Chapter 1- The Kitten
It was a cold, wet, November evening. The rain was a cold drizzle that penetrated the thickest coat. No one should've been out on such a miserable evening. However, mewing with cold and wet, a newly-born kitten nuzzled its' dead mother. The kitten didn't know about death. It simply wanted its' mother to get up and feed him. It mewed again, pathetically. A particularly large drop landed on its back. It shivered and opened its mouth to mew again.
Suddenly, the rain stopped. The kitten shook itself and mewed again, not noticing the man holding the umbrella. A girl was looking worriedly at the tiny thing. She made signs at the man, who nodded and beckoned to someone else.
That someone walked forward. The man bent his head and whispered something. Nodding, the other man produced a bottle, filled with milk. They had obviously expected she would find something.
The girl was in meantime pointing and gesturing to the mother's belly. After some thought, the man realized what she wanted.
"Alright, but be prepared for the other kittens to be dead. We don't know how long the mother's been here."
The girl nodded, still pointing anxiously at the mother. Taking a knife, the man slit open the mother's belly. Peering inside, he shook his head. The girl bowed her head. Soon, though, she picked up the mother and made her way to the soft grass on the side of the road. Touching the ground, where the grass suddenly died, she dug and scratched until she a shallow hole, then placed the mother inside. Then she scraped at the surrounding earth until it covered her. Once the grave was finished, she stood and bowed to it. She then spun and went back to the man. He was holding the kitten, feeding it.
The girl gestured for the bottle. Holding it carefully, she slowly let the milk drop into the kittens' mouth. Finally, the kitten yawned, sated. The girl immediately took off her sweater to make a cozy nest for the kitten. The man took the sweater, settling the kitten in it. The girl reached out as if to pet it, but stopped centimeters away. Her hand hovered over the kitten, pain obvious in her face. The man saw this.
"Ask not for the impossible. Be happy you fed the kitten. Be happy that the kitten is happy. But never touch it. You know the consequences."
The girl nodded her head sadly. The man could almost feel her pain, and wished he could put his arm around her, as he did his own daughter at home. But that was what they had warned against the most. Don't touch her. Don't let her touch anything living.
"Come on. Let's go. They're waiting for you."
The girl nodded again, gesturing for them to go on ahead. They did, leaving her behind. She stood in the rain for a long time, feeling the tears that ran down her face. For the millionth time that day, she questioned the gods. Why? Why have you given me this curse?
"Hey! Hey, you over there! Get out of the rain!"
The speaker was a man, well dressed and comely. He was holding an umbrella, and looked at her as if she were crazy. He had reason. She stood in the cold rain in November, and didn't have so much as a sweater.
"Girl, where are your parents? Do they know you're out here?" the man demanded, looking half-confused and half-angry as he approached.
The girl stood back from him, her hands making signs, words that read, if the man could read sign language, 'Don't touch me.'
"Good lord, you're not even wearing a coat! Aren't you freezing?" the man asked, looking now pityingly at her. The girl shook her head furiously, trying to stay away from the man, hands fluttering over and over, 'Please don't touch me'
The man's IQ was not very high, and he couldn't understand why she didn't talk. "Are you afraid of me? It's alright, girl, I won't hurt you. Here, let me take you to my house. My wife will kill me if she discovers I left a poor little scrap like you out here."
He reached for the girls' arm, with the girl desperately forming signs, but it's too late. He touched her, and for a moment, he froze in surprise. Then he disappeared, but the girl saw his energy, his life energy, flow into her. She felt the energy inside of her, and felt it leave to parts unknown. One thing she did know, however, was that the man was dead, and it was her that killed him.
"Kalmei…" said a voice, and she looked up. The man from earlier was there, still holding the kitten. "Come on, it's time to go."
Kalmei stood up, fresh tears running down her face. Waving away the man, she signed,
'Don't touch me.'
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Me: Okay, angst-filled or sad? I don't want anymore angst, but sad is okay. It's supposed to be sad. Please let me know!
Kalmei: 'Yeah, please and thank you!'
Me: Is it possible to have exclamation points in sign language? -is clueless about it-
Kalmei: 'If you don't know it, why do you have a story with it?'
Me: -sweatdrops- Never mind, just review please!