Charlie went upstairs and checked the rooms. "Maybe they're still asleep." he thought. He can't open the doors so he just started calling out.
"Meow?"
"Meowww??"
Nothing.
He headed downstairs. "How long was I out anyway?" he asked himself. He looked at the clock. Nope, Charlie can't read it. As he looked around, he started to notice a lot of things were actually missing. This wasn't very obvious last night because it was dark. "I'll just wait for them until they get back." he said, as he tried to remain calm. Just then,
CRASH!!!
Charlie's calmness lasted only three seconds. A loud crashing sound came from the kitchen. Every strand of Charlie's fur stood on its end. But what if it were the Millers? Sam! Charlie went to see what or who made the sound. To his surprise, it was a big, brown, fuzzy raccoon. It was rummaging through the kitchen cabinets probably looking for food. Charlie cautiously approached it.
"Excuse me." said Charlie.
"Hmm?" said the raccoon as it looked at him.
"Well, what do you know? *scoffs* You actually came back." it added.
"What do you mean?" Charlie asked.
"You're that cat from the family who lives here, right? Or should I say 'used to live here'? You see kid, I heard them looking for you. They were mentioning things like 'they've been waiting for three hours', or something about 'them missing a flight', then the boy suggested to leave the pet door open and leave some food on your bowl. From the looks of it, I don't think they'll be back anytime soon." said the raccoon.
Charlie's face turned grave. He finally figured it out. The Millers sleeping early, the things missing in the house, the empty attic; it all makes sense now. They were packing up and he was too busy playing with his favorite toy to notice. But should he trust this raccoon, a wild animal looting THEIR stuff, who even claims to understand human language?
But Charlie knew he didn't have to know if the raccoon was making a story up or not. It was all too clear. He was abandoned.
"I'll take these." said the racoon as it took all the canned food and put them in a sack. On its way out, it took a small doll from the couch and went.
Now, Charlie didn't know what to do. He checked on his bowl to see if Sam left him some food. Charlie thought, at least, he'd have something to eat. Sure enough, there was food on his bowl. In fact, it wasn't just any food. It was L' Omnom; salmon flakes in sauce especially mixed for cats - Charlie's favorite. Now, what's really surprising is that the raccoon didn't eat it despite it looking so hungry. Beside the bowl was Charlie's favorite toy, Tails; a small stuffed mouse. Charlie started digging in. He was so exhausted and hungry that he forgot about everything else. But as he ate, the situation slowly sank in. The more Charlie remembered, the bigger his bites got. Before he knew it, he was emotional eating.
"Okay tummy, do your thing." Charlie said as he took Tails and went outside to wait. He sat by the mailbox. About twenty minutes later..
"THERE YOU ARE!!" said a woman in a very loud voice.
Charlie was startled. That was definitely NOT the Millers. He was so surprised, he forgot to take Tails with him as he ran. He didn't get to run very far though. After eating about 500 grams of L' Omnom, he felt very heavy. Charlie climbed a tree - no, not a tree; - a stump (well, it sure felt like he climbed a tree). He looked back and saw the woman looking around for him. When she saw Tails, she picked it up and went inside. Turns out, she was a neighbor. Charlie stared blankly.
"Now what?" said a snail.
"Huh?" Charlie replied.
"Oh.. What do you mean 'Now what?'?" he added.
"I don't know. I say that all the time." answered the snail in a tiny voice then left.
Charlie paused for a while, then went into the woods just behind the houses across the Millers'. He wanted to hide from the lady who took Tails. The snail's words were still ringing in his ears.
"...Now what?" he asked himself.
Charlie thought of a plan.
"Nothing like a good nap won't fix." said Charlie as he stretched and laid down the pile of dry leaves.
Just a few minutes later, he woke up to a young boy's cry. He heard it coming from deeper inside the forest. He followed where the sound was coming from. When Charlie saw the boy, he was really surprised. It was Sam! He quickly approached him.
"What's wrong?" Charlie asked Sam.
Sam, sitting in a fetal position, slowly looked at Charlie. But when Charlie saw his face,
"THERE YOU ARE!!!!"
To Charlie's surprise, it wasn't Sam but the scary woman! This time, she scared the eight lives out of Charlie. Suddenly, Charlie found himself standing on a giant mousetrap.
WHAM!!!!
Charlie opened his eyes. It was all just a dream.
"Ugh.. Indigestion." he thought.
It was dark. He had been sleeping for about seven hours. The forest's towering trees and strange rustling noises started to give Charlie the creeps. He looked for a way out but it seems like the never-ending maze-like path of trees took him only deeper into the forest. Calling out wouldn't be such a good idea either. Who knows what kind of creatures could hear him? Charlie remembered the monster from a horror film he saw. A rush of adrenaline bolted him up a branch of a tree. He looked down and realized it was pretty high. Charlie felt safe. There, he waited for the morning as he slowly fell asleep.
