Barking woke me up. Dogs in another room were rattled, and all the cats in this room were meowing. I groaned internally, opening my eyes. The light coming into the cage bothered my eyes until they adjusted to it.

"What's going on?" I questioned loudly over the noise. I went to the barred cage door and looked down through the cracks. The cat below me pushed his nose through the door below me.

"People here to adopt." He meowed and I nodded, pawing my fur. I cleaned myself up and shacked out my fur.

I sat down and watched as a man with two boys ran into the room. Automatically, I knew this wasn't the family for me. I did not want my tail to constantly be tugged on by some little bratty children. I shifted my fur slightly, making it look more scruffy. I put on an attitude and sat in the corner of the cage, flicking my tail wildly. The father was looking at the cat across from me, and the one kid was looking at me.

"Daddy! What about this one?" The kid said, pointing at me. The dad walked over to look at me and I hissed out, swatting my paw at the cage.

"Sorry son, not this one." He said, then went over to another cage.

"Why'd you do that! They would have adopted you!" The cat below me meowed quietly, and I circled and laid down, looking out through the wire door.

"Not the right family," I said, and he hissed.

"Any family is a good family!" He grumbled beneath me. He seemed more upset than I thought he should and didn't understand where it was coming from. I wondered if this was his last day as well.

A little blonde girl and her mother walked in, and I knew that this was potentially the right family.

"Now daddy said that we're getting a dog, honey. We're only just looking at the cats." The mother said, and my heart fell. I'd just have to try really hard to convince the mother that I'm a good "pet".

I meowed softly, shifting my fur to be puffy and soft, drawing the little girl in.

"Mommy, look at this one!" The little girl said, looking at me as she stood on her tiptoes. One of the vets that ran the clinic came in, the mother flagging her down.

"Could we look at this one?" The mother asked and I meowed.

"For sure." The vet said, opening my cage. I walked towards the vet and she grabbed hold of me.

"This kitten is fairly new, we picked her up last night after someone gave us a tip on her whereabouts." The vet told them, handing me to the mother. I purred, meowing softly in her arms, letting her do whatever to me. I knew I could easily win them over.

"What a sweet little kitten." The mother said, scratching behind my ears. I purred and the mother handed me to the daughter. As the daughter petted me, I looked over at the cat that was in the cell beneath mine. I blinked a couple times, taking him in. I now understood why he was so mad at me for hissing at the family earlier.

He was a younger black cat, with only three legs. He meowed and I reached out for him, pointing and making it obvious for the little girl to look at him. If it was the last thing I did, I would get him adopted.

"Mommy!! I like this one, but I like the black one in there!" She said, handing me to the vet to put back in the cage.

"Oh my." The mother said, and I watched as the mother fell in love with him almost instantly. The father came in and talked to the mother quietly, about not finding a nice enough dog for their daughter. The cat in the mother's hands meowed softly, pulling in the dad's attention.

"What a cute little cat." He said, scratching the black cat's head. She handed it to their daughter and she laughed as the cat played with her. The parents stepped out of the room for a minute, discussing whether or not they would get the cat. Besides, they had come here for a dog. They walked back in and watched how the little girl played along with the cat. She seemed so happy, and the mother instantly knew her decision. The father and mother exchanged glances and nodded.

"I think we'll take this one!" The mother said to the vet and they took the cat, putting him back in the cage and taking the family out of the room.

"Thank you," He meowed beneath me, scratching at the bottom of my cage.

"No problem. You need a home more than I do." I meowed quietly and stretched out. The girl came back and got her cat, her mother and father happier than they were when they first came.

A young teenager with brown hair came in with her father, looking around. She was maybe a couple of years younger than me or maybe even the same age as I was. I walked right up to the cage door and sat down, looking out at her sideways. I swished my tail from side to side slowly, staring into her eyes.

"I like this one." The girl said staring back at me. She poked her finger through the cage and I rubbed my face against it. The father walked out of the room, and the vet came in with a carrying case.

Did he just...?

In his hands were already papers for the adoption. He handed them back to the vet with a stack of bills. Was I just adopted?! The man didn't even seem to flinch.

I was confused at how it had gone down so fast.

Guess his daughter was a little bit spoiled, or he didn't like wasting time.

The vet opened my cage and grabbed me out, putting me into the carrying case. She handed me to the girl and she didn't even look at me. We seemed to leave the building in a hurry and were rushed into a sleek looking limo.

I made the immediate assumption that these people were a bit rich.

I meowed and the girl put the cage on the floor of the car. I got comfortable, expecting to be here for a while. The car ride was long and slow, which was enough time for me to doze off.

About a couple of hours later, I woke up and the limo was just pulling up to a driveway. The girl lifted the carrier onto her lap and I could see a house. Scratch that, a mansion. I mean, this place looked huge. White exterior walls with large columns holding the extended roof out, making the front stairs shaded. Beige cement stairs led up to a large set of dark oak double doors with gold handles. 

The driver opened the girl's door and she grabbed the carrier, bringing me into the mansion. Once the main door to the mansion was closed, she put the carrier down and opened the little cage door.

"Welcome home, cat." She said, heading up a flight of stairs to the right. I wandered on the main wood floor, looking at my new house. The large main entrance opened up into a living area, then to a big kitchen. It had silver appliances that all matched one another. There was an island with a grey marble finish in the middle, and a black pot holder hanging above the island.

There was a stream of lights above the stove, the fridge and around the hanging pot holder. Past the kitchen was a dining room, with a big rectangular table and about twelve chairs. A crystal chandelier hung above the table, and the dining table was covered in a deep red table clothe.

I went back into the living area, which contained a massive flat screen TV pinned to the wall, two black sofas with red and black throw pillows. There was a black coffee table with a glass center with a deep red carpet tucked underneath.

I walked into another room, which I assumed was the father's study. Inside was a large desk and a black chair with wheels on the one side. Two chairs sat opposite, probably for meetings or guests. Lining the walls were dark bookcases filled with books, art, and glass or clay sculptures. Pictures hung in the spaces where the bookcases didn't cover. There was a big window behind the rolling chair which was covered with black blinds.

I exited the room and decided to venture upstairs, swishing my tail back and forth slowly as I made my way around. Running up the stairs, I went to explore the carpeted second floor. On my right was a spare room with a simple small bed, plain white walls and a lamp stand with a decorative golden lamp atop. The room to my left up a few more feet was a huge bathroom, that contained a large jacuzzi tub and a glass walk-in shower room.

I wandered down the hall, going into what I assumed was the girl's bedroom, seeing as she was laying down on the bed. She was occupied, texting away on her cell phone. She didn't seem to notice that I had entered. The walls were a light purple, two windows outlined with a dark navy blue ribbon-type paint in a fancy pattern. A TV was attached to the wall in the corner with an Xbox 360 sitting on the ground below it.

Her bedspread was a dark purple, with a white headboard and dark blue pillows. She sat up and put her phone down next to her on her bed, crossing her legs.

"So, you found your way up here cat. Come here." She said, scratching her bed with her fingers. I did as she said and got up onto the bed in one leap from where I stood before.

"Wow, that actually worked. My old dog never listened that well." She said, and I meowed in response.

"You know, ever since mom died, the only friends I've had have been pets. But I think you'll be different." She said, petting me with her right hand. Her phone buzzed and she picked it up off the bed. I kind of felt bad for the poor girl, having lost her mother. Then again, I lost both my parents to hunters; her mother probably just died of some sort of disease or unfortunate event. People all go through there own struggles, and I would never down play hers even though mine were a little more... horrific.

"Now, what should we call you...?" She questioned, dropping her phone back down onto the bed.

I rolled my eyes. Here we go, watch it be some crazy name like Sparkly Sparky or Tuchi Cat, or Blueberry Spice Head.

"How about... Aria?" The girl said and I shrugged naturally. She laughed and I meowed, purring for her amusement. She was probably about fifteen or sixteen, but you never know these days with kids looking like adults.

"Well Aria, I like you. You're funny and adorable. I'm Cassie, even though you don't really need to know my name. It's just a nice thought that we could get introduced properly." She said and I rolled onto my back, exposing my stomach.

She rubbed my stomach for a minute when her father came into sight in the doorway. She reached over to her dresser and grabbed a thin light purple collar, clipping it around my neck.

She got up and went over to another drawer set and opened it, pulling out a small silver letter "A". She came back over to me and attached it to the collar. I tried looking down at it and pushed my chin so far into my neck it hurt.

"I'm going out Cassie. If anything happens, call me or 911." He said standing outside her room, holding a brown briefcase. He looked at us for a few seconds then left. Cassie huffed out, then laid back on her bed.

"Dad never stays around long enough these days. Sometimes he stays in his study for two or three days without eating or drinking. And other times, he goes out to the bar and I'm left here all alone." She said, and I started to feel bad again.

She sat back up and got out of bed, walking out the door.

"Come on Aria, you must be hungry." She said, walking downstairs. I followed her into the kitchen, her going directly to the fridge.

"Now, let's see. We don't have any cat food yet, so I hope you don't mind sushi." She said, placing a platter of sushi on the island. I hopped up on to the island, eating a piece of sushi. I meowed, but if I had been in my natural human form, I would have moaned. This sushi was amazing; it was probably also crazy expensive. The small label on the box read sixty-two dollars.

This was the life, I had finally made it.

As I was lost in thought, the sound of glass smashing echoed through the household.

Cassie gasped quietly and grabbed me tightly with both of her hands, running upstairs with me in her arms. She ran into her room and shut the door. She went right into her closet, shutting it as well. She put me down and turned on the light in her closet. For a rich girl, her closet was pretty small, I thought as I looked around the densely packed space. That's when she pushed on a hidden button behind a dress and a panel door opened, revealing a secret room.