Two nights ago, I was getting ready to go to bed at 3:30 when I realized that I hadn’t seen Missy for awhile.  Usually she’ll come at night to sleep next to me or at least hang out in the room.  I decided to go searching and remembered that the cat door hadn’t been closed, so I was pretty sure she was outside playing.  After calling her for awhile, I started to get worried.  We had lost a cat before and all the dread that I had felt then came rushing back.

It never took more than 15 minutes to call Missy back usually, so when it was approaching half an hour with no sign, I got really worried.  I got a flashlight and went outside around the neighborhood, to see if perhaps she had gone far and just couldn’t hear me.  I kept hearing rustling in the bushes and paused each time to see if she was prowling in them.  No such luck.  Back at the house, every time Molly came around to see what I was doing, I thought it might be Missy.  An hour into my search, I was freaking out.

By then it was 4:30 in the morning and all sorts of horrible scenarios of what could have happened flashed through my mind.  At the same time, I would go through periods of calm where I convinced myself that there was still hope that she was fine and I’d find her later.  Eventually, I decided that I needed to get some rest and I couldn’t do much more until the sun came up.  At 5, I lay down for a nap and set an alarm for 6.

However, I woke up on my own at 5:30 and instinctively called out for my cats.  A shadow appeared in my doorway and I figured that Molly was there to see what I was doing.  It was getting light out, so I climbed out of bed and went to see if I could track down Missy this time.  When I got to the doorway to pet Molly though, I discovered that it was Missy!  The relief that washed over me was fantastic and I immediately went to close the cat door.  I probably hugged Missy a little too tight, since she jumped out of my arms (probably wondering why I was making a huge fuss).

Since then, every time I spot Missy I feel extremely happy.  I decided to keep the cat door closed for now and only let her outside during the day when I am around.  Luckily, she’s pretty good about coming back – I think she only goes further on her night runs, so as long as she’s back before it gets too dark out, I feel pretty safe.