Sunlight filtered through the bramble branches, birds twittered their beautiful songs. I woke alone. Dove's nest was empty, but still warm. She had gone hunting. I got to my paws and stuck my head out of the bush.
A thin layer of white stuff covered the ground. It wasn't like the – I think it was called frost – that had covered the ground yesterday. This stuff looked all fluffy and bouncy. It reminded me of clouds.
I could spot Dove's perfect prints in the stuff. I placed my paw inside her print. It was freezing cold and sent a shiver down my body. But the feeling was exciting and I wanted to go further outside.
Maybe I could follow Dove...
Puffing out my grey tabby fur to keep out the cold, I moved further outside. I placed my paw carefully on to Dove's second print.
Soon I was hopping from paw print to paw print across the narrow strip of white covered grass. I followed the track into the forest, an excited thrill rippling through me from the tip of my ears to the points of my claws. It was fun breaking the rules!
I trekked further and further into the forest, always placing my paws carefully in Dove's prints.
Dove's tracks lead me to the clearing we had gone to yesterday. I followed them to the edge of the stream and stopped. The prints continued at the other side. Should I follow them? Mami had said never to cross the stream. But she had crossed it...
Squeezing my eyes tight shut and bunching my muscles, I leaped over onto the other side. Quickly getting my balance back, I bounded into Dove's prints and followed them into the forest.
The trees soon thinned and I came to a big space of deserted land. At the end of the space of land tall wooden planks were sticking up from the ground. They were placed so close together that there was no gaps between them. The only way to get past them was to jump over them. And that was exactly what Mami had done. Her tracks stopped and at the base of the wooden planks and flecks of white stuff were left at the top.
I focussed on the white stuff and lowered myself to a crouch, preparing for the big leap. I sprang upwards, my claws just digging into the top. I managed to heave myself up.
The planks were thin and I swayed precariously. It took a while to regain my balance and look at the scene ahead of me.
A black path of hard stuff, untouched by the white stuff, lay in a straight line in front of me. Rows and rows of cave like things were placed evenly away from each other. Each cave place had a path of neat grass and lower planks of wood separated one cave from another.
What I saw next I couldn't possible forget.
A huge brightly coloured shiny thing came rushing towards me along the black path. It sounded as loud as thunder and reeked of smoke and hotness. Every hair on my felt sprang up, my ears flattened against my head and I leaped back down from the wooden planks, not waiting for the monster thing to get any closer to me.
I ran the rest of the way through the forest, never stopping until I reached the bramble bush. Mami had been right! Twoleg place was the most terrifying place you could ever go! I don't see why any cat would possibly want to be a kittypet if they had to live there.
I tried to calm my breathing, tried to prick my ears up and flatten my fur. Mami would be back soon; she couldn't see me like this. She couldn't know I had crossed the stream.
"Are you okay, Bella?"
I almost jumped a tail-length as Dove padded inside the den. She carried the strange scent of twoleg place on her fur. I had never noticed it before.
"Fine Mami," I mewed, trying to keep my voice as normal as possible. "I just had a bad dream, that's all." Dove purred soothingly and wrapped her tail around me. She pulled back almost immediately.
"You're freezing!" she exclaimed. "Did you go outside?" I shook my head quickly, trying not look guilty. Dove narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything.
"Would you like to come on you're very first hunting trip?" she asked, changing the subject. My face lightened up. In an instant I forgot all about twoleg place and the scary shiny monsters.
Dove dropped a mouse at my paws.
"But first you'll need to eat this," she mewed. "You'll need all the energy you can get." I gulped down the mouse in six bites and then sat by the exit, flicking my tail impatiently. Dove flicked her ears and ate the last scraps of her bird.
"All right, all right," she purred. "I'm coming."
We ran out into the icy morning. I danced about in the white stuff, throwing it up into the air.
"It's called snow," Dove told me. "Its winter now and there is lots of snow everywhere. In spring it will melt and new life will grow." I nodded, making paw print patters in the... snow.
"Ok, Bella," Dove meowed with a slight edge of impatience in her voice. "Are we going or not?" I stopped messing about and leaped over to Dove. By now I had gotten the hang of walking.
Dove lead me back into the forest. I bounced along after her, practically buzzing with excitement.
We went to the same clearing as yesterday. I then remembered the twoleg place and spotted Dove's paw prints that led to the there.
"Mami," I meowed hesitantly. "Why did you go to the twoleg place? I thought it was scary and dangerous." Dove flicked her ears uncomfortably.
"I'm a full grown cat," she meowed. "When you're eight moons old I'll take you there. You'll need to learn how to cross thunderpaths." I cocked my head to one side.
"What's a thunderpaths?" I asked.
"A thunderpath is a black path that twoleg monsters run along," Dove told me. "Cats have died there so you have to be very very careful." A shiver ran down my spine as I remembered the huge shiny stinky thing. That was a monster.
"Ok," Dove meowed. "That's enough about twolegs. Let's start the lesson."
They practiced the hunter's crouch all afternoon but Bella didn't manage to catch anything. It was winter so there was a shortage of prey – well that's what Mami said anyway. I lent how to crouch if I were stalking a bird and a rabbit and a mouse. I learnt that you always stay downwind from your prey. It was a brilliant lesson.
We trudged through the snow back to the bramble bush. I was tired out and my belly was roaring. Dove had caught us a few shrews. I was dying to try them.
We brushed inside the bramble bush and I flopped down immediately into my nest. I had been practically sleeping on my paws.
Dove tossed me a shrew and I mewed my thanks. Staring at it hungrily, I devoured it in three ravenous bites. Dove purred in amusement and I looked up to see her watching me.
"What?" I demanded.
"You remind me so much of your father," Dove told me. "He used to eat every meal as if it were his last!" I flicked my tail indignantly, raising my chin.
"I do not!" I protested. "I was just hungry, that's all!" Dove's blue eyes danced playfully.
"Yes," she mewed. "That's what he would say!" I batted a ball of moss towards her, the fur on the back of my neck rising slightly.
Very soon Dove and I were wrestling each other on the den floor. Soon I started to notice silvery moonlight filtering through the branches and yawned. My grip loosened slightly and I stopped raking her belly with my back paws. Dove seemed to realise I was getting tired and got up.
"Right," she meowed. "It's time to sleep." I nodded and slumped down back into my slightly messed up nest.
"What are we doing tomorrow?" I yawned. Dove looked thoughtful for a moment.
"I'll show you all of the different herbs and berries," she told me. "They may come in handy some day." I nodded and lay my head down on my soft bedding.
I wanted to spend every day like this. I loved Dove and life in the forest. Nothing could possibly be better – and certainly not kittypet life. I would never ever change anything. Except maybe...
"Mami," I asked nervously. "What is my dad called?" Dove jerked her head up. Her blue eyes seemed alarmed for a second but they soon calmed. The changing emotion happened so quickly I could have imagined it.
"You're father was called Arran," Dove told me. Arran. I liked the name as much as Dove or Bella.
"When can I see him?" I asked. Dove flicked her ears. For a moment I thought she would say not ever.
"I don't know," she meowed. "It depends when he comes to visit."
That night I dreamt of a large grey tabby tom with green eyes just like mine.