Nightfall

The night encompasses all, driving humans back to their dens, leaving the streets for us. The shadows are our friends, as we  traverse the alleys in search for anything those humans felt was unnecessary, yet which for us is a boon. Many of us are desperate enough for food that they plead with the humans during the day. How pitiful.

Yet I am starting to consider that a viable option. I cannot remember when the last time I ate a decent meal was. The rats are all gone, and the birds are too smart to outwit nowadays. The moldy walls, dripping wet at this time of year, make it impossible to search for food higher. And my previous trash can has been taken over by that scar face.

There are days when I come there and threaten him, but he always has a whole gang by his side. All that food used to be mine, but no more. Now stranger fangs gnaw at my leftover fishbone and pizza crust, tiny paws kneading at my old pillow. And that tyrant, the black shadow with the amber eye, stands there proudly against the pale moon, towering above all the other cats as her pierces me with his eye from atop the garbage can, moaning threateningly.

Today I approached him yet again. Things were more quiet than usual – perhaps they had gone to find mates? Still, I remained careful, trying to approach my food silently, and as quickly as I could. I could almost smell it.

Then I heard a hiss, a presence towering above me. The golden eye opened wide, the pupil deep as a black hole. I stared into the abyss and lost myself for a moment. I felt the hair on my back raise, my spine twisted into an arch as I screamed at him, baring all my fangs. And yet he was so, so much bigger. One swipe of his paw was enough to send me fleeing in a panic.

I ran away into the night, desperately trying to catch my breath. I then stopped as I saw a human. It was one of those really slow moving ones. It looked at me for a moment, went into a building, and came back with something that smelled simply divine. It looked at me, probably expecting me to come over, but I wasn’t stupid. It seemed to catch on, since it soon went back home, leaving behind only the thing that smelled so nice. I sunk my teeth into it. It was the biggest feast that I had had in a long time. I know it was from a human, but that didn’t count as begging. I mean it. I did not beg.