They made us so

As one day I walk through the door I feel a little tug at my sleeve. I look at it and nothing is there. I can feel it again, but nothing seems to be there. I shrug it off as a random feeling but cannot help feeling puzzled.

I continue on my day. I do my job, the very exciting job of searching for lost cats.

Who would ever have thought that cats would become such a rare commodity, noone expected it, but soon the reports of missing cats started pouring in. On that fated monday. At first it was paranoia, but then the people noticed the cats would seem gone but you could still feel their presence somehow. They would still seem to have a want for food or milk. They would not be seen, but the milk and food would vanish, straight into thin air.

As time passed people needed help, and where there is a need there is a profit.

So I opened a cat finding business. And sometimes I would succeed, sometimes the cat would just turn up in front of me, sometimes I would get it straight into my face and would be forced to shake it off. But never have I found one of the invisible ones, so I was already putting it down to myth or old women's tales. But neither made any sense.

And then it would start, the small tugs, the feeling of something watching. A low purr as I accidentally rubbed against some furniture. As the days passed into months such occasions would grow more and more common. These days I could not go for an hour without getting the strange feeling.

But it was always fleeting, just as if it was some thought at the back of my mind. Something that noone would remeber, something all would forget.

And the days passed, finding cats, sometimes not seeing any at all.

The day I met Sam will be one I will never forget:

I was asked to recover a cat, older than any before. I was given a photo and told a name. The reward would be great but I would have to bring back the cat to see any of it.

And so I started on an epic journey that comprised of such things as walking, talking and looking.

As any and all of my investigations this one was mostly boring. The interesting stuff happened to other people. Nothing of importance would ever happen to me.

That was until I met Sam. Sam was of course, not unexpectedly, being the cat. And Sam definitely was THE cat.

He was the reason. And above all he was the ruler.

We had not known, we had thought ourselves in control, all the while Sam and his subjects were pointing us in the way the wanted us to go. We did whatever they wanted and helped us think we were the rulers. A small nudge here, a prod there, a carefully placed paw into a lap. We were being played like chums, and our own belief that we are the best has never wavered since. We have decided the fate of our civilization for ages have we not?

And this is the story that Sam told me:

There once was a cat, who foresaw the rise of a new people, people who would be able to understand them and who would see to their needs in time. But the one thing the old cat saw was a Chance. He had been a student for many a year, they had studied if it was possible for new life forms to evolve, for new creatures as intelligent as them to roam this blue furball called earth.

So he proposed the Test: " Place this new species in a controlled enviroment and conceal our own intelligence, do not change their behaviour, do not give them intelligence. Let it come."

So we sat and watched over humanity, avoiding any interfering. The years passed and turned into centuries, the centuries into millenia. And after years of following the one Rule: "Do not interfere", it was removed by one of us. The leader at the time decided humanity needed guidance and as such removed the Rule. He would still not tolerate his subjects to show their intelligence, but we were free to manipulate from the shadows.

And so we rule the world. You people believe us and love us. There were wars, but we would not stop them, for we believe you humans needed them the same as you believe we need the string you sometimes dangle in front of us (Which curiously enough we think of as playtime for our own pets, humans).

And then it came, the day of the first cat to move away from the phisical and into the place of the souls. A day of happiness and love, as it was time for us to reveal ourselves. To show you what we have learned and to make you see what is wrong. For we will not be here for long anymore. And you will have to live your own lives, without your masters and friends.

What we overlooked was our own evolution. We became enamored with yours so ours did not pose any interest to us, or we would have seen. Some of my brethren have gone to nirvana as you humans would put. They have attained another plane, another option. And so they are forced to leave this place in search for new and exciting lands.

But we felt we needed to help you. We felt you would not be able to survive without our help. We were afraid you would kill yourselves in one of your wars. And so some of us stayed, to change you to the better and to make you survive. We feel now that you will be able to survive without us.

Because of this I have felt that I have to break the last rule. I have felt that I need to tell one of you so you will forever know. Where the cats went and who the cats were.

Goodbye.

At that moment there came a slight woosh. And Sam was gone, as was my business model. The days of the cats slowly dissapeared. At first there was confusion, but later the world just started again. We were happy and we thrived, and in time, we hope, we will join the cats on the higher plane, but this time as equals.