It was a gray and dull morning. Socks had just woken up and was sniffing around the room for possible crumbs. Once she found none, she sat down and groomed her pelt.
She was stopped when she heard her belly grumble.
Right, food.
She had tried again and again, but her housefolk was really good at hiding food. Well, except the time she tipped over a box of cereal, but that only happened once so it doesn't count.
Socks decided she'd have to trace it back to the source and find her housefolk. There wasn't much point in 'finding' her housefolk really. She knew she would be in her soft nest.
When she got to the nest room she nudged her housefolk's hand with her nose. When her housefolk mumbled something in her sleep and turned over, Socks jumped up onto the nest and gave her housefolk's face a bat with her paw, catching her on her strangely shaped nose.
Her housefolk reached out a paw and pushed her away.
Why doesn't she love me anymore?
Socks left, tail drooping, into the eating room, not that she'd done much 'eating' there since she came.
She stared curiously at the square hole in the wall.
I wonder why that's there.
Socks braced herself to leap up onto the ledge just below the hole in the wall and jumped onto it, wobbling for a second as she recovered her balance.
She stepped though the hole and onto a ledge on the outside of the hole.
Wow! The world is so big!
She gazed in wonder at the long row of two-leg dens infront of her, and the heather-covered hills just beyond on the horizon.
Then she looked down, and shivered at how far she had to go if she wanted to explore.
She tackled her first task first. Climbing the tree.
She tentively reached out a paw to a thin branch, retreating when it swayed under her weight. She had to leap to a thicker branch below-and not fall off when she landed. If she landed.
Socks closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath and opening them again before taking the leap of faith.
She pushed off the ledge, the soaring feel of the wind almost calming her as she flew through the air, paws waving madly, claws outstretched.
She managed to grab the branch and land with a thud on it. Socks started to edge her way along to the trunk, pressing herself against the bark.
After a while, she'd eventually got the ground again, and sniffed it.
Why does it smell so weird? It's like the plants my housefolk used to keep!
She gave the green blades a slight nibble.
And tastes like them too!
Socks guessed it was grass. She'd heard about it before from a cat that came to visit once.
She gazed around this new world in wonder. She'd always stayed inside her housefolk's den.
Until now.