Family tragedy tonight

[Lyric]

Our cats are usually indoors-only, but one of them has always been an escape artist. He managed to slip past me and get outside earlier today while I was leaving for school, and I had an exam today, so I didn't have time to catch him. I went to school and figured he'd be waiting for me on the porch, hungry and contrite, when I got home.

I was wrong. I looked for him when I got home, but he was nowhere to be found. I figured he'd show up before dark, but when the sun went down, he still hadn't come home.

Then just an hour or so ago, one of my neighbors came driving up in the rain...holding Byron. He was wet, bloody, and broken. Apparently he had been hit by a car at some point this afternoon, and had been lying on the side of the road in a pile of leaves...still alive, but too badly injured to be saved. We have him resting in his cat carrier with his favorite blanket right now, waiting for my stepfather to get here and take us to the Vet so we can have him put to sleep. The injuries are horrific--you don't even want to know.

ThinkBlue1966 and our son are absolutely hysterical right now. I'm about to die myself from the pain of it. Byron has been our big beautiful baby for almost 4 years, and I am absolutely drowning in guilt and grief. I should have said fuck the exam and spent however much time it took to chase him down and get him back inside. This is all my fault, I'm the stupid idiot who let him slip outside in the first place. I keep thinking about how much pain he must be in and it's just killing me, killing me.

I'll be back later when I can calm down. I have to go help keep him as comfortable as possible right now. Please send every good vibe out to my poor Byron right now, pain-easing, comforting thoughts. Please.

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: