Mom said it was my turn to my an author insert!

I should be dead. I was killed in a car accident when I didn't look both ways. It was mostly my fault for being a clueless dumb-ass. I'm sure my family were shattered by my death; we're all very, very tight-knit, and even though there had been issues lately, I hate that I had to leave them. But death doesn't discriminate, it take and it takes and it take, and we just keep movin' anyway-

Sorry, Hamilton reference, couldn't resist.

But anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that I should either be no more or in an afterlife with my loved ones. But for whatever reason, I woke up in a bright, starry field with a pale gray and white cat next to me. I was completely bewildered at first, wondering if this was heaven. I shrugged. Guess an afterlife does exist after all. I reached out a hand to get the cat beside me to let them sniff it, saying, "Hi kitty, what's up?"

But then the cat spoke.

"Please do not refer to me as "kitty"." The tom spoke in a gruff, mature voice, tail flicking back and forth in annoyance

My eyes went wide and I jumped at least a foot in the air, screaming "What the fuck?!". I slowly inched farther away, worried about upsetting what was clearly an eldritch creature, yet also extremely freaked out. The cat sighed and shook his head, standing up to follow me. I backed away at a slightly faster pace, only to then trip over a rock. I cursed as I fell onto my back. It didn't hurt, but it was very annoying. Damn my stupid ability to bump over anything and everything!

The cat caught up to me, sitting down and curling his tail over his paws. I gulped and sat up quickly, realizing that escaping was a fruitless endeavor. And besides, I was a little curious to see what he would say, as he looked like he wanted to speak.

"Thank you for not running more." The cat said, "My name is Goosefeather, and I saw how you died."

My brows furrowed and my eyes squinted in confusion. I shook my head and said, "Okay, first of all, what kind of name is that? Two, where the hell am I?!"

Goosefeather laughed good-naturedly and replied, "Us clan cats are given prefixes two moons after we're born, which would be the equivalent of a toddler in your terms. All clan cats have suffixes, but we don't get our full names until we reach our first year, usually when we're made warriors."\

"Okay okay okay, hold up!" I said quickly, holding my open palms towards him, "You guys live in clans? And what's a warrior?"

"Not all cats live in clans, but where I'm from, there are four clans: ThunderClan, clan of the forest and the clan I came from, ShadowClan, clan of the pine marsh, RiverClan, clan of the wet lowlands, and WindClan, clan of the moors. And warriors make up the majority of a clan. They are the adult cats who make the clan a functioning society."

I stared at him for a few seconds, processing what I just heard. I mean, it made sense, but I was confused how the cats organized themselves so well. As well as that, I did have one more question in mind...

"Okay, that's all fine and good, but where am I?" I asked, putting emphasis on the word where. Goosefeather nodded.

"Right, well, you're in StarClan, the clan cat's afterlife. Any warrior who was faithful to their clan and followed the code can rest here, and eventually pass back into the living world."

"... So this is cat heaven?! Then why am I here?!" I demanded, standing up. Goosefeather didn't flinch, and instead he looked somewhat sad his eyes glazed over as he recalled whatever he saw.

"I was wandering the border of StarClan's land." He began, "And I found a sad soul searching for the human afterlife..." He murmured, "I noticed we were there for a long time, so I assumed you were a lost soul and I brought you into here. Lost souls are often restless spirits who cannot get over how they died, and refuse to join their afterlife...". Goosefeather then shuffled his paws, sighing heavily. "I know this isn't your correct afterlife though, and while I can take you the pool of rebirth, I don't know if you'd be a human anymore."

"Uh, what's the pool of rebirth?" I asked, quirking a brow and kneeling down to be more at his level. Goosefeather's eyes refocused, his gaze landing on my face.

"StarClan cats who deserve a second chance get to enter the pool and be reborn as a kit." Goosefeather explained patiently, "But like I said, I don't think you'd come out as a human."

"... I can be reborn?" I asked, a grin slowly spreading on my face. I didn't have to spend the rest of time in some afterlife that I wasn't supposed to be in? But my mind kept going back to the whole "turning into a cat" part. I had no clue where the clans lived, and I probably wouldn't be able to find my family!

Yet... I didn't know if I would be able to find them being dead anyways. Might as well get a second chance at life!

"Yes, but-" Goosefeather began, only for me to race past him. I didn't know where the hell this pool was, but by god, I wanted to live again!

I ran in the opposite direction for a few minutes, but unlike it the real world, I didn't tire out. I could actually run without having to stop to pant and wheeze after a minute!

I ran in circles for what felt like hours, getting increasingly lost into the starry fields and occasionally running into shocked and terrified cats. But to my luck, I finally came across a glowing white pool! There it was, unprotected!

But just to my luck, a couple cats that were nearby had caught up to me as I skidded to a halt. They hissed at me, tails bushed and claws out. A small ginger tabby spat, "I don't know what made Goosefeather bring you into our lands, but get away from the pool of rebirth!"

"What she said, ya nasty twoleg!" A dark gray tom next to the molly hissed. I held my hands to my chest, trying to look inoffensive.

"Hey hey hey, I'm not here to cause trouble! I just want a second chance!" I tried to reason. This seemed to made the cats angier though, as they snarled and came closer to me, as if they were trying to scare me off.

"You don't deserve to taint our clans with your-" The gray tom from before hissed those words at me, but at this point I had enough and leaped past them, diving headfirst right into the pool.

I heard their panicked yowls, and I screamed as all went black and I felt like I was falling from the sky just to spite them, "Fuck youuuu!"

The next thing I knew was warmth. I felt slimy, yet I could feel a warm tongue washing over me. I couldn't see or hear, but I could smell a comforting, soft scent and knew I was hungry. I was nudged toward what I assumed was a belly and instinctively started to suckle. I rejoiced in my head, even though I couldn't form a smile on my kitten face just yet.

I had a second chance at life, and I wasn't going to waste this opportunity.