Chapter Text
Being a stray cat requires some skill. Well, to be perfectly honest, it requires a LOT of skill. He knew it and he also knew he was very good at it. Like, ridiculously good. Nature gave him a small, but very strong and nimble body. He could easily hide, hunt and escape. His other interests included mostly humans. Watching them doing strange, inexplicable things. For example, what was the whole deal with their cars? He's gotten used to them by now, that's for sure, but if you really think about it, they are really strange. Cars, buses, TRAINS, they are just these weird giant beasts that swallow people and things and then throw them up randomly. They must have really bad tummies... They also ate cats sometimes. Those sad furry things who were silly enough to befriend humans and live with them in their houses. Humans were really stupid if they allowed themselves to be eaten by the beasts. But did they really have to bring their cat friends with them?
There were, however, some human's cat friends who never even left their houses. He could see them, but he couldn't touch them. They were as unreachable as things he saw in puddles. Maybe they weren't even real? No, they were. He talked to some cats who lived in the houses. They were real. And they loved humans. At least, some of them.
So, his life was filled with mystery. He knew a lot, but many things he couldn't understand.
But did he really want to understand humans? No. He was happy to be a cat.
Untill... Something happened...
He woke up because he was freezing. For a moment he thought that it was probably winter, but it wasn't. So, why didn't his long fur save him from the cold? Because he had no fur anymore! He looked at his paws, they were different. They were strange and long and not beautiful. Pinkish. The colour of humans' faces and hands and legs. This couldn't be. He screamed, but he didn't hear his nice voice, it was something else.
The terrifying discovery landed on him like a garbage bag on the ground. He wasn't a cat anymore, he was a human. But how did it happen? Did he eat something? Probably. He jumped up and tried to throw up, but it didn't work. Also, it was apparent that his new body wasn't really fit for jumping like this, because he was too heavy. He sat back down and thought that he would have to walk on two feet, it seemed stupid. Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe he'll wake up soon. He remembered how once he was chased by a dog in his dream and woke up because he was too scared. He was pretty sure scared right now, so, why didn't he wake up? He got up and ran a bit, but his feet and arms were in pain every moment they touched the ground. He lied down and started crying. But lying down was painful as well.
He never thought being a human would be so painful. He now understood why they needed their clothes and houses and why they were ready to be eaten by cars. But he wouldn't do it... He was going to find a way to become a cat again. But where would he start? He was a human now... So he could enter a human house and live there, right? He looked around. He was in a back alley of a house, he could easily go in.
He got up on his two feet and approached the door. He saw it being opened many times, so he pulled the handle. It didn't open. He remembered that humans would put little sticks in little holes and open the doors. He took a stick from the ground and tried to do something. The door opened*. He walked in. The house was not what he had imagined. It had some empty buckets and some other things that didn't smell nice. He was disappointed. What do humans do here? What do they eat? He couldn't see or smell anything good. He walked further and saw stairs and other doors. One of these doors just seemed nice, he walked towards it. It was closed. He decided to think for a while and sat on the rug before the door. His furless skin was too sensible and he felt that there was something under the rug. He reached for it and found the key, or, as he understood it, the stick that could open the door.
What he entered was a flat. It was the real place where humans lived. It was warm and smelled good. He tried to hear if anyone was around, but he didn't hear anything. So, it was his house. He was a human and now he had a house. He was so good at it!
He got excited and started discovering what he had in his house. He opened every door and smelled everything. He found some food and, after a little feast, clothes. He found a mirror and somehow understood that it was him in the reflection, even though at first he thought it was someone else. He had to get used to seeing himself like this. His fur was more yellow than before and he didn't have much of it. He looked different from other humans he'd seen, because, as he understood now, they all wore clothes. So, he tried to put some of them on, it was difficult, but he managed. Then he went to eat a bit more. Now as he was really, really full and warm, he wanted to sleep, so, he went to the closet with clothes, put some on the floor, lied down on them and fell asleep.