The Frightened Kitten

by Holly Webb

  “Oh! They’re back in the garden!” Maddy picked Biscuit up, cuddling her.

  Dad quickly filled up a glass that was by the sink and headed out into the garden. But he came back shaking his head. “I was going to splash them – cats don’t like getting wet – but they’d gone already.”

  “If they keep doing this, Biscuit’s going to be frightened all the time,” Maddy said anxiously. “It’s so unfair.”

  She was still worrying when she went to bed that night. She’d left the kitten snoozing in her basket in the kitchen, after putting some of Biscuit’s favourite chicken crunchies in her bowl, in case she woke up needing a midnight snack.

  It took Maddy ages to get to sleep. She tossed and turned, thinking about Tiger and Tom, and then about school tomorrow and how lonely it was going to be. Somehow it all got wound up into her dreams when she finally fell asleep, so that she was sitting doing numeracy with Tiger and Tom (in school uniform) on either side of her. Tiger was just telling her that she was stupid and she’d got her multiplication wrong, when Tom started wowling in her ear. Maddy twitched, turned over – and woke up. That wasn’t in her dream – the sound was coming from downstairs!

  She flung herself out of bed and dashed down the stairs. The noise was louder now and it was coming from the kitchen. Maddy couldn’t understand – it sounded like more than one cat, but only Biscuit was meant to be in there. She shoved open the door, and saw Tiger and Tom by Biscuit’s food bowl, gobbling down the chicken crunchies she’d left out.

  “Go away!” Maddy yelled. “Out! Bad cats!” Tiger and Tom hissed at her, but hightailed it out of the cat flap. The cat flap – of course. That’s how they’d got into Maddy’s kitchen!

  “What on earth…?” Dad appeared in the kitchen doorway, looking sleepy.

  “The cats from next door! They came in through the cat flap, Dad; they were eating Biscuit’s food!” Maddy crouched down by Biscuit’s bed. She looked terrified, and as Maddy gently picked her up, she could feel how tense the kitten was, as though she was ready to leap out of Maddy’s arm and run away at any moment. Her whiskers were twitching, and her little face seemed all frightened eyes.

  Mum had been worried that Biscuit might end up making a mess in Maddy’s room if she slept upstairs, but Maddy couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her on her own.

  “Dad, please can I take Biscuit upstairs to sleep with me?” she begged. “I know Mum said she should stay in the kitchen, but she’s so scared.”

  Dad sighed. “I suppose she is very well house-trained now. And she’s got pretty good at the stairs, hasn’t she? She’ll be all right to come down if she needs her litter tray. I’m going to put a chair in front of the cat flap, in case Tiger and Tom come back.”

  Maddy nodded. Biscuit was relaxing into her arms a little now, but she was still looking around nervously. Maddy hurried upstairs and fluffed up her duvet into a cosy kitten nest at the end of the bed. It didn’t leave much duvet for her, but she didn’t mind.

  Biscuit stepped cautiously into the warm nest and padded at it with her paws. Maddy was here. She was safe. Tiger and Tom wouldn’t be able to come upstairs, she was sure. And if they did, Maddy would chase them away.

  Maddy slid into bed and sighed. She’d wanted Biscuit to sleep on her bed ever since she’d got her, but she wished it hadn’t happened like this.

  Maddy was just falling asleep again when she felt determined little paws padding up her tummy, and a soft wisp of fur brushed across her cheek as Biscuit curled up next to her on the pillow. Maddy giggled. Biscuit’s tail was lying across her neck and it tickled.

  “We’ll sort those horrible cats out,” she told Biscuit sleepily. “It’ll be OK.”

  Chapter Five

  “Time to get up!” Maddy’s mum pulled open the bedroom curtains.

  “Mmmm. Oh!” Maddy suddenly remembered that Biscuit was upstairs with her, although she was no longer asleep on her pillow.

  “Your dad told me he’d let you bring Biscuit up here. I suppose it isn’t doing any harm, as long as you make sure she doesn’t get shut in. We don’t want her weeing on your bedroom carpet!” She looked around. “Where is she? Has she gone downstairs already?”

  Maddy sat up. “She was sleeping next to me.”

  “She’s here!” Her mum was crouching down, peering under the bed. “It’s all right, Biscuit, I’m not scary. Oh dear, Maddy, she looks very nervous.”

  “Maybe she heard you coming in and thought it was Tiger and Tom again.” Maddy hopped out of bed to look underneath.

  Biscuit was squeezed as far back as she could go, pressed against the wall. Maddy could see her whiskers trembling. “Biscuit! Come on, it’s OK.”

  Very slowly, Biscuit crept out and let Maddy pick her up. But she flinched when Maddy’s mum tried to stroke her.

  “She’s usually so friendly,” Maddy’s mum said sadly. “Perhaps she’ll feel better after some food.”

  “I hope so.” Maddy carried Biscuit downstairs with her once she’d got dressed. She could feel Biscuit tensing up as they came down the hall into the kitchen. She was practically clinging on to Maddy’s cardigan, and she didn’t seem very interested in eating even when Maddy filled up her bowl.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on her while you’re at school,” Mum said. “How are things going, anyway?”

  Maddy shrugged.

  “I know you’re missing Kate, but I’m sure there are lots of other people in your class that you could chat to,” her mum said persuasively.

  But none of them are as nice as Kate, Maddy thought. And none of them want to chat to me. It just isn’t that easy…

  “It’s a month till Sports Day,” Mrs Melling, Maddy’s teacher explained, as she led everyone out on to the school field. “So we’re going to be doing some athletics – running, hurdles, relay races, that sort of thing.”

  Several people sighed grumpily, but Maddy smiled. She loved to run. And she was pretty good at it, too. The sun was shining, and she could feel it on her hair and her arms. She’d been worrying about Biscuit all morning, even though Dad had left the cat flap blocked up, in case Tiger and Tom tried to get in again. Maddy knew Biscuit should be fine, but she couldn’t stop thinking about her, and how frightened she’d been. Hopefully some running would shake off the jittery, miserable feeling inside her.

  The school field had a big oval track painted on to the grass, and after they’d warmed up, Mrs Melling divided them into groups to run heats. Maddy won her first heat easily – none of the others were really trying – but she was surprised when she beat a couple of boys in the next race. Some of the girls even started cheering for her at the end.

  “Well done! You’re so quick!” Becky came over and patted her on the back.

  Maddy laughed, a little nervously. She’d always liked Becky, but she was really popular and had lots of friends. She was nice to Maddy, but they’d never hung around together much.

  “Beat Joe in this last race, please!” Becky begged. “He’s so full of himself, look at him!”

  Joe was talking to a couple of other boys and doing show-off stretches. He obviously thought he was bound to win.

  “OK.” Maddy grinned. She wasn’t tired at all. As they lined up for the last race she bounced on her toes, staring at the finish line. As soon as Mrs Melling blew her whistle, she shot away, sprinting as fast as she could, and crossed the finish line a whisker ahead of Joe.

  “Yay! Maddy wins!” She could hear Becky yelling above all the others. It felt fantastic.

  With Becky and the others hugging her and telling her she was a star, it was easy to laugh off Joe growling about girls always cheating. And Becky’s table in class was behind hers, so Maddy could see Becky grinning at her every so often as they did their literacy after PE. It was the best time she’d had in school all term. She couldn’t wait to tell her mum and dad about it. They kept asking how school was going – it would be nice to be able to say she’d had a fun day.

  “How was
Biscuit?” Maddy asked hopefully, as she rushed up to her mum after school.

  Mum made a face. “She’s been scratching the sofa! I had to shut her out of the living room.”

  “Oh…” Maddy frowned. Biscuit had never done that before. She hoped Mum hadn’t been too cross with her.

  When they got home, Maddy put her bags down, expecting the kitten to bounce up to her, wanting to play, like she usually did. But Biscuit didn’t come running.

  “Biscuit!” Maddy looked round anxiously.

  “Try upstairs,” her mum suggested. “She seems to like it there now.”

  Maddy ran up the stairs and into her room. She couldn’t see Biscuit, but she had a horrible feeling she knew where she was. She knelt down, looking under the bed, and sighed. She was right. Biscuit was curled up in the corner again, looking at her with wide, worried eyes.

  “Oh, Biscuit…” Maddy whispered. “It’s all right, sweetie, come on out…”

  “I don’t think we can keep the cat flap blocked up like that,” Dad said, looking down at his ice cream thoughtfully. “Biscuit needs to be able to go out.”

  “But she doesn’t want to,” Maddy explained. “She’s scared.”

  “It isn’t good to keep her in – she should be out sharpening her claws on trees, not the sofa,” Mum sighed. “And it would be nice not to have to keep cleaning out the litter tray!”

  “I’ll do it,” Maddy said quickly. “I don’t mind. She’s too frightened to go in the garden.”

  She licked her ice-cream spoon, but she wasn’t really hungry any more. She could feel Mum and Dad both looking at her. And she was pretty sure they thought she was fussing too much.

  “I think Biscuit might just need to toughen up a bit,” Dad said gently.

  “She’s definitely getting bigger,” Mum pointed out. “She’ll be as big as Tiger and Tom soon.”

  “I bet she won’t,” Maddy said. “And however big she is, there’s still only one of her. Tiger and Tom work as a team, Mum! Like wrestlers!”

  Her mum frowned, and glanced meaningfully at her dad. Maddy knew what that look meant. They thought she was fussing about Biscuit because of school. Because she was feeling nervous and worried too. Mum and Dad reckoned Maddy needed to toughen up a bit, and make some new friends.

  “I’ll go and look on the net for some ideas,” she said quickly, wanting to get away before they started asking about school again, and if there was anyone she wanted to invite to tea. But maybe I could ask Becky over? she thought for a second, and then crushed the idea firmly. Becky was far too popular to want to hang around with her.

  “You want to do what?” Josh made a snorting noise.

  “A timeshare…” Maddy repeated, wriggling to keep her elbows on top of the fence. She was standing on a bucket to see over the fence and it was a bit wobbly. “You keep Tiger and Tom in some of the time, so Biscuit can go out without them scaring her.”

  After tea, she’d turned on the computer to search her favourite pet advice websites, and found an email waiting for her from Kate. Maddy had sent her a message a couple of days ago, asking if she had any advice. The timeshare idea was something Kate had read about once, and it sounded perfect.

  Maddy took a deep breath. She didn’t like talking to Josh; he always made her feel stupid. But she had to. “Please can you think about it? Biscuit’s getting really twitchy and nervous. It wouldn’t have to be long. Maybe only for an hour a day? Just until she’s bigger and she can stand up for herself.”

  Josh shrugged. “How am I supposed to keep them in? Tiger and Tom have a cat flap. They go in and out whenever they want to.”

  “But couldn’t you—” Maddy began.

  “I’ve got football, I need to go,” Josh interrupted. And he disappeared through his back door, leaving Maddy peering over the fence after him.

  Maddy sighed. The timeshare had seemed like such a good idea. Except that stupid Josh couldn’t be bothered!

  She trailed back into the kitchen, and found Biscuit sitting on one of the chairs, staring anxiously at the cat flap – Maddy had moved the chair blocking it so she could get out.

  “We’ll have to think of something else,” she told Biscuit, tickling her under the chin.

  Biscuit rubbed her head against Maddy’s hand and purred.

  She really trusts me, Maddy thought. I have to sort this out somehow…

  Chapter Six

  Biscuit didn’t go out on her own at all for the rest of the week. Maddy took her out into the garden a few times, as she was pretty sure Tiger and Tom wouldn’t come into the garden if she was there. But as soon as she put Biscuit down, the little tortoiseshell would race for her cat flap. And even when she was inside, she spent most of her time hiding under Maddy’s bed. She even weed on the floor a couple of times, which made Mum cross.

  “I know it isn’t her fault, Maddy,” Mum told her on Friday morning, as she scrubbed at the landing carpet. “But the smell is horrible!”

  “You don’t want us to give her back to Donna, do you?” Maddy asked anxiously.

  Mum shook her head. “No… But we need to sort this out. Anyway, we’d better get off to school now.”

  Biscuit watched them from under the bathroom towel rail. She liked it there. It was warm and dark, and the bathroom didn’t have any windows she could see other cats from. She hadn’t gone downstairs to eat yet. She wasn’t sure she was brave enough. What if Tiger and Tom came back into the kitchen again?

  As the front door banged behind Maddy, Biscuit crept out to the top of the stairs. She was so hungry, she would have to risk the kitchen. She hurried down the stairs and peered round the kitchen door. No sign of any strange cats. Gratefully, she hurried in, and started to gulp down her food, stopping every few seconds to glance around worriedly.

  About halfway through her bowl, she began to relax a little, and slowed down enough to enjoy the food.

  Then the front door banged and she leaped away from the bowl in fright. Was it Tiger and Tom again? Panicking, Biscuit shot into the corner of the kitchen, trying to hide. She was so frightened that she weed all over the floor.

  “Oh, no! Biscuit!” Maddy’s mum said crossly, as she got back and saw the mess. “What on earth did you do that for? It’s only me.” She went to the cupboard under the sink to get some spray and a cloth. “Go on, shoo. I’ve got to wipe it up now.” She flapped the cloth at Biscuit grumpily.

  Biscuit was so jittery that the flash of the white cloth scared her, and she shot out of the cat flap to get away from it. Maddy’s mum had gone to fetch the mop, and she didn’t notice that the kitten had gone.

  Biscuit sat on the back step, staring around the garden. She hadn’t been outside for a week, and there were so many tempting smells. And there were bees, buzzing about by the lavender bushes. And butterflies… Cautiously, she padded out on to the lawn, shivering deliciously as the sun hit her fur.

  She didn’t even see Tiger before he leaped out from under the fence, and spat at her. She turned to race for the cat flap, but he chased her, knocking her sideways and clawing her ear. Biscuit looked around for Tom, wondering if he was about to jump out at her too, but Tiger seemed to be on his own for once. Not that it mattered – he was still more than twice as big as she was and horribly fierce. Biscuit mewed with fright as Tiger pounced at her again. She was never going to be able to get away. Unless… She tried to scratch him, shooting out a sharp-clawed paw, and he retreated a little, hissing. It gave her time to think.

  If she couldn’t beat him running, perhaps she could go up over the fence? Anything was worth a try. She jumped at Tiger suddenly, clawing him again, and then raced past him, heading for the fence. She scrambled up it, scrabbling and fighting for the top.

  Then she perched there, wobbling, and looked down at Tiger, who stared back up at her.

  Biscuit gave a frightened little squeak, and jumped off the other side of the fence…

  “Mum, where’s Biscuit? I thought she’d be under my bed, but I can’t find
her anywhere. I’ve looked in all the places she usually goes.”

  Mum frowned. “I haven’t actually seen her much today. She weed on the kitchen floor this morning… But I’m not sure when I saw her after that. I had to go and do some shopping, and then I came straight back from town to pick you up.”

  Maddy looked at Biscuit’s bed, as though she might suddenly appear from underneath it. Then she noticed the cat flap. “Oh! You moved the chair!”

  “I had to,” Mum said grimly. “I was wiping up cat wee round it. I see what you mean though, she might have gone out. But that’s good, Maddy! We want her to start going outside again.”

  “Not if those two thugs from next door are around,” Maddy muttered. “I’m going to check outside for her.”

  But there was no sign of Biscuit in the garden either, even after Maddy called and called.

  “Can’t you see her?” her mum asked, leaning out of the kitchen door. She was looking slightly worried now too.

  “No, and we normally feed her about now.”

  “I’ll look upstairs again, perhaps she got shut in somewhere,” Mum said.

  Maddy knew she’d already checked everywhere, but she nodded anyway. “Biscuit! Biscuit!” she called again.

  “Have you lost your kitten?”

  Maddy jumped. She hadn’t realized Josh was out in his garden. “Yes, you haven’t seen her, have you?”

  “Nope.”

  Maddy sighed. “Could you look out for her? Please?”

  “Yeah, all right.” But he didn’t sound very bothered, Maddy thought.

  She ran back inside. “Mum, do you think we should go and look for her? Oh, but we can’t!”