Me and my siblings waddled in a straight line behind our mother. I honestly didn’t know where we were going, I didn’t even know what I was. But,to be fair, I hatched two weeks ago. All I know is that my name is Feathers, that I’m fuzzy, and that I have a weird thing sticking out of my face that my siblings kept calling a beak, whatever that was. I look around, turning my head to the side, all around us there are weird, tall objects with green, flappy things sticking out of the top. Very interesting creatures run around and climb up them. I wonder if I’ll be able to do that too when I get bigger.

“Where almost at the pond,” mother quacks from the front of the line, her voice kind and soft. Although I have been wondering where we are going, that really doesn’t help. “What's a pond?” I ask, tilting my head to the side in wonder, “It’s a place where you’ll be safe and have fun until you are old enough to care for yourself.” she says. I don’t know why, but the answer just confused me even more. The world seems so harmless, what would we possibly have to be safe from?

I shake my head to clear it, and we keep going, until we find a sunlit clearing with a small pool of sparkly water in the center. I look up and see the wide expanse of sky with fluffy clouds. I inhale deeply and a sweet scent blows in the breeze. The outside world is wonderful. In the far side of the space, is what looks like if the tall things with green flappy things died and created what looks like a cave but covered in moss. My older sister, Rose, jumped into the pond and started swimming, splashing water on my face. The rest of my siblings jump in as well, and I decide to try it out too. The water is freezing cold and I yell in surprise and jump out immediately. I shake my head and water droplets fly off in every direction.

“What’s wrong Feathers?” asks Flippers, one of my siblings. “The water is freezing!” I squeak, somewhat dramatically. Flippers laughs and says, “The water is fine, it’s not like it's going to hurt you.” 

“Liar,” I mumble and Flippers hops out the water and pushes me into the pond. I accidentally inhale and water fills my mouth and I start choking.I can’t see anything, the water that entered my eyes makes y . Suddenly something grabs me and pulls me out of the water. Whatever grabbed me put me down and I whirled around in panic and my mother stood behind me with a frown, "You're too young to swim! Something could have happened to you, and it’s time to sleep.”

I hadn’t realized it before but the sun was starting to set, turning the sky from blue, to  a beautiful shade of orange. My siblings hop out of the pond and start heading to the weird cave thing. I follow them through the entrance and I lay down on the nest that our mother made while we were swimming and I slowly drift asleep.

  CHAPTER 2

I wake with a start, I sit up and look around. I can’t see anything, and I wait until my eyes adjust to the darkness. I can see the outline of the exit and I carefully step out. I have a strange feeling, but I can’t really identify it. I hear a low growl come from the trees and I see two sharp yellow eyes staring at me through the bushes. I step back, “Who are you?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady, though it doesn’t work as I expected. 

A tall creature slinks out from the undergrowth, it has brown fur with darker stripes and and a white tail, it looks vaguely familiar then I remember it’s a cat, I’ve seen one when we were heading to the pond, “My name is Bock, and you are about to become my lunch.” He pounces and I have no other choice but to run. I go as fast as I can but my tiny legs don’t take me far and I have to hide in a bush and hope he doesn't see me. I peek through a small gap in the leaves and I see Bock sniffing the ground and flicking his ears in various directions. I hold my breath hoping he doesn’t hear me, and then there is a rustle and Bock goes pouncing off in the direction of the noise.

I walk out the bush, breathing heavily, and I turn in what I think is the direction of the pond, and that’s when I realize that I am completely lost. I spin around but everywhere I look is the same as the place before. I walk in the direction I think is back home, but after a while, I come across a wall, I look up at it and there is another cat, but with longer white fur that had brown and orange patches and blue eyes. Terror shoots through me and I prepare to run again but I stop when the cat says, “Wait, don’t leave, little creature.”

I turn around and look back at the cat, “Why shouldn’t I leave when another cat tried to eat me just a few seconds ago and you will probably try to eat me too!” I say angrily.

“Oh no, I wouldn’t dream about eating you, I have my own food back home anyway. My name is Misha, what’s your name?”

“My name is Feathers,” I say nervously, stepping towards the fence, “Nice to meet you Feathers,” says Misha, “ what are you doing here?”

I explain what happened, from when we got to the pond to when Bock chased me and Misha told me about how Bock was her neighbor and was always hunting small animals like her, just that terrified me.