"Don't chase the rabbit"
Your name is Valerie, and you’re not very old. You never did keep track of time, but you know you’re still very little and don’t know as much about the world as you should. You’d never say it aloud, but at least you’re smarter than your older brother, Pablo. Don’t get it wrong, you love him, but for as verbose as he is, his head’s a little empty. That’s alright, though. He’s a lot braver than you.
The two of you are plodding along after your mother, paws sore from all the walking of the day. As soon as you were able to walk, mama had whisked you and Pablo to your feet and ushered you forwards, insisting that it wasn’t safe to stay where you were, and that she needed to take you to the canyons. You don’t know what or where those are, but you trust your mother.
You trail on for quite some time, your long and slender legs keeping up fairly easily with your mother’s, while Pablo waddled along behind, before she eventually drew to a stop outside a small cave and ducked in. All was quiet for a moment, before she beckoned you and Pablo in with a twitch of her tail. You watched Pablo wriggle in and curl up beside mama, before slinking after him and making yourself comfortable. Within moments, you drifted off to sleep.
When you would awake again, it was to see mama slipping out in the dead of the night. Confused and worried, you crept after her, paws moving silently as you followed her. You took note that she was crouched low to the ground, ears twitching this way and that, and you realized she was hunting. She must be stopping to get you something, since Pablo ate most of breakfast that morning. But.. you’d stay to see what she would catch.
Eventually she crept behind a dead bush, and a panicked yowl split the silence. Eyes widening, you barreled towards the bush, fur bristling and heart racing. Mama never sounded like that. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. You struggled forwards through the branches, realizing too late that this had been a terrible mistake. You should have let her know you were here, and then she would have taken you back, and whatever’s happening wouldn’t be.
You reached the other side of the bush, and what you saw next left you frozen.Two cats writhed in the loose earth, their white pelts being stained red-brown as they scuffled. Claws glinted in the moonlight, teeth were bared, snarls echoed across the mostly-empty terrain.. it was a living nightmare.
Before you knew it, there was a final shriek as claws were raised, and brought down in a flash, cutting the sound short. You stared in horror as your mother fell still, brown eyes wide as the life faded from them and red stained the fur around her neck. You let out a whimper and the other cat- a scrawny tom with purple eyes- stiffened, lifting his blood-soaked muzzle to get a good look at you. He stared for a moment, before running his tongue over his muzzle and turning away, disappearing into the darkness.
You struggled the rest of the way out of the bush and staggered over to your mother, legs shaking before giving up beneath you as you reached her side. She wasn’t breathing, and the warmth was beginning to fade away. Tears welled up in your eyes before sliding down your face, your tiny frame wracked with sobs as the reality of what had just happened settled in.
Oh, what were you going to tell Pablo? What were you going to do without mama? What was going to happen to you now?
