One night, while out in the backyard with my flashlight, I shined the light near a tree and saw two glowing eyes staring at me. After calling her cat by name I walked towards it...only to find out it was a skunk...did a 180, and proceeded to run like a bat out'a...
Long story short, the lady left her door open and one night the cat just came strolling in. She said it looked like it might have been in a fight, lost a few pounds, but otherwise was fine.
Indoor cats(especially)get a need for adventure, but once out in the elements usually find...there's no place like home. In this case the owner and I came to the conclusion that the cat probably didn't wander that far from home, but instead found a safe place to hideout for a while.
Here's to hoping that's the case for your adventurer as well.
I have a similar story to this one, although it doesn’t involve one of my cats or a cat belonging to a friend...
One evening shortly after we moved into our house, I heard meowing coming from the roof. It was almost dark outside, so I got a flashlight and went into my back yard to see what I could find. As soon as I shined the light up to the edge of the roof, a black and white kitten walked toward my light. I then went to the garage and got a ladder so I could get him down.
Since he walked right up to me, I figured he had to belong to someone, so I posted pictures of him around the neighborhood asking to call my cell phone if anyone wanted to claim him. And sure enough, someone did. It turned out he’d been missing from home for over a week, and his home was several blocks away (though his owners did have to turn in on the same street we do when they went to and from their home).
He probably decided he needed to get out of the house for a bit, and then found himself on a strange roof. :)