Fred

"Fred" an original story by Winter Burnett

Once upon a time there was a cat. His name was Fred. Fred enjoyed long walks down the halls of his caged life. You see. Fred was in a pound with many other kitty and puppy friends. Fred was quite unhappy with his situation and he wished to change it, for the cries of his kitten and puppy friends caused him to lose much sleep at night. One day he made a plan.

"Ah ha!" Fred thought "I will become a ninja cat!" 

So off went Fred to the ninja cat academy. Fred learned the art of being sneaky and discovered he was quite talented on his toes. After a long, hard, complicated, annoying year Fred finally earned his ninja badge of honor: a shiny badge for his tail. Now you may wonder why the ninja graduates were given a shiny badge, but the true test of ninja skills is to hide this badge from those who do not know the ways of the ninja.

Fred went back to the pound and snuck in. Not the normal type of sneaking. The ninja cat type of sneaking. He realized with great distain that there were even more humans patrolling the place than before! The cadges had heightened security with the latest technology, and there were even more puppies and kitties trapped than before he left. 

Fred was not discouraged though. He slithered past the humans on all fours and discovered the secret lever that would release all the animals. He had learned up to a human second grade reading level and decoded the human's work schedule. He remembered previous years a time when a human had left a back door open and made a mental note of the alleyway it led out to. 

His plan was made. 

Quickly he blended in with the other animals as the workers rushed past to close and clock out.

He waited until the clock hands were at the correct time and he rallied all the animals together. 

"My friends" he cried out "The time has come!" he took a deep breath "The time has come for us to live our lives outside the boarders of the metal slotted walls! We must make strides for our right to freedom! We must make strides for the door!"

And with that Fred sprung up on the counter and tapped the lever with his newly badged ninja tail and the cages released months and years of those in long awaiting in suffering. The puppies and kitties (and this one turtle named Jerahmy who had lived there many years with no one to love him because he was not soft and fuzzy) all made their strides towards freedom. They made it out into the world and gazed at the moon and the stars. 

There was a forest not too far away where they decided to set up a camp for a few days. 

Some of the animals would leave one by one as they found humans whom they could care for. Others seperated and wandered off into the city, and even others still disappeared into the forest into a greater journey. But Fred the ninja cat kept his promise to the original pound animals and stayed with the last group in the forest. 

Every night they would have a feast and dance together and stay up late into the night telling stories of old and making many memories that were new. The others who left would come back from time to time and tell of the adventures they were on. 

One evening Fred looked up and realized he did more than save the pound animals from their cages. He brought them together as a family. 

THE END

Backstory on this short story. My friend posted something on the book of our faces. Upon reading my friend's post I realized my friend needed to read a bedtime story. Now my sassy social media hipster self was going to write a one sentence story with a great deal of hype before it, but then the procrastinating writer hiding within me jumped up at the opportunity to create something we had not done before. Thus created this beautiful story. The End of the backstory