A Shadow Cast on Water

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

  I am alive. I just know I am. But how can I tell? Well I can feel the wind on my fur. I feel something large and warm besides me. I don't need to look to know what it is, I can just sense it is my mother. 

I can feel something soft beneath me as well. Comforting. Soft. I could fall asleep, but I choose to stay awake for awhile longer, so I may sense my surroundings. 

I smell the air around me. It has the distinct scent of kits in there. I must be one of those. Lifting my head slightly, and opening my maw, I scent three other kits nearby, and I feel the vibrations of the ground as their paws scamper across it. I can hear little bits of their laughter, and my mothers soft purrs.

 Those kits? My siblings? Yes. A sister and two brothers. How do I know that? I can't tell. I just... I feel it.

And my mother? I don't know much about her. I know her voice is calm, her scent is comforting. I know that I am reliant on her, that I love her. But there isn't much else. Would it help if I could see her?

What about me... I know many things about me. I know that I have a family. I know I need to wake up, but I don't want to.

I love the quiet embrace of the nursery, the warmth and comfort it provides.

But is that all there is to me? I don't know what  I like. I haven't gotten to experience it yet.

I don't know my name. I don't know my appearance. I don't know what my family looks like...

Do I learn those sorts of things through... sight? I do not know. But what do I know? I don't know much... But I do know some things.

I know...

I know...

I know...? 

Was that all true? Or did my life truly start... as soon as my eyes opened for the first time?

No harm in trying.. right? 

I concentrate, eyes squinting, then relaxing, before I finally manage to open my eyes... and... 

Everything is blurry.

Is this what the world looked like?

I blink a few times, trying to clear the fog clouding my eyes. It worked... and now. Now I was truly living. 

The world was beautiful! The colors were vivid, bright greens contrasting beautifully with light blues. Oaks towered above, with bright rays of sunlight sifting through the leaves, their light glowing on the clearing below.

And in that clearing? Cats. So many of them. So many colors filled the clearing- Silvers, browns, creams... even a cat with all of those colors!

I look down at my paws, eyes wide with awe. 

My paw-pads were a gummy pink. And my pelt color?

A beautiful gray. 

If I looked so good... what would my mother look like? Or my siblings?