apart from a musty empty smell, it seemed there was nothing. We went back to bed. As I fell asleep, I started hearing the scratches again, but my fatigue took over and I fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, the boiler broke, of course, and with no hot water, I had to call a repairman. By some miracle, he was able to come the same day.
Poor Nikoo, already stressed from the huge change from our old place, being kept indoors, and the boxes and cases lying around did not take kindly to a new person in her space.
The repairman was opening the overhead cupboards trying to find the boiler thingy, as it was not located close by the boiler- I suppose that would have been too sensible. Nikoo was jumping about stressfully, and then she disappeared. I assumed she had hidden under our bed where she had been de-stressing these past couple of days. The repairman found the pipes in one of the cupboards. Fortunately he was not chatty.
Once he was done and started to leave, a loud yowling from the cupboards. I was horrified thinking Nikoo must have accidentally been shut up in a cupboard.
But then I saw her- curled calmly on the living room couch outside the kitchen, supremely disinterested in anything going on.
At the same moment I heard the repairman scream and I also screamed - as he opened one of the cupboard doors and a terrified cat leapt out at his face- first in surprise and then in pain as the cat must have swiped at his face, leaving a large bloody gash. I jumped to help him, and I saw the cat, it looked so much like Stumpy but with a long flickering tail.
I tried to help the swearing bleeding repairman clean up and patch up, while apologizing saying it was not my cat and I had no idea how it had got there.
He left.
I could see no other cat but Nikoo in my place. I went to the cupboard the other cat had jumped out of.
I screamed again- at first I thought there was a snake lying there. Then I realised it could not be alive. It was not moving.
A terrible smell I had not noticed before permeated the kitchen.
With a horrible sinking feeling, wearing kitchen gloves, I kind of scooped the terrible non-snake thing into a garbage bag and ran to the outdoor bins. I tried not to look at it but of course I knew what it was.
I looked around the street and the garden. No sign of Stumpy, either with a tail or without a tail.
I closed all the doors and went and sat on the couch, petting Nikoo although she didn’t really want to be petted, and looked around at all the unopened boxes. I wasn’t sure what had happened.
Then I got and started unpacking. But I didn’t want to put anything in the kitchen overhead cupboards.
That night, I was woken once again by the scratchy sound, like an animal trying to get out. Nikoo got up and meowed at the cupboard, and the animal squeaked back at her.
I know it is Stumpy who was trapped in those terrible cupboards very soon after he lost his tail, but I don’t know how to help him get out. I thought by throwing the tail away he would be from the cupboards, but apparently not. I guess I’ll just have to get used to the scratches at night- it’s not that loud, and it’s better than live mice, after all.