Wednesday knew something was wrong. She sensed it as soon as she put her key in the lock of the door. The twelve year old was just arriving home from school (Pugsley had gone home early after being suspended for use of dynamite caps on school property). She turned the key, unlocking the door, and stepped inside. The house felt peculiarly still, usually when she arrived home she could smell something burning, or hear a potion bubbling, or dynamite caps exploding, but today, she heard nothing, smelled nothing, felt nothing. She walked into the foyer with a sense of dread.
When she came home on a normal day, her parents would be indulging in some absurd activity. Her mother knitting a long turtle neck sweater, or unintentionally cutting out three-legged paper dolls. Her father might be standing on his head, reading a newspaper, or smoking a cigar. Her brother would always make a point of attempting to push her out of the way as he dashed to his parents to offer them a kiss on the cheek, as it had been so long since he last saw them. Today, the living room was empty. She walked through the living room and into the plant atrium.
She found nothing, and no one. With the exception of a very drooping and devastated Cleopatra, the room was barren of sentient life. Wednesday felt perturbed, her family's usual haunts were unoccupied, and she didn't know where else to look for them. Part of her dreaded finding anyone, at the fear of having bad news bestowed upon her. The other part of her gleefully looked forward to such news. She looked around the room, seeking any clue that may lead to the whereabouts of her family.
There was movement in the corner of her eye, she turned around and found herself facing her brother.
"Pugsley," she addressed him solemnly.
"Wednes," said Pugsley gravely, "Kitty isn't well, it doesn't look good."
"Okay," replied Wednesday, seemingly indifferent.
She then felt a hand lay itself on her shoulder, she turned around, expecting to see Thing. However, this time, the hand belonged to her father.
"Wednesday," he said, "please be sensitive, your mother is very upset."
He gently patted her shoulder and then promptly returned to the back garden, from whence he came.
"Come on," said Pugsley, offering a hand to his sister, which she gingerly accepted.
The two siblings went outside, Wednesday was shocked at the sight that she beheld. There was Kitty, a great and majestic lion, lying on his side, fur matted and breaths heavy. With each breath that came from the animal a small whine accompanied it. It was time. Wednesday knew it, Pugsley knew it, Gomez knew it, every member of the Addams clan was well aware of the darkness that was about to embrace their household.
Wednesday's eyes moved from Kitty, to her mother, who seemed to be in more pain than Kitty. Silent tears leaked from her eyes, which stared through wet eyelashes at her beloved pet. Every so often she would elicit a soft whimper, and each time she did, she shuddered at her own vulnerability. Morticia had had the lion for far longer than she could remember, even before her two children were born, even before she had first seen her husband. Kitty had far exceeded the normal years of a lion, which Morticia was ever grateful for. But now, those years had added up, and left Kitty in a state of weakness and incomprehensible pain. Morticia was inconsolable, although her loving husband still attempted to amend this.
Seeing her mother in such a state suddenly made Wednesday feel like a young child again. She had never realised before this, that she needed her mother's strength to provide her comfort. Without it, she suddenly felt very uneasy. Her indifference towards the situation suddenly fled from her being. She felt herself overwhelmed, a strange sensation built in her stomach, as though she were falling. Unsure of what to do, she looked to her brother for support.
She could see that he, too, felt out of place in the situation, he looked at her. Then, still holding her hand, led her to the disheveled lion.
She kneeled beside her mother, feeling like she should comfort her. She wasn't sure how to go about it.
Beside her, Pugsley began stroking the lion, smoothing out the fur as he did so. Wednesday did the same.
As she patted the family pet she looked into his deep black eyes. Eyes that were calling out in pain, he seemed almost panicked. Suddenly Wednesday understood her mother's distress. It wasn't so much that Kitty was leaving them, but that he had to do so in such a manner. She remembered hearing her parents talk about this for some time, hoping that he would just go in his sleep. Wednesday understood, her mother was losing someone she had known for what felt like her whole life, and she was having to watch him suffer as she did so.
A small tear spilled over Wednesday's cheek. She felt an arm wrap around her back, she turned, it was her mother's. Morticia smiled sadly at her daughter, dimples forming in tear stained cheeks. They both turned towards Kitty. In that instant, almost as though the lion had waited for this moment, Kitty heaved a final breath. And then nothing.
The family sat together, around the lion's body, in silence. They remained in that position for hours. Until they finally allowed the realisation of what had just transpired to sink in. Knowing that something great had left their lives, and that it could never come back, was a burden on every member of the family. But, it was a burden that they embraced. As each person left the lion, they felt a sense of displacement, but allowed it to remain, knowing in their hearts that they would have to accept this. And that they had no regrets that Kitty had been a part of their lives, despite the upset of their final farewell.