Behind Jaded Eyes

Chapter 1

It had been several days since the cat was left in the forest by herself. The days were long, the nights were even longer, and it only got colder with each passing day. She had been struggling to find food, finding only carcasses with scraps from another predator's hunt. But it wasn't enough, as she felt her ribs beginning to stick out of her pelt, and a constant nag of hunger in her belly.

The day following the incident, she woke up to the sun high in the sky. The cat decided to walk until the sun set and darkness surrounded her once more. She found another bush to shelter under for the night. The next day, close to dusk, she stumbled across a small neighborhood. Her hopes rose immediately as she walked through the alleyways between the houses, trying to catch just a scent of her owner and home. But sadly, this territory was not her own, just full of strange smells and loud, unsettling noises. Yet, this is where she had spent the past few days, living off of whatever trash and scraps that smelled halfway edible.

She had seen a few other cats around but was too scared to say anything or even confront them, although she just needed to figure out the best places to get something to eat without intruding. They would give her weird looks, hiss and run, or just not pay any attention to her. One of them, a brown tabby female with bright yellow eyes, looked at her with sadness in her eyes, perhaps seeing how poor of health she was in. But even she didn't come to help or either say anything, just turned her head and walked away.

Now, it was late in the day, the moon was slowly rising into the fading light of the sky. She wasn't able to find anything to eat today. Her stomach rumbled angrily, almost to the point where she wanted to lie down and curl into a ball until it stopped. There was an alleyway between two houses that she turned down. She came across a large trash bin; it's doors on the top. Slinking underneath it, she curled into a ball and tried her hardest to ignore the aching pain in her belly. It seemed a while before she could finally get comfortable, but eventually she was consumed by sleep.

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A loud crashing noise woke the cat up from her slumber, and as she jumped up, her head hit the bottom of the dumpster, making her cry out. Looking out, the moon was still well above in the sky, waning to a mere crescent. There was something sifting through a knocked over garbage pail close by, and it stopped after hearing her yelp. She ducked lower and took a few steps back, holding her breath. Paw steps approached from the far side of the trash bin, she could see a faint shadow in front of her, faint but large. A cat's scent drifted to her nostrils, but it didn't seem to have a hostile air to it. She stayed where she was as a large head with warm amber eyes peered underneath the dumpster. It searched for just a moment, found her frail frame, and locked eyes with the frightened cat.

"Are you alright?" it asked, clearly concerned at the sight before its eyes.

"... yes..." she replied hastily. Even though she could tell they weren't ready to be aggressive, she still felt her hackles raise.

"Well, it doesn't seem like it to me. You look like you haven't eaten in weeks."

The small cat looked down. "I don't remember how long it's been since the last time I've had a full meal..."

"Hmmmm..." they replied, thinking to themself. "Would you like some help finding something to eat? I think I myself just found a few things over here that I'd be more than happy to share if you'd like."

"I... I don't know..."

They looked her up and down, almost dejectedly. "Please, you look unwell, and I'm not here to hurt you or anything like that. I've seen plenty of strays come and go around here. I try to help them see their way around the neighborhood, just until they figure out how things work here. At least let me feed you, even if it's just once."