"Tara!" Chartara realized that she had her eyes shut tight. She opened them to see her mommy standing by the door, smiling.
"M-Mommy?"
Tears sprung to my eyes as she ran forward. "Yes, my baby girl, it's me." Chartara embraced me, tears in her eyes as well.
Suddenly, Chartara pushed herself away. I was stunned by her behavior. "No. You don't love me. You gave me away to that mean cat!"
I gaped at her. "No Tara. I never, ever gave you away to Reed. Daddy and I love you!"
"Then why did you not come take me back?" By now the tears began spilling over. My heart broke as soon as she said that.
I wiped her tears away. "Honey, we all looked for you every second. We had cats everywhere look out for you, but none of them saw you. After a while…we thought you were dead…" My trailed off as I tried not to think about those sad two months.
"Mommy…" Chartara dropped her voice into a whisper. "He taught me to do bad things."
"Like what?" I whispered back.
"Like how to hunt and fend for myself. He taught me how to steal and…" her voice trailed off.
"And what?"
"…how to kill cats. He would give me tests. He would leave me in an abandoned house or secluded part of the woods, but I would be all alone. I had to learn the ways of living alone. But I knew he monitored my every move…"
I was furious. Everlasting Cat, she's only two months old! I picked her up and walked out the door. It was quiet in the warehouse, which made me suspicious. I rounded the corner to see Tugger standing over Reed's lifeless body, holding a bloody knife. I closed my eyes. The scene looked like it had when I killed Macavity. Tugger saw us and dropped the knife, running over. He hugged us tightly before we hurried out of the warehouse and back to the junkyard.
"Look everyoine! Tara's bock!" I heard Ovahad cry out. The cats crowded around us. Munk came up to give us a hug. Old Deuteronomy asked us what happened and we told him everything. Everyone departed after a while, and Tugger and I went home. Chartara fell alseep in Tugger's arms before we reached the den.
We emerged the next morning to see the junkyard decorated. Misto and Fairuza had been busy conjuring up decorations and hanging them up. A big banner stood over the tire that read: "Welcome Home, Tara!" Tugger went back inside and came back with a sleepy Chartara in his arms. She immediately woke up and began bouncing around everywhere. Ovahad and Fairuza ran up to her and crashed into her, rolling around on the ground, laughing.
We left Chartara to play with her friends and we went back inside our den. We sat on the couch and I snuggled up to Tugger.
"You know, I don't care for a cuddle," he said playfully.
***Yay! Chartara is home and Reed is dead! I want to thank Cocobutterrox for being my #1 reader and reviewer! You rock! :) Well, there may be another chapter in the future. Keep checking back for more later on!***
