I finally got back to work on my stories! Sorry everyone, I've been having major writing block, trying to come up with some new ideas (I'm still trying to work on Tugger's list as well...) and while I was going through some old files on my computer I came across this little... epilogue... first paragraph thing and got the idea for this story! So here we are. The title may change, as I (at the time of writing this) still haven't come up with one, and it probably won't turn out very good. But enjoy anyways! I'm really happy with this so far.
()()()()
I am a runaway. A dead-beat. A wash up.
My old "family" treated me like an attraction. They used me to feed their own greedy wallets. If they had needed the money, it would be different. But they didn't, so it's not.
My name is Mistoffelees. Or that's what everyone calls me at least. My real name doesn't matter anymore. I am alone.
My day consists of me waking up, walking, catching a few mice, and falling asleep. Everyday it's the exact same thing. No one wants to come near me. My coat, normally shiny and black, is matted and covered in dirt. But I guess that's the way life goes when you've ran away from home.
()()()()
The bright morning light hit my unprotected eyelids. I blinked my eyes open, slowly adjusting them to the light. I stretched my white paws in front of me. Although I'm mostly black, my paws and the bib on my chest are pure white. Well... when they're nicely groomed they're pure white. When you've been sleeping anywhere thats even remotely soft for the past three weeks, your appearance begins to matter less and less.
I strained my muscles as I stood up. Letting the few drops of dew on my fur slide down my back, I looked around. I was in a park. A playground stood before me, but there was no one on it. It was still early for humans, those lazy slobs. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon and it left the earth with a sickly orange glow. I frowned at the sight of it and marched towards the sidewalk to continue where I left off yesterday. On the path to nowhere.
My stomach growled ferociously at me and I dimly realized that I had gone more then a day without food. I made a mental note to stop at the first garbage can I came to. As I thought that, a familiar question came roaring back to the front of my mind, so powerful It actually caught me off guard for a minute. A burning question that had been pestering me for the weeks I had been out here. A question I'm sure almost everyone is faced with at some point. Don't lie. I know you've thought this too.
What's the point?
I sighed as I began thinking about it again. Was there a point? Before I made people happy. Before I entertained people. Before...
Before I was abused and not loved... but was there really a difference between that and this? I paused to look down at my dirty paws. The chunks of mud and leaves hung off them as if taunting me, telling me that I had made the wrong choice. I pursed my lips and spat at them. Looking up again, I continued my walk.
A few joggers had made it out now. They passed me without a second glance. No looks of joy and no squeals of happiness as I made a bouquet of flowers appear of of thin air. I sighed again. Maybe I should've stayed. Maybe this was a bad idea. If I turned back now, I could easily find my way home. I had grown accustomed to their brain waves along time ago, I could find them from miles away.
I had almost turned back. I had almost given up and ran back home when suddenly, out of no where a voice exploded in my mind.
The ball! The ball! I wonder if Tugger will ask me to dance with him?
My eyes opened wide and I stumbled a few steps back. I whipped my head around, trying to see if the noise had come from somewhere else. I knew that it was futile though, I know what things I hear in my head. I frowned as I got over the shock of the voice. Never, never had a voice been so clear in my mind before. Even if I was standing right next to the persons mind that I was reading, I couldn't get anything as clear as that.
It meant something. That much was clear. My body, my powers don't fool around with me. When they work on their own, they know what they're talking about. They were what finally persuaded me to leave home in the first place... is this where they wanted me to go? To some kitten somewhere getting ready for a ball?
I felt my heart pound as I crawled off the sidewalk. It was beginning to get a lot more crowded as people were starting to make their way towards work and I didn't want to get stepped on while I tried to search out where the voice came from.
I closed my eyes and opened up my mind. Years of practice made this almost too easy for me. I picked out the voice almost instantly. It jumped out at me from the rest of the millions of voices in this area.
Cettie should be here soon... that's good. I need to ask her how I should do my hair.
Definitely the same cat. I could almost pin point her exact location in my head. I couldn't see her... no not yet, but I knew that if I went west for a while I would eventually run into her.
I opened my eyes again and turned to the right direction. I put one grimy white paw in front of me, and started my march towards her.
()()()()
Not even an hour later, I ended up in front of a chain link fence. It ran around the area of a large junkyard, and I wrinkled my nose at the smells that floated from it. In my mind, I could hear dozens of cats running around inside of it. I could hear each of their minds bouncing around in my head and it confused me. I had been around thousands of humans before, but I could tune them out when I needed to. Cats, apparently, are a different matter. I tried to pick out the voice that I was looking for, but it was difficult. I found her though and being so close, I could almost pin point exactly where she was. I looked up at the fence in front of me. I needed to scale the wall, then head left for a while. After that it was right turn, left turn, left turn and there she was.
Easy enough. I slithered over to the fence and linked my claws through the holes in the metal. I pulled myself up quickly and dropped silently onto the other side, my feet making barley any noise as they touched the dirt. Still, I stood perfectly still for a second, letting my eyes and mind search for anyone around me. When I was sure I was alone, I stood up straight and began walking towards the girls voice.
I could smell cats everywhere that I walked. There wasn't a spot anywhere that I sniffed that didn't have even a faint trace of some cat on it. I tried to count int my head how many cats lived here... 20... 25 maybe? I guess I could ask the kitten when I find her-
"Hey, you!"
I spun around suddenly. A black and white cat stood there, his brown eyes glaring at me. I nearly smacked myself in the face. How had I not sensed him there? All these voices inside my head were making it more difficult for me to do the things I normally do without a problem. Never mind though. He'd seen me, now. I'd weaseled out of worse things then this.
"Yes?" I asked pleasantly. He tensed into a crouched position. I nearly laughed. He thought that he could beat me in a fight. Of course, he probably could... if I didn't know how to conjure balls of energy out of thin air.
"Who are you?" he asked me skeptically, his eyes sweeping over my disturbed state.
"Mistoffelees." No need for him to know my real name.
"Why are you here?"
I opened my mouth to answer and realized that I was stuck. If I told him the truth, he wouldn't believe me. But I hadn't bothered to think up a good lie before getting in here.
"I..." A staled for time as his brown eyes narrowed further and further. I sighed. "I'm a stray and I..." I swallowed my pride, "I need some place to stay."
The cat continued to stare at me. Even if I couldn't read minds, I could tell that I had already won him over.
"Fine then." He said gruffly. "You need to see Munkustrap. Fallow me." he turned around and began walking in the opposite direction. I glanced behind me, towards where I knew the cat I needed to find was. I sighed and reluctantly turned my head back around again. Jogging to keep up, I fallowed the black and white cat in front of me as he led me deep into the junkyard.