← All confessions · First Time 2026-09-24

Three Months of Secrecy

Three months of elaborate hiding. Then she realised she lives alone. With a cat.

How it started

When my first toy arrived, I was so nervous about anyone finding it that I built an elaborate hiding system. It went inside a sock, inside a winter boot, inside a suitcase, at the very back of my wardrobe. Every time I wanted it, it was a five-minute excavation. Every time I put it away, it was the same process in reverse. I did this faithfully for three whole months. I'd lock the front door first, close the curtains and turn down the radio, as if a neighbour might be peering in through the letterbox. I lived like a spy in my own home, entirely for my own benefit.

Then it happened

Then one evening, halfway through unpacking the suitcase, I stopped. I live alone. Nobody visits without texting first. The only witness is my cat, who has absolutely seen things and is not going to tell. It now lives in a pretty pouch in my bedside drawer, like a normal adult. The cat seems relieved too, honestly. She sleeps on the pouch now. Of course she does.

The morning after

Her friends laughed until they cried when she told them. One admitted she'd done exactly the same thing for a year. The boot is back to being a boot. The cat is still sitting on the pouch, smugly, like it's hers.