~ Chapter 1: Venture ~
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"C'mon, Gusty!" Breezey laughed, as she leaped over her fence and into her best friend's yard. "We need to find Patch and Pitch so we can celebrate Patch finally reaching 6 months old!"
Breezey's tawny colored fur rustled with the freedom of her collar as she pranced around Gusty's lawn, white paws messing up the flowerbeds. Around their neighborhood, whenever a kitten reached 6 months, their human took off their collar. All of their friends had gotten theirs off recently, but Patch's owners had been on vacation when she reached the age. But they were back and today was finally Patch's turn!
She was excited but her brilliant green eyes were shadowed by the dream she had had the night before. It wasn't the first, she often had dreams of herself in the forest, lounging in the sunshine surrounded by cats she didn't know, but had a feeling of fondness for. The dream always left her content and happy, but in the waking world it left her wanting something more.
Last night's dream was particularly unsettling. A cat had been watching her, its pelt misty with a starry quality to it. The cat had a wise look in its eyes, its muscles lean and hard, and scars covered its pelt. It hadn't said anything but she could tell it wanted to. "Stoppit!" Breezey muttered to herself, shaking her head in annoyance. She had to stop dwelling on that dream, especially since she could hear Gusty racing towards his cat door.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Gusty mews, shaking his gray and white pelt as he padded out of his cat door.
"Where's Pitch? I thought we were surprising Patch by going out into the forest today." He questions, looking around for their other best friend.
Pitch's pitch black pelt and grazing amber eyes were hard to miss. He finally spotted the big tom, sitting in a tree above them, eyes gleaming mischievously.
"Pitch! If you were going to scare Breezey again, it's getting old!" Gusty grumbles, stretching out in the early morning sun. It never ceased to amaze him how refreshed he felt in the morning, even though he had troubling dreams of claws and teeth digging into his pelt, the blood rushing in his head, and the satisfaction of protecting something, he never quite knew what. Strange cats were often watching over him, looking about to tell him something, but he could never make it out. Gusty knew it had something to do with the dark forest bordering their home but he was nervous about exploring it when the dreams left him gasping and in pain. He wished he could explain the frustration with his closest friends, but he thought they would laugh, so he was going along with their plans today with anxious paws.
Pitch leaped down from the tree. "Aw! Gusty! You ruined it!" he says, a deep purr rumbling in his throat.
Breezey gave him an exasperated look and licked her fur, green eyes twinkling.
"Time to wake up Patch!" she says excitedly, bounding out of Gusty's yard and into one a few fences down, Pitch and Gusty following her.
Breezey nosed Patch's cat door open, "WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!" she yowls.
Pitch rolled his eyes. Breezey was too energetic for her own good. He loved how she was always so carefree and upbeat, but she never slowed down to rest. She was the one always waking him up from his dreams. It was usually the same one, where he was shrouded in a dark forest, a large group of cats milling around him and looking up to him as a leader in the darkness.
In his dreams, he was important; the one everyone wanted to be with. Pitch's amber eyes blazed, thinking about the one that morning, where Breezey's yowling had woke him up, yet again, before hearing what a particular starry looking cat was about to tell him.
Patch jerked to her paws. "Wha-? Who?" She mumbles, her milky blue eyes bleary with sleep. Her mouth could still taste the sweet herbs she had been using in her dream, to cure a cat who had been attacked by something with long claws. She had been having the dream frequently, and wished she knew how to use the herbs in her waking hours, because it always left her with an exhilarating feeling. The dream was blown out of her head at the site of her friends. "Breezey!" she mews happily, scampering over to her.
She pushes through the cat door, long white fur looking like snow in the heat of summer. "Gusty, Pitch! Notice anything different today?" she asks excitedly.
"Hmm, what could it be?" Gusty teases; his unique sea-colored eyes glinting in the sunlight.
"They took it off! Good-bye collar!" Breezey exclaims; looking like she could do back flips.
Patch purred and nodded, licking the white fur on her chest where the tags on her collar usually sat. "So, what do we do today?" she asks sweetly. She was the most gentle of the four, always soft-spoken and cautious though she loved having fun as much as the others.
"Today, little sister, we explore!" Pitch's voice quivered with excitement at their adventure. Patch and Pitch had been brought up for a few weeks together with their mother. They were so close sometimes they knew what the other was going to say before they said it. Since they had been taken away from each other to live with new humans they hadn't been as close as before, but they still knew one another inside and out. Pitch knew Patch would be reluctant to venture out into the forest, and he was right.
Patch's eyes widened in surprise, "You mean the forest, don't you?" she asks softly.
"Yes!" Breezey purrs. "Don't worry! Everything will be fine so long as we stick together! And we can always see our houses and come back if we get separated." Breezey's eyes matched Gusty's, a longing to be out in the forest and discovering new things.
Patch couldn't say no to her friends, she had a feeling they would venture out their sooner or later, so she just nodded.
Gusty brightened, "Then let's go!" He flicked his thin gray tail, turning and leaping for the fence that led out into the forest.
Pitch matched Patch's pace as they followed Gusty, his golden eyes gleaming with an almost hungry anticipation.
Patch glanced at Breezey and the two she's shared a smile, content with just being with their closest friends as they faced the unknown.
~*~