Hi! It's me, again, and this time I'm early, which obviously means that I am still super late! In fact, it has been longer than last time!... Sorry. Well, yet again I have also written a rather long chapter so it would be helpful that you could point out any mistakes I've made, and give any advice at all. Well, you better start reading then!
Coal slowly opened her eyes, surprised to find that she was back in her nest, curled up in a small ball. She couldn't remember falling asleep, but she did remember her dream. Coal sat up and licked her single white forepaw, watching the grass blow in the wind.
"COAL!" Coal nearly leaped out of her skin. She spun around and saw Catnip, standing right in front of her, glaring at Coal with the same look the tom from Coal's dream had. She took a step forward and beckoned Coal forward with her tail. Coal obeyed and scurried over to her Mother, out from the shade of the Hawthorn, and stood there, studying her paws. "Coal..." Coal looked up and saw that her Mother's gaze had softened slightly, looking more sympathetic. "I'm sorry that I shouted, I was just worried." I'm not that useless! Just because I'm small for my age, doesn't mean you have to follow my every move! Coal growled to herself. She leaped into the air. "You don't need to worry about me! I can look after myself thank you very much!" Coal announced. Catnip sighed. "But you and Dusk were just talking, and then you ran off! I thought you'd been upset or something! And just after you'd asked whether we could leave!" Shame filled Coal as she realised that her Mother had just been worried for her feelings, not her size.
"I'm sorry Mother." Coal mewed, "But I had the most amazing dream!" she continued! Catnip chuckled, "well, what was it about?" She asked. Coal was about to answer, when something made her stop. What if she doesn't believe me? What if she thinks I'm crazy because I say that there is such a thing as cats living in the sky? It sounded crazy, but she'd seen them! Instead, she said, "I dreamed that I was in the most beautiful place in the world!" She couldn't remember looking around, but she felt as if she knew exactly what it looked like. "The trees were tall yet welcoming! The grass was short and it was so warm, not too hot or too cold. And there was endless hills stretching out in front of me, with patches of purple flowers! And the sun was huge, yet it wasn't blinding. It was amazing!" she finished.
"That sounds lovely, Coal. Now, Dusk is waiting for us by the stream. Why don't you see if you can creep up on her? Give her a little scare before we leave?" Catnip suggested. Coal nodded and instantly ran off toward the stream.
She slowed down as she neared the stream, the place where her unsuspecting victim was waiting. Crouching low to the ground so that she was hidden in the long grass that surrounded the stream, she crawled forward, getting closer towards her sister. Sticking her head out of the grass patch, she spotted Dusk dabbing at the water while she waited. Coal took one paw-step closer, then another, slowly exiting her hiding spot. She imagined that she was hunting again, and that her sister was a juicy water vole. Her prey was distracted by the patterns the light made in the water, which Coal had to admit, looked very pretty. Don't get distracted. She scolded herself. If you do, what else would you eat? She concentrated on the vole as it started to dab at the water again. If I get a little closer , then I'd easily be able to pounce on her! A few more paw-steps closer and she would be able to capture her second meal that day! Coal placed her paw down, preparing to jump, when something cracked beneath it, startling the vole. She let out a screech and leaped through the air, aiming for the creature that cowered in front of her.
Suddenly, the vole started to transform into a brown tabby cat with white paws, belly and chin, and it stood onto its hind paws, bracing for Coal's attack. Coal mewled in surprise and crashed into her sister, knocking them both onto the bank of the stream. Coal leaped onto her paws, and spun around to try and pounce on Dusk, but she was too late. Dusk was already charging towards her with surprising speed, and Coal felt herself being clued to the spot as she stared at the angry form of her sister. Before Coal could react, Dusk barrelled into her, sending her flying through the air. She squealed in horror as she realised that she was heading straight for the stream! Coal twisted in the air, trying to change where she was going to land, but yet again, she was too slow. Her cry was cut off as she went head first into the freezing water. She was still for a heartbeat, shocked by the sudden change in temperature, but soon noticed that she could feel small pebbles and stones against her back. She flipped over and kicked the floor, so she flew up towards the surface of the stream.
Coal's head broke the surface of the stream, and she started paddling towards one of the banks. It only took a couple of heartbeats before Coal could reach the floor of the stream without drowning, and she instantly tried to run the rest of the way out. The current was weak, but it still pulled at Coal's fur, and slowed her run, almost tripping her up. After a few more moments of struggling, she felt somebody grab her by the scruff, lifting her out of the water that was up to her chest, and swinging her over to the bank, and dropping her there. The familiar scent of her Mother drifted around her, and looking up, she saw the amused face of her Mother looking down at her. "Well," Coal heard Dusk coming over, her barely contained laugh obvious in her voice, "I realised that you wanted to be a great fighter and hunter, I just didn't realise that you also wanted to be a fish!" Coal just shook the water out of her fur in reply, spraying her sister with cold droplets. "Hey!" Catnip protested, as some of the droplets reached her. Dusk squealed and jumped back, before Coal could get any more payback for being called a fish.
"OK, Coal, I'm sorry, you're not a fish, just a flying cat!" Dusk teased her once more, before rushing over Catnip to hide behind her. Coal just laughed at their drenched pelts, until she saw them laughing at her pelt which had tufts sticking up all over the place. She frowned at them, then padded past them, shoving into Dusk as she passed. Turning back around, she stared at her family expectantly. "Are we going to start our new home search today or not?" She meowed, then turned around again and padding off in a random direction, trying to stop herself from laughing at their surprised expressions. Coal didn't really know why she did that, she didn't know which direction the lake they were going to was, she just thought it would be funny, leaving without them.
The way she was going was following down the stream, towards huge oak trees with brambles and nettles hiding in the shade of the trees' huge branches. Instead of hoping that this was the right direction so she didn't look like some sort of fool, she was hoping that she had chosen the wrong way. The way ahead of her seemed untrustworthy, full of sinister shadows, reaching out, and enveloping everything in its invisible grip. She suddenly remembered her nightmare turned not so nightmare, the moment before the grey tom had spoken to her. The darkness of it. The way it allowed you to feel and yet not see. The horror it had brought her. Coal felt her paw-steps falter as she stared at the shadows. Is there fighting in that darkness? She asked herself. What if every darkness was fighting its own battle, fighting for its own territory to overtake? Coal shook herself. My mind is as dark as my pelt, if not darker. She realised.
Coal couldn't look at the shadows any longer. She spun around and ran as fast as she could towards her Mother and Dusk, hoping that they wouldn't tease her any more, even though they too must have discovered her new found fear. In one movement, Coal skidded to a stop and hid behind her Mother, trembling. She closed her eyes, breathing heavily. It's OK, she soothed herself, shadows can't hurt you, they can only scare you, nothing more.
'They can also hide you, your prey, and your enemies.' The voice whispered in her head. 'Never trust anything or anyone that is in the shadows.'
'What do you mean?' Coal asked, 'Who are you?' But once again there was no answer, and she felt the voice's presence disappear. She scowled in frustration, but was drawn out of her thoughts by a prodding in her side. Coal screeched and whipped around, her fur spiking and hergreen eyes wide with fear. She internally hit herself as she saw the form of Dusk's light tabby pelt rolling on the ground, letting out uncontrollable laughs. Coal wished the ground would swallow her up. She had just been scared to death by her own sister, someone who had always been prodding and pranking her! Her fur began to lie flat and she let out a sigh. How embarrassing! First I'm scared by a shadow, then by my own sister!
Coal glanced at her Mother, who looked as if she was in pain as she kept her laughs in. She scowled again. She had only been scared! She hadn't just messed up how to walk in a straight line! Turning back to Dusk, she glared at her sister who was now gasping in pain from laughing too hard.
"Yo-you – you should ha-have seen the loo-look on your face!" She exclaimed between laughs. "You we-were staring at-at nothing... an-and I tri-tried to get your attention... and you ha-ha-had a heart attack! Yo-you lo-looked s-o-o-o scared!" With that, Dusk started screaming and laughing "OW! OW! My sides! OW! They hurt so much! OW! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Coal felt herself burn up at this. Why was she so scared of just one little prod? She had just been talking to the strange voice, maybe it had something to do with that? Or the shadows? She didn't know, but she couldn't stand Dusk laughing any more. Coal leapt through the air landing right on top of the squirming tabby. She pinned her down with one paw while batting her on the nose with the other. Dusk instantly stopped having her little fit and cried out in surprise, making Coal laugh. She took her paw off of Dusk's shoulder, but as soon as her grip had loosened, her sister flipped onto her back and kicked Coal in the belly. Her breathe left her body in an instant and she crumbled to the floor, her chest aching and mind spinning. She felt something heavy press both of her shoulders into the ground, and as her eyes focused, she saw that Dusk had pinned her down with a look of triumph on her face.
"The Fearsome Dusk has won the battle against her enemy the Unbeatable Coal once again!" Dusk yowled happily. Coal huffed "Why are you so good at fighting? If that had been real, you'd be dead and I'd be the winner cause I caught you by surprise!" Dusk looked down at her annoyed sister. She bowed her head and got off of Coal. "I am so sorry. How will I ever repay you? I didn't mean to not die, I just didn't feel in the mood for death at the moment, that's all. Will you ever forgive me?" Dusk looked at her sister with round, innocent eyes.
Coal couldn't help it. She let out a little giggle, before following Dusk's act, and made her voice load and full of power. "Well, Fearsome Dusk, I am afraid that I will only be able to forgive you if you follow me around as my slave. You must hunt for me, groom my fur, make my nest and tend to me in any way needed whenever I ask. Got it?" Another giggle escaped her. Dusk bowed her head, "Whatever you say, Coal. I am your slave." Dusk glanced towards their mother's amused gaze before she burst out laughing. Coal joined in a few heartbeats later. It was so hard not to laugh when her sister did! The two kits sat there laughing for a while, until their mother padded over to them. She nudged them both, "Come on my little, giggly kits! We have to go now, remember? I'm quite happy to say that we won't be going the way you thought we were going." She gave Coal an amused smile. "We will actually be heading towards the setting sun, so I believe we should go now." Coal looked at the sun, and gasped as she saw how low it had gotten since she had last checked. At least it meant they knew which way to go.
Their mother started to head towards the sun, her light tabby pelt seemed to glow in the sun's golden rays, her shadow long and elegant. Coal stared at her Mother for a few heartbeats, then she leaped to her paws and raced after her. Dusk was following them soon after. Their Mother lead them to the edge of their clearing, where the ground slowly sloped upwards to where some birch trees were visible. Excitement coursed through Coal's body as she stared at the top of the hill. Imagine all of the things she'd be able to see from up there! Her Mother had never let them up there before, saying that there was a bit of a drop on the other side, and that they might hurt themselves if they fell down it. Coal knew that she'd only said that to protect them, but each day, her and Dusk had still begged to go up there. Now, they were finally going to the top, to see the view and what wonders lay beyond their home.
Dusk looked as excited as Coal felt, her pelt bristling and her eyes wide like moons. Her Mother had already started to climb the hill, and the two sisters scampered after her, not wanting to be left behind. It was surprisingly hard to walk up, and Coal quickly ran out of breathe. Why was Mother going so fast? Coal cursed her weak kit legs and wished she were bigger, like Dusks, who seemed to be really enjoying herself. Finally, they had reached the top of the hill, and Coal was exhausted. She was glad that they hadn't gone up here when she was younger, otherwise she'd have probably died! She flopped down on the grass, catching her breathe with her eyes closed.
Coal felt something nudge her shoulder, and she cracked open one eye to see Dusk's face, her eyes shining like stars. "Come on, Coal! You have to look at this! It's amazing." Coal got to her paws and padded around the tree she was under, to where her Mother was sitting, gazing out to the world in front of her. Coal sat by her side and looked. What she saw took her breathe away, not because she was tired, but because it was so beautiful. The hill, like her Mother had said, sloped down steeply, but at the bottom, was a forest, huge and mighty, the trees towering up high and the bright leaves blowing in the light breeze. The tree tops could be seen going on forever, the leaves looking like green ripples of water, stretching out further and further. The sun shone down on the wonderful view, filling it with light and happiness, chasing away all dark shadows. Coal squinted her eyes; in the distance, she could see a small, purple smudge, rising out from beyond the forest. The sky was a clear blue, tinged with oranges and pinks from the sun, a few wisps of cloud hung in the sky, soft and feathery.
Coal couldn't help but stare. She'd never seen anything so big in her life! And they were going to go through it all, following the setting sun. Silently, her Mother stood up, and started to weave around the few trees that was still between them and the way down, and padded down the steep hill towards the edge of the forest. Coal sprang to her paws, and was about to race after her Mother, when she couldn't help but look over her shoulder, down the other side of the hill, to where she had been born.
The small clearing looked lovely from up here! Colourful flowers were dotted everywhere, poking out of the long grass and pointing upwards. The stream which Coal had fallen into earlier sparkled in the sunlight, curving through the centre of her home. Not too far off from the stream, was the Hawthorn, it's branches full of small white flowers, swaying gently in the wind. Coal loved her home. It isn't my home any more, though...
Coal shook her head, and sprang after her Mother and Dusk, who were already half way down. It wasn't her home any more, but she was leaving it, and that left a small ache in her heart. She knew it wasn't hers now, but, one day, it would be.
Thanks for reading! I hope the wait was worth it! I must say though, I've become really motivated to write this now, so I'll try and write a page or two a day, and then you won't have to wait as long for updates. Well, I guess that I'll see you soon! Bye!
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