I have my reasons (Scourge) Part 1:
I tingled with warmth from head to tail-tip, my belly was full of sweet milk, and my littermates crowded around me, their soft fluffy fur making a nest I could curl up in comfortably. My mother's warm belly made a warm wall at my back, and the gentle licks she gave me filled me with love for her. Her warm purr vibrated through me and I snuggled closer to her and closed my eyes, content just to lie there and rest from a fun-filled day of play, stories, and happiness.
It was the last time I was ever to feel like that in my life.
As I lay there in my warm nest, asleep and having happy dreams filled with catching mice and defeating shrews, I felt a sharp tug on my two-moon-old scruff. Assuming it was my mother, I opened my eyes and looked up at her, about to scold her for waking me up. Instead I saw a huge black tom looking down at me with an expression of disgust. To the side I saw my mother, her eyes wide and full of fear.
"Don't take them yet!" she wailed suddenly, her silver fur brisling. "Give me a few more moons with them!" The black tom leaned against the tree that sheltered us, his long whiskers—one white, the rest black—twitching with amusement.
"You didn't think I'd let you keep them forever, did you?" he purred, and his breath came at me, stinking like crowfood. My mother shrank back, holding my littlest sister, Rose. Rose was admittedly the most good-looking of all us kits, with her long, soft, creamy white fur and huge, innocent sky-blue eyes.
Just then, the shadows moved and I saw three more toms emerge from the darkness. My siblings shrank back, and I tried to hide under my mother, whiskers quivering in fear. The black tom laughed.
"And what's your name, little kit?" he purred amusedly, as if this was all a good-natured joke, and I looked behind me, surprised. "You don't seem like you'll amount to much."
My eyes widened and I turned away, burrowing my head in my mother's soft fur. She gently pushed me away her eyes filled with worry. When I turned back to the tom, his eyes were steely.
"Answer me, little kit," he growled, now angry. I shivered in fright. "Answer me NOW." His tail lashed aggressively, and I shivered again. Suddenly, my favorite brother, Jay, boldly walked over, his little pink nose held high in the air, and put his little body in-between me and the tom.
"You're scaring him," he hissed, his tiny voice angry. "Just go away and leave us and mommy alone!" The black tom's face twisted in an ugly scowl. He raised a massive claw into the air and brought it down heavily on little Jay's head. My ginger-furred brother gave a squeak of pain and crumpled to the ground.
"No!" yelped my mother sharply, leaping to her paws and sending small Rose tumbling to the ground. "Stop !"
As if he had planned it, the tom grabbed the unsheltered Rose, bringing a claw up to her small, thin throat. My mother froze, her amber-green eyes blinking uncertainly from Jay to the black tom. I whimpered softly, but no one took notice of me.
A flick from the tail of the black tom sent the three large brown cats scurrying to get me, and my many siblings. My mother watched on in anguish as they picked us up roughly, but she didn't dare say anything—for Rose's sake.
The unconscious Jay was picked up by an ugly cat with a long scar across his face—he almost looked like it had been cut in half, then put back together. I felt frightened when I saw the thin but steady trickle of blood flow from the middle of my brother's skull—what was going to happen to him?
Just then, a sleek, amber-eyed tom grabbed me up. He held me by my tiny scruff, and bounded after Jay's holder, the abrupt movement jarring my teeth. When he stopped, we were next to them. My brother dangled limply from the other tom's mouth, his tail drooping to the ground. The black tom turned after us, still holding Rose. He jerked his head at the toms, and we started off to the other side of the forest. It was only till we were well away that I heard my mother start to yowl after us, but nevertheless we kept moving, her anguished cries ringing in my ears.
Like it? Stay tuned, part two is coming soon!
-Eyes of Silver, Heart of Gold