My name is Joey, but sometimes it’s JoJo. I was born July 9, 2015. On January 6, 2016, I was relinquished, put in a cage, and labeled a stray tabby. Time moves differently in the pen. You can feel the outside world moving past you, and you have no one to talk to but yourself. Luckily, my dark passenger, JoJo, was a great conversationalist, but she was also my word of doubt.

“Nobody makes it once you are in the cage,” JoJo would tell me and for the most part I knew it was true. On February 12, 2016, after a lifetime in the pen, someone opened my door and a man scooped me up. He took me to the lobby and sat down with me on his lap. I just sat there in shock. JoJo wanted to come out, but I couldn’t let the man or the woman who was with him know about my dark passenger just yet. They would realize that the pen had changed me. The man said, “She is a lap cat. I want this one.” Then they told me I would be going home with them.

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Before we left, the man and woman took me into a room that had toys and stuff to play with. I was so overwhelmed with emotions that JoJo took over and that is when my new parents caught a glimpse of just what they had gotten themselves into. My ears snapped back and I attacked the nearest scratching post.

I was free, finally free from this awful prison and I wanted to destroy something belonging to captors before I left . “That will teach them!” I thought to myself.
When I arrived at my new home I could easily see I was going to have a cushy life. And then I met my housemates. There was a sick little kitten whom I immediately dismissed as a threat to me. I wasn’t concerned about her at all, but then there was the ugly orange mouth breather who was excited to see me and sniffed me all over. Without a second thought, JoJo hit the mouth breather right in the face! That will teach it who is boss – we thought to ourselves. Of course, now I do not mind the dog, who is called Maggie. But back then – well, if the pen taught me anything, it was that you don’t let anyone get in your face.
Now, most cats would be afraid of a new environment and would need time to adjust. But I was a lucky one; I had JoJo and she was not scared of anything.

After I had been in my new home only an hour or so the man…I mean, Dad… came in with another cat. This one looked familiar: it was that one-eyed cat who lived three doors down from my cell. In the pen, all she did was yak about herself. Now she was here, bouncing all over the place and filled with excitement. Man, is she ever annoying, I thought. Then, without hesitation, JoJo swatted and spat at her.
I am so thankful for JoJo because she is the complete opposite of me. I am just a very quiet, very timid lady. I make myself scarce to avoid confrontation. Sometimes, though, JoJo takes over. Once she gets bored and goes away I am disoriented and it takes me a minute to figure out where I am. Nevertheless, without my dark passenger, I would be lost – even to this day, four years later.
When I had lived with Mom and Dad for about a week, they took me to a place called “the vet’s office”. I was pretty sure the vet was a torture expert determined to get me to talk, but I was just as determined to withstand whatever he threw my way. I would let JoJo ride this one out. I woke up groggy later in the afternoon, and when Mom and Dad picked me up the next day, I was hurting. What had they done to me there? I have heard stories of waking up in strange places and missing a kidney or other organs that they sell to other people. I had a horrible cone on my head; surely the cone was meant to hide the horrors of the chop shop job they did! I would have to ask JoJo what she had witnessed. At least I still have my best friend; she would tell me. JoJo was silent about the vet though. Perhaps the ordeal had been too gruesome, even for her.
Later at home, Aria -the annoying, bouncy, one-eyed one told me that the atrocities at the vet are something everyone has to go through. It is called a spay, and it is good for us in the long term. JoJo did tell me not to pay attention to that malarkey. Obviously Aria is an idiot and doesn’t know what she is talking about.

After some time, I finally healed from what hereafter will be known as “the procedure,” and JoJo and I began to play our favorite game: hide in the shadows and wait for a victim to attack. This game would be way more fun if I had more victims to surprise.

As if they had read my mind, my parents brought home two kittens and an older cat. The kittens were easy prey, but would I really terrorize a senior citizen? Why, yes, yes I would. At first the newcomers never expected me to flip the script on them (but that is what JoJo says makes the game fun). The new cats would walk up to me and sniff me as etiquette requires. I would look all scared to lure them in closer, and then I would attack them! They would run away, and I would just laugh about it. That game never gets old. I know, I know, I seem like the villain in the story. But I quite assure you… you are right: I am the villain. The villain has all the fun, and I am ok with that. However, I love my Mom and Dad very much, and I will not attack them. Otherwise the petting and attention might go away.
After a few months of playing the jump-scare game, the other cats got wise. Even old One-Eye began to avoid walking near me if she saw me. Luckily, Dad brought home some more cats. It’s like he understands me and knows I need new people periodically to play my games on. Now, after four years of JoJo and me relying solely on each other, something strange has happened. I have become very attached to the cat they call Taco. Maybe it is just that he is too afraid to move when I go sleep beside him, but in my mind, he is happy to hang out with JoJo and me.

At last, dad came through for me and brought home another cat. This one is Buddy, easy prey for me and shortly after we got Thomas. Now I thought Buddy was easy prey, but Thomas makes it too easy.
Honestly, I am a very sweet cat, even if JoJo likes scaring my brothers and sisters if they come too close to our bubble. I love living here at Kittystead, and I love my family. But I do hope they eventually bring home some more cats for me.
Your next read is The Story Of Aria