The Frightened Kitten Read Online Free Page B

she went to bed that night. She’d left the kitten snoozing in her basket in the kitchen, after putting some of Biscuit’s favourite chicken crunchies in her bowl, in case she woke up needing a midnight snack.
    It took Maddy ages to get to sleep. She tossed and turned, thinking about Tiger and Tom, and then about school tomorrow and how lonely it was going to be. Somehow it all got wound up into her dreams when she finally fell asleep, so that she was sitting doingnumeracy with Tiger and Tom (in school uniform) on either side of her. Tiger was just telling her that she was stupid and she’d got her multiplication wrong, when Tom started wowling in her ear. Maddy twitched, turned over – and woke up. That wasn’t in her dream – the sound was coming from downstairs!
    She flung herself out of bed and dashed down the stairs. The noise was louder now and it was coming from the kitchen. Maddy couldn’t understand – it sounded like more than one cat, but only Biscuit was meant to be in there. She shoved open the door, and saw Tiger and Tom by Biscuit’s food bowl, gobbling down the chicken crunchies she’d left out.

    “Go away!” Maddy yelled. “Out! Bad cats!” Tiger and Tom hissed at her, but hightailed it out of the cat flap. The cat flap – of course. That’s how they’d got into Maddy’s kitchen!
    “What on earth…?” Dad appeared in the kitchen doorway, looking sleepy.
    “The cats from next door! They came in through the cat flap, Dad; they were eating Biscuit’s food!” Maddy crouched down by Biscuit’s bed. She lookedterrified, and as Maddy gently picked her up, she could feel how tense the kitten was, as though she was ready to leap out of Maddy’s arm and run away at any moment. Her whiskers were twitching, and her little face seemed all frightened eyes.
    Mum had been worried that Biscuit might end up making a mess in Maddy’s room if she slept upstairs, but Maddy couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her on her own.
    “Dad, please can I take Biscuit upstairs to sleep with me?” she begged. “I know Mum said she should stay in the kitchen, but she’s so scared.”
    Dad sighed. “I suppose she is very well house-trained now. And she’s got pretty good at the stairs, hasn’t she?She’ll be all right to come down if she needs her litter tray. I’m going to put a chair in front of the cat flap, in case Tiger and Tom come back.”
    Maddy nodded. Biscuit was relaxing into her arms a little now, but she was still looking around nervously. Maddy hurried upstairs and fluffed up her duvet into a cosy kitten nest at the end of the bed. It didn’t leave much duvet for her, but she didn’t mind.
    Biscuit stepped cautiously into the warm nest and padded at it with her paws. Maddy was here. She was safe. Tiger and Tom wouldn’t be able to come upstairs, she was sure. And if they did, Maddy would chase them away.
    Maddy slid into bed and sighed. She’d wanted Biscuit to sleep on herbed ever since she’d got her, but she wished it hadn’t happened like this.
    Maddy was just falling asleep again when she felt determined little paws padding up her tummy, and a soft wisp of fur brushed across her cheek as Biscuit curled up next to her on the pillow. Maddy giggled. Biscuit’s tail was lying across her neck and it tickled.
    “We’ll sort those horrible cats out,” she told Biscuit sleepily. “It’ll be OK.”

Chapter Five
    “Time to get up!” Maddy’s mum pulled open the bedroom curtains.
    “Mmmm. Oh!” Maddy suddenly remembered that Biscuit was upstairs with her, although she was no longer asleep on her pillow.
    “Your dad told me he’d let you bring Biscuit up here. I suppose it isn’t doing any harm, as long as you make sure shedoesn’t get shut in. We don’t want her weeing on your bedroom carpet!” She looked around. “Where is she? Has she gone downstairs already?”
    Maddy sat up. “She was sleeping next to me.”
    “She’s here!” Her mum was crouching down, peering