- Weakness and need: Nyx is physically small and weak, and gets left behind by the other kittens. Searching for a sense of belonging she becomes attached to Nyssa, because Nyssa treats her better than the other kittens. Nyx becomes so reliant on Nyssa that she follows her everywhere, even when it could get them into trouble, and even when Nyx is not fully comfortable with Nyssa’s decisions. Nyx’s need to be accepted and fear of confrontation or loosing her friend eventually leads to exactly that.
- Desire: Nyx, distraught over the loss of her friend, longs to find her or at least find out what happened to her.
- Opponent: Nyx has a few opponents, the main opponent being humans. The colony has a deep-rooted fear of humans and avoids them at all costs as a result. They believe that humans are a threat to their survival. The humans in the town are actually working toward the same goal as the cats, the survival and safety of the colony.
- Plan: Nyx decides she need to find out what happened to Nyssa and save her if possible
- Battle: While trying to find Nyssa, Nyx is captured by humans and taken to the shelter, where she is given vaccines
- Self-revelation: Nyx eventually finds Nyssa, who is now a house cat and doesn’t want to go back to the colony, and realizes with the help of Nyssa that the humans are not all bad and that they can work together.
- New equilibrium: Nyx,
:: StoryTitle
The Black Cat Revised
:: StoryData
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“format”: “Chapbook”,
“format-version”: “1.2.3”,
“start”: “Premise”,
“zoom”: 0.3
}
:: Nyssa {“position”:”900,400″,”size”:”100,100″}
{embed Unsplash image:’https://unsplash.com/photos/MvYCbFNKVxg’, alt: ‘tabby cat’, width: 200, align: ‘left’}
**Nyssa**
You admire Nyssa: despite being the runt of her litter, she is bold, wild, and fearless, everything you aren’t. What she lacks in size, she makes up for in spirit. None of the other kittens dare mess with her. When your brothers pick on you, she always comes to your rescue. She’s your best friend, the sister you don’t have, and you follow her everywhere. Together, you explore the various paths through the thicket, sometimes finding ways out that no one else knows about. Nyssa doesn’t treat you like the others. She doesn’t act like you’re frail and fragile like your parents, and she doesn’t bully you like the other kittens. She shows you the beautiful world beyond the brush, the world no one else will let you see. Each time you and Nyssa return unscathed without anyone noticing you’ve been gone, it only encourages Nyssa to go further the next time. As your adventures took you further from home, the two of you even began leaving during the day so you had more time to explore. Sometimes, you go deep into the woods, and Nyssa will climb to the tops of the trees while you watch in awe from the ground below. You love these adventures. But as you’ve gotten older, Nyssa’s grown bored of the woods and became fascinated by the town. So the two of you began exploring the edge of the town. At first it was fine, until today when you went [[too far]].
:: Premise {“position”:”400,300″,”size”:”100,100″}
[align center]
#The Black Cat
{embed Unsplash image:’https://unsplash.com/photos/0FQneB1VjaM’, alt: ‘black cat’}
_Photo by Hannah Troupe_
After a series of tragedies nearly destroys her colony, a feral cat must venture off on her own and discovers that everything that happened, the good and the bad, was necessary to lead her where she needed to be.
[[begin->the beginning]]
:: Tell them a lie to save your own skin {“position”:”1050,1500″,”size”:”100,100″}
:: Tell them the truth {“position”:”700,1500″,”size”:”100,100″}
You tell them everything: how you and Nyssa crossed the road, how Nyssa climbed into a dumpster and was trapped and then taken by the humans, and how you hid the whole time, unable to help her. Nyssa’s parents are in ruins. Her mother had only a litter of three, two of which died at birth, leaving only Nyssa. While the colony does its best to console her family, your mother takes you back to the family den and lectures you.
“Well, at least you were smart enough to hide. You did the right thing, hiding. There was nothing you could do for Nyssa once she got herself trapped. That girl always was trouble. What were you thinking going off across the road with her…”
After a while, you stop hearing your mother’s words, and you get lost in your thoughts. Was there really nothing you could do? How could you let this happen to your best friend?
:: alley {“position”:”1200,875″,”size”:”100,100″}
{embed Unsplash image:’https://unsplash.com/photos/2DSxJAomp30′, alt: ‘alleyway’, width: 200, align: ‘right’}
The sun is past its highest point, leaving the alley engulfed in shadow. Nyssa takes off down the alley toward a row of large metal bins pressed up against the side of one of the buildings. Nyssa approaches a bin that has a stack of boxes next to it and jumps onto the lowest box.
“Do you smell that? It smells like there’s food in there,” she says as she jumps to the next box.
“Nyssa, stop,” you beg.
“Relax, I just want to see what’s in it,” she says as she jumps through an opening on the top of the bin. “Nyx, there is food in here,” she calls to you.
Just as Nyssa says this, the door of the building the bin is against swings open, and out walks a human.
“Nyssa, run! There’s a human!” you yell, immediately drawing the attention of the human. You duck under the bin, dragging yourself out of reach of the human as it grabs at you aggressively.
Nyssa responds, “What?”
The human hears Nyssa’s meow and turns its attention away from you and toward the bin. You hear the lid to the bin slam shut, followed by the muffled cries of Nyssa. You hear the human talking; you have no idea what they’re saying, but you assume it can’t be good. You stay put, hidden from sight under the bin, paralyzed with fear.
Several tense minutes pass before you hear a vehicle pull up, more human voices, and the opening of the bin. Nyssa screams in panic as the humans grab her from the bin, but still, you stay motionless. The doors of the vehicle slam shut, and Nyssa’s cries inaudible through its thick metal walls.
Suddenly, a light appears at the base of the dumpster, illuminating your hiding space. You curl yourself into a tight ball behind one of the wheels of the bin, and after a few seconds, the light disappears. You hear more unintelligible talk from the humans before they climb back into their vehicle and pull away. You sit there for hours, unable to move or make a sound. When the sun sets, you finally muster the courage to crawl out from under the bin.
“Nyssa,” you squeak, barely able to get the words out, “Are you there?” Of course, there was no answer; you are completely [[alone]].
:: alone {“position”:”1175,1075″,”size”:”100,100″}
It’s now completely dark out; the only light is from the tall lamp posts in the parking lot and a small bulb above the back door to the building. You stand motionless in the alley. Everyone in the colony is definitely awake by now. That means you’ll have to [[go back and face them]] alone. You’ll have to explain why Nyssa’s not with you, explain to her parents that she’s gone and probably never coming back. Your only other option is to [[find out where the humans took Nyssa]] and rescue her. But how would you do that? How would you, the runt, a literal scaredy cat, rescue Nyssa?
:: find out where the humans took Nyssa {“position”:”1350,1200″,”size”:”100,100″}
You can’t stand not knowing what’s happening to Nyssa. You have so many questions. Where are the humans taking her? What are they going to do to her? Can you save her? You have to know. You begin to walk to the end of the alley. There are three ways you can go: left, right, or straight. But first, you must gather the courage to get your shaking body to [if gone home] [[leave the alley]].
:: friends {“position”:”750,325″,”size”:”100,100″}
While your days were spent sleeping in the cozy pockets of the thicket with your family, your nights were spent playing with your friends and getting into all kinds of trouble. You didn’t have many friends within the colony. The other kitten often left you behind because you were smaller. There were a few other runts in the colony, though, and you bonded over your small size. You and your band of misfits would explore the brush, hunting bugs and mice. As the weeks went by and you all grew older, the mischief you got yourselves into grew more wild. This was especially true when [[Nyssa]] was there.
:: go back and face them {“position”:”1000,1200″,”size”:”100,100″}
Nyssa is the brave one, not you. You have to go back. There’s no way you’ll find Nyssa. You begin the trek back to the colony. The car you and Nyssa hid under only an hour or so ago is still sitting there. You bolt to it, ducking underneath it just long enough to catch your breath before taking off across the road. There’s no point in going back through the secret route; the colony is already awake, and they surely have noticed you and Nyssa are gone. You take the main entrance through the thicket and emerge in the central hollow where everyone is already [[waiting]].
:: leave the alley {“position”:”1500,1400″,”size”:”100,100″}
:: the beginning {“position”:”600,300″,”size”:”100,100″}
Your earliest memories are of the thickets and brambles that your colony calls home. The colony’s den lay deep in the brush on the outskirts of a small town. You remember feeling safe when you were small. With the interlocking branches surrounding you overhead, your brothers cuddled up next to you, and your mother’s gentle purr filling the air, you felt like nothing could harm you. Your litter was not the only one in the colony, so you spent your early days playing with your [[friends]] in the thickets. None of the kittens were allowed outside the thickets alone, and even with an adult, they weren’t allowed past the road dividing the town from the woods. You, however, were not allowed out of the thicket at all. You were more [[vulnerable]], according to your mother.
:: the road {“position”:”1175,675″,”size”:”100,100″}
The wide paved road was a barrier between your colony and the humans. Only the elder cats were allowed to cross the road, and only when resources in the brush were limited. On the other side of the road was a large parking lot and several buildings. There was a small alleyway between two of the buildings that, according to Nyssa, was full of food that the humans discarded. Heat rose off the road, the hot summer sun turning the pavement into a lake of lava. Nyssa looks both ways before bolting across the road into the parking lot. She takes cover under a parked car and looks back at you, waiting for you to follow. You hesitate, though, your paw pads burning against the pavement. You’ve never crossed the road, and you know your mother would be furious if she knew where you were. Actually, everyone would be furious. Nyssa would be in just as much trouble as you. But Nyssa is already on the other side, waiting for you impatiently. You bolt across the road and join Nyssa under the car. The tar is cool under the car; it must’ve been here a while. You look at Nyssa, but her eyes are dead set on the alley, and before you can even voice a complaint, she takes off again. You follow, saying goodbye to the relief of the shade. You reach the mouth of the [[alley]] and peer down it.
:: too far {“position”:”1050,525″,”size”:”100,100″}
It’s the middle of the day, and you lay cozily curled up with your family when you feel something nudge your head. You open your eyes sleepily to see Nyssa standing there impatiently, motioning for you to follow. You stand up and carefully step around your sleeping brothers, stretching your legs before you bound after Nyssa. You have no idea where you’re going. You hadn’t made any plans for an adventure today. You follow Nyssa silently to one of your secret exits. Once you are out of the thickets, you ask, “Nyssa, where are we going?”
She replies, “We’re gonna check out the alley!”
The alley lies on the other side of the road, a path between two human structures where only the oldest and wisest of cats had been. You don’t like this idea, not one bit, but you nervously agree. There was no stopping Nyssa once she set her mind to something. If you said no, she would just go alone. The two of you make your way up the short hill outside the thickets and to the side of the [[the road]].
:: vulnerable {“position”:”650,450″,”size”:”100,100″}
Your name is Nyx, the youngest of a litter of 4 and the runt. Your siblings are all boys. Being considerably larger than you, they love to pick on you and often leave you behind when they play with the other stronger kittens. To make matters worse, your fur is black as the night. Your mother fears that if you left the thicket, you would get hit by a car, or attacked by an animal, or worse yet, taken by the humans. She also fears the fate you would meet if you were taken by the humans. Some humans view black-furred cats as bad luck and harm them or even kill them.
:: waiting {“position”:”875,1350″,”size”:”100,100″}
“Where have you been?” your mother hisses, the tip of her tail flicking impatiently as she waits for you to respond. Before you can even answer, Nyssa’s mother comes running, “Where is Nyssa? We thought she would be with you.”
[[Tell them the truth]]
[[Tell them a lie to save your own skin]]