Windy Shadows: Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Puffers seemed like just another house cat, sleeping, eating and getting yelled at by the Wennington family (even when she did nothing wrong). To others, she mostly just lolled in her cozy pillow pile all day. But when no one was looking, Puffers would climb up the wall to the second floor. Jackson, Lucy, Bob and Jane Wennington were rich and lazy and only had an elevator, no stairs. Puffers could rarely reach the elevator button. Lucy, their 12 year old daughter, had a room full of useless jewelery. Her twin brother Jackson collected tons of expensive action figures. What a waste, thought Puffers, they could’ve spent their money on much better things. They could’ve even donated it! Just then, Peter the dog came up to her and growled in a voice that only animals can understand, “You’d better not be saying anything bad about my family. YOU don’t belong here. If you keep this up, I’ll throw you out the window!” Puffers only smiled and thought, Man, would that be nice. No more growling Peter, no screaming Lucy, no bossy Jackson.. I could go on and on. Peter growled again. He knew Puffers was thinking ‘bad things about his family’ again. He gave a look that said ‘get out.’ Puffers just kept smiling.

“Oh, just you wait and see. I’ll be gone before you know it!” she laughed. Peter just kept growling. Just then, they heard Lucy and Jackson yelling at each other and Jane pulling out the house key. They heard the parent’s friend, Mrs. Lee. When the family came home with a guest was just about the only time Puffers and Peter agreed with each other. “Quick! Act like you’re happy to see Mrs. Lee!” said Puffers. Peter sat by the door while she curled up on the armrest of Cindy Lee’s favorite chair and purred. The family came in, acting as if they hadn’t seen their friend in years, even though they just saw her the previous day. Cindy sat down and started rubbing Puffers on the neck. Puffers pretended to be very pleased. “What a nice kitty you have,” sighed Cindy, grinning. I can’t do this anymore, thought Puffers. Surely there’s a way I can escape this horrible life with these humans. She jumped down from the chair, stood by the door, and meowed. “Dad, I think Puffers wants to go out,” Jackson whispered into his father’s ear. “Do it yourself, Jack!” Bob snapped. Jackson went over and opened the door.

Puffers ran out, happy to see the hole Peter dug. It went under the fence – now Puffers wouldn’t have to climb. The crisp wind blew in her long whiskers – The feel of the wild. Suddenly, she heard a voice say, “That’s quite a shadow you’ve got there. It’d impress some humans – maybe you’d be a good housepet.” “What do you mean, ‘good housepet’? I guess you didn’t notice the collar?” she replied, frightened. Then she saw it – a black she-cat with beautiful amber eyes. Who was this beautiful she-cat? Then another cat came out of the bushes – this time an orange tabby tom with large green-gray eyes. “Wh-who are you?” Puffers said nervously. The orange tom glared at her with a look of battle. “We have no names, but we came to fight you,” he hissed. Puffers was worried. Who on earth were these stray cats, and what did they want? Should I stay, or should I go? she wondered. It’d be bad if they thought I was weak, but I don’t want to get hurt on my first journey onto the streets… Puffers decided she was ready for a real cat fight. She shot out her claws and scratched the tom hard. Puffers bit down on his neck, when he jumped up and yowled, “Rrrrrr-aggghhhh!!!” The black she-cat stood on Puffers’ family’s fence post, watching very closely. “Merrrrrr-agh!” “Yaaaaaggggghhhh!” Noises of angry cats all came from a small garden with even smaller furballs. The tom was a bit bigger than Puffers. He threw her into the flower bushes and hissed, “You’ll never make it, fluffypoof. Never!!!!!” “My name is Puffers, not Fluffypoof! You’re the one who won’t make it, zebraface.” hissed Puffers. The tabby tom was taken aback. “Zebraface. Zebraface. You’ve got stripes too, you know.” Puffers glanced at the stripes on her back, tail, and legs. She crouched down and swayed her haunches. She heard Lucy in the window: “Puffers, no!” She didn’t listen.

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