How it all started

"Mom, Mom! Can you tell me the story about the cats?" Melissa said, her eyes wide with excitement.

"Alright then, but after that, you go to bed," her mom sighed, settling into the chair beside Melissa's bed.

"Yes, I will!" Melissa replied eagerly.

"Alright then," her mother cleared her throat before she started talking. "Centuries before we lived, there were humans and cats, but the cats were small like house cats and were kept by humans as pets."

Melissa gasped in surprise.

"Shhh," her mom said gently, before continuing with the story.

"One day, a cat named Whiskers was born. He lived his life in a village surrounded by humans and other cats. One day, he decided to go explore and ventured into the forest.

When he arrived, he saw many things he had never seen before. He was extremely curious and sniffed every plant, welcoming the new scents. Eventually, he stumbled upon an opening between the trees. As it was already late, he decided to rest there for the night. It felt strange to sleep on the grass instead of his comfortable bed at home in the village, but he eventually fell asleep.

He was woken up by the sound of birds singing their songs. For a moment, he was very disoriented before realizing where he was. Once he did, he went searching for something to eat and drink.

After searching for a while, he found a river with fish. He bent down to take a few sips from the water, quenching his thirst. After that, he decided to try catching some fish, but having lived his life as a house cat, he didn't know how.

He tried pawing at the fish, but they were always too quick and darted away. He tried again and again, but kept failing. Eventually, he heard another cat laughing and turned around.

"Hey, what's so funny?" he exclaimed.

Laughing, the other cat came out of the shade. "Your terrible fishing skills, obviously!"

"It's not that bad," Whiskers mumbled.

"Oh, it sure is. Have you never hunted before?" the other cat asked.

"Yeah, I never did it and never learned how," Whiskers said defensively.

"Well, I could teach you if you want," the other cat offered.

"That would be nice!" Whiskers exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

"Alright then, but first let's exchange names. My name is Tessa."

"Nice name! Mine's Whiskers!"

Tessa stared at him. "What?"

"Uh, that's a... strange name...," she said, hesitating.

"Well, my humans gave it to me," Whiskers said with a defensive tone.

"Well, I guess that's a house cat thing then. Shall I teach you how to fish now?" Tessa said, sounding a bit annoyed.