Post by kinkajou on Jun 7, 2017 21:38:57 GMT -5
"If you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one."
My name is Snow. I was named for my white coat. Which happens to be the worst color to be if you live in a desert where it will never, ever snow.
I’m a sand cat, you see. The rest of my colony has tan or tawny fur to blend in to the sand. But I’m stuck with this mutation that makes me stand out like a dove in a group of ravens.
Why don’t I tell you about the things that have happened a few months ago?
The first day, I went hunting and spotted a gerbil. As I was stalking toward it, it turned its head in my direction, and I froze. If I was normal colored, it would not see me. Rodents are not known for their eyesight, after all. But because of my coloring, it saw me and ran off, diving into a tunnel I was too big to get in to. This was nothing new. I was an awful hunter, and barely ever caught anything.
A couple days later, a rival group got a little too close to our territory. I and a few other cats were sent to see what they were up to, make sure they didn’t steal our food. As you can guess, one of the enemy cats spotted my white fur standing out in the sand. He alerted the rest of the group, and I could hear him say something about planning an attack and self-defense.
The cats shared some tail signals among themselves, then charged at our small group. There was at least ten of them and four of us.
Despite being outnumbered, Jerboa launched herself at them, slashing one cat’s nose with her long claws. Lizard, always a scaredy-cat, ran away to get more fighters.
Long story short, we lost five cats in that battle, including Jerboa, our most valuable fighter and hunter, and a young cat named Sky, barely more than a kitten. It was all my fault. Mine and my stupid pelt’s.
Around the end of the week, while the colony was still recovering, I set out once again to hunt, hoping I could find a very dumb mouse or something.
What I ended up finding was much bigger than a mouse. Actually, it’s more accurate to say it found me.
Quite far away from our base, I picked up a strong, sour scent. Caracal! I barely had time to think before huge paws pounced on my back, knocking the breath out of me.
I struggled to get out of its grasp, but to no avail. Then I got an idea.
I went limp, letting it think it had won. It loosened its grip, and in that moment I jumped up and ran faster than I ever had before. I could hear its heavy pawsteps close behind along with its enraged growl.
I finally made it home, panting hard and my heart racing. “Caracal!” I managed to shout before rushing into my den. I collapsed on the cold cave floor, out of breath. My rest didn’t last long.
“Get out here and fight, Snow!” came a sharp meow. Between the loud beating of my heart and blood rushing in my ears, I couldn’t tell who the voice belonged to. I listened anyway. After all, I brought the predator here, I should deal with it.
Again, I’ll spare you the details of the fight. All you need to know that in the end, two cats were greatly injured while almost everyone else had a few minor injuries.
I felt a rush of hate at myself. I caused yet another tragedy in just one week. I was useless. I couldn’t hunt and I always brought enemies to us.
Basically, that week had been awful. There was not a single good day in it. Then I had a thought. Since I was so useless, why not see how much better it’d be if I didn’t exist? That’s when I decided on my wish.
You see, there’s a tradition in the colony where every cat gets to visit the Oasis once in their life. It’s a special place where you can communicate with the spirits of cats that have passed, and can ask them for a single wish.
And so the next day I headed out. Everyone is taught the way there as kittens, so I knew exactly where to go.
When I got there, I looked into the crystal-clear water. A pure white face with pink eyes was reflected back at me.
I took a deep breath, then took a sip of the ice-cold water. I shivered; I wasn’t expecting it to be that freezing. I looked up, and saw a cat sitting on the surface of the water.
“My name is Jackal,” he said in a voice far more friendly than I had been expecting. “And you are Snow, correct?”
I blinked in awe. Here was a cat, long dead, speaking to me who somehow knew my name. Snapping out of it, I replied, “Yes, I am."
He nodded. “What brings you here today, Snow?”
“I have decided on my wish.” My heart was beating fast, but I spoke with confidence. “I would like this past week to happen again, without me. Like I didn’t exist.”
Jackal looked conflicted for a second. I wonder why? Then he spoke again. “Very well. Your wish is granted.”
At those words, I suddenly felt very tired. Before I had the chance to say anything, I collapsed on the ground and instantly fell asleep.
I woke up in my den. That’s weird. I fell asleep at the Oasis. Shrugging it off, I padded into the bright morning light.
I was not expecting what I saw.
Ragged-furred cats, all either scarred, bleeding, or limping. My heart jumped when I saw Viper missing a leg.
“What happened?” I breathed. The colony looked in even worse shape than before!
I ran up to Viper. “What happened here?” I asked the injured she-cat, who was resting in the shade of a tree and eating a scrawny mouse.
She looked up, eyes dull.
“Snow? Weird, I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while.” She looked down at the stump where her right hind leg used to be. “If your referring to this, it happened when that group of jackals attacked.”
What group of jackals? I wondered. I didn’t see any last week.
Shaking my head, I said, “I hope you feel better soon.” Viper thanked me, and I went to interrogate another cat.
“Hey Lizard,” I said, “are you okay?” He was covered in scars, which was odd. Did that happen in the jackal attack too? He sighed.
“That other colony was very aggressive. You remember the one, around the middle of the week?” He tilted his head thoughtfully. “Now that I think about it, I didn’t see you in that battle.”
The other colony? But why would they attack if I wasn’t there? They only did because they saw me and thought we were planning something. I looked over Lizard. I didn't remember him getting this injured in that battle.
I needed answers. And there was only one way to get them.
The rule only said you get one wish. There was no rule saying you can’t speak to the spirits twice, I reasoned.
I said goodbye to Lizard and told him where I was going. Then I ran away to the Oasis.
I halted at the edge of the pool and took a sip. When I looked up, Jackal was sitting on the water just like before.
“I can tell you don’t like what you see,” he commented.
I nodded. “I don’t understand what happened. Everything is worse than before!”
“I will explain,” he said. “First, the battle with the other colony. You wonder how they knew the cats were there, correct? They simply caught the group’s scent. It would have happened either way. Remember how you guarded Lizard after one of the cats tried to attack him? Since you weren’t there, he took a bad beating. Now let’s move on to the caracal attack. When it was driven out of your territory, it frightened a group of jackals that were planning to attack. Since it wasn’t there, there was nothing to scare them away. They attacked, and since there were more of them, they did more damage.”
I couldn’t do anything but sit there with a dumb expression. “Oh.”
I never would have thought I was actually helping the colony with my mistakes. Maybe I was given this white fur for a reason. Maybe I’m not a burden after all.
And that’s when I decided never again will I complain about my color messing everything up. I will focus on the good I do rather than the bad.
And now, months later? I wouldn’t change a single thing about myself or my life.
My name is Snow. I was named for my white coat. Which happens to be the worst color to be if you live in a desert where it will never, ever snow.
I’m a sand cat, you see. The rest of my colony has tan or tawny fur to blend in to the sand. But I’m stuck with this mutation that makes me stand out like a dove in a group of ravens.
Why don’t I tell you about the things that have happened a few months ago?
The first day, I went hunting and spotted a gerbil. As I was stalking toward it, it turned its head in my direction, and I froze. If I was normal colored, it would not see me. Rodents are not known for their eyesight, after all. But because of my coloring, it saw me and ran off, diving into a tunnel I was too big to get in to. This was nothing new. I was an awful hunter, and barely ever caught anything.
A couple days later, a rival group got a little too close to our territory. I and a few other cats were sent to see what they were up to, make sure they didn’t steal our food. As you can guess, one of the enemy cats spotted my white fur standing out in the sand. He alerted the rest of the group, and I could hear him say something about planning an attack and self-defense.
The cats shared some tail signals among themselves, then charged at our small group. There was at least ten of them and four of us.
Despite being outnumbered, Jerboa launched herself at them, slashing one cat’s nose with her long claws. Lizard, always a scaredy-cat, ran away to get more fighters.
Long story short, we lost five cats in that battle, including Jerboa, our most valuable fighter and hunter, and a young cat named Sky, barely more than a kitten. It was all my fault. Mine and my stupid pelt’s.
Around the end of the week, while the colony was still recovering, I set out once again to hunt, hoping I could find a very dumb mouse or something.
What I ended up finding was much bigger than a mouse. Actually, it’s more accurate to say it found me.
Quite far away from our base, I picked up a strong, sour scent. Caracal! I barely had time to think before huge paws pounced on my back, knocking the breath out of me.
I struggled to get out of its grasp, but to no avail. Then I got an idea.
I went limp, letting it think it had won. It loosened its grip, and in that moment I jumped up and ran faster than I ever had before. I could hear its heavy pawsteps close behind along with its enraged growl.
I finally made it home, panting hard and my heart racing. “Caracal!” I managed to shout before rushing into my den. I collapsed on the cold cave floor, out of breath. My rest didn’t last long.
“Get out here and fight, Snow!” came a sharp meow. Between the loud beating of my heart and blood rushing in my ears, I couldn’t tell who the voice belonged to. I listened anyway. After all, I brought the predator here, I should deal with it.
Again, I’ll spare you the details of the fight. All you need to know that in the end, two cats were greatly injured while almost everyone else had a few minor injuries.
I felt a rush of hate at myself. I caused yet another tragedy in just one week. I was useless. I couldn’t hunt and I always brought enemies to us.
Basically, that week had been awful. There was not a single good day in it. Then I had a thought. Since I was so useless, why not see how much better it’d be if I didn’t exist? That’s when I decided on my wish.
You see, there’s a tradition in the colony where every cat gets to visit the Oasis once in their life. It’s a special place where you can communicate with the spirits of cats that have passed, and can ask them for a single wish.
And so the next day I headed out. Everyone is taught the way there as kittens, so I knew exactly where to go.
When I got there, I looked into the crystal-clear water. A pure white face with pink eyes was reflected back at me.
I took a deep breath, then took a sip of the ice-cold water. I shivered; I wasn’t expecting it to be that freezing. I looked up, and saw a cat sitting on the surface of the water.
“My name is Jackal,” he said in a voice far more friendly than I had been expecting. “And you are Snow, correct?”
I blinked in awe. Here was a cat, long dead, speaking to me who somehow knew my name. Snapping out of it, I replied, “Yes, I am."
He nodded. “What brings you here today, Snow?”
“I have decided on my wish.” My heart was beating fast, but I spoke with confidence. “I would like this past week to happen again, without me. Like I didn’t exist.”
Jackal looked conflicted for a second. I wonder why? Then he spoke again. “Very well. Your wish is granted.”
At those words, I suddenly felt very tired. Before I had the chance to say anything, I collapsed on the ground and instantly fell asleep.
I woke up in my den. That’s weird. I fell asleep at the Oasis. Shrugging it off, I padded into the bright morning light.
I was not expecting what I saw.
Ragged-furred cats, all either scarred, bleeding, or limping. My heart jumped when I saw Viper missing a leg.
“What happened?” I breathed. The colony looked in even worse shape than before!
I ran up to Viper. “What happened here?” I asked the injured she-cat, who was resting in the shade of a tree and eating a scrawny mouse.
She looked up, eyes dull.
“Snow? Weird, I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while.” She looked down at the stump where her right hind leg used to be. “If your referring to this, it happened when that group of jackals attacked.”
What group of jackals? I wondered. I didn’t see any last week.
Shaking my head, I said, “I hope you feel better soon.” Viper thanked me, and I went to interrogate another cat.
“Hey Lizard,” I said, “are you okay?” He was covered in scars, which was odd. Did that happen in the jackal attack too? He sighed.
“That other colony was very aggressive. You remember the one, around the middle of the week?” He tilted his head thoughtfully. “Now that I think about it, I didn’t see you in that battle.”
The other colony? But why would they attack if I wasn’t there? They only did because they saw me and thought we were planning something. I looked over Lizard. I didn't remember him getting this injured in that battle.
I needed answers. And there was only one way to get them.
The rule only said you get one wish. There was no rule saying you can’t speak to the spirits twice, I reasoned.
I said goodbye to Lizard and told him where I was going. Then I ran away to the Oasis.
I halted at the edge of the pool and took a sip. When I looked up, Jackal was sitting on the water just like before.
“I can tell you don’t like what you see,” he commented.
I nodded. “I don’t understand what happened. Everything is worse than before!”
“I will explain,” he said. “First, the battle with the other colony. You wonder how they knew the cats were there, correct? They simply caught the group’s scent. It would have happened either way. Remember how you guarded Lizard after one of the cats tried to attack him? Since you weren’t there, he took a bad beating. Now let’s move on to the caracal attack. When it was driven out of your territory, it frightened a group of jackals that were planning to attack. Since it wasn’t there, there was nothing to scare them away. They attacked, and since there were more of them, they did more damage.”
I couldn’t do anything but sit there with a dumb expression. “Oh.”
I never would have thought I was actually helping the colony with my mistakes. Maybe I was given this white fur for a reason. Maybe I’m not a burden after all.
And that’s when I decided never again will I complain about my color messing everything up. I will focus on the good I do rather than the bad.
And now, months later? I wouldn’t change a single thing about myself or my life.
