Cyrus

I stretch my forepaws forward. The morning sun has just shone into my corner. That short nap I took earlier wasn't enough. Maybe I'll just sleep for a while more...... I slumped against the corner of my bed, exhausted.

"I CAME IN LIKE A WRECKING BALL!!!" The black, vertical box with two eye-like holes shakes as Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball plays. Oh no, not that one again, I yowl. Her voice is raspier than my tongue. My owner's a huge fan of Miley Cyrus and named me after the singer. It was definitely unfortunate; I have to listen to songs by the same singer every day. I'm not even a female cat in the first place! Oh, the indignity.

I'm burying my head in my long fur when several loud and sharp barks and howls alert me. Yikes! I slide my paws closer together such that my back bends in an arch, shaking. "Stop it!" I yowl in the direction of the sound.

As I'm looking out of the doorway of the cave, I notice that the barks sound like the song, just without the words. Sort of. "I'VE NEVER HIT SO HARD IN LOVE!!!" "Ruff-woof-woof-woof-ruff-A-A-WOOOOO!!!" Was that meant to be a song? It's not the best.

I bury myself under my body. There's only one dog in this place who sings like that. Actually, there's only one dog in this place.

Lulu

I hope I ticked off Cyrus.

I pad the floor, straighten my neck, and howl even louder, making sure even the song was softer than my howl. As I pause for a breath, I hear the owner chuckling and he pats my head as he walks to the huge red thing near the cat bed and sits down. I'm not exactly sure what the red thing is, but it must be special because I once sat on it and the owner scolded me.

Before I know it, the music ends and I sit on the toilet mat, anticipating my owner. My owner walks to the door and moves past me, hands full of tubs. He puts them on the floor, turns around and closes the door. Aha. No witnesses.

I walk over to Cyrus's food bowl. Earlier, while Cyrus had been sleeping, my owner had filled the bowl with cat food. I look up to see a ball of grey and white fur in the cat bed. She isn't awake; good. I watch Cyrus for a little while more and then I smash a paw into the bowl.

The cat food pieces scatter onto the floor around the bowl. I use my paw to nudge the pieces for a bit. Unexpectedly, Cyrus looks up from his nap. "How dare you!" He meows, jumping down to the ground.

Cyrus

Argh! That dog again! Just yesterday she pawed on my scratching post, leaving her awful scent on it, and last week she drank all the water from my bowl. I wish Lulu would just go back.

Splash! I look to the direction of the sound and see Lulu splashing a paw on my water bowl near the door, with water everywhere. "You already know how annoying I find that, yet you still do it!" I growl as I walk over to the door.

"Serves you right for hating me since I was brought home," Lulu replies with a triumphant bark.

"But I'm not the one who's trying to replace the previous fur baby in the house," I hiss and bare my teeth at the black dog.

Just as Lulu is about to reply, our owner, who has collapses onto the ground. Lulu and I pause in mid argument, then we turn to our owner. He is lying there, struggling to get up.

After a while, our owner just stops moving. Lulu sniffs around his head and nudge him. I paw his hands and yowl.

"Ah! What happened?" Lulu panics, having never seen this before.

"I don't know! But we need help from another human!" I retort, running out of the door. Lulu follows suit.

Lulu

Cyrus scratches the door opposite ours and meows loudly. I follow her lead and bark frantically. The door opens and the male human who lives opposite looks at us suspiciously. I bark and run back inside and nudge our owner. Cyrus leads the male human to our front door.

"Oh ****! Mark, are you okay?" The male human kneels down next to the owner and asks. When nothing happens, he takes out the black rectangle I often see my owner put next to his ear and taps something on it. "...yes, we have an emergency at 16 Flower Avenue, Unit #08-09. He's unconscious, no sign of bleeding. Hurry!" The male human says.

After what feels like a year, some humans arrive and carry our owner away. However, they stop Cyrus and I from following them and the male human next door tells us to wait here and he closes the door.

For the rest of the day, Cyrus and I stay near the door, waiting our owner's return. "Where do you think they brought our owner?" I ask.

"I don't know. I just hope he's fine," Cyrus replies, washing herself.

Just then, the door opens. But by the smell, it's not our owner. The male human next door comes in cautiously and walks into the house. "Waiting for Mark? Don't worry, he's alright. But he'll have to stay at the hospital for a few more days, so I'll take care of you guys," he says, walking into the kitchen.

Hospital? What's that?

The male human has found the food for Cyrus and me and he pours some into our food bowls. Despite him mixing up our food bowls, we don't grumble about it and eat off each other's bowl.

Soon, we had our fill. The male human brings me out for a walk, changes Cyrus' litter box and pours some water into our water bowls, while announcing, "I'll be back tomorrow evening."

As he is leaving, I awkwardly turn away from Cyrus and head to the owner's bed.

Cyrus

I stretch out in my catbed, deciding to go patrol the perimeters of the house to check for stray cockroaches or lizards. As I pass by the owner's doorway, I hear muffled sounds of whimpering. My ears swivel curiously towards the mound of blankets in the middle of the bed.

Padding in quietly, I jump onto the small table beside the bed. "What's wrong?" I mewed at the mound.

"It's nothing," the dog sniffled curtly.

"Oh, come on, I don't have all night."

After a short silence, he goes, "I'm worried about our owner. What if he doesn't come back? I don't want to go back there."

"Don't be silly, the human male said he'll be back soon," I scoff.

"But that's what happens with humans. They go away without bringing you, and then some people take you away to that place."

I sense fear in Lulu's voice, and for the first time in our lives together, I feel an odd sense of concern for her. I lick my paw awkwardly, "What happened with your previous owner anyway?"

"Well-uh- I was caged up and they didn't feed us regularly and-"

"That's outrageous!" I growl.

"Yeah, and some of my siblings didn't make it. I vividly remember the cage being very smelly and filled with maggots," Lulu buries her head in the mound of blankets.

"And then one day some humans came and took me away. The new place was better. I didn't get locked up in a cage and they fed us but it was lonely there. When our owner brought me here, I was afraid, but things got much better."

"Oh..." I don't really know what to say. No wonder Lulu had been so attention-seeking when she first came. "Well, we just have to wait till our owner comes back. You heard what the male human said."

"Okaaay." Lulu still sounds unconvinced, but I can tell she is putting up a brave front.

"Right. Now go to sleep, I'm off to see what I can find in the living room," I get up and leap off the table.

Lulu

After our late night conversation, things slowly get better with Cyrus. I stop messing up his food bowl and he doesn't make fun of me quite as frequently. The male human visits us every day and takes care of us.

While the male human next door is changing Cyrus' litter box, there is a jingle and the door opens.

"Hey guys! Did you miss me?" I bound up to our owner as he walks in, frantically trying to lick his hands, as he scratches me behind my ears. Cyrus walks up and rubs against his pant leg, meowing in welcome.

I'm so relieved that our owner is home. At least this owner won't leave me.