I slowly opened my my eyes. I thought in confusion. My thoughts immediately changed as I realized that my perceptions had completely changed! Not only were my surroundings strange and unfamiliar, but colors, shapes, and depth all looked different too! There's no way that my eyes were the same as they were before. I reached my hand out in front of me to see if my body had changed too, and cried out in shock! The sound that escaped my mouth was no longer in human words and rather almost sounds like the startled squeak of an animal. Even worse, the hand in front of my eyes was a furry, orange paw. My thoughts racing now, I struggled to my feet from where I had be laying on my side and hurriedly tried to look around take in as much of my body as I could. Realization dawned on me as I recognized that... I closed my eyes again and silently willed this to be a dream or some crazy nightmare. I'd even accept a weird coma hallucination as a result of an accident because that would be preferable to being in the body of a cat! I had almost forgotten about that. I slowly smiled to myself. At least, I imagined I was smiling as I had no idea how my cat face would be portraying that very human expression. With that comforting thought it mind, I resumed thinking about the first thought I had when I opened my eyes.
The answer to that question was elusive. My surroundings were totally unfamiliar to me and slightly strange looking. Obviously, an alleyway is the space between two buildings and as most of these locations are, it's kind of damp, dirty, and littered with stray bits of discarded garbage. However, that's where my recognition ended. The ground felt strange under my feet. Rather than concrete, the street felt almost like cobblestones but that way ridiculous. No one uses cobblestones in the city! And I was almost sure the buildings were made of wood which was even more odd. The garbage on the ground looked strange too. There were no fast food wrappers or coffee cups like you would see in any other alley. Instead, there was some discarded food and strange looking fabric. There was also no lighting at all! That felt a bit dangerous as being in a dark alley away from any other people seemed to be asking for trouble if there weren't even any lights for passersby to be able to see if anything was happening! Speaking of passersby, I could hear something!
I flicked my new cat ears as I strained to hear what was happening outside the alley. I thought to myself. My hearing seemed to be much better than before so I could make out lots of sounds happening in the distance. I was expecting to hear cars other people, and many music or something since those were the city sounds that I was used to. That was not what I heard. There were people yes, but no cars! No honking horns, no mufflers backfiring, and no squealing tires. Instead, I could make out some clopping noises that almost sounded like metal hitting stone. Then, I heard another sound that immediately jogged my memory. It was a neigh!
Feeling more nervous, I decided I had to see what was going on. This was clearly not the city I was used to and I had to find out what I was dealing with here! I lowered my body to the ground like I had seen so many cats do before when they were approaching something strange or trying to stay unnoticed. As I slunk nearer to the entrance of the alley, I could feel the pupils in my new eyes contracting as everything began to get brighter while I left the shade between the buildings. What I saw next made my jaw fall open. The streets were like nothing I had ever seen before! More cobblestones paved the streets and there was not a single familiar city feature in sight. There were no street lights or signs. I couldn't see a single car or truck anywhere. There weren't even any bicycles! Instead, what I saw was people in homespun clothing in muted colors, horse drawn carriages, and...
