By: Eleanor Liang

Henry scooped up the stray cat he brought from the golf camp from the floor. The gray cat licked him affectionately. “Good Charizard,” he muttered, stroking her. He thought about writing a story about her.

(This is Henry’s composition idea)

Charizard

A stray cat wandered near the minigolf course under the summer sun, looking cautiously at the ground and avoiding the golfers. Still, people pointed at it, laughed, and touched it. Just like me.

It dodged the golf clubs and agilely scurried into the nearby bushes (its home) and ran deeper into the forest, where it was safe. The cat was me.

They called me Charizard. My home is now in the nearby forest, filled with rabbits and squirrels. There are also fish in the pond.

Now there’s no free food coming into my bowl and no comfortable pillow to sleep on, but I’m free. I’m not the type of cat who mourns my past life, but I still recall my miserable past. I cuddled in my straw bed and remembered my past life.

Recalling the Past

I think I was born in a mansion with my mother licking my face. I grew up with the kind mansion owners and with my very own mother. There was also a dog named Lola, which I considered a playmate. We would race to the garden from one side to another. Then there was a gold-embroidered bowl filled with meat and a big sofa just for my bed. They called me Amber, I think, because of my amber-yellow eyes. I remember thinking, “What can be better than this?” However, this golden age was the only time filled with happiness in my young, pathetic life. I suppose that was the peak of happiness in my life.

After I was a few months old, though, life began to go downhill. First, the owners sold furniture (including my bowl and the pillow), then Lola, then our cats.

I was put in a cage at the place my mom called the “Great Unknown.” This food was disgusting, the people were mean, and it was a scary room. A few days after my arrival, my mom was taken away by a short woman with brown hair. My mom tried to scratch the woman, but the woman took her away anyway.

I remember the last sentence she said to me before she eternally left me. “Be cautious, don’t trust anyone, and make good choices! Remember, this world’s a perilous place outside our former home! Goodbye!” she purred.

I thought all of this would not get worse and would roll smoothly on, but unfortunately, luck was against me. Soon, someone with red hair, a dress, high heels, and nail polish picked me up. She stared straight at me with her icy blue eyes. She muttered something like,”That would do!” She yelled at the man at the counter, ”THAT CAT, PLEASE!” Her icy cold eyes stared at the person.

He must have been scared, because he stammered, ”Y-yy yes,madam.”

She smiled a vicious, crooked smile and kept applying something to her lips. Uh-oh!I must’ve been too busy looking at that man to notice we were leaving the Great Unknown! I remembered what my mom said and desperately tried to escape, but she hugged me tightly, and I couldn’t move.

“It’s OK, Zoe,you’d like it, I promise!” Her words were so reassuring that I thought she might take me to my family,to my former life! But how could I trust her at that time? She made my life so miserable!

She waved to an emerald green taxi and yelled, ”Stop right there!Let me on!” The driver abruptly escorted her in the van. “Get ready to be tortured!” she snickered.

Now I had a very bad impression about my new home.

When we got to the house, I realized it was the exact same mansion as my former owners’. Was she bringing me back to my old home? My heart leaped with joy and excitement.

However, when we came in, the happy thoughts vanished. That was the first day of torture. I had to learn tricks like standing on my head and wearing high heels to get food. By day 2, I had utterly quit and scratched the woman.

She started kicking me and muttering something under her breath. At last, I managed to escape, wild and free, into the nearby golf court forest!

I was free! The sweet wind was blowing in my face, and it felt good to be free. It took a bit of time to chase my first rabbit and get used to my new survival ground, but I like the forest.

Anyway, it feels good to be here.

—Adopted idea from my brother’s mini stories Wild and Free