It was a relatively quiet day, and Cherry was taking full advantage of it to learn the city. It would have been fairly easy, except it wasn’t in the slightest. Her old home, she may have been able to explore by the end of the day, but this place wasn’t like any she had ever known. This was far larger than the small suburban neighborhood of the past. And to be truthful, it was a little daunting.

At least now, she was nearing the trees, so this had to be at least one end of the city, right? But there was still a building there, one that Cherry wasn’t sure she had seen before. The monsters there didn’t look like the type she usually saw. They were this weird yellow color, and had very odd limbs other monsters didn’t have.

And one of them had a cat on it.

For a moment, Cherry just stared at the cat, not moving. It seemed like he was saying something, but the tortoiseshell couldn’t hear what. Slowly, she found herself creeping forward, hiding behind a fence as she watched him. He seemed so sad, and Cherry felt so bad for him. But she also had so many questions. Why would a cat come here in the middle of the day to be depressed? Or maybe this was his home? He seemed pretty comfortable there, maybe it was possible?

Eventually, Cherry built up the courage to approach, wide eyes resting curiously on him. “Why do you seem so sad?”

255 Words

Cherry tilted her head as the cat stood up. “Lost in thought? What were you thinking about? How lonely you were? I mean, you seemed pretty lonely. Don’t you have friends to play with? Wait, that can’t be what you were thinking about, you said you weren’t sad. Umm…. were you thinking about wanting to be a tree? There are a lot of trees here, I guess. I wouldn’t want to be one, though. Could you imagine never being able to go anywhere? You have to sit still all day long. And how do trees even eat or sleep? And do they talk to their tree friends?”

Nimbus had leaped down, and Cherry watched as he seemed to circle her. “Um, the wilds? Do you mean out there?” She angled her ears to the tree line. “No, I haven’t been out that far, yet. Um, my house folk just moved here, so I’m just kind of exploring. I haven’t seen a place like this, before. There are a lot more trees here than I am used to. Like, a lot of trees. I’ve never seen so many in one place. I think I’ve only seen, like, one tree before. We had it at our old house. It was so much fun to climb. I miss that tree. But at least there are a lot more to climb! If I get that far, at least. It was a really long walk to get here. I’m tired. Hey, are those trees tired too? Is that why they are laying down? And where are their leaves and branches? They just look like really big sticks, not like a tree at all.”

Suddenly, she realized that Nimbus had asked her for her name. “Oh! I’m Cherry! Nice to meet you, Nimbus!”

297 Words, and a lot of tree