So I go to bed now, and it’s all as it was before Claudia came into my life.  I have nothing to worry about before hitting the sack.  No one to check on and see if maybe she wants to spend the night inside for a change.  No one to open the door for and look to see if she wants to come in for a snack before her nightly duties, whatever they were.  No one to check on before bed.  I have no one to look after now.  I don’t have to turn the nightlights I bought for the basement now, so she can find her way to the litter box in the basement bathroom if she needs to.  She only used it once but it reassured me she knew where it was and I could leave her inside for an extended period without worrying she’d leave a deposit somewhere else.  I don’t have to clean her food dishes, or make sure she had some dry food out.  I don’t have to check the water fountain.  I can just hit the sack and not a care in the world when I do.  Freedom is such an empty thing.  Like my house is again.  Like I am.  Like I’ve always been except for a few weeks this summer when I was loved by a little thing who didn’t have to notice me at all but she did out of everyone else here on the block.