Chapter 1

I barely pawed at a crumpled newspaper, sitting on a piece of cardboard as my brother, Oreo, sat on the pavement a few feet away from me, staring at the town beyond the alleyway. I yawned, watching as Jen jumped up to the garbage bin, searching for scraps. I could go for some food right now... I'll help her in a minute. I flattened my ears, yawning again, and just as I was about to get up, I spotted a gray cat and a pale ginger and black cat walking into the alleyway. The ginger and black one was quite big…

It was a pregnant cat! I was about to greet them and ask them what they were doing here, but it looked like Oreo was going to take care of that for me, as he padded up to them and let out a friendly meow. I watched from the piece of cardboard, wondering if I should come up to them with Oreo as well or go help Jen dig out some scraps from the garbage bin as the blue-gray cat purred in greeting Oreo.

"Sorry to bother you, but have any of you seen a cat named Zach? He's a brown and black tabby?" The gray cat asked him, looking at Oreo, then me, then Jen as she continued to look into the trash bin. I wanted to think if I had seen any tabbies lately, but I figured I should just not barge myself into the conversation. "Err... I haven't, at least,"

Oreo turned around to face me as I watched them talk with curiosity, "What about you, Sally?" I thought carefully, remembering all the cats that had previously visited us. There was a tabby with blue eyes that came to the alleyway, but she was a female and her name wasn't Zach, it was Turtle. There once was a dark, skinny tabby cat with green eyes I had seen trotting around town, but that was a while ago, now.

I looked up at them, ready to give my answer. "No... I don't think we have. Is he a really really dark skinny tabby with green eyes?" The gray cat shook her head, as I thought of asking Jen. "Alright then, give me a second. I got up, trotted to the garbage bin, and yelled, "Jen! Have you seen a tabby cat named Zach?" "No!" Jen yowled back as she fell into the garbage bin, making a loud clatter of old cans and other trash.

I sighed, rolling my eyes, as she always seemed to be falling into that garbage bin. That loud noise would scare away the rats, too! I cantred up to them, stopping next to Oreo. "I'm sorry, but we haven't." The gray cat sighed, looking down. "Well, that's okay." They both turned around and began to walk off, and I tilted my head, wondering when they would find that Zach cat. I hope they find him soon!

I turned and trotted back to the cardboard I was laying on earlier, waiting for Oreo to follow me. I sat down on the cardboard, pawing at the newspaper once more as I watched Oreo as he stared at the ground, looking sad and then looking angry for a second, getting up and trotting to the garbage bin. He jumped up on the edge and jumped in, helping Jen get out of the mess.

She leapt out of the bin, a banana peel on her back, scoffing. Oh, Jen... I was bored... Maybe we're allowed to go on top of the buildings now? "Jen, can we go explore the roofs now? We haven't got to today!" Jen sighed, licking off her dirty fur as she sat next to the bin. Oreo leapt out of it as well, shaking his pelt off. "Go ahead, you two. I'm gonna keep looking for scraps, okay?"

I nodded, getting up eagerly and running up to my brother. "Let's go!" We sprinted to the steep, metallic stairs that lead up to the top of the buildings, and I outran him, gracefully hopping up the stairs as Oreo struggled to keep up. "Good night, wait up for me!" I heard Oreo pant from behind me as I reached the top. I turned around and giggled as I watched him slowly walk the rest of the way up the stairs, letting out a sigh as he reached the top as well.

"How are you not afraid you're going to fall?" He breathed heavily, clearly out of shape as I smiled, snickering at him. Turtle-foot... "Haven't you heard that cats always land on their feet?" I swiftly whisked past him, trotting along the top of the building with my tail high. "That's just an old rumor spread by dogs!" He scoffed, following closely behind me. I glanced over my shoulder with a smirk, letting out a purr.

"Anyways, do you think that old human is up here again?" "I hope he is, he always feeds us!" Oreo meowed. We ran past all the junk, stopping where the old human always was. Sure enough, the old human was there, sitting on the edge of the building, with a bowl of food in his hands. We both ran up to him, meowing and purring. We never got too close to him, though - Jen said never to trust humans.

We never told her about this human, she would ban us from coming to the top of the buildings forever! The human sat down the bowl of treats, and slowly walked back, us getting closer to the bowl of treats the farther away he walked. We cautiously approached the bowl, sniffing the treats. We both dug into the treats, savoring every bite. Why aren't there scraps this good in the garbage bin!

I thought, growling lowly as I chewed on a treat. We looked up to thank the human but he was gone. We quickly finished the bowl of treats, and we ran to the edge of the building, jumping up to the concrete walls that kept stuff from flying off. "This isn't safe..." Oreo meowed, looking at the neighboring buildings with concern.

"Just don't look down!'" I purred, bopping Oreo with my paw. "Tag!" I sped away from him, running to the top of the wall. "Sally!" He groaned as I got farther away from him. "You'll never get me now!" I purred, feeling the wind blow through my whiskers as I ran. Oreo started to run after me but stumbled slightly. I glanced back and saw his face, filled with determination and excitement.

I reached the end of the wall, and I turned, going to the next side of it. "You better run, little sis!" He laughed, running after me as fast as he could. I stopped, waiting for his arrival. He came, and we continued our game, running and laughing together. Our playful chase was finally over, and we both ran back down to Jen, exhausted and happy.