Taemin POV

Don't stop running, don't stop, don't stop, don't stop.

Oak trees flew by as I ran through the woods. Branches caught on my clothes and sliced through to my arms and legs, breaking the skin. I didn't know how long I'd been running since I left the mansion, but I knew that I couldn't stop. If I did, they would catch me, and I didn't want that. It hurt me to leave them, but I had no choice. I wouldn't have lasted much longer.

They weren't bad people or anything, in fact, they treated me like one of the family. The girls liked to brush my fur and put me on fluffy pillows and take pictures of me. The dad wasn't home much, but when he was he would let me sit on his lap and me while he did work. He gave the best ear scratches. When the mom was working in her garden, she would play hide and seek with me while I hid in the flowers. I was very good at it of course. My fur blended in with the dirt. Even in my human form they treated me like their own son. I was allowed to sit at the table for dinner, I could sit on the furniture, and they even let me learn how to play that big black music thing, um, a pia...piato, um...piano, that's it! The whole family loved me and I loved them.

Except one.

The boy was a big bully. When I was human, he would pull my hair and call me names that I didn't know the meaning to, but I could tell that it was bad. Sometimes when I was sleeping, he would pour water over my bed and tell the mom that I was wetting myself even though I was house trained. That was just before I turned 14. As I got older, he started hurting me more. He would step on my tail on purpose and pull my ears. The mom and dad always believed him over me and would punish me. It wasn't anything  too serious, though. Mostly I'd be banned from the table or not allowed outside for a couple of days. That still didn't make it any easier to deal with. I was tired of being pushed around like a coward....even though I was running away like a coward.

It didn't matter. I wanted to be somewhere I wouldn't be afraid of letting my tail lay on the ground. I wanted a nice bed to sleep on without waking up in a puddle. But, I would still miss them. They were all I knew. I didn't know why I could be a cat and they couldn't, or why the mom would hide me when a man in blue clothes would knock on the door. Who was he?

By the time I reached the edge of the trees where the city started, I was completely out of breath. My arms were covered in scratches and the blue sweater i was wearing looked like an old rag. My legs hurt, my head was pounding, and all I wanted was to curl up in my warm bed and sleep for a long time. I wanted to get out of the cold because I get sick really easy. That's when I smelled something really good, like when my old family would cook a bunch of food and give each other presents. My stomach growled and I remembered that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. I followed the smell to one of the buildings closest to the trees. There was a big green thing near the wall of the building where the smell was coming from. As I got closer to it, I noticed that it didn't smell as good as I thought. Something wasn't good about it but I didn't care you much. I used to hunt birds in my old backyard so I could eat a lot of things. I caught an old one before and this smell reminded me of it.

By the time I reached the green thing, I could even eat a snail and not care (they were terrible, trust me). I looked over the edge of the green thing and saw a bunch of bags. Some of them smelled horrible and some not so bad. I climbed in the green thing and sat on one of the bags. I opened one of the not so bad ones and took out some kind of meat. It tasted okay, so I kept eating. Soon I was full and more tired than I'd ever been. I knew I would probably change in my sleep, but I didn't care. I took the bag I'd opened and spread it over me for a blanket.

I hoped that tomorrow I could go and find a new family. One that I wouldn't be scared with. For now though, I was so......tired......