Chapter 2: New Home New Friend

The lady took me to a home bordering the neighboring forest. It was a two-story building with a white picket fence around the backyard. The building itself was a stark white, contrasting our neighbor's slightly tan building that bore the exact same shape and design. The driveway of my new home had a plain blue van which my new owner, who I shall refer to as Adi from this point forth, parked beside in her somewhat worn out car. The thing rattled like a junker, likely the only thing Adi could afford. As Adi lifted me out of the passenger seat, I spied a red t shirt with a collar and a matching baseball cap in the back seat. "Some kind of food service job?" I wondered.

My view of the vehicle swung away as Adi carried me into the house. Inside awaited two other human adults roughly twenty to thirty years older than Adi. They likely were her parents. The looks they gave me made it known they were less than impressed. I let Adi talk to them acting totally calm and docile while they kept shooting me annoyed glances and their hostile scent stunk up the area. It was like a whisp of body odor just emanated from them, but the faint sharp scent sent a shiver down my spine instinctively. I've heard animals can sense intent, but this was a firsthand err… paw experience. These people hated me. I could now see it in their plastic smiles as they waved Adi in. Their eyes held none of the kindness they implied.

I was glad when Adi brought me into her room. It wasn't much, a simple bed with a cat themed comforter, a nightstand that looked like one of those cheap build it yourself pieces, a closet with what only appeared to be 10 day to day outfits, a cat bed, a litterbox, some cat food of a slightly above average quality, a cheap plastic one piece water and food bowl, a bag of litter. The room told me many things about Adi. She was an absolute cat lover, but she was financially strapped. Everything in this room except the bed was likely bought on her own dime.

When she put me down, I saw a little more. Slightly dated textbooks rested beneath her bed, on which the top one depicted the anatomy of a terrier via artistic bisection. I couldn't read the words, but my assumption was Adi was studying to be a veterinarian. I swore to myself I'd give Adi an easy time.

Adi spent the day with me in that somewhat barren room. My mind found Adi's attempts to entertain me more amusing than I expected. I could tell she loved me with how she laughed at my hijinks. The light in the room began to fade into darkness as the sun set. Adi produced a headlamp almost like some kind of camp out and pulled one of the textbooks from under the bed. I left her to read it as my eyes adjusted to the dark. I crawled into my cat bed as Adi continued her studies. I couldn't do much for her except stay out of her way.

When the sun peeked through the window, I rose and gave myself a very needed stretch. Adi diligently filled my food and water bowl and watched me eat. When I finished, she lifted me again and carried me through the house to the back door. What awaited me was a well kept yard of vibrant grass. The air had a light chill as an early spring often carried. I'd probably just missed winter with my awakening. Bulbs of flowers vibrant flowers were making their appearance. They weren't yet in bloom, but they'd likely open within the week. I marveled at the yard not realizing Adi had left me here alone. I heard the door click behind me and realized what had happened. The way the picket fence was set up, I wouldn't be able to squeeze between the spokes. The top didn't look too far away, but Adi likely didn't expect me to escape. I didn't want to break her heart, but the trill of adventure awaited. I'd be back before dark.

I heard Adi's car rumble off confirming my suspicions. She wouldn't be back for at least four hours, even more if her parents' reaction were any indicator. If I were her, I wouldn't spend lunch with them. With a leap, I hooked my front paws on the top of the fence. With a bit of scrambling, I managed to make my way on top. I was slightly out of breath, but I felt accomplishment at my feat. I let the morning sun warm me for a second before turning my attention to the neighbor's yard. It was equally cared for as our own, but the ward bore no flowers of other artistic piece. It was in all ways simple.

Soon a click was sounded from the neighbor's back door, and it swung open to allow a vibrantly orange kit out. He definitely looked to be a kit, but he was also the same size as me. I was likely about as old as him. The kit bound out to the yard excitedly, peeking between the fence spokes out at the forest. I was somewhat amused as he had yet to spot me.

After giving the neighbor's human time to leave, I hopped into their yard alerting the tom kit. He turned to me with a bright smile, seemingly not understanding the danger of strangers.

"Hi! Who are you? Are you the neighbor? I haven't seen you before?" The kit bombarded me with questions. Somehow his childish excitement was infectious. I wasn't sure there'd be others I could understand, but this kit was at worst a haven from isolation, at best a proof of more beyond.

"Hello. My name is Smudge, or at least I think it is. I am your neighbor, just adopted yesterday." I responded.

I saw the kit's eyes light up at the realization. "I'm Rusty. Do you want to be friends."

There it was again, that strange feeling of déjà vu. It was like I heard that name somewhere, but I couldn't manage to dredge up the memory. Regardless, I didn't want to keep the kit waiting. It couldn't hurt to be the orange kit waiting.

"I'd love to be friends."

Just like that, I set the kit off excitedly babbling again. While he was distracted, I felt a childish instinct arise. As he continued to babble, I slowly sank into a crouch. Then, when his eyes finally noticed me again, I let out a playful yowl and pounced on the kit. His excited squeal as we began wrestling let me know he was enjoying this as well. We played for a good while before we burned out or energy. I laid beside Rusty as his eyes drifted out to the forest once again.

"Do you think we could ever make it out there?" The kit asked me softly.

"As we are now, no."

Rusty's ears fell at my realist reply. I decided to comfort him a bit.

"As I was saying, right now we couldn't. We're still kits. The things out there are grown up and strong, but we have time to prepare. If someday we really want to go out there, we'll have to train."

Rusty's face rose and his brilliant green eyes met mine. "Really! You think we can do it?"

I in a childish tone responded, "I don't know. It'll be a lot of hard work. We won't just one day find ourselves ready. I'm not sure you can do it."

With the insistence only a child can respond with, he responded. "Yes I can. I'll be the strongest thing out there. I won't give up. We'll make it out there!"

I chuckled at his response. "Ok. I believe you. How about today we run laps."

"Run laps?" He responded with a head tilt.

"Well things out there run right? If we want to be better than them, we'll either have to be faster or able to run longer. Come on."

I set the pace as we circled Rusty's yard repeatedly in a light run. Soon enough we were both panting, but Rusty's eyes were ablaze with hope since he could feel this was something worth working towards. My only question to myself was could I do it? Could I leave Adi behind after all she did for me? Maybe I'd find an answer eventually, but given how small Rusty and I were, we had some time for me to figure myself out.