Young Writers Society

She told her kit of a place beyond, a place they never could feel under their paws; a place so alluring and beautiful and compelling that it is forbidden to even dream of it. Land that was so menacing and savage that it was forbidden.

"It can fool you, my kit. it may look like an elegant paradise, but it is only a place of trickery. Dangerous creatures lurk in the shadows, hatred fortifying the beasts,"

The snowy white kit with one azure eye and one that shone gold looked up at her mother, crestfallen.

"I want to explore the unknown," the kit paused, "why is it  forbidden?" The tawny mother cat looked mournfully down at γάτα, her kit.

"The world we live in is a place of dread and trickery, γάτα, that we must not tread in, or the  world will fall beneath our paws, or perhaps the beasts will take us," she tilted her head, craning her ears back.

γάτα dropped her gaze to her paws, hanging her head low, tears glazing her eyes. "We were meant for the wild," she mewled.

The Ημητέρα-γάτα sighed, looking forlornly at her grieving kit.

Απογυμνωμένο δόντια , οδοντωτό νύχια , ζοφερή γνώση του άγριου το φευγαλέο γάτα μέσα , recited the young kit in her mind.

(Bared teeth, jagged claws, grim knowledge of the wild-the stealthy cat within.)

"Mother, don't you know of the omen of the Cat? Isn't that our destiny?" the young kit asked, her tiny voice wavering as she spoke.

The young kit's snowy pelt was illuminated in the exaggerated moonlight that crept into the cave.

Ημητέρα-γάτα closed her eyes, visioning the time when χάνεται had wondered off into the mythical lands, unaware of the danger of concealed beauty.

"Do you not remember χάνεται? Your brother, the Lost One?" the mother-cat whispered, her voice lost in the wailing wind that grieved for him, too.

The kit looked away for a second, ashamed for even thinking of the beyond, the unknown, but she still felt a fiery desire to hunt and chase in the wild.

"He had no knowledge of the depths of the wild, it's layers of trickery," the snowy-kit replied, assuring her mother.

The snowy-kit gazed at her mother, watching her as she shook her head silently. "But mom, don't you remember the Clan?" γάτα meowed desperately.

Ημητέρα-γάτα gazed at her kit with her piercing amber eyes, yet her face was a stony mask.

"I give up, γάτα , if you must expeirence the cruel way of the unknown, then so be it," she got up from her paws and traipsed out of the cave, her tail swishing in restricted fury.

The young kit followed, her emotions mixed-was it a bad idea after all? As they came out of the gaping cave-mouth, there lay the world beyond.

Lush cherry-blossom trees swaying in the wind, jagged mountains covered in snow, a never-ending blue that covered the roof of nature.

"What is that blue roof up there?" asked γάτα in wonder. Mother-cat gazed at her kit, her eyes warming up in pleasure.

"It is called a sky, a place that never ends, where all creatures take the Path," she explained.

The young kit bounded around, scanning the never-ending terrain in the distance, an amazing view from where she stood on the cliff.

A burning sphere lay in the thing called the sky, shining warmth over the kit. "Mother-cat, what is that yellow circle in the sky?" asked γάτα, as she gaped at it.

"It is a sun," she replied.

γάτα wondered around the cave, wondering how she could reach the distance of nature. "Mother-cat, how do we travel to the distance?" the kit asked in confusion.

She heard her mother sigh in frustration. "My kit, we can't reach the beyond, we are trapped on this cliff. You see, γάτα, your brother.. he fell off of the cliff. It is one of the ways nature is so cruel; because sometimes it can trap you."

The young kit gasped and began to wail as she heard this news. "I want to go back into the cave!" she sobbed.

Mother-cat padded over towards her wailing kit, closing her eyes, struggling to contain her tears. "There is one way, and one way only-the stars," she faintly whispered, "that is why we cannot eat the delicacy of prey and hunt, and enjoy freedom,"

She closed her eyes, wishing that the world was not so cruel, that her brother was still here. What point is there living if you can't be the animal are, and on top of that, loose the one you love most?

"The stars, the stars, the stars.." the young kit chanted in a trance-like way.

"We will go to the stars, someday.. but it is not our time yet,"

"I want to go to the stars now!" she yowled.

The young kit began to think of ways to go to the Path. She was defying her mother, the young kit knew it, but how else would she be able to hunt.. and wander free?

She gazed at her mother with tears in her eyes. "Goodbye," γάτα whispered as she prepared to jump of the cliff. She'd meet her brother again..

The mother-cat tilted, her head confused, than reality told her exactly what was happening. "NO!" she shrieked with grief, "PLEASE!" she yowled. γάτα looked at her mother with tears glistening in her eyes. "What point is there to live.. if you don't even feel like your living? I love you mother," she whispered.

goodbye...

The young kit flung itself over the cliff, her mother-cat's yowls echoing behind her. She wailed and whimpered herself, feeling the rushing air herself and the ground and dirt coming closer and closer...

"GOODBYE! MOOOOMMMMMM!" the young kit wailed at the top of her lungs, tears rolling down her face, even though she knew it was now her fate, and she could not change it.

It'll be okay, you'll see your brother, right? reassured a voice in her head. The kit looked up at the cliff, seeing a tawny shape falling too.

no, no, no, no...

"I LOVE YOU!" the kit screeched with her remaining strength. She heard a faint voice call back to her, too.

A hard thump was all γάτα could feel. She was dimly aware of milky scented fur near her as she nestled into the bundle of warmth.

THE PATH

free, free at last with brother and mother! exclaimed a voice. The young kit opened her eyes, joy flowing through her, as she stood by mother, awaiting the starry sky.

"Oh mother, let us hunt and run with brother!" γάτα padded over to mother, awaiting her mother's tongue to lap over her-and it did.

"Yes, kit," mother paused between licks, "at last we may see brother and we may explore nature without it's cruel ways,"

"Let us go, mother!" yelled the giddy kit. Mother-cat looked at her with warm, pleasing eyes as she laughed at her kit. They bounded into the starry sky, looking for brother in the depths of the night.

"Brother, brother!" said γάτα as she saw him preying upon a grey mouse. χάνεται turned, startled by her voice. He laughed as he saw mother and his sister. "Oh you've came, you've came!" he yelled at the top of his lungs with happiness, laughing.

He licked his sister's pelt in greeting and nestled into his mother's pelt. And so they lived in the stars, hunting and sprinting and exploring nature without it's cruel ways.

Greek Translation

γάτα- cat

χάνεται- lost

Ημητέρα-γάτα - mother-cat