The Back Alley Cat (A Tmnt Fanfic Remaster)

Ghost? (edited)

She breathed in the bittersweet smell of distant factory smoke, it was thick and intoxicating but it felt fresher than where she was before. She exhaled a shaky breath of vapour as the night winds blew against her incredibly worn t-shirt; making her remember to grab something that could warm herself. Her emerald eyes gazed at the breathtaking rooftop scenery before her. Bright lights shined not too far from where she was, attractive signs and ads await her beyond the buildings but she couldn't go there, not anymore at least.

She heard the jingle of the front door; signifying that the last employee had just left. She mentally went through her plan one last time before she took a deep breath, steeled her nerves and went down the fire escape. She didn't need to break in since there was already a broken window begging for her to enter. She knew the layout of the building and so after a short trip down the stairs and few turns she makes her way to the storefront where what seemed like hundreds of rows of shelved food awaited her. Her mouth began to water at the thought for having a meal every day and she began her personal private shopping spree.

After having her basket half full of her groceries, she still couldn't shake the nagging feeling of guilt. She knew the old man that owned the shop and helped him out a few times; initially justifying her actions, but the feeling of remorse was still lingering. As she was caught up in her thoughts, she heard incoming footsteps approach the store. She quickly hid behind a shelf as the unknown person approached the store.

"That old fart's just being paranoid, like who's gonna rob a freaking dusty old pet store anyway?" It was a very irritated male, that was complaining to his friend.

"Well, you heard the news right?"

"Who cares about those other robberies, I mean like they didn't even take any cash right? Oh boy if that were me I'd suck the whole place dry" he continued on with his fantasy robbery. She took this time where they were distracted to go around the store and attempt to escape with her loot.

She looked down at her haul, about 5 few bags of cat food and some pet towels. 'This should last me a week or two' she thought, she would've wanted more but it was better than nothing. She slowly attempted to make her way to the stairs, hiding in the shadows and tip-toeing do she wouldn't get noticed, though her effort was in vain as the crinkling of the bags alerted the males of her location.

"What was that?" She hid underneath a clothed display table.

"I don't know..... let's check it out," His friend said as he cautiously steps towards the back.

"Hey wait! what if its robbers or s-something??" The once irritated man stuttered out.

His friend gave him a deadpan look and teased " NOW you care about the robbers huh, Mr tough guy?".

That angered him and he lead the charge towards the back. Though at first a bit shaken, after looking around the shelves and even in the back room, he went back to his friend with a smirk "There's none here, no robbers, no nothing. You were scared for no reason, ya pansy." He leaned on the table she was hiding under.

"Ah yes, I was the scared one" he rolled his eyes, "Come on, I'm two moves away from beating you. Prepare to lose!" He laughed and made his way back to the front where they were playing UNO. The, now even more irritated, male then angrily clicked his tongue and kicked the foot of the table. She flinched at the action and continued to wait for the perfect time to move, she was so close to escaping unnoticed, but alas the universe wasn't on her side as the table creaked and collapse bringing the two of them down.

"Ugh, that hurt" He reached to rub his back but instead was meet with something long and furry, "Huh?" he turned and instantly screamed, backing away in a panic, unable to describe what he was seeing except for strings of untangible stuttering "g-g-gHosST" he shrieked.

After hearing the commotion, the friend rushed over only to see a blur of our main character as she made grabbed her basket and ran upstairs with the table cloth on her. By the time she made it out of the building and down the fire escape, she could hear the distraught duo calling the police and she sure didn't want to be there when they arrived.

After running a few blocks she hid behind a dumpster, clutching her basket and cloth as police sirens pass by her location. She released a sigh of relief and managed to catch her breath. Looking down, she managed to get 4 packs of food, two hand towels and the big table cloth. Though she felt bad that the old man had to replace a table now, she was grateful she made it out of that situation without too many complications. She sniffled a tired laugh, feeling exhilarated from another day of successful survival and leisurely made her way back to shelter. Sighing in content as she slept in her new blanket-table cloth.