Hello. Marlenerocks here, with a story about my POM characters, Toby the black-footed ferret, Cori the ring-tailed cat, Jason the wolverine, and Sahara the fennec fox. This is a story about their lives before the Central Park Zoo. Be prepared to take a look inside their lives and how it used to be.

Toby's POV

Sunlight filtered in and slapped the floor of Toby's cage. He lifted his head wearily and stretched his arms. He let out a big yawn and scratched his back. He saw a few carrots in front of him, so he quickly ate them and stared outside of his cage. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo would be opening soon. He lay down and yawned again. He heard a rustling nearby, so he put his face on the glass and looked over to the skunk's cage.

"Hey, Violet, how did you sleep last night?" Toby queried. Violet yawned. She stood up to reveal and long scar running down her side.

"Good, but this injury was bugging me last night," she stared at it and shivered. "Stupid fox."

"Is it any better?"

"Yeah, a little. I think the zoo is gonna release me in a couple days… or weeks." Violet grinned. Toby frowned. Violet had been injured badly by a fox and few months ago, so the zoo took her in so they could heal her. Violet was Toby's best friend, and although he didn't admit it, he had a crush on her. He sighed.

"I'm gonna miss you," Toby murmured. Violet shrugged.

"I'm going to miss you too, but, you know, I have a family out there who loves me, and they have no clue where I am or if I'm alive or not." Violet whimpered. Toby sat down.

"Will you come visit me?"

"I'll try, but I'm sure my family is miles away from here. I'm just not sure Toby." Violet replied. Toby nodded his head. "Do you have a family?" Toby froze. This was the first time Violet had ever asked that.

"Now that you mention it, I never knew my family. I don't know if I have a mom or dad, sister or brother. I was born in captivity. Every animal I ask here says I was transferred when I was really little. I wonder what my old zoo was like…" Toby thought about it for a moment. Maybe it was a tropical place, not on a mountain, but on a beach. Where it was really hot year-round and there weren't blizzards in the winter. Or maybe it was next to the frozen sea, where there was no such thing as hot. Toby shrugged. I would never know.

"HOO!" A voice sounded. Violet and Toby both jumped, and they heard laughing. "Good morning! Or should I say good night?" Toby and Violet stared at Hooter the Great-Horned Owl.

"Hooter, you made me spray!" Violet snapped. Hooter grinned.

"Sorry miss," Hooter apologized. After that came a big yawn. "Well, I guess it's my time to sleep, don't you think? I just hope those humans don't wake me up." Hooter turned his head toward the front of the cage, followed by his body. Toby rolled his eyes.

"Maybe next time you can be quiet for once," another voice growled. "I was having a great dream about not being trapped in this zoo with you guys." Toby looked over and saw Shadow the raven. He was glaring at Hooter.

"Hey Shadow!" Toby called. Shadow turned his glare to Toby.

"Hi. Now I'm going to try to go back to sleep. Hopefully no one wakes me up this time." Shadow yawned and ruffled his feathers before falling back ton sleep. Toby giggled. Life in the zoo was good. He looked outside of the building their cages were in and saw blue skies and sunshine. He grinned. Today was going to be a good day.