This is a re-upload of what I made before. I edited some of this, and rewrote some whole paragraphs, so if my writing seems different than how the rest of it is, it is because my writing has become less childish looking. But I did leave a lot of the original writing there, because I am too lazy to rewrite the whole story. This was supposed to be for my second story of my Golden Heart trilogy, the one I cancelled. But now it is its own story, so I hope you enjoy.

A Light in the Darkness

The door bursts open.

It has escaped from its cell.

A monster.

It will never stop until it gets exactly what it wants.

And nothing can stop it.

A sheep runs into a wall panicking, running for her life, trying to save herself from this horrid creature. But now she is stuck. There is nowhere else to go.

She is trapped in a corner.

Horror fills her eyes as she turns around and falls onto her butt, leaning against the wall, waiting to face her doom.

In a shaky voice she says, "You-you shouldn't be out here."

"But I just wanted something to eat."

The young voice of a girl belongs to the one known as...

Tigress.

Wow. How dramatic was that?

"I told you when I will feed you. Now get back into your room!" the sheep says sternly, not actually having been scared. She stands up, and walks to the young girl, glaring at her.

Tigress protests, "But I just want to—"

"No. Go back now."

Then the young tiger growls angrily. The sheep takes one step back in slight fear, but knowing that the child would not hurt anyone in the orphanage.

The young Tigress runs on all fours towards the main gate and slams her side into it.

"I want to get out! I don't want to be here!" She keeps slamming herself against the thick gate. "I just want to go!"

Then she slams her head on it one final time before giving up. Her anger is then replaced with sadness as her head remains on the gate. The sheep catches up to her.

"You can't leave. I can't just let you run loose through the village. You know that."

Tigress keeps her head against the gate. She sighs, squeezing her eyes shut. Her paws form into fists and she hits the gate as hard as she can. The gates squeak as rub against one another.

"Look," the sheep continues, "just go back to your room."

Tigress doesn't move, nor does she move her gaze from the door. The sheep talks in a harsher tone. "Now."

Tigress turns around and walks back to her room. The sheep follows closely behind.

Tigress enters the room, past the large worn-out wooden door. The sheep closes the door behind the tiger and locks it, making sure that she won't get out again.

The young tiger looks around the room. It looks like it had been torn apart. The bed is a disaster. The mattress is partly ripped up, and the thing that used to hold the bed above the ground now only made it go halfway to the ground. No one had bothered to remove it because Tigress preferred it that way, because she could hide behind the bed to avoid being seen by anyone. Sometimes she would even hide under it like was a tent.

The walls have scratch marks on it and there are tiny pieces of wood all over the floor. The floor has several broken planks that could be lifted to hide something underneath it.

Tigress lifts up that piece of wood and grabs a doll she had made herself. About two months ago, she had found a piece of wood on the ground that looked like it was in the shape of a cat. The part for the ears was already naturally formed, so she just had to find something for limbs and use her claws to scratch in some eyes, a nose, and a mouth. She had used shredded bits of the bed to make the arms and legs.

A wooden body, fabric limbs, scratched out eyes, nose and mouth. It wasn't really a great work of art, but Tigress didn't care. She made it herself and was proud of the outcome. She loved it, and she still does.

She takes the doll out of its bed which she made out of some of the fluffy stuffing in the bed. She takes the blanket off, which was also made out of the bed, and puts it back, covering it with the wood. Tigress' eyes start to tear up as she holds the doll against her body. Then she stands up and walks to the bed, and slumps down on it.

She thinks of all the times she had with the other children here, she can hear the voices echoing in her head. The voices that would never leave her alone, saying words that are permanently engraved in her brain.

"You're a monster."

"No one's ever gonna adopt you."

"Of all places, your stupid parents had to drop you off here."

"No one loves you."

"What is the matter with you?! I finally had a chance to have a family and you just scared them away! I hate you, you monster!"

"It would have been best if you were never born."

Tigress looks directly at the eyes of the doll. "Why doesn't anyone love me, Su? I try to be nice and play with the others, but they always run away, terrified. They all say I'm a monster, and I'm beginning to wonder if that's true."

She lightly tosses the doll in her paw as the memories continue to run through her head. Then she looks curiously at the small toy. "You don't think I'm a monster, do you, Su?"

She stares at the doll as if expecting an actual answer from it. She knows it's not alive, but she can barely hear a word repeating itself in her head.

"Yes."

The word repeats itself in her head, as if the doll is giving her a clear answer. She is indeed a monster. Tigress snarls and throws the doll across the room. It hits the wall before landing on the floor next to the door. She stares down at the ground in anger, trying to calm herself. Then she looks back at the doll. The way it is positioned seems to show some kind of emotion. The doll seems to have one of the arms covering her eyes, giving the illusion that she is crying.

Tigress feels more tears come to her eyes as she regrets what she did to the doll. She had always wanted to show everyone that she is someone worthy of being adopted. She wanted to show that she cares. She just wanted to have someone care about her. And now, the only one who does has been thrown across the room, because of her anger.

Nobody cares about her. No one ever will. She will be stuck in this place for the rest of her life. This is her prison, keeping her away from what she envied all the other children for.

She will never have a family.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the heart-breaking sight of Su was not really helping her situation. Tigress the Monster, a horrible beast that will harm if not kill you in your sleep, who is to be locked up for all eternity, barely fed, never leaving, just left to grow and die here.

She looks sadly at her hurt friend. She rises to her feet and walks slowly towards the inanimate object. She crouches down and carefully picks up the toy.

"Su, are you okay?" She sounds concerned as she stares at the doll in her small paw. "I'm so sorry. I was just really mad, and I just—" She sighs sadly as tears begin to run down her face. "I'm really sorry. Can you forgive me?"

She stares at the non-living object. It still shows that permanent smile carved on her face. Tigress smiles too, as it appears that she has been forgiven

"Thank you, Su." The tiger says, as she brings the doll in for another hug. She can feel all the anger and sadness fade as she holds her friend close. She promises to never harm her again. She stands up and walks to her bed. She lays down upon it, with Su right next to her. The young feline slowly lowers her head towards the doll, and plants a kiss upon her forehead. She lays down her head, nuzzling Su lovingly, like a mother would do before sending her child to bed.

As Tigress was about to drift off to sleep, she had one last thought. One final thought that often came to mind. A thought that she believed Su had been "saying" for a long time.

Maybe there is still hope for me.