Memories (Of Dreams and Demons)

A Kitten Uncaged

This is the first rough draft for Chapter 31 - A Kitten Uncaged - plot and action outline, needs polish and to paint the background scene.

The area beyond the fence is hazy, blanketed by a silver-grey fog, shimmering as if it were an illusion just out of reach, ever unreal.

Nothing of the library remains but chunks of stone; the bones of our childhood scattered across an abandoned foundation.

Pillars of classical design, half-collapsed, encircle the piles of stone. They once had stood proud and strong, but now sit half-broken, strangled by vines and covered in moss.

The steps leading up the the base of what was once the library entrance sit buried beneath wild grass. Even now, forgotten and in pain unkempt, they beckon to us. Awaiting our arrival, begging to be returned to their former glory.

It is upon these ruins that Naoko and I peek, through an old forgotten wire fence that has surrounds the block. We don't even need to clamber up and over it, as it's been knocked over by wind or quake in a number of places. Noone, or nothing, likely expected anyone to come back this way, this secluded and forgotten memory of a dream.

Naoko and I slip through one of those spaces, the fence rusting and choked by vines on the ground, darting straight for the ruins.

And at the top of those stairs that have not seen use in an age, the faded statue of a lion still rests, still stands guard at the fallen entrance into our Realm. I pause as we run towards the ruins, gazing up at its stern features, its eyes glaring north. Even though I've grown since the night Moloch broke us apart, the statue seems to have grown even more.

Vuitton stops dead still to stare up at the lion, his eyes narrowing cautiously as if expecting it to come alive and eat him any moment. He begins backing away, careful not to take his untrusting eyes off the alpha predator.

"It's just a statue," I grin at him.

Vuitton does not respond.

Naoko, however, rushes ahead, ignoring the lion completely. She darts behind a pile of black rocks, remnants from the old throne slammed into the ground during Moloch's ascent, and I hear her gasp.

I run as fast as I can to reach her, to see that she is safe. Whatever she has found dare not hurt her, less it face me; my own little cub inside learning to roar on its own.

Rushing to follow, swinging around the rocks to see her, I stop in my tracks, my jaw dropping open. Naoko is fine, leaning over an old rusty cage, surrounded by nothing but rubble and destruction.

Within, a tiny figure lays curled up, quiet, silent, alone within a concrete nightmare, daring not to move. A tiny ball of fur, a kitten in a cage. It's.. it's Alia!

Naoko leans in closer, her hands fumbling on the metal as lock and door crumbles away at her touch. Like pieces of crumbling ash the cage falls apart as she runs her fingers over it, trying to break Alia free.

The kitten inside does not stir, despite the rattling and the shaking. I can't see her little body heaving with breath; she shows no sign of life. Vuitton solemnly takes off his wide-brimmed hat to rest it heavy over his chest as he gazes down at stone.

Were she alive she would be broken; demoralized and beaten, starving; she is most likely dead. She has to be dead, I figure sadly. What would she have eaten, had to drink? Exposed to the elements in a tiny cage for many years, left to starve and rot away. Yet.. why is she still a puff of thick fur? Why is she not but dust scattered to the cold winds?

Come, little lotus, it's time to leave, the winds whisper around the library ruins.

Her eyes pop open, and I jump back in shock. From her tucked away paws, kept hidden away in the midst of her final warmth, a little ball of golden light bounces out of the cage. My eyes follow it in awe as it dances about Naoko, who claps and beams.