Hello! Bonjour! S'mae! Hola! Whatever language you wish! So, how are you? Really? Oh, that's great/terrible! I know that I've set myself a target, so for the first few days of my fortnight, I'll be planning, and for the rest, I'm going to force myself to write at least two pages a day. That way, I may finish in under a fortnight, publish this on time, and reward myself! Just so you know, I write this, write the story, then write at the bottom, so I have no idea if my plan is going to work or not!
Coal was proud of what she'd done. After the voice had left her in the forest, Coal had instantly set off, once again following the setting sun. Her paw had made it hard to walk, but she felt as if she could go on forever! The voice had been right, he had to leave her, it made her feel more energized, even though hunger still gnawed at her belly. Coal had managed to go on for a while, and no dark thoughts had crowded her mind, the shadows left her alone, and she didn't return to the black chasm. Instead, she gazed around her, taking in the wonderful sites of the forest; fluffy, green bushes full of different coloured flowers was always filling in the gaps between the enormous trees; long grass and flowers blowing in the soft breeze, and each breath that Coal took, she could smell all of the forest around her. The birds chirped and twittered in the branches, hidden in the thick leaf canopy, but their songs still carried through, loud and clear. All of this distracted her from the dark thoughts that had entered her mind the previous night.
Coal had travelled relatively far, but she stopped after her belly made a particularly loud rumble. She'd known that she wasn't good at hunting, even though she had managed to catch that mouse before they left home; but when she stopped, she'd decided to try and hunt again. It wasn't successful. She had tried to crouch like her Mother had taught her and Dusk not too long ago, but her paw made it so much more difficult! Whenever she lowered her body to the ground, her paw would start screaming in pain, and she'd have to stop before she started to cry from it. One time, she had managed to crouch without her paw hurting too much, but as soon as she tried to slowly move forward, her paw felt as if it were on fire! She'd never felt fire before, or even seen it, but her Mother had always told her and Dusk that if either of them did see or smell fire, they'd have to run, as the fire could kill them. She'd said that she had had an encounter with fire before, and hadn't been careful enough. The flames had given her a scar on her side, from her shoulder to her underbelly, though it was hard to spot through her fur; and whenever Coal did see it, she would shiver in fear. So Coal didn't even get to search for her food.
What did end up happening when Coal was trying to hunt, was she found a small stream. It felt as if it had been forever ago when she had last had a drink, and her throat was parched. She had been so thirsty, she didn't care if she got wet, and dived straight into the slow moving stream, drinking and paddling in the shallows. What she hadn't been expecting, was for the stream to be freezing cold, and have many small stones at the bottom. She kept on treading on small, sharp pebbles, and had been grateful when the cold made her entire body go numb. But, once Coal had quenched her thirst, she found it extremely hard to get out of the stream. The banks were surprisingly slippery, and without being able to feel her legs too well, she'd struggled just to get a grip! Thankfully, Coal managed to scramble out of the stream, and lie there in the grass, catching her breath. Then, she had checked the sun, and set off once again to search for her lost family.
This time, when Coal was limping forward, she began to think of what would happen if she never did find her family. She suddenly became very scared as she thought of all the possibilities, most of them containing her death, or the death of her family. Her fur hadn't dried, and the wind had picked up, and the cold went deep into her bones. All she wished for was to curl up by her Mother and sleep with Dusk beside her, under the branches of the Hawthorn. But she couldn't. She'd carried on through the forest, no longer taking any notice of the scenery around her, allowing the dark thoughts to enter her mind again.
Now, Coal was no longer proud of herself. She lay there in a small hole in the ground, shivering from the cold of the howling wind and her damp fur. Her belly was yowling with hunger, her entire body weak with it. Her eyes were squeezed shut, trying to block out the shadows around her, filling her mind, her body, her soul. She couldn't let them get closer to her, she had to get to her Family, she couldn't get trapped in their cages of darkness, she couldn't let them steal away her energy, she couldn't let them hide the way out, she had to fight them off! She cracked open her eyes, only to see darkness; she sniffed the air, only to smell death, she felt for the ground beneath her, only to feel ice. She was trapped, she was too late, she hadn't been able to fight the shadows, and they had once again taken her, destroying the hope of surviving, of finding her Family. She was forever lost.
She wanted to scream, scream so loud that the birds would fly away, scream louder, crack the Earth with her screams, telling every living thing that she was in pain. Make them feel her pain. She had to make them all feel what she was feeling now. And how could she do that? Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Was the answer that came to her head. She would have to escape, kill everything, let them know the pain that life could cause; help them, almost, to also not feel the pain by taking away their lives. She would escape, fight the shadows, then go kill.
Something began to take shape in the distance, far away from Coal, though it was very blurry. It was as if a branch from a tree had been blocking out the sun, but a strong wind had come along, blowing the branch away to allow the sun's rays to slant through onto the ground; but the wind wasn't strong enough, and leaves still stood in the way, making it harder for the sun to reach through, and each leaf blocked a small part of the golden rays, leaving only a strange pattern of light falling down to the ground. It was like this that the something began to form, and Coal soon realized that it was light, but not golden. This light was a ghostly, pale colour, cold and threatening, reaching past the branch to take whatever lay beneath. Slowly, the pale light began to spread out through the world around her, revealing the secrets that had been hidden by the darkness that had enveloped her. Coal almost cried out with joy when she saw trees of a forest surrounding her. All that had happened was the sun had gone down, the moon had risen, and she had gotten scared, no need to kill anything. She shuddered at the thought that had crossed her mind. What was wrong with her? Killing things just because she was scared? I sure am an idiot. But the happiness soon disappeared. She suddenly remembered finding a hole, and creeping into it once she realized how dark it was, and had tried to get some sleep, but now, she wasn't in a hole.
As the ghostly light uncovered more of what was around her, Coal found herself standing in the middle of a forest, a forest full of huge, towering trees, the leaves on their branches looking dead and slimy, tangles of brambles replaced the fluffy clumps of bushes, with mist swirling around their roots. The place seemed so dark. It was full of threatening shadows, even with the strange light which had revealed this place to her. Coal wished it hadn't. It was so dark she could only see a few tail lengths ahead of her, and the air around was icy cold, piercing her lungs, making it hard to breathe. Where am I? Is this the black chasm without the darkness? She thought back to when she had had a dream, full of shadows, darkness, battle and death. Afterwards, the grey tom had taken her away, to the place where the Star-cats lived. She pricked her ears, wondering that if this really was the place where she had dreamt of, whether she would be able to hear the fighting cats again.
But she didn't. Coal shook her head. What was wrong with her? That had been a dream, and she was awake now, all she had done was close her eyes for a few seconds, and she had ended up here. But was she really awake? Now that she thought about it, didn't the previous dream feel as if it were real? Hadn't she panicked when she couldn't see her family, even though they were always there? This could be a dream, but Coal couldn't remember falling asleep, only thinking about thoughts that she wished never to think again. Could she have fallen asleep while those thoughts were filling her mind? Coal shook her head. Her head was overcrowded with thoughts and questions, and she needed to calm down. She glanced at the tree next to her, barely visible even though it was only a tail length away. Coal began to pad forward, on into the shadows where anything could be lying, hidden from her sight. A pain formed in her paw again, but Coal ignored it, she had to find out where she was, and maybe then find a way to get back to the forest that she was originally in, and continue her search for her family.
A few heartbeats passed, when Coal picked up the faint patter of paw steps, steadily getting louder as whoever the paws belonged to came nearer. She froze, fear overtaking her body. Where was the creature that was slowly getting closer? Would it hurt her? Kill her? She crouched down, wishing that the ground would swallow her up and hide her from whatever was out there. Her body began to uncontrollably shake. If this was a dream, then she was eager for when she would wake up, but if it wasn't, then she hoped against hope that the thing wouldn't find her. Her breathing became unsteady, and she screwed her eyes shut, her fear of whatever was hiding in the shadows becoming stronger and stronger. Help me! She thought helplessly, knowing that no one would answer her, not even the voice, for he had left her. She waited. The paw steps were so loud in the dark silence, each step sounded like a stone falling and cracking onto another stone, and they echoed strangely in Coal's ears. The thing was so close now! Suddenly, they stopped.
"There's no need to be afraid, small one." A voice, slow and quiet, made its way into Coal's ears. It sent shivers down her spine; it wasn't threatening, but it filled her with dread. "I-I-I'm not a-a-afraid." Coal stammered.
"Hmm, I see..." Coal could tell that whoever was there didn't believe her, and she detected a slight hint of anger in its voice. "Open your eyes, young one, stand up and face me." The way it was said made Coal feel that if she didn't do as she was told, she would be in trouble. With great difficulty, Coal managed to get onto her shaky paws and slowly turn to where the voice had come from. She was so scared she felt as if she was about to collapse, but something made her eyes open. Her eyes soon adjusted to the dark, and Coal managed to make out an outline of a huge cat, bigger than her Mother, hidden in the shadows. When she looked further up, she saw two glowing, amber eyes, boring into her. They shone with a deadly light, looking the brightest thing in all of the dark forest around her, two bright lights in the middle of shadows.
Coal gulped. Just seeing the eyes forced more fear to strike at her heart, and she wondered how much more she could take. All that she could do was stare up into the creature's glowing eyes. Her only comfort was the fact that she knew that whoever this was, was a cat, but that did nothing to the terror coursing through her body. Even though this was a cat, it was nothing like she had ever seen, or imagined a cat to be. The Star-cats had seemed friendly, all of them out in the light, away from shadows, their eyes ordinary like Dusk's and her Mother's, and they didn't fill her with fear. This cat, from what she could see, was tall and strong, with broad shoulders and spiky fur; she couldn't see any other features of this cat, or the fur colour, the shadows had hidden all of that from her. She averted her eyes from the cat, instead she studied her paws, even though they were almost impossible to see.
"Well, you are very small, even though you are two moons old. Most kittens would be nearly double your size by now!" The shadow cat hissed. Coal flinched. Her and Dusk usually hissed at each other when they play-fought, but that had been playful hisses, this hiss was full of anger, sounding like claws scratching on rocks in the quiet of the forest. Coal looked back up at the cat. "Wh-who are you?" She squeaked.
"None of your business, kit!" The cat snapped, and Coal went back to looking at her paws, hoping that the cat wouldn't hurt her. "Sorry..." She mumbled.
"You may poke your nose into other cats' business, but at least you have some manners!" Coal was silent. She was too scared to ask another question, let alone speak, so she waited for the cat to talk again. By this time, Coal had managed to gather that the shadow cat was a tom, like the voice in her head, though his voice was slightly deeper, and each word that came out of his mouth was either angry, or had no emotion that Coal could detect at all. She continued her study of her paws for quite some time before the cat spoke again. "Who are you, kit?"
"Coal." She answered almost instantly, she didn't want to make this tom angry. "Alright Coal, look up at me." Coal did as she was told, and noticed that the cat had taken a few steps forward, and he had emerged from the shadows, allowing her to see him properly.
He was very large, but lean as well, and his spiky fur was a mixture of light and dark grey with white. His snowy white muzzle was interrupted by uneven patches of grey and one of his ear tips was torn, and his amber eyes seemed to have grown twice as bright and deadly. Two patches of white stood out against his grey body on his shoulders, and his long tail was curled up by his side, which was covered with the criss-crossing of scars; and he stood there, glaring down at Coal as if she were a piece of stale prey. No matter how terrified Coal was, her belly gave a small rumble at the thought of food, and she became painfully aware of the hunger gnawing at her stomach. Once she was out of this forest, she would try to catch something again. The tom heard her belly, and gave a small grin, not a good natured one, but a grin that told her he was about to do something, and something bad. She took a few steps back, almost instantly loosing sight of the cat. But he bounded forward, right up to Coal's side, and wrapped his long tail around her. She was expecting warmth to come out of his body, and for it to heat her chilled bones, but if anything, it made her feel colder, his body felt like ice that had been there forever and would never thaw, even in the sun. She shivered, and tried to scramble away, but he held her more tightly with his tail, and pressed his body against her side.
He bent down low, and whispered in her ear, "There's no need to be afraid, Coal. If you're hungry, I can get something to eat, if you follow me." His voice was warm, but it was fake, Coal knew it was, her Mother never sounded like that whenever she talked to her. Coal squirmed even more, trying with all her might to loosen the tom's grip on her. "No thanks!" She squeaked. "I'm not hungry! In fact, I really have to go now, I... need to do something..." And Coal wriggled and twisted and squirmed. He let out a small laugh, and lowered himself to the ground, curling his whole body around her, his body so cold that she felt as if her paws were about to fall off. "Your belly tells me otherwise." He chuckled. "And, I don't want you to leave me, I enjoy watching you." Coal felt sick at these words. All she wanted to do was find her family, was that too much to ask for? She stopped trying to free herself. What was the point of trying to find her family? She'd never be able to track them down, and even if she did somehow learn, she would probably starve before she started. She might as well give in. All of a sudden, she burst into tears, and soon found herself hugging the cold tom's body. She didn't know who he was, but he was the first cat that she had seen in a while, and he didn't seem to mind her crying on him, so she didn't let go.
She thought about how her Mother had always been there for her, helping her with anything and everything, even if it was just to see who had won one of her and Dusk's jumping competition. If she didn't talk to her Mother, she would always talk and play with Dusk, taking part in different competitions, playing hide and seek, daring each other to see who could go the furthest out into the forest without their Mother coming to get them. She cried and cried and cried. She would never be with her Family again.
It was a while before Coal stopped crying, and when she looked up at the tom, she realized that he had been watching her the whole time. She sniffed, then detached herself from the cat's side, but she wasn't able to get away, he still had a tight grip on her. She sniffed again, and stared at the floor, hoping with all of her might that the cat would uncurl himself from her and let her go, her body was too cold, and she knew that she needed to warm up. She knew that if the tom wasn't holding her so tightly, she would be shaking like a leaf. "I'm glad that you've finally finished crying your tiny heart out, if you'd have carried on crying, I would have been wetter than if it had rained on me!" He sounded genuinely annoyed, and Coal shrank back as best she could with him still holding her. She felt the urge to start crying again, but managed not to, otherwise the tom would probably hurt her. "Sorry, it's just that you were the only thing to hold onto." She whispered. She felt the tom's body tense, and when she looked up, his eyes were alight with anger, two amber flames in the centre of darkness. "Well maybe you shouldn't have cried then!" He meowed with barely contained rage. Coal whimpered in fear, and once more wished with all of her heart that if this was a dream, it would end soon.
Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and the darkness was filled with light, not like the light of the forest around, and not like the light of the sun. It glowed and twinkled, chasing away the darkness so that they could only be seen cowering behind trees. She stared at the source of the light, a few tail lengths to her left, and barely a whisker length off of the ground. The light was neither a warm, friendly light, or a cold, ghostly light, but whatever it was, it reminded Coal of the thousands of stars that twinkled at night, filling in the blankness of the sky. The light blazed for a few more heartbeats, before it slowly began to fade, shrinking into a small speck, then disappearing entirely. But Coal was no longer amazed by the light, she was amazed by what had taken its place.
Instead of there being nothing but darkness, another cat stood there, staring at Coal and the tom cat with its golden, yellow eyes. Coal stared back, taking in the familiar grey pelt and dark paws of the cat which had just appeared. Wait, familiar? Coal stared and stared, and would have jumped up into the air, if she wasn't held down by the tom, once she recognized who it was. It was one of the Star-cats! The one which had taken her away from the dark place before and warned her never to go there again. She didn't know his name, but he knew hers, if he still remembered her of course. His pelt looked as if it were carrying stars with him, and even his eyes had a star-like twinkle. There was a faint glow around the grey cat, the stars in his pelt giving off light so Coal could still see more than just a few tail lengths ahead of her. She gazed and gaped at the Star-cat. If he was here, then this had to be a dream, right?
As soon as the grey tom had appeared, the icy body of the other tom that had trapped her, began to warm up, and she welcomed the sudden change in temperature, it felt comforting now, not as if someone were trying to hurt her. The heat spread throughout her entire body, and it gave Coal a sudden amount of strength. With her new found strength, Coal struggled once more against the shadow cat's body, and to her great joy, she finally managed to scramble free! The tom must have been surprised by the Star-cat's sudden appearance, more surprised than her, and must have loosened his grip slightly without realizing it, allowing Coal to make her escape. As soon as she had freed herself from the shadow cat's grip, she hurried over to the Star-cat as fast as her small legs would carry her. Her paw slowed her down greatly, but the shadow cat didn't seem to be chasing her, and she reached the Star-cat's side after a few short heartbeats. She leapt at the Star-cat, and clung to his side, hidden in his thick, starry fur, taking more warmth from his body. She gave a small purr.
When a few more heartbeats passed, Coal picked up the remaining of her courage, and stuck her head out of the tangle of soft fur. Almost immediately after, she hid back in the fur, as the grey and white mottled tom was staring directly at her, his amber eyes small flames that burned through her skin and into her very soul. She hid there shivering for what felt like forever, when she heard a voice. "You really need to be careful. You're trespassing on my territory. You have no right to be here." She heard the shadow cat say in a low, menacing voice. She felt the grey Star-cat's body tense up before she heard him reply. "I have as much right to be here as this kit! And, as you just said, I have no right, so if you'd excuse me, I need to take Coal away." Coal marvelled at how fierce his voice was, and also the fact that he remembered her! She felt some bravery come back to her, and she poked her head out to see what was happening.
The grey mottled shadow cat had taken a few steps forward, and he was in a menacing stance, now glaring at the Star-cat. His spiky fur had somehow become even more spiky, and his fur was fluffed up, so he now looked twice his already massive size. His face was contorted with rage, and he was baring his fangs at the Star-cat, a faint growl escaping him. His tail swished back and forth, making small thuds on the ground with each swish. Coal stared at the shadow cat in fear, glad for the protection of the Star-cat's fur that partially hid her. She was amazed at how the Star-cat hadn't backed down, or shown any sign of fear, and wished that she was just as brave. I can't wait until I'm all grown up, I'll be the bravest cat that there is! Coal thought happily, and she started thinking about all of the things that she would be able to do, all of the cats that she would help, all of the lives that she would save.
A surprisingly loud growl brought Coal back to reality, and she looked back on to what was going on, blinking her eyes to get rid of her older-self daydream. The mottled grey tom had taken a few more steps closer, and he was now staring down at Coal. She unwillingly stared back, unable to take her eyes away from his, even though they were filling her with more and more fear. She once again began to shake, but the Star-cat lightly wrapped his tail around her, a comforting gesture unlike the one that the other tom had given her, and she slowly stopped, relaxing in his soft grip. She continued to stare up into the shadow cat's eyes, not daring to blink, afraid that if she did, he would pounce at her. The tom gave a small smile, showing his sharp, white teeth, and Coal looked away, imagining what they would feel like at her throat.
"So, Coal," he purred, "are you going to stay here with me, and learn how to fight and help cats in the future, just like you wish?" He paused. Coal gasped. How had he known what she had been thinking about? Did he see her thoughts like the voice in her head, or had he just guessed? Coal shook herself, and waited for the cat to continue. "Or do you want to follow this cat, back to his home, and spend the rest of your life doing nothing but trying feebly to survive?" Coal shuddered. All that Coal wanted to do was to get out of the dark forest, eat something, then find her Family, that was it. If she stayed here with the shadow cat, she would never be able to search for her Family, and it was unlikely that he would leave her unharmed. The Star-cat though, she'd seen what his home looked like, and it looked so much like what the forest she used to be in looked like, that she knew that that was her best shot at continuing her search. She had no idea why she was thinking this over, she knew instantly that she wanted to leave, so why hadn't she said anything already? Coal took a deep breath, and prepared herself for a storm of anger.
"I don't want to stay with you." She said simply. "I want to go find my family, back in the forest where I could actually see." She shut her eyes, and hid herself in the Star-cat's fur again, hoping that the grey mottled tom wouldn't go after her. Pricking her ears, Coal waited for his reply. "You do realize, Coal, that this is a dream, right? Once you wake up, you'll be back in that forest, and you can go find your Family, this is just a dream. If you decide to stay with me, you'd still wake up there, same as if you went with him. The only reason why you need to choose where you'll go for now, is so we'll know which one of us can help you, guide you, through life." Coal was silent, thinking everything over. She was dreaming, so this choice didn't matter much, did it? All that it was was a small vision that she had created in her head, so this couldn't affect her in any way. But what did he mean by guide her? Were they like the voice, and able to enter her mind and talk to her? If so, then this was no ordinary dream, and if she had to decide which one she wanted to stay with her, then she didn't even need to think twice about her answer.
She peeked out from her hiding spot, and saw the mottled tom, no longer a creature of rage. He now sat in the light, his tail wrapped neatly around his paws, and his back straight, his gaze unwavering as he stared at both Coal and the Star-cat. "I don't want to stay here." She repeated in a small, but clear voice. She expected an unrelenting wave of pure rage to come from the tom, yet all she got was a small nod. Coal sat there, stunned at the sudden change in the cat's behaviour, and did nothing for a few long heartbeats. Suddenly, the mottled tom got to his paws, and without saying anything, he slowly padded off. The shadows seemed to welcome him back from when he had stood in the Star-cat's shining light, and they covered him, taking him away. He carried on walking until the shadows had completely reclaimed him in their dark grips, and Coal could no longer see him. All that was left of the tom was the faint patter of his paws as he left them, then eventually, silence.
Coal sat there for what felt like moons, still in shock at the tom's sudden departure. She'd thought that he would at least have shown a slight hint of anger, but he had just walked off, swallowed by the shadows. It was if he was one of them, and they were family, rejoining after being apart. If I ever want to talk about him, or think about him, I will make sure that he is known as the Shadow-cat. Just like there's the Star-cats, there is the Shadow-cat. Coal was satisfied with her decision on what to call the strange tom, after all, she thought it suited him very well.
The body that had been keeping her warm shifted slightly, then moved completely away from Coal, leaving her in the cold air. She shivered from the cold, but looked up at the Star-cat. He had moved a few tail-lengths away, and the light from his pelt had moved with him, allowing some of the shadows to crawl over her body. She cried out in fear, and sprinted towards the grey tom, taking her spot by his side again. But once again he moved, and this time he didn't stop padding away, leaving Coal in the shadows, on her own. Why was he leaving her? Should she follow him, or had she done something wrong? Was she supposed to wake up now, and carry on searching? The fear in her heart grew and grew. She didn't want to be left alone again, what if the Shadow-cat came back and hurt her? Her body felt frozen to the spot, she couldn't move a muscle, or even talk. The shadows had almost covered her entire body, and the Star-cat was beginning to disappear into the darkness. What should she do? Then, the Star-cat glanced over his shoulder, and when he spotted Coal huddling in the shadows, he called her over. "Come on, Coal. You said so yourself that you wanted to leave this horrible place, so I'm taking you away." At this, Coal felt life flow back into her legs and she leapt to her paws and raced after the tom, going as fast as she could until she was right beside him.
"Stay by my side." He whispered in her ear, and she did as she was told. The Star-cat started forward again, but he wasn't going too fast. Coal was painfully aware of how slow they had to go because of her paw, and she wished that it would just get better, then she would be able to hunt! Her belly rumbled again. When was she going to eat? How was she supposed to hunt and survive on her own until she found her family? The Star-cat will look after me. The Shadow-cat had said that she had to choose which one she wanted to guide her, so maybe the Star-cat would teach the things that she needed to learn. He may not, but it was a hope that Coal wasn't going to let go of any time soon. Coal didn't know how long had passed, but she soon noticed a change in the air around her. The temperature was beginning to warm up, and she was glad that now each breath stopped causing her pain. She looked up, trying to see if there was a sun which had managed to shine through the branches of the trees, but all was dark, still tainted with shadows. Coal looked back to the ground, and jumped seeing the swirling mist had thickened and was rising higher with every step. She looked forward to where they were going, but all that she could see was a thick, dense wall of mist, swallowing everything in the forest in it's grey cloud. Her paw-steps faltered. Where they really going in there?
The Star-cat noticed her hesitation, and took a step closer to her. "Don't worry." he meowed calmly. "It may seem scary, but we have to get to the other side. Just stay by my side and you won't get lost, I promise." Coal looked up into his golden eyes, warm and bright like the sun. She trusted this cat, even though he was just part of her dreams, and she knew that she shouldn't be scared. "I know, it's just..." Coal sighed.
"I understand." The tom meowed. "You won't be on your own, you never will be. Even though you don't have your family yet, you still have me. And I promise that I will look after you as best as I can." Coal's heart warmed at this, and she gave a small nod. No matter what, she was never alone. Even if the Star-cat wasn't there, she'd still have the voice, and he seemed to be able to help her in some ways. All she had to do was be brave, like the grey tom, and just walk onwards, away from what was behind her, and on into the mist, and beyond that into the Star-cat's home.
She couldn't help looking behind her. The shadows covered the ground and forest, but they didn't dare come near her and the Star-cat, all of them too afraid of his light. But she thought she could hear something. What was it? She pricked her ears and strained them, trying to pick up any sound from the forest. She gasped, could she hear screaming? Should she help whoever was screaming? She stared into the darkness, trying to see anything, but she couldn't. The screaming became louder and louder, filling Coal's ears, then stopped abruptly. Coal blinked. Had it been her imagination, or was someone screaming for help? What if it had been the shadows? Screaming at her to come back and let them take her away to the Shadow-cat, to let him hurt her and hurt everyone she loved? Coal shivered, but she felt a tail wrap itself around her, and she stopped. "Ignore them. They don't deserve our help. Those cats are there for a reason. If you ever hear them screaming, then run away, don't interfere, otherwise you'll come out one the wrong side." The tom meowed quietly.
"There are more Shadow-cats?" Coal asked, surprised.
"Is that what you call them? Shadow-cats? Well, yes, there is more than just the one, there's less then there used to be though, and way less than the cats in Starclan of course."
"Where you live, right?" Coal needed to get everything straight in her head, just understand what was where and who was what, help herself to get out of the dark hole that she was falling into. She needed to clear her mind and climb out, then get on her way to her Family.
The Star-cat gazed down on her, his eyes seemed to become far off for a few moments before they focused again. "You remind me of someone." He meowed at last. "They always were trying to get everything sorted out, and always striving to move on." He gazed at her fondly, until his eyes became serious. "I know that you don't like the dark, but you have to remember, no matter how shadowed a place can be, there is always a light, but only if you look for it." And with that, he stepped into the mist, and Coal, puzzling over what he'd just said, trailed after him.
I'm sorry, OK? Jeez, it was only one day late! I know that I didn't keep my promise, and I didn't write every single day, but you have to admit, 'The Hobbit' is one of the best films, right? That's what I think anyway, better than 'The Lord of The Rings' in my opinion. And that's my excuse, I've been too lazy and watched about 18 hours of film for the first part of my fortnight, then began to slowly write this chapter in the second part. Anyway, I hoped that you enjoyed this chapter, and who do you think the Shadow-cat is? You probably know him. I couldn't help but think of the song 'Believer' while writing this, my mind is just a tad too dark in my opinion, and my friends think that too! So, I'll see you in my next chapter then, Bye!