The snowflakes twisted and tumbled through the air, burning in a delicate, fluttering dance of gentle loops and precious spins. Not that anybody noticed- the snowstorm that raged through Acme Acres was a bitter one, violent and unapologetic and riddled with the full fury of Mother Nature's wrath. It was the coldest night of the year, and the night Furrball found he wished more than anything, that he had a family.
Quietly, the sapphire feline trudged through piled banks of snow that had scooped up atop the sidewalk, turning the town into a frigid, horrible alien wasteland. Nothing was familiar with everything covered in eight feet of snow, or a terrible sheet of clear glistening ice. Still, he marched onward, one arm cocked across his face while the other waved and wiggled in front of him, trying to keep himself from slamming into anything. He didn't know where he was going, or what he would find when he got there, but he had to keep moving. He had to press on, if he wanted to see tomorrow's sunlight, and at this point that was all that mattered. His eyes widened, however, when he caught sight of a few dimly twinkling lights in the distance- a few quiet houses that braved the storm like he did. With a monumental effort, Furrball twisted his hips to drive himself forward towards the lights and his single shot of hope…
"P, please, I, I can't feel…feel my tail…" Furrball pleaded. Rarely did things become bad enough when he had to resort to actually talking, but he prayed the man who answered the door would listen. Would see just how cold he was and how the storm had beaten him into the ground. The door slammed shut with a snarl at the frozen kitten standing on it's steps, but Furrball was too cold to complain, or try again. He had to keep moving. Next house…
"I, If I could just warm up for just a minute, jus, just a minute, please, It's so cold, and I-" Furrball pleaded. This time it was a woman who turned her nose up, shunning away from the bitter, violent cold that danced across her doorstep. She shut the door, turning the kitten and the storm away and returned to her loving family. That twinkling light of hope Furrball had been clinging to was starting to fade away, dying to the snowstorm like the footprints Furrball left behind as he headed towards the next house.
"I, If I could just have something to eat, please, oh please I prom, I promise, I promise it won't be much…I, I just, I'm so cold…" Furrball sobbed, his tears freezing immediately to his face. He was on his hands and knees, looking up at his last glimmering ray of hope: the last house on the street and the last person that might be his savior. Trembling and far too chilled to do much more than watch, a hand reached down from the heavens of warmth and plucked the frozen feline up by the scruff of his neck, and tossed him a few feet away into an emerged snow bank.
From there, Furrball didn't have the strength to stand anymore. Not with the way the snow had piled on his shoulders and clung to his fur. Not with the weight of depression and misery sitting on him with the world's most comfortable couch. It wasn't fair. Sometimes, it just wasn't fair at all.
"Why…why did you leave me…" Furrball cried out. His last frozen, trembling breaths addressed to someone he'd not seen in years. He could still remember her face though. Faded and dim as the memory was, he could still see her face. She was smiling at him. Soft blue fur, gentle green eyes, cream colored tummy. She smelled like summer rain on a cool night, and wasn't ever capable of harming another soul- so why his mother had left him, he would never know. Of course he was convinced it was his fault. It had to be something he had done, some mistake he had made.
"I'm sorry…"He sputtered quietly into his powdery blanket of snow, shuddering as the violent storm surrounded him, caressing him, burying him.
"I'm so sorry…I just want to come home. Please…P, please, I'm sorry for what I did. I'll be a good kitty. I will! I promise."He sniffled. The snow gave no reply, and he knew she couldn't forgive him. She wouldn't. He was a bad kitty to make his mother leave the way she did, and what he got was what he deserved.
If Furrball hadn't been tired before, crying into the snow had left him completely exhausted. His breathing turned quiet and gentle, peaceful and delicate; he was falling asleep. With the terrible snow storm bearing down on him, keeping him trapped, and the sense of depression standing atop his form, he was surprised when his dreams included his mother smiling at him. Still smiling at him, always happy to see him in those dark fragmented memories of him. She was smiling when she helped him up from the snow and wrapped her arms around his trembling form, nuzzling into his neck and brushing the snow from his shoulders. She was smiling when she helped him limp along, even though the snow was pounding his frost bitten body, she was still smiling even in the face of Mother Nature's fury. And when they got to the quiet house on the outskirts of town, she was smiling then too.
"I'm sor-" He sputtered through chattering teeth, but she pressed a finger to his lips to silence him, and dusted the snow from his fur. She adjusted his shoulders and his stance- stand up straight. She wiped his face clean from the frozen tears and snow clinging to his cheek ruffs. Look nice. She was still smiling when she disappeared in a particularly nasty burst of blinding snow, leaving him standing all alone once again. Had he been sleep walking? Dreaming? Driven by instincts? Had she really been there? He pondered the strange occurrence even as the door to the house on he was standing in front of opened and the little girl rushed out into the storm's elements and squeezed him with a spine cracking pop.
"FURRBALL! What are you DOING out here you silly kitty head! You're all cold!" The girl barked happily, squeezing the poor feline wickedly against her warmed body. Furrball hung limply in her arms, eyes closed, ears pressed against his head. He didn't have any energy left to protest. Even if he hated this, he needed it and he knew it. Elmyra turned sharply on her heels, having quite enough of the snow herself and walked briskly towards the house. Over her shoulder, Furrball opened a single eye and looked for his mother, hoping she would be standing there, waving to him or watching him. He hoped she'd been real. He needed her to be real. He needed to tell her how sorry he was for everything and he'd never do it again- whatever it had been that thrust this life upon him. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her and how he needed her and how hard everything was without her… But there was nobody there in that terrible blizzard. There was nobody there watching him. He knew she would never come to see him- she had been a hallucination. She had to have been. She was a figment that would only exist in his memories and dreams and the only family he would ever know, was the abusive little girl dragging him inside.