Alternate universe! This is about Brook and her journey to the Tribe. She is Tanya. Enjoy!
Tanya sighed and padded forwards. She was always so bored. Even if her housefolk really did play with her, she never got the so-called thrill of chasing a mouse. According to her littermate, Maggie, mice tasted delicious. So did chaffinches. Tanya was so jealous that Maggie was allowed out. The only reason they wouldn't let her out was because she hadn't been taken to the vet. MAGGIE could catch squirrels (although Tanya doubted she'd ever catch another one). MAGGIE could drink from fresh, rainwater puddles. (The water in her water bowl was always metallic and bitter-tasting) MAGGIE could- Oh, never mind. She'd just make herself more unhappy.
A thought crossed her mind. Maybe, if she snuck out while her housefolk came in from a stroll, she could slip out and hide, and hunt prey. Her sleek, grayish-brown pelt would help to hide her beneath and behind boulders and shrubs. There were no trees up here in the mountains. Yes. She would escape!
Tanya scolded herself. Her housefolk had opened the door many times, but she hadn't the heart to slip out. It was her kindness that did it. Her housefolk loved her. She loved them. Tanya was sure she could hunt, she had the instinct. But she just wasn't a fighting cat! Even in small battles with Maggie, she always lost. Her lithe body was built for running.
The next day, while her housefolk were retrieving food from their awful, smelly, huge, metallic monsters, Tanya saw her chance. She hesitated, wondering if a life in the wild was what she wanted, after all. Did she want to take her chances in the wild? Never to see Maggie again? Never to see her housefolk again? But Tanya knew what she wanted.
She darted out, silent as a fish. Her housefolk never even noticed her! Clumsy, unobservant clod! Tanya silently ridiculed her housefolk in her head. Take that, Maggie! she thought.
Tanya was free, and no-one was here to stop her from being wild! She would catch prey, hut mice, fight eagles-no, not fight eagles. How about run from eagles. She had seen an eagle pick up her other littermate, Max, when he was a kitten. She still had the awful experience stuck in her head. She would not want to fight off an eagle. No.
As if prophetic, Tanya heard the flapping of wings as soon as she stepped out into the open. She looked up. An eagle. She fled to the nearest bush, and prayed it wouldn't be able to catch or slice her to bits with those terrible talons. The eagle swooped by, cawing it's distress at finding no prey. Tanya shivered. Could there be anything worse for her in store? She didn't think so. What could be more dangerous than an eagle?
Sadly, Tanya was waaaaay off the mark. There were far more dangerous things for the house-cat to face. The eagle was but one of them.
Yah, I wrote this at about 12:00 at night last night, so I'm pretty tired. It's the weekend though, so I'll probably get at least three new chapters of "Tanya's Quest" up. Also, please review! I was suffering from insomnia and still am and don't know how to thank for a loverly piece of criticism/compliment-ism.
Review!!!!!!!!!!