If Only

                Yawn. I stretch, but even as I do that, I could hear my stomach growling angrily at me for not feeding it. With a sight, I go to find some food. I could smell something fishy, and following my nose, I found my bowl full of leftovers, as usual, but anything would satisfy my aching tummy. The crunching sounds resound through my head, filling my ears as I started munching on my stale food, but even with that, I could still hear the clunk as a door shuts. When I am satiated, I realize that the dry food made me thirsty, and I gulp down some water down to wet my parched throat. As I step out into the open room after relieving myself, I look around. The room is not brightly lit, with the only source of light coming from the large, open window.

                I go to the window and gaze outside, no need to squint my eyes as I was bathed in a soft, foggy light. I look down at the street, black and quite rough looking, and beyond it an even bigger road, with cars whizzing along it. Even through the glass, I can hear the cars roaring down the road. Then I look past that, where there is a line of green trees, train tracks hidden behind them.

                I look back to the first, small street, right before a person came, jogging with a dog. The dog was panting, I could see that clearly enough from my high perch, but even then he looked quite happy to be out exercising with his owner. As the progress across my view, I could feel my heart beating. If only I could go out for a walk, just like that dog. I pressed against the window, feeling the cold surface sending a chill through my body as I placed myself in their place, out in the great open world.

                Flouncing around, I would be getting all dirty as I play on the black asphalt which has felt the quick, burning black tires of countless wheels, and who knows where all those rubber tires went? Dashing ahead, I would skid to a halt as I see a car’s headlights flash in front of me. Backing into the bushes, I’d survey the trees across the road, and after I feel the car’s rush of wind rustle my hair, continue my stroll.

                I could just imagine what the world is like beyond my little window. Far beyond whatever I can see, I could be strolling through the woods, hearing the damp leaves rustling above me, the sucking noise as I pull my feet from where they sunk in the moist ground. I could be relaxing in the seemingly unending expansion of greenery instead of being cramped uncomfortably in this stuffy house. Now the urge to escape was unavoidable.

                Exhaling deeply, I keep wondering about my problem as the jogger and his happy dog stop in the middle of my little screen of vision, and the dog takes a little (actually very long) leak in the bushes. So unsanitary! But even in the middle of doing what he needs to do, he spreads his lips out wide and shows his partially-yellowed (and no doubt very stinky!) teeth, openly expressing his happiness.

                I look with a sunken heart as they resume their progress and head out of my sight. Sighing, I survey the rest of what I could see from the window. I perk up as I hear the soft, light rustling of a plant that looked like it had many feathers stuck onto a lump in the ground. Whenever the wind blows, even if it is just a mere breeze, it rustles, and waves back and forth in a hypnotizing motion.

                Oh, how I would love to go there and feel the downy feathers stroke me! To hear the music of rustling feathers, to feel the fluttering of objects, soft and cottony envelop me. But I can’t. I am limited to my puny indoor activities that all bore me to death. I usually come to this window when I am feeling depressed, because it gives me something else to put my mind on. This plant is the closest I could get to nature, besides the pathetic bonsai trees (which, by the way, barely grows, smells stale, and thus, in my opinion, would only be a part of nature by the most generous of people).

                I hear the thump, thump of my owner’s clumsy feet hitting the floor heavily. I jump down from the windowsill, striding towards the white expanse of the door. As the door opens slowly with a soft creak, I see my owner, tall as ever. This is one of the most pleasurable times of the day. I purr as hard as I can as I feel my owner’s big yet careful hand stroke me from between my ears to the tip of my tail. As I roll over, I glance at the light shining through the window, and turn back to my owner with two words echoing through my mind. If only…