Every day to and from work, I take a side street that connects two main roads in town, but the road itself is usually pretty clear. Most people, it seems, prefer sticking to the busier, main roads. I've taken that road for almost a year now without incident - until last night.

I actually got off work almost 30 minutes early, so I was happily on my way home to spend time with my older sister's family, who is visiting, and my boyfriend. I was actually feeling pretty upbeat as I turned onto the side street, but shortly after turning onto it, my car's headlights shone on something lying in the middle of my lane. Right as I came upon it, and I was about to drive over it (thinking it was trash like it almost always is), I realized it for what it was.

A cat was lying in the middle of my lane.

I hit the brakes, the cat only about a foot in front of my car. I sat there in shock for a moment, knowing the cat was most likely dead, the victim of a previous car, but I was also hoping that it might still be alive. I watched it in the headlights for a moment, hoping to see it breathing. (The cat was lying on its side, with its back to me.)

When I knew it wasn't breathing, I made the decision to move the cat off of the street. It was already bad enough someone had hit the cat, leaving it to die alone in the road. I didn't have the heart to leave it for other cars to drive over, further mangling its body. So, I put my car in park and got out.

The cat looked okay, except for its head. I'm sure if I had felt it with my hands, I would have found fractures in the skull. As it was, the cat's eyes were wide open, its mouth was hanging open, and blood was pooled under its head. I couldn't help myself. I gently placed my hand on its side, hoping beyond hope that it was still alive somehow, but also hoping that the cat was no longer suffering. It was kind of weird. The cat wasn't yet cold to the touch, yet it wasn't warm, either. I doubt the cat had been dead long before I came upon it.

Not knowing what else to do, I gently gripped its front and back legs to move it off of the road and into the bark nearby. (I was near a flower shop, so there was some landscaping on the side of the road.) Ugh. When I moved its head from the spot, some of its white fur and a lot of blood (still wet) were rubbed into the road. It was pretty gruesome. I gently laid the poor cat to rest on the side of the road so it would still be visible to drivers, should it have an owner wondering what became of their cat. Hard to say though, since it felt a bit on the thin side. I really hope the poor thing wasn't a stray, that makes it all feel the more tragic!

After I placed the poor cat on the side of the road, I stroked it once. It just felt so unfair that a split-second decision ended this cat's life, and in a way it was my apology for my fellow man, which killed the cat in the first place. I do understand that cats do dart out in front of cars sometimes, but I also know that the speed limit on that road is no faster than 30 mph. People should have been able to stop in time, but they were probably speeding, given the fact the cat died in the middle of the road, probably almost as soon as it received its fatal injuries.

It wasn't until I got back into my car that I started to sob. Even if I tried not to, I couldn't help it! Here I had been working all day with people who love their pets, only to encounter one that would never be going home again. It was just so wrong!

Poor kitty, I'm sorry I couldn't have done more for you.