The flames licked at the once-beautiful maple trees, searing them charcoal-black.
Firekit watched in horror as her namesake grew closer, closer… closer. Her memories came flooding back… her abusive father, her rejection by her mother, her mean littermates.
"Firekit!" spat Flameclaw, smacking the kit with an unsheathed paws, drawing blood from her cheek. Firekit screeched in terror. Why me? Why?
Sandwhisper turned away from her smallest and youngest kit, tossing her nose in the air. "I will not nurse her. I do not care for runts." Firekit mewled, not understanding anything that her mother was saying. She felt herself being grasped by the scruff and taken to another nest and another queen. The new pelt didn't feel right.
Oakkit smashed into his younger sister, slicing across her pelt with his thorn-sharp claws. Firekit raced away, blood streaking her sides. "That's right runt!" called Rosekit. "Run! Run and don't ever come back!"
The she-kit stumbled backwards, straight into another cat. Mother! The cat, was, in fact, her mother. Sandwhisper stared at her smallest kit with pure disgust.
The queen turned around and kicked Firekit straight into the flames before racing off, away from the flames; away from her daughter.
Firekit yowled as the flames licked at her small, frail body. She watched her namesake surround her, black spots dancing in her vision.
Her body went numb from the pain and Firekit waited, making no attempt to escape. The flames are… welcoming. she thought, a tear rolling down her cheek. Then, the blackness enveloped her completely, and Firekit was smiling.