Challenge: First Sight
Word Count (min. 500): 835
Rating: K; no profanity or violence
Cloudy with a Chance of Hail
"Come on sleepy! Wake up!"
The grey she-cat turned away from the source of the noise and snuggled into the warm being beside her, smelling of milk.
Her mother.
A rumbling purr came from the older she-cat she was laying against.
"Calm down, Cloudkit," she purred. "You've only just opened your eyes. Give Hailkit some time. She'll open her eyes when she wants to. Be patient!"
Hailkit, the grey she-cat thought to herself, what a pretty name! I wonder what I look like…
Impatient and curious, Hailkit forced her eyes to open. She let out a tiny yawn as she sat up. Blinking twice, her eyes focused on a white she-cat in front of her.
"Oh, my dear!" the queen gushed. "You've finally opened your beautiful eyes."
"Who are you?" Hailkit asked. "Are you my mother?"
The she-cat nodded. "I am Snowberry, my dear."
Hailkit walked around, looking at her beautiful mother. Her pelt was a pretty white with grey speckles on her flanks and her amber eyes seemed to sparkle.
"Do I look like you?" she asked Snowberry as she turned around to get a good look at her fur.
To her disappointment, she was not white like her mother but was a dull grey. There was nothing special about her. Four plain white feet seemed to be the only similarity between herself and Snowberry.
Suddenly, a white tom-kit burst from behind Snowberry. His eyes were a pale blue which to be quite honest, scared Hailkit a little. They seemed expressionless and emotionless, unlike her mother's eyes.
He ran over to where she was last laying. He stood there pawing at the ground and smelling the air.
"Hailkit," Snowberry called her over. "Come and meet your brother."
The grey she-kit padded over to her brother. His pelt was almost completely white except for his two black ear tips.
"Hi, I'm Hailkit!" she mewed as soon as she sat in front of him. She tried desperately to avoid looking at his eyes, but didn't want to look rude, so she looked at his nose when she spoke to him.
"I'm Cloudkit!" he answered back.
The two sat there awkwardly. Cloudkit kept looking like he wanted to say something, but every time, he would close his mouth and shake his head a little.
"Your pelt is a nice colour…" Hailkit mewed trying to start up a conversation. "Mine is a dull grey but yours is so pretty."
"What colour is it?" he asked as he looked at his paw, curiously.
"It's the colour of clouds," Snowberry purred. "That's why your father and I named you Cloudkit."
"What colour is the colour of clouds?" he asked.
Hailkit stared at him. Had he not seen clouds? Had he not seen what colour his pelt was when he looked down at his paw?
"You don't know what the colour of clouds are?" she asked him, shocked. "Haven't you been outside this nursery? Haven't you seen the clouds?"
"No…" her brother answered.
"Well—!"
… Come to think of it, she had not been outside either… She'd be able to show him!
"Mother," she asked in her nicest, sweetest voice. "Can we go out so I can show him the clouds?"
"No…" Snowberry meowed. "I don't think that's a very good idea…"
"We'll be extra, super careful!" Hailkit promised. "And we won't go in any other dens or annoy any other cats! We promise!"
"You can't go out, Hailkit," Snowberry growled. Her eyes flashed. "You can't show Cloudkit what clouds look like!"
"Why not?" the grey she-kit asked indignantly.
"You just can't!" Snowberry argued.
"Why not?" Hailkit retorted. "Why can't we go outside? We want to see everything! The clouds, the sky, the grass! Why won't you let me and Cloudkit out to go and see everything?"
Snowberry let out a sigh and her eyes seemed to calm down, but they didn't regain their sparkle. "Because, Hailkit," she whispered, "Cloudkit can't see. He's blind."
Hailkit felt her pelt prickle in shock. Her brother couldn't see anything? He didn't have the same experience she'd had after opening her eyes?
He didn't get to look at their mother and notice how similar their pelts were. He didn't get to see her and compliment her on how pretty her pelt was. He would never see the clouds or the grass or the sky…
Hailkit looked over at her brother. A wave of motherly affection washed over her as she suddenly noticed that he smelled the air to know if he was going to walk into Snowberry or not.
From that day on, she made a promise to her brother.
She would always look after him. She would make sure that even if he couldn't see the world around him, he would never be a misfit or a freak.
She would be his eyes, so that he would have the pleasure of knowing what it was like to be able to see the world around them.
I promise, Cloudkit, she vowed inwardly. I promise.