Why, hello everyone! I've had this idea for a while, and I've decided to go through with it!
But Dragon, what about Legacies? Or Never His? Those voted the most, 'something else' had no votes!
Yeah, umm... as much as I'd love to work on those, I haven't been feeling very inspired to work on those. I'll try to start Legacies another time, but I had this idea and I thought it'd be cool to follow through with!
Okay, so onto the story! Enjoy!
. . .
The she-cat was going to die.
There wasn't a was she? or a couldn't she try to live a few days? from anyone. True, there was that one human who wanted her to live. But it was no use. They rolled their eyes, and stated that she would be dead.
Earlier that morning, that kitten was just a regular one. Running around by the roadside with her littermates, chasing butterflies. But those days had passed. They would never come again. Ever. Although she didn't know what had happened to her, she knew that she would that her life would never be the same again.
She remembered, vaguely, laughing and playing with others. Three others. She couldn't quite find the words to describe them, but she remembered all of them. She remembered a whooshing sound, the black that followed. She remembered a human cradling her in their arms. The warmth felt good. She remembered, a few moments ago, waking up in this snaring, wire contraption. She remembered looking behind her, at her gnarled leg and stumpy tail. She remembered searching for nourishment, and only finding a small amount of water- if it could be called that- with bits of dirt in it, floating around; the only other nourishment was a small amount of a mushy object that looked like a cat's dirt and smelt of decaying fish. She remembered trying to settle in her 'bed', only to discover that it was hard and uncomfortable.
But she remembered nothing else.
As she gazed around her, she saw others in the same situation as her. Contraptions (she later learned they were called cages) that were a yellowish color instead of white like they should be, scraps of paper and fabric for beds. The food looked like the owners of this place had saved waste from them, or taken the food from the waste buckets, essentially feeding them slop. One tomcat, who was brown with gray spots, was the only one who was eating the food. Two others were chatting- light brown she-cat with white dapples and hazel eyes introduced herself as Aspen to a tan tom who introduced himself as Whiskers. Light brown said she had been here for four months but had been out and almost adopted, and Tan replied by saying that he was the cat of a poor person who had to give him up. They kept on blabbering strange words, like those of before. Like adopted. The she-cat had no idea what that meant, but she knew she wouldn't find out. After all, she would be gone by sundown.
Suddenly, the cat in the cage to the left of her gave a stiffing yawn and woke up. It was a kit, although much bigger than her in size, she could tell that they were similar in age. He was black, black with bushy fur. He had white specks, and misty, grayish-blue eyes. His ears were quite large, too.
"Hello," he said, excitedly. "Who are you? What's your name? Mine's Caspar!" He bounced around in his cage.
She stared at him, confusedly. What was he talking about? Forcing herself to choke words out, she responded, "I- I don't t- think that- that I have a- a-"
The tom blinked at her in a friendly sort of way. "You don't? Well, you should have one. Hmm... what, though?"
Name? What was that? She didn't remember ever encountering this... name. And what was the tomcat doing? With this name? "I- I don't know- this name."
He laughed. "A name? It's what others identify you with. Usually it's given to you by your parents, but... since your parents didn't give you one, apparently, we'll think of one together! Hmm..."
She frowned as he drifted off in thought. But I don't need anything for others to identify me with. Can't I just be me? And... parents? What's that? Another thing she would have to ask the tomcat. She opened her mouth to speak again, but he spoke before she had the chance to.
"I know! You remind me of the cat who used to live in this cage. She was very old, and sick, but she looked like you. Her name was Needle. How about that, huh?" he questioned.
Needle? "It's-"
"Perfect! I'm glad you like it!" The tomcat was practically bouncing with excitement. How, though? This place is a torture device. "As I said before, the name's Caspar. Whenever you want to talk to me, just say something like 'Hi, Caspar' or 'Caspar, how are you today?' and I'll know you're talking to me. And if I say something like 'Hello there, Needle', you'll know I'm talking to you. Okay?"
She nodded, although she didn't want this name. She also didn't know what much to talk about with the tomkitten, because there wouldn't be much to talk about. Besides, she would be gone after today.
He yawned. "Well, I'm tired again! But I'll look forward to talking with you other days!"
But there won't be any other days. Any other days at all. And then she fell asleep as well.
. . .
When the she-kit woke up, she was in a clean, white room. A human was above her, stroking her. The human left to the other side of the room, and started filling a container with a pinky liquid. Then, the human returned, stroking her once again. This is my death, the she-kit realized. She struggled and squirmed, all the while being stroked by the human, who was making strange noises. It was a few seconds before she observed that she was held down on the bed. That she couldn't escape.
The room was white and clean. So was the place she was held in. White and clean and soft. All around the room, there were ledges. Bottles, all containing the same liquid. The liquid, she realized, that had killed so many cats. The liquid, she realized, that the Aspen from the cage-room nearly was given. The liquid, she realized, that would kill her. She was about to die. Be euthanized.
And she hated it.
The human took the container, added a sharp, pointy part onto the end. And as she brought it closer to the kitten, time seemed to slow down for her.
And the kitten felt it as that object tickled her skin, about to puncture it and end her life...
. . .
And that sums up the prologue! A fave/follow/review would be greatly appreciated, so thanks if you do! (They actually motivate me to write more, knowing that people like my story.)
This is about shelter cats, who break out of the shelter after hearing about the Clans. As you can tell from the chapter, they're treated awfully. And *SPOILER ALERT* some of the characters you've met in this chapter will play major roles in the future. I might update this chapter, rewrite some things- I feel like I could've added more detail in but I'm not up for it rn.
I'll try to update regularly. I don't set myself update schedules, but I suppose... every other weekend? That'll give me enough time, hopefully. And since I have break rn, I'm probably going to update more frequently than you'll expect usually. Just so you're prepared :D.
Anyways, bye now! Signing off!
~Dragon
