Ch. 2

I woke early the next morning, before the sun had risen in the sky and therefor before our humans had awakened. I quietly walked to my dish and lapped up some water. I needed to be ready to leave when the time came. Every morning one of our humans would wake up and leave the house for whatever reason and come back later in the day. When they open the door to leave, I will try to rush out before they can stop me.

I lifted my head and peered at the corner of the room where Tweety would sleep in a pink, cushiony nest. She dozed there now. Trixie, of course, preferred the chair by the window. I myself liked to sleep under the small table in the center of the room. I padded to the chair and gently leaped onto it. The sudden weight must have woke Trixie, because she opened her eyes. And rather widely, might I add. "You're not going now, are you?" I flicked her ear with my tail. "No. Not until the human leaves. Come on, let's wake Tweety."

When we made our way to Tweety's nest, she was comfortably curled around herself. Trixie tickled her sister's nose with her tail. Trixie was best at that since she had long fur while Tweety and I had short fur. Tweety wiggled her nose and opened her eyes. Yawning, she asked, "What? What is it?" No cat could be annoyed when Trixie woke them like that. I sat down. "I need to know your answers. Are you two coming with me?" Trixie suddenly looked as if she had been awake for hours, and her eyes were bright as she said with a smile, "You bet! Who's going to look after you if not us? Right, Tweety?"

Tweety remained silent, staring down at her nest. "Tweety?" she repeated, not so enthusiastically. Tweety looked up at Trixie, then looked at me. Looking into her green eyes, I knew before she said anything. "I'm not going" she said quietly. Trixie's mouth dropped open. "What? But Tweety, you have to come with us!" Tweety shot a stern look at her sister as she stood. "No, I don't. It's my choice, and I want to stay here. You should, too. Both of you." I shook my head. "I can't stay. I need to be out there. Please come with us." Tweety pinned her ears back as she hissed at me. "No! This is our home, and I'm not leaving!" I flinched back. We were all silent when Trixie went to her sister's side and licked her between the ears. "I love you, sis. I won't force you to leave. But I am going with Sigh" she said gently. Tweety lashed her tail but said nothing. After a couple heartbeats, she seemed to calm down, and her usually cheery voice was now sad and quiet as she said, "Fine." Without another word she lay back down in her nest and closed her eyes. Trixie and I glanced at each other before walking to our food dishes side by side. The human should be getting up soon, and he always fed us first thing. As we sat, we could here movement in the humans' sleeping place. I cleaned myself until the human finally came out, opened a small door, and pulled food out. He placed it in our bowls and went back into his room. Tweety suddenly appeared beside us and started eating from her dish. We all ate in silence. When the human came out again, I shook out my fur in anticipation. He began eating out of his own bowl when Tweety spoke. "Be careful. Don't ever leave each other alone." Trixie and I nodded, and I said, "Goodbye… sister."

The human stood, causing Trixie and I to quickly stand as well. "Get ready." I whispered. When the human opened the door wide, I yelled, "Go!" and ran past the human's legs out the door. I pelted off toward the woods. Thank goodness our yard didn't have a fence. I don't know if I could've jumped it at the time. I didn't look back to see if Trixie was following. I was afraid of seeing the human right behind me. When I finally reached the edge of the forest, I looked back, panting. Trixie rushed to my side, also breathing heavily. We looked at each other and ran into the woods side by side. We didn't stop until we could no longer see the house or hear the human calling for us. We both took deep breaths. That had been the run of our lives. When I caught my breath, I looked around. Everything was so big! Even some of the grass seemed to tower above us. Then again, we were only five moons old. Perhaps when we get older, things won't seem so big.

Trixie smiled. "So, what do we do now?" I shuffled my paws. "Well… I hadn't really thought it out this far." I said, embarrassed. Trixie flicked her tail. "Maybe we should just explore a bit?" I smiled. "Yes! That sounds perfect!" So, side by side, we walked through the forest. We sniffed at all sorts of plants and played a game guessing what their names were. Trixie sniffed at a large, yellow flower. "This one is… ugh! A dirt flower!" she exclaimed, scrunching her nose. "Dirt flower?" I asked as I stooped down and sniffed it. I quickly stood back up. "Woo! You're right!" We thought the name was so silly, we laughed out loud. "Actually, it's called Skunk Cabbage."

We immediately stopped laughing when we heard the voice behind us. I spun around to see two cats. "And they're good for sores and swelling" the slender, black she-cat continued. Trixie and I shrunk back, pressing our sides together. The she-cat smiled while the large, brown tom that stood beside her stared at us, his yellow eyes full of suspicion. "What are you kits doing here?" he asked. Trixie, her eyes wide, simply shook her head as if she didn't understand the question. I remain quiet, my own eyes feeling as if they're bulging out of my skull. The tom sighed, furrowing his brow, and bent to sniff us. I shut my eyes in fear and heard Trixie squeak. "They smell like kitty pets" he growled. Kitty pets? "If by that you mean we smell bad, it's probably because of that Skunk Whatever." Trixie said shakily. The she-cat mrrrowed a laugh, and I opened my eyes. The tom's gaze was hard on us, so I focused on the smiling she-cat. "It means you smell like you lived with Two Legs" she told us in a kind voice. I swallowed, asking, "What are Two Legs?" The tom growled again and I pressed my side harder against Trixie's. Instead of answering my question, she asked, "Do you know where you are?" Trixie and I shook our heads unanimously. The tom stood straighter. "You're in ThunderClan territory."