Chapter 53 Santorini (7) "I feel so much better when I'm with you..."
As night deepened, the light in front of the window finally went out.
Chichi and the little cat ghost waited in the yard for the humans to fall asleep.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Chi Chi asked worriedly. "1221 said this will cause you to dissipate prematurely."
The little cat ghost looked at Zoe through the window: "I want to say goodbye to her properly before I leave."
Seeing that the other party had already made a decision, Chichi could only say to 1221, "Could you help it and let Zoe's dream last a little longer today?"
“Okay,” 1221 said. “I will try my best to help it connect with Zoe through the dream channel so that humans can enter the dream as soon as they fall asleep.”
Zoe tossed and turned in bed for a while, then got up and put in a few drops of eye drops. About half an hour later, she finally fell into a deep sleep.
She had a long dream.
Three years ago, in the spring, she had just moved to Santorini to pursue her dreams when she first glimpsed a little white cat by a trash can at the alley entrance.
It was pitifully thin, blind in one eye, and its pure white fur was a mess, but it still retained one eye as blue as the Aegean Sea.
The little white kitten rummaged through the trash can and found a leftover chicken wing bone. Just as it happily picked it up, it was stopped by the menacing adult cats. It couldn't fight them off and could only let them take away the food it had finally found.
Having probably encountered this kind of thing too many times, Zoe saw no anger in the kitten's only intact blue eye, only resignation.
Zoe rushed over and waved the cats away, then squatted down and looked at the little white cat trembling in the corner.
She moved here to pursue her artistic dreams, renting her dream courtyard, but her paintings went unnoticed. Coupled with eye surgery and daily living expenses, her savings dwindled.
Even so, she inexplicably wrapped the kitten in her coat and picked it up.
The kitten in her arms was so light that she couldn't feel any weight except for her coat. Zoe took the kitten home, cooked a piece of chicken breast, chopped it up, and put it on a small plate.
As soon as the plate was placed on the ground, the kitten began to wolf down the food.
She found a clean old towel and wiped away the dirt stuck to the kitten's body. She could clearly feel the bones under the kitten's skin with her fingers; they were so thin they were hard to the touch.
"I need to take you to the vet, and I also need to buy a bag of cat food..."
Zoe mentally calculated her monthly expenses and income, and it was clear that she was spending more than she was earning. But when her gaze fell upon the little white cat's timid blue eyes looking at her, all her hesitation vanished.
She used a cardboard box and an old sweater to make a makeshift shelter for the other person.
The stray cat watched intently as the human touched it, and within minutes, it lost all its wariness of the stranger, its eyes following Zoe's every move.
Before Zoe could even take out her hand, the little white kitten automatically understood the purpose of the cardboard box. It tentatively went inside and stepped around, then began to purr contentedly, its paws moving as it kneaded.
Zoe herself didn't realize that a smile had crept into her eyes.
After the kitten went to the hospital for a check-up, it moved into Zoe's yard.
Malnourished, with an infection in its only intact eye and some wounds from being beaten while it was a stray, Zoe stopped her work and focused all her attention on taking care of the kitten.
Every day, I prepare meals, apply medicine, and administer eye drops for the other person.
The little white kitten wasn't very cooperative at first, especially when the eye drops were put in. When the scruff of its neck was grabbed and its eyes were pried open, it cried out sharply and resisted. Zoe had no choice but to let go of it and pick up her own eye drops.
“Look,” she called softly to the kitten hiding under the table, “Look, I need to use eye drops too, it’s not scary at all.”
Humans pried open their own eyelids to demonstrate to kittens, and after a few times, it actually worked!
The little white dumpling is clever and obedient. It can tell from human behavior and gentle words that the other person is doing it for its own good, and its wounds heal very quickly.
Zoe looked at the painting on the easel that had been delayed for a long time and was still unfinished, then looked at the small white ball of fur that was undulating slightly in the newly bought cat bed. She walked over to the cat bed, squatted down, and reached out her finger to touch the cat's paws that it had licked clean.
What should I call you?
She's been calling out to it constantly these past few days, and she's even thinking about what name to give it.
Noticing her touch, the little white ball raised its one eye, neither flinching nor avoiding, and obediently called out to her.
Zoe mixed a pearl white color on the palette, which was exactly the same as the other person's fur color: "Pearl, I'll call you Pearl."
Time in my dreams passed by little by little.
The once skinny, one-eyed white cat has become healthy, its fur as white as fresh snow. It has gotten used to lying beside Zoe while she paints, and after waking up, it stares intently at the moving paintbrush.
Zoe was so charmed that she put down her paintbrush, cupped the kitten's face, and kissed it a few times: "Our Pearl Baby's eyes are more beautiful than the Aegean Sea."
If a human sits in front of an easel for too long, the kitten will get bored, and when it gets bored, it will jump onto the human's lap to stop the paintbrush from continuing to paint.
At this time, Zoe would pick up a toy and play with Pearl for a while, taking the opportunity to stretch her stiff body. After the kitten had finished playing, she would cleverly go into the bedroom, jump onto the bed, and reserve her spot first.
Zoe knew that the other person wanted her to rest.
The repetitive daily routine gradually became a habit, and Zoe couldn't say whether the other person had adapted to her schedule or she had adapted to the other person's schedule.
Pearls can be mischievous at times, but as long as that round little ball of pearls pokes its belly at people, people's hearts soften.
A kitten's love can easily fall upon a person. Just give it food every day, play with it for a little while, and pet it, and it will bring happiness to a wild person plagued by loneliness.
Countless ordinary daily routines are intertwined with the kitten, creating a sense of ritual compared to living alone, with every aspect of life—food, clothing, shelter, and transportation—being connected to another tiny creature.
Zoe was no longer anxious, and her ailments miraculously improved. Life flowed by peacefully and gently...
When I came to my senses, so much time had already passed.
Like a sudden downpour on a calm, sunny sea, even the colors in my dreams turned gray.
Pearl began to lose her appetite, and her only eye started to leak secretions. She was listless all day and didn't even want to play with her favorite toys.
It is sick.
Even though it was suffering from illness, it never made a fuss and maintained its obedient nature, silently watching the human with its blue eyes as she shed more tears, as if comforting her.
"It's all my fault for not taking good care of you..."
Zoe held the increasingly thin kitten, tears dripping onto its snow-white fur: "If only I could give you my lifespan."
Pearl meowed softly, tilted her head back, and licked away the tears that had fallen from the human's chin.
It tastes bitter and a little astringent.
It grew thin, but human love for it only increased, so even as a little cat ghost, it wouldn't easily leave.
The montage-like dream unfolded from their first encounter to the very last moment. In a daze, Zoe heard a faint voice calling her name. She lifted her tear-blurred face, and the kitten in her arms was standing in front of her again.
The other person lunged at her and rubbed against her hand: "You can finally see me!"
Zoe touched the warm kitten in disbelief: "You're back?"
My soul has always been with you.
Even in a dream, the sensations felt incredibly real. The human rubbed their eyes, tears streaming down their face even more profusely: "Will you always stay by my side?"
"No, you can't."
The kitten obediently said to her, "I'm leaving when you wake up from your dream. Luckily, you had a very, very long dream."
"Don't cry," Zoe heard the other person say. "If you cry too much, your eyes will get sick again."
Zoe wiped her tears haphazardly, but no matter how hard she tried, they wouldn't dry.
"I'm sorry," she choked, unable to speak. "It's okay!"
The kitten circled around her, rubbing against her as it always had: "I'm sorry for making you spend so much of your rest time with me, and for costing you so much money on medical treatment. It's my own health that's poor, it has nothing to do with you, so don't be sad."
“I feel very happy when I'm with you.”
Its bright blue eyes seemed genuinely happy: "I'm the luckiest kitten!"
The one-eyed kitten's voice was light and content, and its figure became fainter and fainter under the dazzling light, turning into specks of white light.
Zoe sensed the impending farewell and reached out to grab it, but her fingertips only passed through a patch of air still shrouded in white mist.
As dawn broke, Zoe woke up with a start, her face still wet with tears.
She reached out, recalling the familiar touch, and gently pressed it against her aching heart. The kitten's firm voice rang in her ears. The words she hadn't had a chance to say, the other person must already know.
"I am also very happy, I am the luckiest person."
*
The light converged and transformed into a playful shooting star that flew to Chichi's side.
He hesitated before asking the system, "Has it left?"
1221 said, "Its wish has been fulfilled, and it's time for it to leave."
She lowered her head slowly, feeling a little heavy-hearted. Fragments of her soul flew around, playing hide-and-seek with her and amusing the kitten.
She connected with the system's consciousness, saw Zoe's dream, and heard their final conversation.
"Someone has said that to me too."
1221 was still playing a chase game with the last shooting star in mid-air when it heard this and didn't react: "What did you say?"
"I'm sorry," Chi Chi said, "that's what he said too."
"Who is it?" 1221 still didn't understand.
“I remember things from before,” Chichi said to it. “Not in this world, but in the real world.”
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