"Oh, come on, Tumble. Don't be such a kitten", she said and examined the left side of his head. "This is a total mess, you know." His usually white fur was now covered with blood and dirt, and his ear was torn.
"Well, you don't look to pretty yourself", Tumble said and looked at her. Electra knew he was right. Her red and brown fur was all ruffled and she had scratches and bruises everywhere. She turned her face upwards, to the hole they had fallen through. It was a really high fall, no wonder that they had hurt themselves.
"It must be morning", she remarked, judging from the faint light that reached them. Tumble followed her eyes.
"I think you're right", he said.
"Where are we anyway?" Electra asked and looked around in the cold dark place where they were trapped.
"It must be an old well, or something like that", Tumble answered. "The houses in this area hasn't been used for decades."
Electra looked at him. "Do you think they're missing us by now?" she asked, a bit worried.
"I suppose so", the brown-patched cat answered. Then he laughed. "At least you sister will have noticed we're gone."
Electra smiled. "Yes, Jem has always been nothing but nerves. She worries about everything." Then all of a sudden she burst into tears. Tumble stared at her in shock. He had never seen Electra cry before. She had always been one of the toughest female cats, different from Jemima and Victoria, who were very sensitive.
"El, are you ok?" Tumble asked carefully, afraid to say something that would upset her even more.
"Do I look ok to you?" she snarled back. "I'm cold, I'm hurt, I'm hungry, no-one knows where I am, and to top it all of, I'm stuck here with you!"
"Oh, I so sorry!" Tumble snapped. "Let me just go back to the junkyard and fetch Alonzo, so he can keep you company instead." He turned his back on Electra and stared into the dark stonewall. None of them said anything for a long time. The only thing heard was Electra's heart-breaking sobbing.
The she broke the silence. "I'm so sorry, Tumble" she said quietly. "I don't know what came over me, I…" She shrugged her shoulders.
Tumble turned around and looked her in the eyes. "It's alright" he said. "I know how you feel. But right now there's nothing we can do about it. We'll just have to wait until they find us."
The two young cats sighed in unison, which made them laugh. They curled up by each other, and despite their sufferings, they soon fell asleep in their cold, damp prison.
Rum Tum Tugger looked down at the junkyard from the high pile of junk where he was sitting. "They seem to be gloomy today" he thought to him self about the cats sitting in a quiet group on the ground. "Well I suppose I could change that" he said and jumped down on the ground, a couple of metres from the other jellicles. "The Tugger has arrived!" he announced, struck a pose and waited for his usual fanclub to come and greet him. No one came. He frowned. Something was wrong. When not even Etcetera threw herself at his feet, something was very wrong. He walked over to the cats and sat down between Etcetera and Mistoffelees. "So… What's up?" he asked, looking around him. Etcetera finally noticed him.
"Oh, Tugger!" she said, tears streaming down her face. "Tumble and El are gone!" She sniffled and buried her face in his chest. Tugger absently stroked the kitten's ears and looked at Mistoffelees, who told him what had happened.
"Maybe they wanted to be alone", Bombalurina said, always sensing a romance. "Were there anything going on between the two of them?"
"Tumble and Electra?" Admetus said doubtfully. "Those two were always fighting." Then he realised what he'd said and quickly tried to correct him self. "Are! I mean, they are always fighting!"
"Misto!" Pouncival suddenly exclaimed and looked at the magical cat. "Can't you just zap them beck or something?"
"Yeah", Victoria agreed. "Like you did with Old Deuteronomy at the Jellicle Ball?"
Mistoffelees looked down. "I cant", he said unhappily. "I don't know how I did it. It hasn't worked since the ball. I'm sorry."
"Well, what about you two?" Munkustrap asked Coricopat and Tantomile. "Can't you try to find them with your psychic powers?"
The twins looked at each other. "It could work", Coricopat said slowly.
"Yes, it will be hard, but it could work", Tantomile agreed.
"We'll try!" Coricopat decided. The twins took each other by the paws and closed their eyes. The junkyard was silent for a while. No one dared to even move, afraid to disturb the two cats.
"They're not anywhere nearby" Tantomile finally said, with and almost sleepy voice.
"Maybe they got kidnapped by Macavity!" Pouncival exclaimed and his eyes grew wide.
Demeter, as always, was upset when Macavity was mentioned, and Bombalurina rubbed up against her sister to comfort her.
"Oh, don't be stupid, Pounce", Plato snarled. "Macavity hasn't been around for months."
"Well, maybe he's come back!" Pouncival cried.
"I don't thing so, lad," Skimbleshanks said and shook his head. "We really scared him off at the ball"
"Anything could have happened to them", Quaxo said. "Maybe they've been hit by a car, or attacked by pollicles, or caught by some human, or…"
"Quaxo! Stop it!" Jennyanydots demanded and glared at him.
"Nothing would surprise me when it comes to those two" Tugger mumbled and defended himself when Jellylorum hissed at him. "Well, they are the ones who always seem to be in trouble, right?"
"How can you say that?" Jemima cried and began hitting Tugger with her small paws. The junkyard was now in total chaos. Tugger tried to protect himself from the angry and distressed kittens, Munkustrap and Bombalurina tried to comfort Demeter who was still upset by the thought of Macavity being back. Pouncival hadn't give up the hope of convincing Misto to try to bring Electra and Tumble back with magic, and Jelly and Jenny yelled at Quaxo for upsetting the kittens. Angry and scared voices mixed with comforting words and silent tears.
Suddenly one voice rose above the others. "Would you all be so kind and SHUT UP!!!" The cats immediately became silent and stared at Coricopat. The usually so quiet and shy cat calmly looked back at them. "Thank you", he said in a more normal tone, and closed his eyes again. Tantomile smiled a secret little smile before she too closed her eyes. The silence in the junkyard was total.
"A silence you feel you can cut with a knife" Munkustrap thought to himself as he watched the mystical twins every move. Suddenly Tantomile's left ear began to twitch.
"There they are!" She exclaimed. "I feel them!"
"Did you feel that?" Electra quickly sat up and nervously looked around.
"Feel what?" Tumble mumbled and yawned.
"It felt like… like someone was reaching for my mind", Electra explained and tried to shake off the uncomfortable feeling. Tumble looked at her and raised his eyebrows.
"You're probably just hungry", he stated and yawned again.
"Yeah, maybe", she said uncertainly and started cleaning herself. Tumble followed her example. Then Electra suddenly laughed. Tumble looked at her with a question in his dark green eyes.
"I was just thinking…" the red and brown female smiled. "Isn't it kind of typical, that it's us two who are stuck here. I mean, we're the ones who are always getting into trouble, right? You for imitating the older toms, and me for always talking without thinking."
Tumble thought about this for a moment. "Hey, you're right", he said. "Maybe its des…"
Suddenly a noise was heard above them. Someone was there! Electra started to shout. "Hey, we're down…" She didn't get further, 'cause Tumble put his paw over her mouth. At fist she was surprised, but when he didn't let her go, she was furious. Her green eyes shot lightning, and she desperately tried to get out of Tumble's grip. But he just held her tighter, and shook his head. Then they heard a voice they recognised all too well…
"You stupid rats! There're no jellicles in here. Let's get out of this place."
Electra stared at Tumble. The anger in her eyes were gone, and replaced with fear. Tumble let her go.
"Macavity?" she mouthed. Tumble nodded. He was just as scared as she was. They didn't dare to move, hardly even to breathe until they were sure that the mystery cat and his rats were gone.
"How did you know it was him?" Electra asked. The white and brown tom didn't answer, instead he looked down. "Oh, I forgot", Electra said. "You were catnapped by him when you were new-born, right?" Tumble still didn't say anything, he just nodded. "I'm sorry" Electra said and rubbed up against him. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it"
"It's ok.", Tumble said. "I just get this feeling every time Macavity is around, the same as Demeter and Misto, but they're much more sensitive than I am" He looked Electra in the eyes. "I hate it, El! I hate being scared of getting that feeling all the time!"
"It saved our lives today, though" Electra said and licked away the tear she saw in the corner of his eye.
"Are you sure we're on the right way?" Admetus asked Tantomile and Coricopat. The twins nodded.
"They're definitely around here somewhere", Coricopat said. "The feeling is much stronger here."
"What on earth were they doing here?" Jellylorum said confused.
"Hey, it's Tumble and Electra we're talking about here", Tugger said. "Who knows what they were up to."
"Tugger, could you please stop picking on them, for a while at least?" Alonzo snapped.
"Sorry", the lion-like cat muttered and glared at the black and white tom. Alonzo was more worried that he wanted to show, Tugger thought. Oh, he was worried too, but he would never admit it. While he was thinking Tugger had wandered off from the rest of the group, which contained of Munkustrap, Tantomile, Coricopat, Skimbleshanks, Alonzo, Mistoffelees, Plato, Admetus and Jellylorum, in case Tumble or Electra was hurt. Tugger looked around. He frowned. What was that? Some of the planks over there seemed to be broken. He went closer to have a look.
Down in the well, Electra and Tumble heard someone approaching. Electra looked at Tumble, who shook his head. It wasn't Macavity this time. "Is anyone up there?" Electra asked carefully.
"Electra? Is that you?"
"Tugger!" Electra and Tumble shouted.
"Hey, where are you?" Tugger's voice came closer.
"Tugger, look out!" Tumble warned. "We're down in…"
"AAAAHHHH!"
"… the well. Tugger get off of me!"
"Tugger! How nice of you to drop by!" Electra exclaimed happily and hugged the tom, who actually hugged her back. Then he rose, so that Tumble was able to breathe again.The other cats had rushed over when they heard Tugger's fall and was now looking down in the well.
Are you alright?" Jellylorum asked with a worried look on her face.
Yeah, I was just fine, until Tugger used me as trampoline" Tumble complained. "Do you think you could get us up from here? I'm starving!"
Just hold on, lad", Skimble said and looked around. "We need a rope or something."
istoffelees stepped forward. "I'll take care of this", he said and pointed his paw down in the well. With a 'zap' the three cats joined their friends.
"Hi", Tumble said. "Great to see you. Do you have any food?"
Later that evening Tumble and Electra was saying goodbye to each other in the junkyard. Tumble looked at Alonzo who was standing a couple of metres away, talking with Jemima.
"Do you want me to talk to Jem, so that you could have Lonzo for yourself a couple of minutes?" he asked. Electra smiled at him.
"Thanks Tumble, she said. "but I don't really care about Lonzo in that way anymore."
Tumble looked at her."You don't?" He said doubtfully.
"No" She said. "I don't.". She hesitated for a moment, but then she kissed him. "Goodnight Tumble." She smiled, and hurried out of the junkyard, together with her sister.
Tumble walked over to Alonzo and Pouncival who was lying on the ground.
"What's with that stupid smile of yours?" Alonzo muttered and glared at Tumble.
"Oh, nothing" the brown patched cat answered, still smiling. He lay down, and fell asleep the same second. It had been a long day. Outside the junkyard, there was a cat that wasn't sleeping. He didn't have time for sleeping. He had been gone a long time, and he didn't want to waste any more time.
Tumble and Electra had been so happy to be back in the junkyard, that they completely forgotten to tell the jellicles the most important thing they had found out. That Macavity was back…
THE END
