Stella's Story

Chapter 21 - Dreams?

It's kinda debatable on whether I should go out back for Salt or not. I'm still supposed to be on the search for my only friend. I mean Tucker and Oliver are my friends, but their more like family.
I thought it was best if I let Salt do his thing. After all, he knows more of the forest than I do. I decided to set up camp a little bit off to the side from where I was standing. I was under a tree, watching the sunset. Minute after minute. Hour after hour. I couldn't stop thinking about many of my problems.
Staring off into the distance. Thinking of my family, and how worried Carol must be, if Sun is surviving okay on her own, and if Salt is doing okay. Many things to worry about.
My eyelids started to droop down. The sun was finally gone, and the moon was out. It was a half moon. I layed down, and rested my eyes, hoping for a better day tomorrow.
I started to dream. Dream about.. a happy family. My family, in fact. It was a soft and fuzzy dream. I liked it a lot. It was a dream where Princess was one of us, where the kittens loved their birth mother, where everyone got along.
"How was your sleep?" Tucker asked, he was standing over me. I was really confused at first, for I was back at home, sleeping on the floor. Yet, Tucker asks like nothing just happened. That's when Princess came in.
I jumped back in fear, and she just gave me a friendly smile. Like we never argued in the first place. She stands side by side with Tucker. I stand up and reply to Tucker's comment "Yeah, it's was nice." Princess replied to my reply. "That's good to hear!"
Princess trotted over to me and nuzzled my face with hers. "Better get up and ready for the day! You don't want to be a lazy slug." She purred. Was this the way Princess acted before I came in..? Should.. should I even be in the family..?
It was weird to see Princess be so happy and nice to me, it was odd. I couldn't put my tongue on the word I was looking for.. but it seemed different. A mixture of a good different and a bad different.
But something didn't feel right. Something felt off.. like something was missing, such as a member, or.. something even more. Like a memory.
Then something happened. I saw a speck out of the corner of my eye, down on paw level. I saw a black speck, and a white speck.
I glanced down at the spots, and saw not only Pepper, but Salt. Salt was standing right next to the rest of my family, right next to Pepper.
That's when everything started to fade, and seem to burn away. Eveything stared to catch fire and crumple away, starting with the most important things, to the least. Nothing was left. Just black. Darkness.
"How could you do this to me?" A voice echoed. I stood up and spun my head around into the direction of the voice. It was Salt. He had the worst face put on. It was dreadful. His fur was matted with blood and dirt. His face was covered with a mixture of sweat and tears.
Before I could reply, he disappeared. I reached my paw out for him, but then the room started to turn back into colors. It wasn't the same room I was in a minute ago, but it was familiar. The scent, the dim colors, everything.
I blinked multiple times and looked around. I looked down at my body, which was all scratched up and.. white. My fur was all white. I looked at the rest of my body. No wings. No fluffy tail. Nothing.
Not this place.. anywhere but this place. I pleaded to wake up. I couldn't go through these painful memories once again. I turned around to find the fenced off wall. I was in the kennel.
Not any, but the kennel. I started shaking. I was re-living one of my past memories. "Okay, next up is Stella." A booming voice said. My eyes widened in fear. Please let me wake up. Please.
The horrible sound of the cage opening hurt my ears. A pair of human hands reached in, and I backed away til my back hit the wall. I swiped and clawed the person, but they didn't care. They caught me anyways.
The person cradled me in their arms before putting me on the testing spot. "Don't fear little kitty," A different person who had his back turnt to me spoke. "This will only hurt a little bit." He held out a huge syringe that held a glowing green toxin inside. I squeezed my eyes shut.