The little fluff ball had a name, and it was Alice. Alice was a short hair tabby kitty cat. She was still young, just barely hitting the preteen age of a cat. She was a spoiled kitty because she was the first pet her owner had ever had. He had gotten her after his fiance passed away abruptly. He had been heartbroken and depressed for almost half a year before his friend dropped off a small kitten to give him a reason to keep living. He had fallen in love at first glance.

He did everything he could to pamper her. He researched the best foods, the best litter, made sure to play with her whenever she wanted, and bought any cat toys he came across. His house was filled with cat furniture and had shelves spread across all of the walls specifically for her to run along and play on. He wanted her life to be perfect.

Alice woke from her nap to the sounds of her owner weeping yet again. He always seemed to do that when she wasn’t paying attention. She didn’t want to get her fur wet, but he would typically calm down sooner when she went to him. Alice stood up and stretched before jumping down from the counter where her favorite basket was situated. She sauntered over to where he was curled up on the couch and jumped up next to him. She rubbed her face and side against his leg until he would notice her. When he didn’t immediately notice her the second she touched him, she started lightly mewing as well. He reached down and started petting her finally while trying to stifle his crying.

“Th-thanks Alice.” Some sniffling. “I don-don’t know what I would do without you n-now.” Instead of sounding like he was going to calm down, it sounded like he was about to start bawling even harder. Before Alice could do anything, her owner tipped over and curled around her, shoving his face into her soft fur. This was why she didn’t want to come over, now she was going to have to groom herself yet again. Plus, she would have to put up with the feeling of wet and sticky fur until he stopped crying and let her go. Of course he sometimes gave her extra treats or more attention afterwards, so she would try to put up with it for now.

After a while Alice’s sensitive ears picked up that her owner’s breathing had slowed down. He had cried himself to sleep. Realizing she wouldn’t be receiving any treats, Alice carefully escaped the sleeping man’s arms and trotted to the bedroom. She then jumped up onto the large queen sized bed and started grooming herself. Once she was sure none of his scent was stuck to her fur she wiggled underneath a large blanket and stretched out, trying to fall back to sleep. Something didn’t feel right though.

Alice poked her head out from underneath the blanket and looked around. It almost felt like she wasn’t alone in the room. She jumped up and got spooked when she noticed that there suddenly was a male human sitting cross legged at the head of the bed. Her eyes narrowed and her ears went flat as her tail grew three sizes.

“Wait, can you see me?” The man spoke in a soft voice that seemed to be inside her head rather than hearing it with her ears. The longer she glared at him the more it felt like she had seen him somewhere before, but she couldn’t place where. The man reached out a hand towards her nose. When she tried to smell it she couldn’t smell anything. “I guess that is a bit pointless if I don’t have a scent isn’t it… I can’t even pet you.” The man laughed slightly. Alice kind of liked the sound of his laugh. It was nothing like her owner’s laugh that always seemed to have a hint of sadness underneath every time.

The man that sat in front of her cocked his head and seemed to be pondering something. She didn’t have to wait long for him to voice his thoughts. “I wonder why you can suddenly see me… I wonder if it is because it’s my death anniversary… I wish it was your owner that could see me, but I guess that would be too much to wish for right now. At least this proves that it’s true that cats have an extremely strong sixth sense.” He sighed. “I made a huge mistake and hurt your dad, you know. I’ve always wished I could apologize to him.” The man reached for Alice in a half-hearted attempt to pet her. “If only you were a human so you could pass on my feelings to your owner...”

The man seemed surprised when his hand actually touched Alice’s forehead. As soon as Alice felt the light touch she suddenly got a sensation like she was growing and changing shape. The bed no longer seemed as big and the floor seemed a lot closer. Plus her lovely fur had suddenly disappeared. She started loudly meowing like crazy in surprise.

It was loud enough that she heard a thud from the living room and then loud footsteps running down the hall towards the bedroom.

“W-what’s wrong Alice?!” Her owner came barging in, slamming the door open in the process. He was speechless at the sight before him. A young female child was tangled up in his comforter and crying. The noises she was making as she cried sounded identical to how his cat cried, which is why he thought it was his cat. Yet instead he found this strange child. She had piercing green eyes, various shades of long brown hair with orange highlights, pale skin that seemed to have never seen sunlight, and a pair of cat ears matching her hair that were pointed backwards. Wait, cat ears?

When Alice heard the voice of her owner she immediately tried to leap into his arms, just like she was used to doing. The force of her human body forced her owner back a few steps, but he automatically caught her like it was the most natural thing in the world. Then he noticed her tail that had a white tip and was identical to Alice’s tail. Combined with her ears, there was only one explanation, even if it was the most bizarre thing he could think of.

“Alice? Are you Alice?” He wasn’t sure how to react to his cat suddenly turning human. She had quickly calmed down and was nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck and had her new human arms tightly clinging to him. After a minute to actually let the situation sink in, and for him to realize he wasn’t dreaming, he remembered that she was only wearing a sheet that had luckily stayed tangled around her when she leapt into his arm. She needed clothes, he couldn’t let a child run around naked and indecent, even if she was actually a cat inside.

He wondered if he had any of his little sister’s old clothes in storage from when she used to visit. It would all be too large for Alice, but it would be a start at least. Then, after she was properly clothed, he would be able see if he could figure out what was actually happening.

It took a while since Alice didn’t want to be put down on the floor and even then insisted to follow her owner around, and was practically under foot the whole time, but he eventually found some clothes that Alice could fit into. The next part was actually getting her to wear them…

Alice wasn’t too fond of the idea of wearing them, but the mysterious man that her owner couldn’t see insisted as well that she would need to wear them, so she quickly gave up and raised her arms so her owner could put a large shirt on her before he slid the blanket off of her from underneath the shirt, that way she would still be modest while changing. He then walked her through putting on the pants and helped her put on a belt so the pants didn’t fall.

Once she was dressed, her owner brought her to the living room and sat her down on the couch. He was going to try to see if she could answer any of his questions. Unfortunately she still didn’t know how to speak, so any time he asked a question she would just tilt her head to the side. It was going to be wild guesses then.

He tried to think about how this could happen to his cat. He took this time, while he tried to think of any ideas, to give her a more thorough look over. He hoped to see if there were any clues in her appearance that could give away what had happened. The more he looked at her the more her human features seemed similar to someone he knew. It took him a moment, but he quickly jumped up and ran to his study to grab a picture off his desk, then ran back. He looked back and forth between the picture and the girl on his couch. She looked like a female version of his late fiance when he was a child. The only difference was she had cat ears and a tail, and she also had a button nose just like he himself had as a child. It was like she had transformed into a child that would have been otherwise impossible between him and his lover.

He started to cry, she had to be a magical gift that had been sent to him on his lover's death anniversary. It had already been a year since the day he came home to find his fiance had overdosed and died while he had been out of town on a business trip. They were both planning on eventually adopting a child down the line, but all plans for the future had been shattered when his other half vanished from the world.

He didn’t have a lot that had been left behind when his lover passed, so that he was given this gift from beyond the grave was even more monumental to him. A child that actually looked like both him and his soulmate. Something that should have been more than impossible. He would probably end up spoiling her even more now, if that was even possible. He didn’t care if she was technically a cat, she was still his and his late fiance’s child now. She would forever be the greatest gift he could ever receive.

Alice would end up being raised up like a normal human child, eventually learning how to hide her ears and tail when in public. And unbeknownst to her living father, her ghost papa also helped raise her and in some ways spoiled her even more than her living father. Of course, this is all a story for another time.