Chapter 17: Hide

It was a chilly evening, the kits had set aside their differences, as they realized just how important being a part of a family at a time like this, actually was to them. They walked close by each other, often rubbing up against one another, to warm themselves up a little bit.

All the while, they had their heads down most of the day as well, due to the fact that they were thinking about the life they had, just the day before, and how they were never going to get to go back to that life. As sad as it was to say, one of the kits in particular, realized that this was a part of growing up, and it was now that time.

The young kit, was walking a bit slower than the rest of her kin, and she often stumbled with where it was that she walked at, she did her best to not let that get her angry, as there were a lot of things that lit off a bit or a spark in her.

She had gotten used to it at this point though, as she knew that she was the weakest of the litter, and she did not do anything to say otherwise. Her brother, looked over at her, with a bit of a sad look on his face, as he felt quite a bit bad, for both of his sisters.

He knew how close his sister, Gift, was to Nut, and he felt it had been a bit low of Nut to just leave them, without at least saying goodbye. He felt that maybe he had just let them in to his home, and tried to act nice to them, to look good for their mother, as he had made it clear that he had been in love with her, for quite a bit of some time.

It hurt him as well, as he felt like he had been close to Nut as well, but his mind was in a bit of a different place at the moment. He had spent most of the day, looking around to the surroundings that had been with him. He was a bit excited for that the future had in store for him and his sisters.

Limp did not have much emotion at the moment at all, though she felt as if she had seen this coming for quite a bit of some time. She knew that her mother was not in love with Nut, and she also knew that she would go and find another cat to fall in love with.

It was more a bit of a surprise to her, that their mother had actually decided to take them with her, rather than just leave them at the home with Nut. She felt that maybe, her mother might have known something about Nut all along, that she had not let out in to the air.

She still felt a bit bad for Nut, but it still did hurt her, not the fact that Nut had not said goodbye to her, but more that he had not at least done it for her brother and her sister, as she, and both Nut as well, knew just how much the kits cared about him.

Though it felt a bit bad of her to think the way she was, she felt as if she was a bit happy to see Gift the way she was, but not due to the fact that Gift was always such a mean sister to her, but it was more the fact that Gift had some what managed to let out a bit of her emotions that she sometimes did not seem to have at all.

Limp, a bit like her brother, felt a bit of some excitement now, to see what life was going to be like. She hoped that their mother would let them out, and see the wild. She did not seem to be too upset, much to the surprise of Limp, that their mother had found out that they had actually gone out of the house, to see what it was like.

She knew that her brother, and her sister were excited to see it as well, but she was not sure if they too, much like her, wanted to spend their lives out in the wild, like their grand parents had told them all about. She felt like, or rather, knew that they had just used to stories to fight and start a competition.

Limp let out a bit of a soft sigh, more to herself, as she was not sure how to handle all of this at the moment. It felt like it was all going so fast, but at the same time, she and her kin had plenty of time, to think this all through their heads through out the day.

But now, over to Gift, who was feeling quite a bit different than her brother and sister. She, much unlike the other 2, was not excited at all, for the future of the life they were about to have. All she could think about, was about the times and all of the memories that she had with Nut.

All of those were all just going to go away, like they had never happened in the first place. She also knew, that Pintclaw had told her, that as you got older, you often happened to forget a lot of the memories that you had, when you were much younger.

She did not want to forget about all of those however, and it hurt her a lot to think about that. What also hurt her a lot as well, was that she still could to grasp the reason that Nut had not at least stayed at the house to say goodbye to her and the others.

Surely he had not just forgotten what their mother had said to him, just the day before. He knew that they would be leaving the home, and it hurt her to think that he had purposely not said a simple, 'goodbye' to her. She was upset, but she was not angry, though it might seem as if she was.

All of the other cats, their mother included in to that, thought that she was in fact very angry, and Nifty, the mother, felt like she had a lot to do with that as well, as she was the one that had made the decision, in the end, that they were going to officially leave.

She had told them though, that it might happen at some point, so she felt as though Gift should have seen it coming at some point in tbe near future. Nifty closed her eyes, for just a couple of seconds as she felt quite a bit bad for her kits still.

She, too, let out a bit of a soft sigh, as she wished that she could at least tell them l about how nice, and how amazing the cat was, that they were about to be meeting. After all, that was the reason that she had fallen in love with him in the first place.

He was the perfect cat for her, and it filled the empty void in her soul, that she had been hoping to fill up for a lot of time. She had not felt this way about a cat, since she had fallen in love with the father of her kits. She stopped, as she kept her eyes closed, squeezing them a bit too hard as well.

He was different than that cat though, as it hurt her to think about him. She had been so in love with that cat, and the day after she had told him, that she was pregnant with his kits, he had all of the sudden gone missing, just like that.

There were so many different theories in her mind, as to where he might have gone, and what might have happened to him. She felt like, the likely story of what had happened, was that he had ran off, due to the fact that he could not handle the fact that he was going to be the father of her kits.

But that was the part that just did not make sense to her, was that he had been excited for the idea of having kits, and they had shared their ideas of what life was going to be like with them. As soon as she had told him about having kits though, the very next day, he had gone missing.

It might have been just bad timing, and she had gone to ask his friends, if they had seen him, but they had told her that they had no clue. She had been so worried for some time, that something might have happened to him, but she knew that even if it was so, it would have been nothing that she could have possibly controlled.

That was the reason that she was not close to her kits though, as she had developed in her brain, any time that she was around those kits, that those were the kits of the cat that had left her. She wanted to cry, but she held in all of those tears.

She knew that there was nothing for her to cry about, as she was in love with a much better cat, that would not leave her. She knew that this cat, would take care of her kits too, and once they had grown older, they would be in a safe place.

Then, at some point, they too would meet a cat of their own, that they might fall in love with, and they might make their own family with. That was the hope at least, but for now, she knew that she just needed to take all of this, one step at a time.

I looked ahead at my mother, as she had just been standing there for quite a bit of some time. She let out a bit of a loud sigh, that she knew that all of the others could hear, but it seemed like they did not want to listen to it. She noticed, that much like their mother, her brother and sister were in their own world as well.

She shook her head, as she looked away from all of the cats that she was with at the current moment in time. She looked up at the sky above her, as she looked over at the sun, as she could see it clearly settling down, to get its own rest for the night.

She wished that she could be like the sun, and she wished that all of this would just get dark, so that she could get some sleep. She was not sure if her brother and her sister felt the same way that she did, as they were used to a lot of physical activity during the day, due to their often fights.

She was so worn out, and she hoped that they got to the place soon, so that she could get some long awaited rest. She looked at her mother as well, as they had been standing in this spot for a very long time now. At least long enough for her to notice that sky had gotten a bit darker.

She heard yapping of dogs, or perhaps puppies, from a house, quite a distance away. It gave her a bit of anxiety and stress, to hear them barking over and over again. She knew that they were not barking at any of them, but rather at something completely different.

It still freaked her out a bit, as she was not used to walking out of the house, much less having to walk out of the house during the night. She had heard the stories of how scary it was at night, from many cats, and she was worried that it might be the case for them.

She then, too, closed her own eyes, as she thought back on Nut, telling them one of his own stories, about him being at of the house during the night, and about how scary it had been. How the monsters that the two legs hid in, ran at you, with you even seeing it coming.

He had told us about there being some sort of spooky creatures, that snuck around, and went after young kits, like us. I felt like he had added that part, just to make sure that we did not go and look for ourselves however. It was fair enough I suppose, as I knew that both Gift, and Pike, had thoughts of going out when everyone was asleep, several times.

I shook my head, as I felt the chilly wind, as I saw a few dead leaves fly by us at the same time as well. I looked at the leaves, a bit sadly, for some odd reason, as I knew they were dead. At the same time though, I knew that I should not be feeling that way, at the same time as well.

I had been told, that they would begin to fall, and as they did, it would get to be very cold, even inside of a two leg place if they did not have those magical things called the heaters. Everything that was around, would then begin to die.

I felt sad to think about it like that, as when I had showed that sort of emotion to them, they felt a bit bad for phrasing it in that way, as they were soon quick to add, right after they had seen the look on my face, that, "it was like that for just a small amount of time, and their was this cool thing that came from the sky, that was called, 'snow'."

After that season was done with though, they then added that all of the stuff that had died, would then soon grow again, and it would look beautiful. That was by far, the most exciting part of the year for me at least. I hoped that it would soon come upon us, as I knew that I had only just begun my young and simple life.

I shivered once again, and then I sneezed at the same time too, as one of the dead leaves suddenly landed right on top of my nose. I blinked a few times, as I tried to erase the blurry vision that I had, due to the fact that I had just sneezed.

I then looked over at my mother, as I saw that she had heard the fact that I had just sneezed, and it had thankfully finally brought her attention back to me and my other kin mates. She looked at me for just a few moments, as she then nodded to me, and then she began to speak at the same time too.

"Well, bless you Limp..." She said to me. I stared at her for a bit of time, as I then blinked a couple times as well. I was just happy that she had finally got her attention back over to me and the others, rather than wallowing in her own thoughts, whatever those might be.

I nodded to my mother, happy that she was no longer that way, as I then saw her nod back to me, after a bit of time had passed. She stared at all of us for a few moments, as I looked at my brother and sister as well, to see what they might be on about right now.

It did not seem that they had paid any attention to what it was that had just happened however, as I saw my sister had the same very sad, and upset look on her face, as she continued staring down at the ground, just as she had been all day.

I knew that she had been paying attention to her surroundings however, or else she would not have known that we had stopped walking in the first place. I let out a bit of a soft sigh this time, one that she could not hear as well, as I did not want her to get any more angry than she was now.

I shook my head, and I blinked a few times, as I then turned my head over to my brother, who, he too, had been sitting in this same spot with the rest of us, for quite some time now. Much unlike our sister though, he did not have his head to the ground at all.

He was looking all around us, as he seemed to be excited, and very interested on all that was going on, and where it was that we were going, and where we had gone past. I now began to wish that I had the same mindset of my brother.

Instead I had been a bit more like my sister, and I had my head a bit low, but not quite as low as my sister had all day. The only times I had seen her lift her head up, was when a monster would fly past us very quickly, and the loud noise that came from it, would scare her.

It was kind of funny to think of as well, though I knew that now was not the time to be laughing. She would always tell us that she was not afraid of anything at all, but it was clear that she was. I knew that she was just trying to compete with Pike though.

I blinked a couple more times, as I shifted my focus away from my siblings right now, and turned my head, and my eyes back over to our mother. Our mother did not seem to last long, as to the fact that she had been looking at the rest of us, as I saw that her head was in a completely different direction now.

Luckily enough for me though, she was not staring at the ground, like she had been doing not too long ago. I let out a bit of a quiet sigh of relief, as I then nodded more to myself. I coughed a bit loud, just to make sure that I could get her attention.

I had sneezed earlier, and it was not nearly as loud as that cough that I had just done, so it did not surprise me at all, when I saw Nifty turn her head over to me, to see as to what it had been about. It clearly had not been a real cough, as it had been a cough merely to get the attention of another cat.

Nifty tilted her head, a bit confused as to what it could be, but she eventually then nodded to me, as she waited for me to speak to her. I stared at her for a few moments, as I did my best to recollect on what it was that I had been planning on saying in the first place.

I looked around for a few moments, as for some reason I felt like it had something to do with a certain thing that was currently centered around us right now. I looked around, trying to remember what it could be, as I then looked up at the sky.

That is when it hit me, as to what it was that I had been thinking about a few moments ago, as I saw that the sky was even darker than it had been a few seconds before now. The sun had nearly dropped all the way down on the horizon, and I then began to remember the stories I had been told again.

I shivered, as I turned my head back to my mother, who to my surprise, still had her eyes on me, as it was clear that she could tell that what it was that I had to say, was very important to me. I nodded to my mother, as she then again nodded back, as I then began to speak to her.

"Are we almost to the place yet?" I asked her. She stood there for a bit of some time, with a bit of a blank look on her face, as if she had not understood a word of what I had just said to her. I shook my head, as I then continued to speak to her. "It is starting to get dark out, and I am scared of that."

She still stood there for a bit of some time, as if she had not quite got what I had just said. I lowered my head to the ground, as I was not sure what to think. I half expected Gift to all of the sudden began to laugh at me, from right behind me, as to the fact that I had been so afraid of the dark.

I looked at her from the corner of my eye, expecting it to happen at any moment now. To my surprise, and not to my surprise at the same time too, she did not seem to have a care in the world, as to what it was that I had said to our mother just now.

I looked away, a bit relieved that I did not get what I had thought would have ended up coming. I turned my head back to my mother, who no longer had the blank look that she had on her face, just a couple of moments ago, thankfully.

She was looking around once again, and I wanted to let out a bit of an annoyed groan, but I noticed that this time, she seemed to be more intent to her surroundings, than she had been the last time I had seen her staring off in to the distance.

I looked at where it was that she was staring at, as I half expected her new mate to suddenly pop out of the shadows, to greet all of us, but that was not the case at all however. Not that I would have been dumb enough to believe it might have been the case.

She had her eyes focused on something that was far down the road, as if it might perhaps be the two leg place that we had been traveling all day to get to. If we were really that close though, than surely we should run to it, before it was too late.

Nifty turned her head back over to me, as I saw a bit of a sad look on her face, for some odd reason or another, which did in fact confuse me as to what it could be. I would have thought that she would be excited of the fact that we were moving to a new home, with her new mate.

Did her new mate not treat her all that well? She had really not told us much about him, as the day had mostly been silent, besides the few times that she had told us that we needed to turn in a different directions, or something else.

Maybe it was that she could be in love with Nut, and she was too afraid to confess her love to him. That theory did not make sense at all though, as she knew that he was in love with her, so there was no point to fear any sort of rejection from him.

I shook my head, as I did my best to try to shake all of those thoughts from out of my brain, at the exact same time as well. I stood there for a bit more of some time as well, as I suddenly then heard Nifty decide to speak, and I lifted my head up, to hear what it was that she had to say back to me.

"No... We still have a long ways to go... It was stupid of me to think that I could take a bunch of kits with me, to a place that was this far away, just in one day... We can just hope that we can get there late tomorrow, so long as we start early in the morning." She said to me. I looked at her, a bit surprised as to what she had said.

I would have thought that would not be the case at all, as I had not even taken that in to consideration at all. I thought that was the whole reason that we had gotten up so early this morning, in the first place. I shook my head, as I wanted to say that was not the case, but I knew that we were not nearly as grown as our mother was.

I then nodded to my mother, as I understood as to what it was that she had been getting at in the first place. She did not seem to be paying me any attention any longer however, as I then realized as to why that was so, as I heard Pike speak to our mother, from right behind me.

"Where are we going to sleep at tonight then? Do you have other friends around the area?" He said back to her. I looked at my brother for a few moments, and then I looked back over at Nifty, and I nodded, as it was a good question that not even I, had taken in to consideration.

My mother stared at us for a few moments, as I was not quite sure if she had even thought that one through. I began to shiver once again, as to the thought that we might be spending the night out in this scary place that we had been heading through all day.

We had always been told to never sleep outside, or in the open. It seemed like we would have no other choice but to choose both of those, as I did not see an abandoned two leg place, anywhere at all, much less the fact that there would be a bunch of rats in one of those.

I started to freak out a bit, as I saw from the corner of my eye, that my sister also had taken in what it was that my brother had just said, as she lifted her head up, with quite the angry look on her face too. I blinked a couple of times, a bit surprised with the anger in her voice as she began to speak back to Nifty.

"So... We go all this way, to sleep in a dogs nest? Great! It really was worth leaving Nut then, huh?!" She said loud enough for any cat, or dog for a ways out to hear her. Luckily, the dogs that I had heard yapping earlier, did not seem to care at all.

I looked over at Nifty, a bit surprised of what Gift had just said to her. Even Gift typically knew that to speak to our mother in that sort of tone, but this time it did not seem as if she could hold it in for any longer. I was starting to get a bit annoyed with my sister, as I just wished that she would get over that, and move on.

Nifty stared at her, for a bit more time, as I saw her squint her eyes at Gift, as I could tell that she was not too happy with the way her daughter had just spoken to her. She sat there for a bit of some time, as it seemed as if she was trying to hold in her own anger.

I was a bit confused as to all that was happening at the current moment, as I looked back at one another, over and over again. Nifty however, held in her anger thankfully, as she let out a loud, but also soft sigh, as she began to speak to Gift, in a relaxing voice.

"I will get us some food... I know you are upset Gift... You will love my new mate... Besides... There are plenty of places for us to hide..."