Bubbles let out a loud, piercing meow—a clear cry of distress as the branch dipped lower. Clara reached for her phone to dial emergency services, but the lead boy shook his head. “There’s no time, that branch is going to snap in minutes.” Taking off his heavy jacket, he looked at his friends. “We have to try the high climb again. Hand me up.”
Clara watched with her heart in her throat as the other boys hoisted him up to the first stable branch. He scrambled upward with frantic, reckless speed, the dry bark scraping his arms. He was inches away from the trembling cat now, the wood beneath Bubbles splintering further with a loud SNAP.
The boy extended his arm, reaching for the collar. But the sudden movement and the cracking wood panicked the cat. Bubbles hissed, turned, and took a blind, desperate leap into the open air just as the branch gave way entirely.