Clawed

          This story took place back when I was hoping to become a veterinarian. In an effort to do work with animals, I offered to do petsitting for people. So if a family wanted to go off on vacation I would be around to feed and walk their animals. I was frequently be asked to petsit my mother's friend's cat. Her and her family would go on yearly trips that would last for a week, so they would ask me to petsit their cat Mark. Mark looks the same as the cat from the movie "Shriek"and is kept indoors. Because Mark is kept indoors he is extremely energetic and his claws are sharpened to perfection. He may as well have hooks coming out of his paws.
          On one particular day when I was going to their house to feed and play with Mark, I was in a bit of a rush because I wanted to pick up a book I had ordered from Boarders. So after feeding and playing with him I decided it was time to leave. As usual Mark ran for the door and tried to block my exit. The poor guy never liked me leaving him. So I used one hand to gently push him out of the way and the other to open the door. But when I went to touch him he immediately latched onto my arm.
          His claws hooked into my skin. With me firmly in his grasp he lifted up his hind legs and started kicking up with his back claws in an effort to scratch me. I couldn't pull my arm away because his claws were buried into my skin and I didn't want to hurt him. I am very selfless when it comes to animals and will almost always put the needs of the animal before mine, even if it means putting myself in harms way. So I let my arm go limp in his grasp. During all of this I had been slowly opening the door so that I could quickly get out.
          He eventually loosened his grip enough to allow me to quickly pull my arm back. I than immediately shut the door behind me. I was out and Mark was safely inside. But my arm had been flayed, I had blood dripping from numerous scratches. There was no way I could get into my car the way I was. I decided that I had to get back into the house to clean my arm off. So I opened the door and walked back inside. As expected Mark was thrilled I had returned.
          I went straight for the kitchen sink to wash my arm. After cleaning it I wrapped a few paper towels around my arm. The bleeding hadn't stopped, but the towels helped to keep it from getting anywhere. I than walked back to the front door where Mark was waiting. Instead of using may hand I used my foot to gently push him aside. As expected he attacked, but he only ended up damaging my shoe. I was soon free without sustaining anymore injuries. I than got into my car and drove off to Boarders.
          I walked inside the store with the blood soaked paper towels around my arm. A few people were staring at me as I walked by. I grabbed my book and went up to the register to pay. The cashier just stared at my arm. I can only imagine what he thought had happened to me. "I got scratched by a cat" I tried to explain. "Yea, I understand" he said. There was no way he believed my explanation. After paying for the book, I walked out and went home to properly patch up my arm.