The Saddest Kitten

“Eat some more pasta, Isla,” Mum said, looking over at her.

Isla sighed and dug her fork in.

“I’m not very hungry,” she said a few moments later, stirring the pasta. “Can I go and do my homework?”

Her mum blinked. Usually she had to remind Isla over and over to get her homework done. “I suppose so. You’re really not hungry? Are you feeling all right?”

“Yeah… Just worrying about Hailey. Pickle doesn’t like the new kitten.”

Mum nodded. “Oh dear. Well I’m sure he’ll get used to having another cat around soon. Don’t fret, Isla.”

Isla wandered off upstairs, still miserable. Poor Pickle – what if he didn’t get used to it? Everyone seemed to think that he would and that he ought to. It was almost as if it was his own fault that he was upset and angry.

She scrawled her way through her maths homework, then stuffed it in her backpack and went to change into her pyjamas. Worrying made her tired, Isla decided. She didn’t feel like going downstairs to watch TV or play with Chloe and Sienna. She lay down on her bed instead, flicking through an old animal magazine.

If Pickle never decided to be friends with Silky, what would happen then? Isla turned over and pressed her nose into her pillow. Would Hailey’s mum and dad keep them both and just let them fight all the time? It would be awful. Pickle was miserable and Silky was scared. Neither of them would be happy.

What could be done about it, though?

Isla turned over on her back and stared up at the ceiling. She couldn’t see how it was all going to work out. The only solution was for Silky to go back to the shelter and then she would have been abandoned twice.

It wasn’t fair.

If Silky belonged to me, Isla thought, biting her lip, I’d look after her so well. It’s not that Hailey’s family isn’t looking after her – but they thought they would be the perfect home for her and they’re just not.

She shuffled her toes under the duvet, imagining a soft heavy lump of kitten slumped on top of them. She couldn’t help it. At her house, there was no sad older cat who needed his own family back, so Silky would be loved and fussed over and petted. Probably fussed over too much…

Isla sighed. That was exactly what Mum and Dad would say – that Chloe and Sienna were too young and not responsible enough. That they wouldn’t be able to cope with three children and a cat. Isla had begged so many times.

Over the next few days, Isla kept asking Hailey about Pickle and Silky. Maybe she went on about it a bit too much because Hailey started to look upset whenever Isla mentioned cats. She definitely tried to change the subject.

“So have you let Silky out of the dining room yet?” Isla asked as they walked back home on Friday afternoon. She’d tried not to talk about the cats all day but she was desperate to know what was happening.

Hailey made a face. “Yes. Mum was working from home yesterday, so she decided it was time.”

Isla waited and eventually Hailey added, “Silky’s still really scared of Pickle, though.”

“Poor kitten.” Isla sighed.

“It’ll get better,” Hailey said firmly. “They’ll settle down and one of these days we’ll laugh about how they used to fight.”

“How’s Pickle doing?”

“He keeps lurking about and glaring at Silky until we shoo him away. He’s jumped out at her a couple of times, so she just keeps hiding behind the sofa. She tried to climb the curtains to get away from him this morning. Mum wasn’t very happy about that.”

Then Hailey brightened up. “But guess what? She slept on my bed last night! She was so cute, all curled up.”

“Oh!” Isla felt a tight squeeze of jealousy inside her. Just like she’d imagined… Then she frowned. “But I thought Pickle always slept on your bed?”

“Not always,” Hailey said defensively. “He often sleeps with Max. And with Mum and Dad sometimes.”

Isla nodded. She didn’t want to fall out with Hailey. They hardly ever argued. They’d been best friends since they went to the same nursery. Mum had been worried about Isla starting nursery because she thought Isla would find it hard to cope with only one arm, and that the other children might tease her.

When they’d sat down for a drink of water on that first day, Hailey had looked at Isla’s water bottle and said, “Can you open that by yourself?” And Isla had nodded. After that, Hailey never said anything about Isla’s arm again and they were just friends.

“Maybe when it’s the summer holidays you can help cheer Pickle up and get him used to Silky,” she suggested. “There’s only a couple more weeks of school.”

Hailey brightened up. “Two more weeks!”

Silky blinked and yawned and curled herself tighter into the warm space behind Hailey’s knees. It had been raining and the night was chilly for July. The bed was so cosy, even if Hailey did wriggle about. Half asleep, Silky kneaded her paws in and out, almost remembering curling up with her mother. It felt so long ago.

A faint noise out on the landing jolted her wide awake again. Her ears pricked up and her heart began to race. Was it the other cat? She had avoided him for most of the day – he’d been outside a lot and then she had followed Hailey’s mum around. The people in the house always grabbed the other cat, or sometimes picked her up to get her out of his way, so she felt safer if she stayed with them.

Silky started to stand up, ready to jump away and hide if he came closer, but Pickle was faster than she was. He surged across the room in the shadows and leaped up on to the bed. Then he smacked hard at the kitten’s nose with one huge paw, hissing all the while.

The duvet moved underneath Silky, knocking her off balance as Hailey sat up in shock.

“What’s happening? Pickle? Hey!”

Silky staggered backwards, her fur on end, squeaking with fright. She’d been sleeping, that was all! Why was the big cat attacking her?

Pickle smacked her again, this time with his claws out, and Silky felt them scrape across her nose. She flattened her fragile ears back and fluffed up all over, trying to look bigger. Trying to look at least a tiny bit scary.

“Pickle, no!” Hailey yelled. “Leave her alone. Bad cat!” She leaned over, picking Silky up and cuddling her close, pressed up against her nightie.

“Hailey, it’s the middle of the night – what are you doing?” Hailey’s dad stomped sleepily into her bedroom and flicked on the light. “Oh – it’s those cats. I should have known. Right, give me the kitten. She can go back in the dining room, since her bed’s still there.”

Silky squeaked again, blinking in the light as Hailey’s dad grabbed her and marched downstairs. He put her down in her bed quite gently but he shut the door with a bang. The little tabby kitten sat there, wide-eyed and shivering, for a long time.

“We’re going to splash you!” Isla yelled, and Sienna and Chloe squealed with delight. It was the first really hot day of the holidays and Hailey’s mum had let her invite Isla round to play in their big paddling pool. Then she’d seen Chloe and Sienna looking envious and invited them too, and Isla’s mum for a coffee. Hailey and Isla had been chasing the little ones with water pistols and then gone on to plastic bottles out of the recycling bin, since they held more water. There were puddles all over the grass.

“I think you should all stop and have an ice lolly,” said Hailey’s mum, coming out with a box. “It’s so hot! You look like you need a sit-down. And then probably more sun cream.”

Isla and Hailey flopped down on the bench outside the back door to eat their lollies. It was so hot that the patio felt like it was burning Isla’s feet. She drew them up on to the bench and looked at Hailey. “What are you staring at the bushes for?” she asked, trying to see where Hailey was looking.

“We’ve started letting Silky go out in the garden,” Hailey told her. “She loves it. I was just seeing if I could spot her.”

“Oh! I thought she must be asleep on your bed or something!” Isla said, looking around eagerly. “I didn’t realize she was out here too.”

“She likes the garden on the other side of our fence,” Hayley explained. “She creeps underneath it. They’ve got a pond with fish in – she sits and watches them.”

Isla smiled, imagining it. A pond must be a bit like kitten TV. After that, she kept an eye out in case Silky popped back under the fence but there was no sign of the little kitten.

Isla’s mum took Sienna and Chloe home after a bit – she said the big girls needed some time to themselves – and Hailey and Isla flopped down on to a picnic rug. They were chatting when Isla suddenly froze – she’d caught a movement in the bushes by the fence. “Is that Silky coming back?” she whispered to Hailey

“Yes! Oh look! She’s spotted a butterfly. She loves trying to chase them.”

Isla watched, holding her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud. Silky was bounding about after the peacock butterfly, even hopping up on to her hind paws to try and catch it. But it kept swooping away, just out of reach.

After one really acrobatic jump, the butterfly soared over Silky’s head, and she tried to lean back and snatch it out of the air. Hailey and Isla caught their breath as the tabby kitten teetered and fell over backwards. She squirmed upright again at once, looking disgruntled.

“Awww. Is she OK?” Isla eyed Silky worriedly. She was washing her ears very thoroughly – maybe they hurt?

Hailey grinned. “She’s fine. Cats do that when they’re embarrassed. She’s pretending it didn’t happen!”

“She looks as though she’s enjoying the garden… So are things a bit better with her and Pickle?” Isla didn’t look at Hailey as she said it – she didn’t want to keep going on and on.

“Ye-e-e-es. I suppose so.” Hailey sounded doubtful.

Isla waited.

“It’s better now that Silky can go outside. But Pickle still hisses at her all the time. And if he comes into a room, then Silky runs out.” Hailey fiddled with the daisy chain she was making and sighed. “Actually, it’s horrible.”

“Oh… Well, at least Silky’s not still shut in the dining room. That’s good, isn’t it?” Isla said.

“Yeah…”

“Um, maybe we can do this again tomorrow,” Isla suggested, trying to think how to cheer Hailey up. “You could come over to ours. I bet Mum wouldn’t mind. I can ask her?”

Hailey shook her head. “I wish I could. But we’re going away – it’s my gran’s seventieth birthday. There’s a party and all the family’s going to stay in a hotel for the night.”

“Oh wow, lucky you!”

“I don’t want to go,” Hailey said miserably. “I tried to talk to Mum about it but she said we had to. It’s been planned for ages and it’s Gran’s special day.”

“But why?” Isla asked, frowning. A night away in a hotel sounded great to her. “It’ll be fun. The hotel might even have a proper pool!”

“Silky and Pickle.” Hailey looked up at her anxiously. “We’ve got two special cat feeders with timers on, so Mum says it’s OK to leave them because it’s only overnight. But they’re always fighting! What if they have a big fight while we’re away? Silky’s already got a scratch on her nose. I don’t want to leave them alone together – but I don’t want to miss Gran’s special birthday either.”

Isla stared at the pattern on the rug, trying to think. After the way she’d seen Pickle behaving before, she wouldn’t want to leave them overnight either. “Could you put Silky back in the dining room?” she suggested. “I know she probably won’t be that happy about it but at least she won’t be able to fight with Pickle.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Hailey nodded. “She’ll hate it but you’re right – it’s better than keeping them together.”

Isla jumped up. “Hang on a minute! I’ve had an idea but I just need to pop home for a second.” She darted along Hailey’s side path and dashed down the street to her house.

“Mum, are we doing anything tomorrow or Sunday?” she asked hopefully when her mum answered the door.

“I’m not sure. Why?” Her mum sounded cautious, as though she thought Isla might be about to plan a sudden day out, or maybe a huge party.

“Hailey’s family are going away because it’s her gran’s birthday. It’s just overnight, but Hailey’s worried about leaving Silky and Pickle – you know how they keep fighting. Could I be their cat sitter? Just pop in every few hours and make sure they’re OK?”

“I suppose so,” Isla’s mum said slowly. “Dad or I would have to go with you but that shouldn’t be a problem. We’re around most of the weekend. Do you want me to talk to Hailey’s mum about it?”

“Yes! Oh thanks, Mum – you’re a star! I’ll tell Hailey.” Isla ran back along the road and flung herself down on the rug. “Mum says yes!”

Hailey looked at her blankly. “Yes to what?”

“Oh! Sorry!” Isla rolled her eyes. “I went to ask her if I could cat sit Pickle and Silky while you’re away. I could pop round to your house and check they’re OK. Not just at mealtimes, maybe every couple of hours? I can make a fuss of them both and you won’t have to worry about them.”

Hailey looked hopeful. “Really? Your mum said you could do that?”

“Yes. She says she or Dad would have to come too. I don’t really see why but it doesn’t matter. As long as I can go.”

“That’s brilliant.” Hailey hugged Isla hard. “You’re so clever, thank you!”

The kitten peered out from underneath Hailey’s bed. There was a strange feeling in the house this morning. People kept running up and down the stairs and doors were banging. There were bags and boxes in the hallway too. She she had found the trailing end of a string of bunting and pounced on it with fierce growls and sharp claws, but Hailey’s mum had unhooked her and tucked it away. Then Silky had climbed all the way up the stairs to Hailey’s room by herself, which was still quite hard work, but Hailey seemed too busy to play with her. She was sitting on the floor with a bag, putting things in and taking them out again, and murmuring to herself. Every so often, she jumped up and ran to fetch something.

“Pyjamas!” she said, looking over at Silky under the bed. “I nearly forgot!”

As Hailey rummaged in a drawer, Silky padded out and sniffed at the bag. It smelled … interesting. It smelled of Hailey but of outside too. She put her paws up on the side and looked in. Soft clothes, mostly, and a couple of teddy bears. Hailey was still searching through the drawer and she didn’t notice as Silky hopped up on to the bag and then scrambled inside. It was cosy in there and the little kitten felt safe, nestled inside Hailey’s clothes, with the top of the bag drawn over her head. She was always on the lookout for places like this – places where she could hide from Pickle.

She yawned and flexed her tiny claws in and out of Hailey’s hoodie. She could feel her eyelids closing. So soft, in here…

Silky woke with a squeak when Hailey’s pyjamas landed on her head. She sat up, confused and blinking, and wriggled out to look up indignantly at Hailey.

“Oh, Silky, there you are. I’m sorry!” Hailey was laughing as she picked up the little kitten, untangling her from the pyjamas. “It’s OK. I didn’t mean to squash you. I didn’t know you’d jumped in there!” She tickled Silky under her chin and the kitten pointed her nose to the ceiling and purred. That was her favourite place to be scratched.

“You can’t come with us. I’m really sorry,” Hailey whispered. “But you’ll be fine. Isla’s going to look after you. And you like Isla, I know you do. She’s so excited. She’s going to make you a new cat toy – she showed me a picture.”

“Hailey! Are you nearly done? We need to get going!”

“Coming, Mum!”

Silky stamped her paws with pleasure as Hailey smoothed one finger gently along her back. “Bye, little one. See you tomorrow afternoon. You’ll be OK…”

Silky followed her out on to the landing and watched as Hailey hurried down the stairs with her bag.

“Did you pack your nice shoes?”

“Yes, Mum! You already asked me!”

And they were gone, just like that, when Silky was only halfway down the staircase. She stood there, watching the front door swing shut and listening to the car rumbling away.

The house felt strangely empty and so quiet. Silky wondered where Pickle had gone.

“Mum – can we go round to Hailey’s? They were leaving mid-morning, Hailey said, and I promised I’d go and check on the cats at lunchtime.”

Isla’s mum looked at her, frowning a little. “Ummm, not right now, Isla. Sorry. Dad’s gone to the supermarket and I don’t think taking Sienna and Chloe to Hailey’s house is a very good idea, do you?”

Isla bit her lip. “No … but I promised. Hailey was really worried. I said I’d definitely go and check on the cats at lunchtime.” She eyed Sienna and Chloe, who were both colouring at the kitchen table. Couldn’t Mum just leave them for a few minutes? They were fine and it was only two doors down…

Except she wanted to spend longer than a few minutes fussing over both cats. And just then Sienna decided that Chloe’s purple pen was nicer than hers and snatched it, and Chloe thought the best answer to that was to sweep all the pens off the table on to the floor…

So that wasn’t happening.

“When Dad gets back from the supermarket,” Isla’s mum promised, hurrying to stop Sienna grabbing Chloe’s drawing before she could rip it up.

“OK…” Isla sighed. Dad would be ages doing the big weekly shop and she’d told Hailey she’d absolutely, definitely go round at lunchtime.

Isla trailed out into the hallway and sat down on the stairs, where she could watch through the frosted glass in the front door for the car drawing up.

Sometimes she could really do without her little sisters.

After a few minutes sitting there with her chin on her hand, Isla realized that she was staring vaguely at the big key hanging on the wall beside the front door. It had a row of little hooks on it, and it was where her mum and dad hung up their door keys, and any other keys they had, like the spare key for her nan’s house – and the key to Hailey’s front door.

It was just there, right in front of her.

And it would be helpful if she went by herself, wouldn’t it? Mum and Dad were both busy, so why give them the bother of having to go with her?

By this time, Isla had almost convinced herself that it was her duty to go, right now. Chloe and Sienna having another meltdown in the kitchen – because Sienna had tried to write her name and written the S the wrong way round – only made the decision even easier.