Everything Will Change

• Hayley Miller, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2018

The cats crowded around him, occasional hisses and growls punctuating the air, followed by murmurs of "Traitor." And "Murderer!" One pretty gray female sat at the back, quivering with fright and fur sticking up like she'd been electric shocked. Who is he? Why is he here? She thought as she watched the black cat growl, scrunching up his nose and flattening his ears in fury.
"Get away from me!" He spat, full of rage. He put a paw forward as if to run, and then shrank back, hissing in pain. The gray cat saw a scratch along the length of his foreleg and acted without thinking.
Jumping onto her paws, she called out, "He's hurt!" And strode towards him. The other cats filed away so she could pad over to him. As she passed a dark brown feline he hissed to her in fury, "Get back, Brightflower! It's a trick!"
But she paid no attention to him.
When she got to him, he recoiled quickly, expecting another attack, but she simply meowed, "Turn over your paw." He stared at her, then flinched and did as she asked.
"Sweetpaw!" She called out after examining the wound. Her fluffy apprentice bounced through the crowd.
"It's infected, make a chervil and marigold poultice." Sweetpaw's bright yellow eyes flashed with understanding as she nodded and bounded away to the medicine den.
Sweetpaw reappeared with the poultice (that was wrapped in a fat leaf). She began to smear the sweet smelling stuff on the cat's foreleg.
Suddenly a loud yowl sounded around the clearing. The cat stepped back as the leader padded forward and looked down at the black cat in disgust. Then she turned and addressed two warriors.
"Take him to the meeting rock." With obedient growls they obeyed. Soon he was growling at the cat as she looked down at him from above.
"You murdered the deputy of this clan as he was out hunting. Do you deny it?" She hissed.
"No." He spat back.
"For your crimes, I sentence you to death, where your spirit will rot away in the Dark Forest. Take him away." She growled to the two cats again. Brightflower shook with rage as she watched the stranger's ears flatten in despair as he was led away to his
doom. He couldn't have stopped it, even if he was innocent. She caught the leader glaring at her.
"Well, what are you looking at?" She demanded. When Brightflower didn't respond, she spat in fury, "Get back to work!"
As the gray cat hurried away, she thought of the stranger's calm face and shining eyes. Little did she know that those eyes would always be imprinted in her memory as long as she had one. I will remember you. I will bring her to her doom. As soon as the thought was over, bright silver flashed in front of her and the stranger's eyes winked at her before dissipating in a swirl of dust. Everything will change.