Firestar.

2 - The Beginnings (Part Two)

T H E  B E G I N N I N G S
Chapter Two
—

      TWO MOONS had passed, and my siblings and I had all gone onto new homes. I went with the Twolegs who called to 'bond' with me, two moons ago.

They were kind. They let me sleep in their comfy, warm bed sometimes. They got me lots of toys to keep me occupied when they couldn't be with me, and gave me plenty of hiding and climbing spaces -- but that wasn't enough.

I wanted to go Outside.

I sat and the window and meowed for them to let me out, everyday. But they just patted my head and said "soon, buddy." They spoke to me as if I I was an idiotic dog who lives for walks and food.

One day, the window was open in the kitchen and I slipped out without them noticing. I jumped onto the earth straightaway, relishing the new feeling of the soft, vibrant grass underneath my paws. I trotted over to all the bushes and flowers growing around the sides and sniffed.

I saw birds at the end of the garden, their yellow beaks pecking at the mud, their look so foreign yet so familiar.

I crouched down low, and stalked toward them, cursing my noisy bell around my collar. I pounced, but just as I did, I heard my name being shouted from the female Twoleg and the birds flew off. I landed, annoyed, and turned around to face my owners, which were now cautiously pacing toward me, as if I was going to run off.

I sighed, lashed my tail and sprinted around them, jumped up, climbed in the open window, and stalked off to sulk.

—

I was allowed out after a trip to the vet. My new friend, Smudge, was worried that I was going to get 'fixed'. Which, basically, makes you 'no longer a tom-cat'. I wasn't fixed, thankfully. I just got some sharp thing shoved into my scruff. I heard the vet saying its a 'vaccination', whatever that is.

It was lucky I joined ThunderClan when I did, because if I waited any longer, I would've been 'fixed'.

Everyday, I'd sit on my fence, sometimes accompanied by Smudge. I'd sit there and watch the forest as the moons passed; the luscious green leaves on the tall trees swaying gently in the breeze, the grass and bushes underneath it rustling with life, the path of flattened earth made by many paws winding through the forest, leading into darkness.

I always wondered what was in the darkness. I'd heard stories of huge wild cats, fighting each other everyday, eating bones and lining their nests with the pelts of their defeated enemies. These stories were just tales for kits, they didn't faze me in the slightest. I wanted to meet these cats.

Smudge said I was crazy. I told him he was just afraid. He said that he had a right to be afraid, and that only psychotic cats would want to meet these 'monsters'.

Sorry, I'm just imagining Greystripe as a monster.

I never ventured into the forest, for some unknown reason. I suppose it was partly because of the stories. I wasn't afraid, but I didn't want to risk my life, nonetheless. I had heard the yowls of these cats myself.

I would always come back inside when my housefolk called me, I was wary of the dark. I don't know why, there's nothing to be afraid of. I guess then, I was just a young naive kittypet, relying on my Twolegs for food and protection.