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My friend lives in an apartment complex, and we were unloading her car from a trip. It was almost 2 a.m. and, miraculously, between thunderstorms. As I was getting the last of my things, I heard the cry of a kitten. It took us a few seconds to figure out where the noise was coming from: the car parked right next to hers. Using the flash on her phone, my friend managed to locate the kitten on the muffler.

KITTEN. PHOTO: PIXABAY / IVABALK

The light scared him, and he jumped down and ran off into some nearby woods. My heart sank. Luckily, he was still meowing his little head off. I knew that he was saying, "I'm hungry, lost, scared, and nobody cares!" I couldn't leave him.

My friend owns cats, so she got some cat food. We spent about 45 minutes luring the kitten out of the woods. He fought me at first when I grabbed him, but he soon calmed down. No way was this kitten feral. He wasn't that dirty and seemed a good weight for his size. He had a major flea problem, though.

So I took him home, gave him a bath, and spoiled him with attention and affection. And I fell in love. He loves to play, and the first time he gave me a kitten headbonk, my heart was sold. I couldn't keep him, though I wanted to very badly. Well, it turned out my grandmother was considering getting a kitten, since her cat passed away the prior year. So I called her and she wanted to meet him!

PHOTO: SAMANTHA FROM HUNTSVILLE, TX

She liked him, even though he pulled a disappearing act on her that first night. The next day my father, sister, and I took him to the vet, who said he was about 9-weeks-old, weighed 2.1 pounds, and looked great for a stray. My sister took him back to the truck while we paid the bill. With doors closed and windows up, he almost escaped into a small opening in the floorboard!

Thus, the name Houdini: master escape artist, ventriloquist, and con-artist of the human heart.

Story submitted by Samantha from Huntsville, Texas.

This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!