She’d experienced water before. Outside of actually needing to drink it, she’d fallen into Jamie’s paddling pool in the garden area outside his apartment. It was a torturous affair for her.
But this was no paddling pool. It stretched out in all directions. The surface was only a few feet from her head.
She learned to swim right there and then. A movement of both arms seemed to do the trick. She waded as hard as she could, trying to reach the surface.
It was no use.
Time and oxygen were running out. A feeling of suffocation began to pervade her body and mind. The ensuing panic afforded her that vital few seconds she’d need if she was to ever reach the surface.
Bwup, bwup, bwup…
Jelly felt her whiskers direct her away from the surface – the opposite direction to her she felt she needed to go.
A dolphin echo from way, way down pierced through the water. Before long, a second and third siren beamed through the density of the ocean.
Her claws opened out and sparked again, pointing toward the ocean bed. It was too far down to be seen with her eyes. It was clear to her that her whiskers were pointing her to the ocean bed.
Jelly had no concept of drowning. She knew she needed to breathe, though, that much was clear. How long could she hold on for without any air?
Whump.
A ripple of bubbles spread apart as she waded downward, in her infinite wisdom, hoping she’s find a second surface. With no concept of drowning came little concept of how physics worked. She was a cat, after all, trying to figure out everything on her own terms.
The pervading tail-end of the whump noise rumbling through the water crashed against her, firing up her internal engine. She clawed at the bubbles, hoping one of them might release so much-needed respite.
No such luck.
The other bubbles chuckled away, laughing at her, as she tried to kill them. They were too fast.
Whump…
It was easy enough for her to recoil and tumble head-over-tail in the weightlessness of the ocean. A feeling she’d experienced once or twice during zero gravity training. At least she had that going for her.
That second whump sound came from somewhere down below. Jelly pressed her paws to her face and stopped moving. Her tail drifted up between her fanned-out legs as she tried to block out the fury she felt.
“Bleooowwulp…” she squealed, expending most of what little oxygen remained in her body.
Then… that dawning realization set in. No more air. That was her last breath floating in a warbled, glinting cloud dead in front of her face.
Her whiskers buzzed to life once again, sending a tingling sensation down her spine.
Jelly barreled over and plummeted toward the sea bed as fast as she could. On the way, she spotted a school of fish swimming around. The same fish that would go on to beach themselves and turn into those creatures.
She wished she could trade places with them.
Biddum-biddum-biddum…
Her heart-rate quickened. The water felt like it was heating up. Nothing to do with her proximity within the water, rather, her rising body temperature and fear that death was looming.
Death was on the cards if a way out didn’t present itself soon.
“Blowaarggh…” Jelly let out the last gasp of oxygen she had in her lungs. The closer to the ocean bed she swam, the more her whiskers lit up and fizzed.
Her infinity claws pushed push the water away, almost intuitively. She breast-stroked deeper and deeper toward the ocean bed.
A pink hue burst through the water from below like a discarded floodlight. The strips of light bounced around, offering her a challenge.
Swipe right, fail to catch.
Swipe left, bound forward – still no success.
The light couldn’t be caught. The closer she swam to the source the more her whiskers seemed to guide her.
Way, way up above, an unintelligible voice shouted something at someone. Then, the sound of a holy thud creaked across the ocean’s surface.
A deathly howl followed.
The blackened branches of the tree bulleted through the water, narrowly missing Jelly as she continued to swim…
And swim…
Her whiskers danced a glorious light show as the source of the pink beams made itself visually available.
A gelatinous blob of pink throbbed near the root of the tree, surrounded by a sliver of gold haze.
“Glub… glub,” Jelly’s mouth opened out. Her eyes widened at the view of the spectacular foreign entity calling her down.
Consciousness was about to become a thing of the past…
“Jelly?”
“Meow.”
“I know you’re not a dog. But I have this ball if you wanna play with it?”
Jamie sat crossed-legged in the middle of the garden. He held up a shiny pink object about the size of a tennis ball. Jelly sat a few feet away wondering what the dastardly contraption was.
“Wanna chase the ball?”
She purred up a treat and climbed on all fours, ready for Jamie to roll the ball to her.
“Ah, no, no,” he giggled. “You gotta go get it. Ready?”
“Meow.”
He tossed the ball toward the bushes by the fence – a little too hard. “Oh!”
“Meow,” Jelly jumped at the bushes and followed the ball through the foliage.
Jamie scrambled to his feet and called after her. He knew the danger of the bushes all too well. The fence was broken. Worse, the busy main road lay right behind it.
“Jelly, come back!” he yelled as he saw her behind disappear behind the bushes.
She trundled through the leaves and broken sticks and eyed the ball as it rolled through the gap in the fence. “Meow.” The sticks broke apart as she trundled over them. The hole in the fence yawned out and invited her through.
The hole was a bit smaller than she’d have liked. Hoisting her considerable frame through tiny opening was painful. The jagged ends raked through her fur and body as she squeezed through.
The pink ball took center stage in the middle of the road. It seemed to plead for rescue amongst the whizzing cars. She hadn’t the first clue how to grab the thing when she reached it.
But it didn’t matter. It needed rescuing, and that was all that mattered. She bolted across the first lane of traffic believing herself to be invincible.
NEEAAWW!
A car whizzed past her, nearly taking a whisker away from her face.
More cars shot past at ridiculous speeds. Her head twisted right to left, left to right, keeping up with the vehicular jousting match.
“Jelly, don’t move,” Jamie’s face appeared in the hole of the fence. He’d burrowed through the mud and sticks to try and save her.
“Meow,” she turned around and spotted her opportunity to move.
Pounce!
She jumped into the middle of the road, narrowly avoiding being hit by a speeding car.
“Jelly!” Jamie hollered. “What did I tell you? Stay there!”
She sniffed around the ball, kicking her tail up for balance. She decided she couldn’t bite it much less carry it in her mouth. She’d seen dogs do it but knew that they were more adept at carrying items.
Bop.
She knocked the ball with her paw. It wobbled and rested back to its original position.
Maybe two paws?
She yelped and batted the ball from opposite ends with her two paws. It pinged out of her grasp and rolled across the main road.
Without thinking she darted after it… but hadn’t counted on a speeding car rocketing toward her.
She turned to face the gargantuan hunk of metal blare its horn and flood her face with its head lights.