"Mama!"
The little kitten cried out to his birth mother, his voice filled with angst. A smaller kitten, a female, sat beside him, frozen in terror, her face formed into a look of horror. She didn't make a sound. Her normally white, silky fur was a strange gray color, and ragged. It was painful to look into such soft green eyes and see a small, helpless kitten in such unease.
Her brother screamed and struggled against what seemed to be a wall.
Crack.
He yowled more, harder, to his mother. She had silky, white fur like his sister, and was gentle and kind. Her kind, blue eyes had taught him discipline, friendliness, playfulness, and so much more.
Or they had.
Now, she stood before her only litter, fighting for their lives with a great tom too many times her size.
Without warning, his sister lay down silently and started to cry. She screamed, in a weak attempt to release all the pain that she kept inside her.
He kept on struggling and howling before his mothers eyes widened as he jumped on top of her as she yowled, then simply closed her eyes, as to accept her fate, just a moment before the tom brutally ripped at her throat and stomach.
To this little kitten, it all happened in slow motion. All the sounds around him seemed to vanish, until there was only him and his mother. "Goodbye, Smokey" her eyes seemed to say, just before she closed them, and took her last breath.
His legs gave out beneath him, as scars permanently formed in his brain. They were nasty, jagged ones. His golden-orange eyes were as wide as an owls, yet he could see nothing. His life and love were lost. It was only him and his sister, left to survive in this cruel, harsh world, all alone. He stared at the ground as his eyes fogged up, until there was only black. He fell asleep to his sister crying and screaming. The barrier between him and his mother was gone. Her blood welled up in a pool around her, touching his ash-gray fur on his neck ever so slightly.
But that all happened years ago...