Forest of Dreams Chapter 1
I arched my back in a huge stretch, my brown tabby pelt soaking in the moonlight. The milky moon a pool of light. The wind whistling, calling my name, Leaf. I looked down from my favorite spot in the world, the windowsill, at my family. Their faint stirrings calmed me yet I was still unsettled at the thought of me being trapped in here night after night. Mouse was snoring softly, his gray tabby flank rising and falling with every intake of breath. Berry a heaping white ball of snow that was splattered all over the floor, the greatest bed hog known to cats. Fawn was muttering and squeaking in a deep sleep. She always has nightmares, what a scaredy-cat! And lastly Flower, my mama, was curled in a ball purring contentedly. You would think that I should have the perfect life. Wrong. I'm tired. Tired of being pushed around and being told what to do. It's my life anyways! Tired of always getting in trouble when I never did anything wrong. An owl hooted. Who? Who, it seemed to be asking me. Who was I, what was I really meant to do? The spacious, dull room that bored me everyday meant nothing, made me feel like nothing. I can't spend my whole life like this, just wasting away the day with our boring old games. There's some real adventure out there! I don't know why Mama makes such a fuss, I mean, what could possibly hurt us in our own back yard? We even have a fence to close us in! I would much rather be out roaming through the forest, the breeze ruffling my fur, the sound of my light pawsteps echoing throughout a silent hollow. There'd be a roaring river in the distance, plenty of food and trees to climb, any cat's dream. Not having to wait for our housefolk to get home, feed themselves, and finally feed us. I could hunt plenty of birds and mice! I bet I could even catch a squirrel! I wouldn't have to listen to anymore of Mama's dumb old lectures about playing with that certain ball of yarn or jumping up onto the piano keys and making a "raucous" just to get up here. Mama thinks that I am so troublesome, when really, I'm just having fun! But I have to listen because she would probably really prefer if I didn't get kicked out of the house for being "bad".
But what I really don't get is the stupid white bird in a cage that I'm not allowed to lay a paw on. If I have to hear "Bad kitty!" one more time from that pitiful waste of space, I will pluck every feather from its scrawny body and you will find it in my stomach! You know, in the wild, that squawking parasite would already be a pile of bones! I would have eaten it like a savage cat! Like the ones that live in the forest. Patchy, our neighbor, talks about the wildcats nonstop! He is old and loony, yet still able to tell a few scary stories. When he told these stories I could always picture them as menacing, ruthless, savage cats. They were meant to scare us. But leave the crying to Berry, Mouse, and Fawn. Of course I wasn't scared, not one bit. I could flay them alive and turn them into crowfood! Why, I could even live alongside them! Valiant, bold, fearless, courageous, I'd be unstoppable! Of course, this could NEVER happen. Mama would never allow it when she won't even let us play outside alone, she watches us like a hawk! So I'm left here in the confines of our yard that forbids us to leave, what lies beyond the tall, wooden fence? Is it really as bad as they all say, or is it the forest of my dreams?