18 YEARS OF HELL, THE CAT'S LIFE

*Part 1.*

While giving birth to just one kitten, our family cat Stacy died, which came as a shock.

It was even more shocking when we saw that this pink, wrinkled kitten had two heads as well.

Dad said it was a sign.

"What does it mean?"

The kitten made a sound that was somewhere between a squeak and a cough.

Pa took a break.

"I'm not sure."

While we thought about this, we were quiet for a while. We didn't know either, but everyone agreed that it had to mean something.

Hell was a good name for it, though. So it stayed. We were told by the vet that Hell wouldn't be around for much longer because animals with these kinds of mutations rarely lived longer than a few weeks at most. He told us to sell them quickly to a nearby museum or lab and make some cash.

If Hell had two heads and two sets of genitalia, he said, he would be able to make a lot of money.

We said no. Hell belonged to us.

Hell would live longer than that vet, and even though I know it's not true, a part of me thinks that Hell has always been angry at him for what he said that morning. As we were leaving, the vet told a bad joke.

"Could last a little longer." With nine lives, you never know."