Warriors: Silent

Prologue

      A small white she-cat sat perched on the granite edge of the windowsill. Her curious blue eyes scanned the world she could only see: black silhouettes of birds glided across the somber overcast sky, all the while the wheat that grew past the barn swayed lightly in the breeze. A pile of red and slate bricks laid just below her, and delicate strands of untouched grass managed to grow around it. Rowdy, playful dogs chased eachother around the fences surrounding the territory.

  The she-cat relished in the chill from the unforgiving outdoor world as it seeped into the glass that she pressed herself into, soaking into her coat that grew thick for winter and making her skin gelid.

  Grey, one of the barncats, darted suddenly from the corner of her vision- she hadn't even seen the tabby tom stalking behind the pile of bricks. The she-cats ears shot up, her eyes wide in fascination as Grey landed his pounce, his back towards her. What did he catch this time? She wondered, shifting the weight on her feet in anticipation.

  Grey turned around, his amber eyes darting from window to window of the house. I'm in this one! The she-cat thought at him. Almost as though he heard, he spotted her, and he beamed as he held a plump mouse in his jaws.

  The she-cat waited impatiently now, adjusting her head to watch the door. She was the only cat the humans kept indoors. The others: Orange, Black, and Cream, lived outside with Grey in the barn. They spent their days catching rodents, and she spent her own by the window, soaking in the sun and sleeping.

  To go outside, she had learned to wait for the humans to open the door when they enter or leave the nest. She'd race out the crack before they could stop her, and because the humans were so slow and clumsy, she had no problem outrunning them. She'd come back at dusk and mrowl loudly, and the humans would open the door to let her back in.

  But she had to watch. Her ears did not work, her world was silent, and she would never hear the humans open the door when they wanted to leave their nest. She could only spot them, or feel their clumsy behaviours shake the house.

  The she-cat lept to the floor. She picked up her favorite toy; a spotty-blue fish with brown feathers, and with it, stalked beneath the shadows of the couch. She only had to wait a few heartbeats before the human kit approached the door, grabbing a sack on the floor and wrapping it around its back.

  Easy. The she-cat thought. The kits were even clumsier than the adults.

  She wiggled her hind legs, doing her best to mimic the same actions as Grey and the others when they stalked prey.

  The kit opened the door, and the she-cat erupted into a run, nimbly slipping outside and darting to the barn.