It's six days before Charlie's first birthday. The Millers are busy taking care of things around the house; walking here and there, putting some things away while packing other stuff up. Charlie is busy playing with his favorite toy. Sam, the Millers' youngest son, went up to Charlie and scratched him on the neck. "You should pack your things too." he said and chuckled. Charlie, not understanding a word he heard, just gave a soft meow and purred. Charlie is the Millers' house cat.
Charlemagne Purr Whiskerval, or Charlie, is a chubby, light-gray British Shorthair. He was the sole survivor among the litter of three from the Millers' late cat. Because of this, the Millers had made sure since that Charlie is always well fed and loved. Charlie loved the Millers. But most of all, he LOVED Sam.
It was around seven in the evening when the Millers finished packing. "Good night bud. We don't wanna get too emotional for tomorrow.." said Sam to Charlie, as he smiled and left. Everyone went to bed after dinner. Everyone except Charlie. Besides, he's a cat. He can sleep just whenever he wants. Also, it never happened that Mr. Miller went to bed this early. So tonight, Charlie finally found time to spend the night alone.
Charlie isn't afraid of the dark. In fact, he was VERY excited. As soon as everyone's asleep, Charlie roamed the house looking for things that might catch his curiosity. At last, after about an hour of running about, he saw the ladder to the attic. It's the retractable type of ladder which drops down from the ceiling when you open a trap door. The Millers probably forgot to close it after taking some boxes out the attic. Charlie had never been to the attic before. With all excitement, he climed up, and as soon as he poked his head in the attic, he was completely blown away.
Boxes.
Empty boxes everywhere.
It was like a cat's paradise; well, except there was no food. But despite all these, one thing really caught his round blue eyes. It was the attic's only window which looked different from the other windows in the house. The moonlight shone through its circular shape, beautifully illuminating the entire room. He slowly approached it, hypnotized like a moth to a flame. He jumped and sat before it, and looked down at the streets. One could say the view was purrfect.
"Wow, I've never been this high up before.. Just look at this view!" he exclaimed as he peered:
The beauty of the full moon..
The lights from the distant city..
The neighboring houses..
The clown with an axe..
The cat sleeping on the roof..
The men running as fast as they could...
"Fun!" he thought.
Now, Charlie WANTED to go outside. The Millers never allowed him to go out, especially since he's the only cat they have left. Plus, he's still less than a year old. But the more Charlie stared, the more he wanted to go. Just then, a plane flew over the night sky. It was barely visible except for its blinking lights which looked like the red laser pointer Sam used to play with Charlie. As soon as Charlie saw this, he lost full control over his body. Somehow, he managed to tilt the window to make an opening, then bolted out, jumping over ledges and making it to the ground. He ran as fast as he could, trying to chase the blinking lights. Realizing he just couldn't catch up, he climbed the rooftops just to have one last look. He was about a kilometer away from the Millers'. Dead tired, he fell asleep just right then and there.
He woke up the next morning and hurriedly went back home. He reached the house and tried the pet door. It was open. As he entered, he felt something seemed off. It didn't take long for him to realize..
"Where is everyone?"
