Okay, sorry for the wait. This chapter doesn't have a lot of dialogue, and that wasn't intentional. I wanna thank Florence Pinky-poo, my beta reader again, and Painted Inkblot for being cool and giving me concrit and stuffers. Thank you! Enjoy. 8D
Web of Lost
Chapter Five
Last Night
A storm began to grow and rumble in the near distance. Lightning flickered in the grey thunder heads and the wind picked up. Those who lived in the small hunting community knew that a storm like this meant no camping tonight. With the weather they expected during the summer time, today's storm would most likely bring hail, pounding rain, lightning and maybe a funnel cloud. Of course, the clouds wouldn't create an actual tornado, they would just scare everyone.
Laney watched with sad yellow eyes at the coming storm. Was she really going to go through with this? Was she really going to leave her family behind? No. The strange she-cat she had met in the woods was her family. Laney rolled over in the kitten bed, exposing a fuzzy black tummy. Her sudden movement caused the floor to creak.
After her chat with Web, Laney had stumbled her way back home, unsure of what to do. In fact, she was unsure of what to do right now. Her housefolk weren't home yet, and Laney wasn't up to going to mingle with the other kittens. Besides, she felt light headed and surreal. She had come to hate that feeling, as it made her somewhat nauseous and slow. She flicked her tail back and forth, slow and monotonous.
A quiet rumble of thunder gurgled in the distance. A clock somewhere in the house chimed noon. The sky that Laney spied through the large glass door was a pale grey. Laney sighed. What if she didn't go with the brown tabby the next day? Would the other cat kill Laney? Or would the other cat give up on her, and Laney would spend the rest of her life like this, sitting in her green cat bed, staring out at the yard. She rolled back over, letting her legs hang over the side of the bed.
The black she-cat didn't want any of that. She didn't want waste away her entire life, but she didn't know what Web's idea of 'revenge' was. It really couldn't be that bad, right? And then Laney knew that if she didn't go, 'what could have been' would gnaw in the pit of her stomach 'till who-knows-when. It would eat her up, consume her.
Laney stood, wobbly, as the room rushed around her. Reluctantly, she stepped out of her cat bed and onto the cold wood flooring, which seemed to move underneath her paws. The storm was gaining speed, and she could faintly see sheets of rain coming down, maybe a mile or two away. If Laney was going to leave tomorrow, she might as well say goodbye to everything that she held familiar to her.
--
The older female housefolk was preparing some kind of meal, as scents of a type of meat and vegetables drifted to Laney's nose. The older male housefolk was watching other housefolk on a strange square that showed images. housefolk talk filled Laney's ears. The male kit was playing with some sort of brightly colored rock that moved when you pressed buttons. The female kit wasn't home.
Laney sighed half-heartedly and sat down underneath the dining room table, the chair's wooden feet creating a sort of prison for the black she-cat. Why, of all nights, wasn't the female kit home? She dug her claws into the blue carpeting. The older female walked over to the table, carrying a tray and called out to her kit and mate. They eagerly sat down, the chair legs pushing and moving, swaying her prison. Laney escaped with a loud meow.
Thunder rumbled outside. It had been raining for a few hours, with on and off hail. Laney jumped up on a windowsill, and looked out at the sky. It would have been much lighter if it weren't storming, but the effect was still the same. Maybe this was some sort of sign. Obviously, the other housefolk didn't seem to concerned that their kit and sibling was gone, so maybe she had left for a night or two on her own accord. Laney pressed her nose up against the cold glass of the window.
"Maybe I'm supposed to go with the she-cat," she said, sighing. Her tail flicked back and forth. Her feeling of surrealism had almost left, but the fact that a storm system was moving through made the situation even more unrealistic than before.
She hopped down from the windowsill, and climbed the stairs. She wasn't tired, but that didn't mean she couldn't sleep. She pushed open a white door and hopped up on the female kit's pillow, letting her scent fill her nose. Sadly, she curled up into a ball on the soft fabric, and slowed her breathing. Soon enough, she was asleep.
--
Web prowled the streets her back rigid, and a fear scent emanating off of her soaked fur. She hated the water, and although she had expected the rain (considering the large thunderheads earlier in the day), it caught the she-cat off guard on how much it had indeed rained. Her paws hit the wet stone hard, and she wasn't used to the pavement yet, making her pads raw and red.
Rancid scents filled her nose as she came upon a dark alley. A few mouse scents were mingled with old cat scents, but it was hard to tell in the rain. In an old cardboard box, the she-cat curled up, uncomfortable by the dampness in her fur. Her paws were too wet to create a suitable pillow for her head, so she nestled into dry spot on the dirty cardboard. Would she really be able to sleep? Yes, probably, she had slept through much worse than this.
--
Morning sun peeked through the trees and all-to-familiar scents of home flooded Laney's senses. If she was to leave for the forest and never return, she should at least say a few words to her friends.
She neared a rather large housefolk den, her paws creating a beat the she-cat marched to. A small red cat flap was perfectly in the center, making the serene look of home even more enchanting. Laney gulped and climbed the brick steps to the cat flap. She walked inside the home, like she had done too many times before.
"Velvet?" she whispered hoarsely. Her paws hit the stone floor, and she peered around corners. She highly doubted her friend would come, considering Laney was considered wild and somewhat dangerous to be around.
"Laney?" a voice from above asked. A rather large orange and white cat flew from a couch to meet the black one down below. "What are you doing here?" she demanded, landing on the floor with a thud. She had obviously gained wait since the operation.
"I understand if you don't like me anymore, but I thought you should know that I'm leaving." Laney eyed the other cat. She stood her ground.
"Where are you going?" Velvet asked, disbelieving. She sat down, her tail flicking back and forth in confusion. What would the other cats think if they saw Laney at her den?
"I'm going to the forest. I feel like I belong there more than here. Besides, I have a friend in the forest," hissed Laney. She added extra venom to her last sentence. Her claws dug into the stone floor, creating small scratches against it's orange hue.
Velvet was caught off guard. "But why?! Who do you know in the forest? It's filled with scary wild cats, and," she dropped the volume of her voice and whispered, "I hear they eat bones."
Laney huffed. "I know someone who's willing to train me, and besides, eating bones would just fulfill my life on the wild side, wouldn't it?" With that, Laney turned around and marched out of the den, leaving a scared Velvet behind her.
The sweet smells of the flowers made Laney sick at the moment, and just the fact that she could easily navigate the maze of daisies made her want to die. What did she ever find so great about Velvet anway? She's just a big stuck-up furball, who doesn't know her place and smells like old tuna.
The sun was almost high in the sky, and Laney knew she wouldn't have much time if she wanted to meet the brown tabby. She passed a small wood den, with Housefolk junk in the yard. On the porch sat a yellow tabby tom, who slept lazily in the sun. Laney sighed.
"Goodbye, Merlin," she whispered. With sad eyes and a tugging feeling on her heart, she set off towards the woods.
--
A small black figure pounced noisily through the foliage, but Web had caught her housefolk infected scent a rather long time ago. The brown tabby smelled like rain and garbage, but once they'd get to the forest, those scents (she hoped) would be masked with flowers and trees. Web sat down.
She purred, gazing at her new apprentice. "I'm glad you made it," she hissed, studying the cat. An expression of sorrow was painted on the she-cat's face, and a tingle of fear scent was seeping off of her fur.
"Ma'am?" Laney asked, afraid. Web turned around.
"What?!" she growled. Couldn't they just get to the forest already? Web couldn't (and didn't want) to be nice, with a night like the last one.
"I'm Laney, but you probably already knew that. What's your name?" she tested. If this cat was her mother, guardian and mentor, she should probably know her name. Her paws shook.
"My name is Web. I hope that we'll get along," Web snarled. Laney nodded, and followed the brown she-cat to her new destiny.