I'm awoken early the next morning as the strong winter sun beats down on my tiny grey body. Wriggling free from under the pile of smelly black plastic bags, I gaze around tentatively, trying to decide which direction to explore.
I could either go into the darkness of the alley behind me, or back into the sea of giant feet and flashing metal blobs. I shudder violently as I peer back at the blinding lights and deafening noises of the street. So instead, I turn and plod silently into the darkness and quietness of the alleyway.
The further in I snuck, the darker it was gatting. Dark, shadowy buildings were edging closer and closer together, and the cobbled ground in front of me was becoming narrower and narrower. I crept forwards slowly, my soft, light paws bearly making a sound as I gazed around in fear and awe. I felt like I was walking through a long forgotten land of a dead world. Everything was so still that i wondered if it was real. Was I still dreaming?
Reaching the shadow of a busted crate, I paused for a second, joining the deathly stillness of the shadows around me that towered over my tiny kitten body, like the moon looming silently over the earth. Blinking heavily, I stared through the silence ahead of me, trying to decipher it's sounds.
But then there wasn't silence anymore.
It was quiet at first, almost inaudible. However, as I edged causously forward, the sound grew clearer and clearer, until it eventually began to take form, and as I listened through the darkness to the sound of faint purring... was that another cat?
I picked up my pace, trotting carefully through the passageway with a newfound purpose in my every step.
As the unsteady form of an old, rickety hut blocking the end of the valley sneaks into view, I start to wonder if I'm just hearing things. I must have been. I'm just so lost and delusional and lonely. But the purring is still growing louder and louder the closer I get. My thumping heart inside me won't let me stop moving closer and closer. Until at last, my persistence is rewarded.
Eagerly searching through the darkness, I could just make out a small tuft of scruffy, slate coloured fur lying under the wooden frame of the run down building, it's small and subtle movements seemed to be beckoning me to come closer, and I couldn't resist.
"Hi!" I yelped out of breath, bounding up to the sleeping cat, "Have you seen my-"
My words were cut off by a horrifying growl. I lept back in fear, unable to move as a large, bright yellow eye suddenly shoots open.
The creature snarls at me as it slowly brings itself to its feet, exposing a row of sharp, pointed teeth. Shaking, I took a tentative step backwards, not daring to tear my eyes away from its terrifying, hungry glare.
For a second, we both stood there, completely still. That second felt like minutes, hours, my whole life.The dog continued to stare at me with an evil glare, its eyes daring me to run.
So I did.
I was leaping back through alleyway, its once still emptiness now filled to the brim with chaos and terror. Everything around me was a blur as I dove in and out of piles of discarded rubbish and broken crates, like a bird hopping from tree to tree.
I was running with all my energy, trying as hard as I possibly could to keep my tiny little fragile body just out of reach of the flaming-eyed giant on my tail.
But it wasn't working. I was a lost cause.
It was gaining on me rapidly, with every stride I could hear its pounding heavy footsteps growing closer and closer behind me. My heart thumping, I pushed on, but I couldn't keep this up forever.I needed an escape route, and luckily I spotted one: a small round hole in the ground just ahead of me. What was down there? I had no idea, but if I didn't take the chance I knew I would be eaten alive.
With the last of my energy, I pushed my back paws of the ground and leapt towards the hole. Luckilly, I managed to fit through.And then I was falling.