A LITTLE TOO LATE
CHAPTER ONE: A CAT'S TRAGIC MISTAKE
The cats chased the mouse in his car. Stuart was sure that he could make it back to the Little house. Some of these cats, like Red, weren't too bright. And things always ended well in fairytales, didn't they? Just a couple of hundred more feet and he'd be to the park and to Fifth Avenue.
Inside the Little house, meanwhile, Snowbell the cat was torn. Sure, he hated the idea of having a mouse, one he couldn't eat, live with him. On the other paw, he hated to see the family so miserable. As long as they were content to believe that Stuart would be living with his real family, the cat had figured that he'd be happy without Stuart there, the family would be happy thinking that Stuart was with his actual family, and Stuart would be happy, thinking he was with his real parents. Everyone would win. But when the Littles had been nosy and found out that Stuart's real parents had died years earlier, then the jig was up. Of course, he had gone and panicked to Smokey, fearing that the Littles were somehow going to find out and that he was going to lose everything and be kicked out. So Smokey had decided to clean everything up, by placing a hit out on Stuart.
It was this hit that was troubling Snowbell. He didn't much care for Stuart, but it pained him to think of how the Littles would react if Stuart never came back, if he was actually killed. Seeing George cry and sob especially grieved the cat to his very core. Finally, he could stand it no longer and jumped through the cat flap, planning to head Smokey off and go warn Stuart. Hopefully he could get there in time.
Stuart, meanwhile, had driven through a grate. He didn't know where it led, but hopefully somewhere safe from the stinking cats, especially Monty, who really stank with that gas of his. Up ahead, he saw a drop off in the tunnel. There was nowhere to go, so he went over it, hoping the fall wasn't too much. He landed in water. The car went under.
Since he'd never learned to swim, he too went under. He struggled, trying to stay afloat. However, he couldn't stay above for long and soon sank. As his mind became foggy, he knew he was going to die. It seemed so tragic that he wouldn't be able to return to his true family, and would die alone. His fairytale had ended more like the original Little Mermaid. Soon, his mind went blank as he died.
"Stuart Little is dead!" Smokey laughed.
As the cats left the grate, they encountered Snowbell. "Smokey. Hello there," the housecat said.
"Good news, the mouse is sleeping with the fishes. His car went into the water. Nobody will find the body, hopefully, so the police can't tie us to anything. You can have your happy life now."
"Thank you," Snowbell said.
"No problem. Glad to help a fellow cat."
Snowbell left the other cats and headed to the Little house. When he was out of sight of Smokey and the others, he broke down and cried, lamenting like Anakin Skywalker after Mace was blasted out the window. "What have I done?!" He'd hoped to save Stuart, but had arrived just a little too late.