Midnight Fire
The sounds had faded into nothing. And for a few days, the young cub had been alone. He waited and waited for his mother to return, but she never did. He didn't know how much time had passed...minutes? Hours? Days? The sun had come and gone at least three times now, and once again darkness had fallen. His stomach twisted and turned in painful knots, begging for food to fill it. The young boy didn't know how to hunt, he wasn't even close to the age to hunt on his own yet...he still needed his mother's milk. But little did he know, he would never see her again.
He laid his head down on the cold stone slab that partially blocked the small opening that his mother had hidden him in. It was somewhat difficult to climb out, but he had remained where he was with no intention of moving until her return. It wasn't until movement in the form of a large grasshopper caught his eye, that he couldn't take the loneliness and hunger any longer. The bug had jumped right onto the stone in front of him, its huge eyes staring right at him. Likewise, he stared right back as he tried to figure out what it was. And naturally, his predatory instinct started to tickle him as his stomach rumbled again.
Unable to sit still any longer, Jagger began to scramble up, claws scraping on the stone as he tried to find a grip to help him up. After many failed attempts, he finally managed to pull himself up onto the stone slab, and as soon as he started to get closer to the grasshopper, it jumped away onto the ground. Brows furrowed as Jagger looked down, and to him, it seemed quite a long way down. A few feet perhaps, but to the young cub, everything appeared bigger than it was. He mustered up the courage to half slide and half scramble down the stone until he landed with a heavy thud on the ground without the grace that older cats had. Scrambling to his feet, he bounded after the grasshopper as it jumped away each time.
He got further and further from his hiding spot, focused on trying to catch his elusive prey. Large paws padded clumsily through the underbrush, and finally, the grasshopper had stopped hopping. Tail twitching, he ran forward to try and grab it before it jumped again, and he succeeded! He flung his body on top of it, pinning it to the ground beneath his chest and quickly got to work. Tiny sharp teeth gripped the end of its body. At first, he was eager to try and eat this thing, but in his haste to eat, the gross taste of the bug made its way onto his tongue. He whined and shook his head, dropping his sought-after catch half chewed and still alive. Disappointed, he sat there next to it as he looked around. Where was he? Where was mom? He was completely alone in the darkness, save for the grasshopper that was slowly dying. |