Sanctuary



Cornflake glanced around at his surroundings. Pine trees surrounded him, all looking identical. He blinked, hoping that he would arise and teleport straight back to what life had been like moons and moons ago when he was still a kit. He sighed. Life would never be like that again. He didn’t have anyone but himself to rely on, and that was how it would be like eternally.

Brackens rustled as the mouse Cornflake was chasing ran into a bush. He leaped for the mouse instinctively but landed on his belly. The mouse squirmed under his claws, and he pierced one into its soft neck. It fell limp.

Triumph surged through his body. He hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning, and he was almost starving. Stuffing up the plump warm prey in swift, clean bites, he savored the flavor of the food. Cornflake had never known how to hunt. His mother had taught him, but he had always been busy doing something else, like chasing butterflies or playing with the bright red leaves that would fall. I should have listened more carefully, he thought. Then I wouldn’t have to be so hungry all the time. The mouse was quickly gorged. Seeing that it was still sunhigh, he crawled between two gnarled roots of a pine tree. His eyelids fluttered before they closed.

Nightmares haunted Cornflake's dreams. Cats he had never seen before told him that he could never be a good cat and that he would die no matter what he did. The gray sky surrounded him, and the dark grass beneath his paws churned around as they wrapped around him like vines. He held on as tightly as possible, but the dense weeds defeated him and he started falling, falling deep into an ocean of darkness.

A paw shook his shoulder. His instincts suddenly made him awake from his depressing dream. The pale golden fur on his shoulders bristled as he slowly backed away from the cat who woke him up. She was black with white paws and a spot on her chest. Her golden yellow eyes were full of alarm. She dipped her head at him. “I’m sorry if I woke you up. It seemed like you were having a bad dream…”

Her words slowly faded like clouds did when a gentle breeze swept across the sky. Embarrassed that he had managed to make another cat who could have possibly been his friend dislike him, he shuffled his paws. “It’s alright. My name is Cornflake. What’s yours?” He then realized how awkward that sounded in the middle of a conversation like that one. The she-cat didn’t react with anything other than a meow. “My name is Mistle. I’m a cat that lives with housefolk. I think you Clan cats will call us kittypets?”

“What’s a Clan cat?” Cornflake asked her. She frowned at him. “Oh, so you aren’t a Clan cat. That’s...relieving to hear. Clan cats live in groups. There are four of them, I think. Or was it five? Hmm, it might have been six. Or three. I’m not sure. Anyways, they have a leader, a co-leader - I think they called it a deputy? - a healer, warriors, apprentices, queens, and kits. Wait, I think they also have elders. Do they have elders? I’m not sure.” Mistle finished her sentence all in one breath. Cornflake blinked, processing all the information in his head.

“Oh, right!” Mistle suddenly blurted, alarming him. “The healer is called the medicine cat! And they also have elders...I think? Cornflake blinked again. “Uhh, could you repeat that?”

His new friend repeated all of what she had said. After that, she invited him into her housefolk den.

Cornflake settled down into the “bed” that Mistle’s housefolk gave him. It was smooth and comfortable, but he wasn’t used to it. Normally he slept on a thin layer of moss-covered in sharp, gnarly roots that poked into his fur like thorns. Instead, this nest was large and fluffy. It was bright golden yellow with a pale cream color inside. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it...he just wasn’t used to being in such a comfortable position.

Mistle introduced him to the litter box. When Cornflake heard about what that was, he was slightly appalled. But it would work. Plus, he was only staying here for a few nights... right?

Cornflake’s new friend led him around the house, telling him everything that was there. He learned where to eat the food and drink water. The food, surprisingly, did not taste as bad as he thought it would be. It looked like pebbles of rabbit droppings, but it tasted as good as a piece of prey.

“Well, why don’t we go to sleep now? It’s growing late,” Mistle asked him after she finished showing him around. I guess one night here wouldn’t hurt, Cornflake thought to himself. “Will your housefolk allow that?”

“Of course they will!” Mistle exclaimed. “They’re very nice, you know.”

“Then...I guess I’ll stay here for the night,” Cornflake responded.

The night passed by quickly. For the first time in ages, nightmares did not haunt Cornflake’s sleep. Instead, he slept peacefully. He didn’t have any dreams, good ones or bad ones. Living in a housefolk den was better than he would have ever expected.

It was just after dawn when Cornflake woke up. He yawned and shook out his fur. Mistle was beginning to stir as well, and her messy gray fur stuck out. She blinked the stickiness out and then rose.

“Hi Cornflake!” she mewed brightly. “Hungry?”

Cornflake returned her greeting but didn’t answer the question. He was hungry, but he didn’t want to take her food.

“Come on, it’s alright,” Mistle meowed like she knew what he had been thinking. “My housefolk are nice. They would probably adopt you and you could live with me if you wanted to. Follow me!”

Cornflake followed the fluffy gray she-cat to a room that smelled of food. There was a cat food bowl filled with delicious pebbles of kittypet food. There was another white bowl next to it that was also filled with food.

“See? My housefolk like you! If you decide to live with us, they’ll replace that bowl with the kind that I’m using. They’re easier to eat from, and there is also a water dish next to the food. My housefolk refills a bottle and puts it on top, and it goes down so I can drink it all by myself! Anyways, eat the food. It was prepared for you, so if you don’t want to waste it, why don’t you eat it?” Cornflake nodded to the talkative she-cat and bent down his head. He lapped up a few of the pebbles, and not able to resist the delicious taste of it, he finished up the food quickly.

“It was good. Thank you, Mistle,” Cornflake dipped his head at her, and then continued. “but I should leave now. I don’t want to make life harder for you and your twolegs.”

Mistle gazed at him intently. “That isn’t what you really want. You want to stay here, so why don’t you do that? Honestly, my housefolk won’t mind. They already like you!”

Cornflake hesitated. ''I really do want to stay. I have a friend now, and I don’t want to leave her.'' “...Really? You think I could stay without causing any trouble?”

“Yes.”

“You’re...sure? Like, really really sure?” Cornflake continued doubtfully.

Mistle let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes, Cornflake, I’m sure. I’ve only known you for two days, but I’ll miss you if you leave!”

“Well, I suppose if I do cause any trouble, I can always leave and make your life easier, right?”

“You could, not that you would. You won’t cause any trouble. I’m sure of it. Plus, my housefolk already thinks of you as one of their cats.”

Cornflake thought about this in his head. “I want to stay. I’d miss you if I left, and if you’re sure that it’s okay with everyone, I’ll stay with you and your housefolk.”

Mistle interrupted. “So you can stay here. You don’t have to roam around in the wild anymore. Now you have something more than just a temporary shelter- you have a home.”

''A home. Isn’t that what I’ve always wanted, since I was abandoned? I used to be a kittypet too. I don’t think that Mistle’s housefolk will be as cruel as mine used to be. I won’t have to walk around anymore; I don’t have to hunt for my food, and I don’t have to be so paranoid about the chance of dying every moment. I have a'' home.