The Frightened Kitten (7 page)

They were halfway down the next road and Maddy was hanging over a garden wall staring into some tall flowers, when a surprised voice said, “What are you doing?”

Maddy jumped. She hadn’t even 
noticed anyone approach. Becky from school was standing behind her, while her mum locked up the car. She was wearing a cardigan over ballet clothes, and peering over the wall to see what Maddy was looking at.

“Oh! Hi, Becky. I’m looking for my kitten.” Maddy gulped and swallowed. “She’s lost…” It was so horrible to say it.

“Oh no! The cute little tortoiseshell one? You’ve got her photo in your locker, haven’t you?”

Maddy nodded. She was surprised Becky had noticed.

“Want me to help look? Can I, Mum? We were just coming back from ballet,” Becky explained. “This is our house. I didn’t know you lived so close to us.”

Maddy went red. “Sorry about looking in your garden,” she said to Becky’s mum.

“Don’t worry,” she replied with a smile. “You can help Maddy look up and down our road, Becky. But only until it’s dark – you’ve probably got another half an hour, that’s all.”

Maddy looked around anxiously. Biscuit had never even been out
at night! She hated the thought of her being all alone and scared in the dark.

The two girls went on up the road, calling for Biscuit, and Becky’s mum joined in too, asking their neighbours if they’d seen a kitten. But no one had.

“We have to stop, it’s too dark,” Maddy’s mum said eventually.

“We can’t!” Maddy said pleadingly.

“I’ll come and help you look first thing tomorrow,” Becky told her, giving her a hug. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.”

At last, as it was starting to get dark, Biscuit decided she could leave her hiding place. Maddy must be home
by now. As long as she could get back in through her cat flap before Tiger spotted her, she would be safe.

She crawled out of the dark space behind the shed, wincing as she tried to put her weight on the hurt paw. It seemed to be getting worse. She limped across the garden, and squeezed under the fence, only to see a pair of glinting amber eyes, glaring at her from under a bush. She backed away nervously. Her first thought was that it was Tiger, but it didn’t smell like him. It was a strange smell – strong and fierce. And the creature it belonged to was big…

The fox darted forward, and snapped at her, his teeth huge and yellow.

Biscuit ran blindly. She didn’t know
where she was going – just away. She darted down the side passage, under a gate and out on to the pavement, where she stopped and glanced quickly behind her. The fox wasn’t following. But now she had even less idea where she was, and her paw was throbbing after her panicked dash. She limped on, hobbling down the kerb. She needed to rest, and there was a garden on the other side of the road that looked like a good hiding place, overgrown, with bushes spilling over a low fence. Biscuit set off across the road, not understanding the low growl of the car turning the corner.

She was halfway across when she noticed it – the huge machine that seemed to be towering over her, its
lights dazzling her. The car braked sharply, its tyres squealing on the tarmac. Biscuit wailed as she dived forward out of the way, her injured paw collapsing underneath her, so that she half-dragged herself across the road. She struggled through the gate of the overgrown garden and flung herself down under the dark bushes, her breath coming in terrified gasps. She was so tired, and everything seemed to hurt.

Biscuit lay there, gazing into the dark night. She had no idea where she was, or how to get back to Maddy. What was she going to do?

Chapter Seven

Becky’s mum dropped her round first thing on Saturday morning. “It’s not too early, is it?” Becky asked. “Mum said it might be, but I told her you’d want to get looking straight away.”

Maddy half-smiled. “I’ve been up for ages. I’m just waiting for Dad. It’s really nice of you to come.”

Becky shook her head. “I said
I would! I want to help you find her.”

Maddy’s dad appeared behind her. “Ready, girls?”

As they came out of the gate, Tiger and Tom prowled down Josh’s front path and leaped on to the wall, staring at them with round green eyes.

Maddy clenched her fists. “Look at them! They’re so mean!”

“Are they the ones who scared Biscuit?” Becky asked. Maddy had told her how frightened Biscuit had been.

Maddy nodded. “They’re horrible.”

Becky pushed open Josh’s gate, glaring at the ginger cats. “Come on! Don’t you think we should make Josh help us look?”

“I suppose so,” Maddy faltered. She shook herself. “Yes, he should.”

“Come on then,” said Maddy’s dad.

Maddy stomped up the path and rang the doorbell hard. She was a bit shocked when Josh’s dad answered the front door. She’d been expecting Josh.

“Um… We wondered…”

“Your cats chased her kitten away,” Becky put in, over Maddy’s shoulder.

Maddy’s dad nodded. “She’s lost, I’m afraid. We haven’t seen her since yesterday morning.”

Josh’s dad looked worried. “Josh did say something about Tiger and Tom having a fight with a new cat…”

Maddy nodded. “We think they had another fight, and she ran off.”

“Oh dear. Look, Josh has got to get to his football match, but can we come and help you look afterwards?”

“Thanks,” Maddy told him, and the girls set off to search again.

Biscuit twitched and wriggled in her sleep, then woke up with a jolt, her fur all on end. She stared around the thick bushes, searching for the strange creature that had been chasing her. It had been even bigger than Tiger and Tom. But the gloomy space under the branches was empty – just her and a few beetles. She’d only been dreaming.

She peered out from under the bushes into the overgrown garden, her whiskers twitching.

The house had been abandoned, and the garden was covered in brambles and weeds. Biscuit shivered in the early morning chill. She was stiff all over. She wasn’t used to sleeping outside. She hadn’t meant to, either, she’d been planning to hurry home to Maddy. But the car had frightened her so much, she’d crawled into this safe little hole and fallen into an exhausted sleep.

Now she had to get home to Maddy. And Maddy would feed her too. She was so hungry, it seemed ages since she’d last had anything to eat.

Biscuit stood up, ready to creep out of her hiding place, but then she collapsed, mewing with pain as her paw seemed to double up underneath her. She’d forgotten. She tried again, putting her 
weight on her other front paw, but she could hardly move. She was so stiff, and her injured paw was dragging painfully as she limped through the damp grass. She had to stop and rest every few steps, and her paw was hurting more and more now. Finally, Biscuit sank down at the edge of the weedy gravel path. She couldn’t go any further for a while. She was frozen, her fur was soaked through from the dew, and she was aching all over and so very tired.

How was she ever going to get home?

“If we don’t find her soon, maybe we ought to make a poster?” Becky said. They’d searched all down Maddy’s road again, and gone round the park, and the maze of little streets between the park and school. Now they were going back down Becky’s road.

Maddy swallowed. “Yes,” she whispered. It made sense. They’d been searching all morning. But it seemed like admitting that Biscuit was properly lost.

Lost Cat posters always made her so sad. She couldn’t imagine seeing Biscuit’s photo stuck up on all the lamp posts.

“Let’s keep calling her for a bit longer,” she whispered. She rubbed her eyes to wipe away the tears, then shouted, “Biscuit! Biscuit!”

Curled up by the garden path, Biscuit was startled out of her cold half-sleep. That was Maddy, she was sure! She struggled to get up, but she couldn’t stand on her hurt leg at all now. What if Maddy didn’t see her? The garden was so overgrown, Maddy might easily miss her. Biscuit wailed desperately, a long heartbroken meow.

On the other side of the road, Maddy stopped suddenly, almost bumping into Becky. “Did you hear that?”

“Yes! Do you think it was Biscuit?”

Maddy’s dad came running up the road. “Maddy, I think I heard—”

“I know! We did too! Come on!” Grabbing Becky by the hand, she hurried across the road. “It sounds like Biscuit’s in that tangly old garden!”

Becky nodded. “I think you’re right. No one lives in that house any more, it’s really quiet. And spooky. I don’t like walking past it. But it would be a good place to hide if she was scared.”

Biscuit could hear Maddy getting closer. She called again, mewing desperately, and scrabbled her way down the path, dragging her useless leg.

“She’s here!” Maddy flung the gate open. “Oh, Biscuit, you’re hurt! She can’t walk, Dad.”

“Has she been hit by a car?” Becky asked anxiously.

Maddy picked up Biscuit, as gently
as she could. “I’m not sure. Her paw’s hanging a bit funny, but it’s not bleeding. She’s scratched, though, all round her ears and nose. I knew Tiger and Tom had been after her again!”

“We’d better get her looked over by the vet,” said Dad, taking out his phone.

Biscuit lay in Maddy’s arms, purring faintly. Maddy had found her. She should have known. She rubbed her chin lovingly against Maddy’s jumper. She wasn’t leaving her, ever again.