DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT MY STORY. THIS STORY BELONGS TO THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF THIS ACCOUNT. I DO NOT CLAIM THIS STORY.
Lost Cat, the sign read.
Annie's ears filled up with the aghast wails of a scared, lost, helpless cat, making her head swell up with pain. Beside her, Ella was carefully reading the sign, making sure she hadn't misread the prize for finding the cat. Ella felt like she was about to burst with excitement. Imagine, all that money!
"One hundred dollars!" Ella exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air, grinning. "We'll be rich, Annie!"
Ella then noticed that Annie looked distraught. She sighed, and the noise echoed along the rows of houses. Annie's secret was not a good thing to have, especially now, when they had to focus on finding the poor lost cat. But what if Annie's secret could help them? Ella tapped Annie lightly on the shoulder. Annie's short black hair whipped Ella's face as Annie's head spun around to look at her friend.
"Come on," Ella eagerly jumped in her bike, rubbing her aching cheek. "We should find the cat, before somebody else does."
Annie clambered onto her own bike, shaking her head to clear the terrified wails. Together, the two ten-year old girls — keeping a lookout for any missing cats — pedalled their BMX bikes along the windy, concrete path. The sun shone in the bright, blue sky while wispy clouds dotted the atmosphere. They stopped every now and then to search through bins, trees, bushes, even the old mattress that Ella's neighbour had left on the curb. The terrified cries of the lost cat kept trying to filter their way into Annie's brain, but she managed to block it out entirely.
Ella's light brown hair billowed out behind her as she rode her blue bike along the path. She glanced into every bush, every tree, every garden. She waved to the old lady planting bright yellow daisies in her front garden, parking her BMX bike beside the metal fence before asking her about the missing cat.
"Have you seen a cat?" Ella asked, while Annie, panting, stopped her bike beside Ella.
"No, sorry, girls," the lady smiled, going back to planting her daisies. The two friends climbed back onto their bikes and rode away sadly, the strong wind whipping them, sending their hair flying in all directions. They spent what felt like hours searching. Later, the girls stopped at a small park to eat the lunch that Ella's mother had packed for them.
"We've been searching all day," Annie sighed. "We'll never find it, Ella."
"Can you sense it?" Ella glanced at her friend, finishing off her sandwich. Annie opened her mind up again, and her head filled up with wails once more. It was painful, but Annie listened carefully. This time though when the screams entered her mind, Annie felt scared and alone, but free, like somebody stuck in a maze, all on their own.
Abnormally, Annie could sense when an animal was near. She could feel what it felt, like how the cat felt scared, and if she focused enough, Annie could see what it saw. Annie had told nobody but Ella, and they two girls called it 'Annie's Secret'.
Thinking hard about the poor lost cat, Annie nodded. She focused, wondering where the cat was and if it was alright. She thought she heard a scuffling noise, but she couldn't be sure. Annie opened her eyes. Blinking, she looked around, but instead of seeing Ella beside the picnic table, all she could see was darkness.
In the darkness, Annie could just see two fluffy paws in front of her, like small pom-poms. Sharps claws descended from the end of the paws, and there was a small 'pop' as the claws raked over a huge, hefty blob. Annie then realised that the blob wasn't just a blob; it was a huge, full trash bag. That was when Annie knew where the cat was. The poor thing was trapped in a garbage can!
Shaking her head to clear away the vision, Annie shot a worried look at her friend. Ella gave a confused look back.
"Did you see it?" Ella asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Check every bin!" Annie instructed, racing over to the nearest trashcan. She opened the lid, and a disgusting smell hit her like a bomb. Slamming the lid closed quickly, Annie searched the next one.
Ella was already searching through the bins in front of a brick house. She could swear she heard a soft meowing, but not from the bins she was looking inside. She shut the green lid, running like the wind to the next one, two doors down.
Ella slammed the metal lid down on the bin as soon as she knew there wasn't a cat in it. She looked into another can. Her heart beat fast with delight as she saw a pair of green eyes like two small, bright leaves staring back at her. Inside the bin, was a small, sandy-coloured molly — a female cat. The cat meowed, and it seemed to smile.
"I've found it!" Ella carefully picked up the cat, noticing the shredded trash bags inside the bin. Ella laughed at the sight. The pale ginger cat was all muddy and scruffy, but she looked perfectly fine. The wails of depression in Annie's mind died down and morphed into purrs of delight, and the pain flowed away like a river.
The two girls took the cat back to the address that was on the sign. The woman who lived their was extremely overjoyed to have her cat back. The small cat in the woman's arms smiled, it's green eyes shining like the morning leaves.
"Here," the woman handed Ella and Annie fifty dollars each. "Thank you so much for finding my cat."
Ella smiled and thanked the lady. The girl left her residents, chatting as the rode back to Ella's house.
"Shops?" Ella asked as she swerved to avoid a man walking his small, fluffy dog. "At this time in the afternoon, everyone should be at home."
"How about that new chocolate store that just opened yesterday?" Annie suggested. "It shouldn't be packed now. Like you said, everyone would be at home."
Ella agreed to Annie's plan.
