A Life, Unforgotten

A Strange Cat

We start not with Light, but with Nova. Known to their family as Dana, but a name they refute.

And it all starts with a sweltering summer night.

•••••

Most children Nova has seen tend to adore their birthdays. Throw a party and laugh with friends and family and truly celebrate.

For Nova, it was one of the worst days of the year. Perhaps its pinnacle on their eighth birthday was the scuffle that left them unable to speak.

In all truth, they blamed themselves for what they received, always telling themselves they deserved it for being a freak among their family; it's not exactly hard to recognise why. Cobalt hair and arctic eyes tend to stand out among the blond and green 'perfects.'

Nova could no longer withstand it. The night of their birthday, they packed a handful of necessities into a backpack and waited for everyone to sleep, before slipping out of their cosy little closet shelf and through the back door, ducking their head down before shouldering their bag and bolting as far as their legs could carry. Far from the house they didn't wish to call home. Farther from familiar places and into wilds they'd never seen.

Nova's lungs burned. Their legs ached. Their heart pounded. They've been running as long as they can every day, only stopping when there was no other option, when they refused to carry them. When they succumbed to sleep.

They lost count of the days, but they've watched the moon. Watched it go from new to full and back to new. So they guessed a month. And they had to have escaped the state by now.

Watching swamps melt to desert and then forest had their panic ease. It was exhausting. But they did it. And they could smell saltwater by the time their body gave out today, tripping up and letting out a pained cry when their arm twisted uncomfortably around them.

The moment they'd skidded to a stop, untwisted arm curled around to protect their face, pale eyes squeezed shut, they took in a soft breath and hissed lightly, pushing themselves to sit and cautiously trying to untwist that arm, tears prickling their eyes as cobalt brows knitted.

It hurt and they couldn't help but give a wince at the pain, though their arm hung at their side with a brilliant red blushing through the violet sweater. Fuck fuck okay, Mom was a nurse, what would she do to treat this? Cut off blood flow to stem blood loss. Okay. They took a deep shuddering breath and peeled off the sweater, leaving them in the blue undershirt, they coaxed darker blue hair out of pale eyes as they shredded a sleeve to tie around the arm, glad the free end was between their teeth to muffle the simper at the pain and the tiniest of sobs.

They ripped the other sleeve off to tie that above the wound to ease blood flow, keep it from lagging on them too much. A quick glance back pointed out the rock that carved this atrocity into them, and they only scowled before testing motor function in that arm. Fingers are okay, bending at the elbow hurts but the pain is easing thanks to the lack of blood hitting it. Good.

It took little time for them to spot a tree with roots that curled deep into the earth, creating an almost hole that would protect them from being spotted easily and moreso protect them from elements and wild creatures. They'd moved to it with a bit of struggle, curling up in it and drifting into a blank sleep yet again. Most nights were dreamless now.

They woke to a faint purring noise and something licking their arm. It had them gasp and sit up, shrinking back, afraid whatever this was was trying to eat them. But when they met eyes with what it was, they felt their heart freeze.

This was nothing they had seen before. A rather large catlike creature with brilliant blue furs, much like their own hair. It did not look threatening despite the fangs that prodded from its mouth, it looked at them with a concern that was nearly human. Something in their soul resonated with this thing. And they liked it.