Alley Cats Runaway

#6 All Things Brand New

It had been 2 months since my father passed away. Between crying my eyes out and lashing out in anger, a lot had happened in those long weeks. For instance, I am no longer a kit. I have grown into a beautiful young cat, or that is what my mother tells me. Speaking of my mother, she has been acting strange lately. She is more tired than usual and been eating more the share given. I just hope she is not sick. I see her less and less these days ever since she had become the leader. Also, the leadership balance had been shifted. You see, when my father was alive he was the main leader of the alleys then after him four other cats to represent the four corners of the city. They would hold meetings while we slept at night, discussing food supply, and territory skirmishes. Now everyone is muttering Frost under their breaths. Everyone is in fear of what he would do next since assassinations are not common. Everyone is certain he is taking over the alleys through a rebellion and that is the just the beginning, like my aunt Shadow says.

The problem is half of the cats are planning to split up and take Frost on their own terms, the rest of us argue that we should stick together and fight Frost in the final battle. Whatever that means. What I do know is that mama is going to be the next leader, since she is the mate of the previous leader. She hasn't picked a successor yet but she's more worried about her other duties, such as trying to calm down the other half who want to leave. So I wasn't surprised when I woke up to see her nest empty.

I looked over to the other nests around me.
Dad's? Also empty.
Patches'? Empty too.
Did my entire family leave me?

Sighing, I rose to my feet, shaking the sleep out of my legs. I walked to the far side of the room near the window to find Violet stirring. "Hey, sleepyhead," I say. Two violet eyes looked up at me. At first, they blinked in surprise but when she recognized it was me, warmth flooded them. "Hi, Nut did you sleep well?" I shrug.
"Yes," I say a bit too quickly. Violet stretched keeping her odd eyes on me. "Are you sure? " I gave up. "Not at all," I admitted. "I tried I really tried but every time I would wake up to seeing him." I curled my lip in disgust just mentioning Frost without saying his name made me sick.

"Where is Jay?" I suddenly ask, noticing Jay already woke and wasn't in his nest.
"Probably went for a hunt, to clear his head. You're not the only one with nightmares you know." She reminded me.

"Do you want to go hunting?" I asked her.
"A good hunt sounds good." She stretched.
"Okay, meet me at the entrance."
Now if I was my mother where would I be? I pondered. Well, leaders need to be present at meetings, maybe she's at one now.

I turned to the back room knowing most meetings were addressed in the second private room that was at the rear.
I came in just in time to see two cats I identified as Rookie and Dawn leaping at each other.
Is this how they settle disagreements? I wondered in alarm. I slipped in, grateful for the distraction and found my mother at the back of the room struggling to keep the council together as everyone was either cheering on the fight or talking among themselves.
I tapped on her shoulder with my thick tail. She turned to me in surprise.

" Nutmeg what is it?" She snapped. I flinched at her tone, realizing I came at a bad time.
"Just wanted to tell you Violet and I are going hunting. " I said quickly. My mother nodded in approval.
" You may go, be careful Nut." I rubbed my cheek against her shoulder. "Thanks, mama. I'll bring you some when I come back. " I promised.

As I left I felt a weight on my tail, preventing me to go further. I glanced over my shoulder to see Shadow. The adult cat's green eyes were sharpened and fixed on me.
"Where are you going?"
"Hunting with Violet. " I replied simply.

" You are 11 months old almost a year, technically an adult, you should be joining the meetings. It will teach you somethings on how to become the next leader. Your mother isn't going to In charge forever you know. " She meowed. I am pretty sure there was a deeper meaning when she said my mother won't be in charge forever but I felt my claws ich impatiently for release so I let that slide.