Three weeks ago, I was starting to think about Inktober and what I was going to do this year. I was mulling ideas for my Little Witch and Kitty series and then Cleo became ill and eventually had to be euthanized. Now her ashes are in a cherry wood box.

As we said good-bye to Cleo, I was distraught. My mind screamed NO! No! This can’t be happening. It has to be a nightmare. I’ll wake up and everything will be normal. But it wasn’t a nightmare, it was much worse.

Could I ever bring myself to do the Little Witch again?! Kitty is Cleo and now Cleo is gone. I am sorry but I can’t “wing” this one. Cleo is gone. There’s no more black kitties in my work, I just can’t do it. It still hurts.

So today starts Inktober, without Kitty. The prompt is Fish so the Little Witch and the dragonet went fishing to escape the reality of Kitty being gone. I think this little vignette sums up the feeling without saying what happened to Kitty in the story. She’s gone, too.