🌼 Amsterdam 🌼
Reese, a fairly sheltered, fluffy, male calico cat, has lived in a relatively pleasant and quiet valley for his entire life, being pressured by his family and other cats that live in the area to stay there and not venture elsewhere, thinking he'd be unable to fend for himself. Wanting to see the outside world, though, despite being aware of all its dangers, Reese one day sneaks out of the valley to take a quick walk through the mountains while his family is out hunting- only to return to see that his mother has been brutally killed, leaving him horrified and guilt-ridden, made worse when suddenly all the other cats, including his own father and siblings, blame him for her death, accusing him of killing her despite him having nothing to do with the horrible event. With no other option lest he be killed or driven away by the felines he once called friends and family, Reese runs away from the valley and struggles to fend for himself in the wild all while dealing with the grief of losing his mother and feeling responsible for her death, wondering why his own kin would cast him away so quickly. Unable to properly catch any food for himself and narrowly escaping attacks from wild animals, Reese is eventually caught up in a bad thunderstorm that leads to him taking refuge in a forest- and when a lightning strike nearly takes his life, he wakes up in the care of a large, fluffy tom cat that calls himself Amsterdam. After learning what happened to Reese, Amsterdam invites him to leave the forest with him and find a better life somewhere else, teaching him things along the way, though the adventure leads to the calico cat discovering more things than just how to hunt and defend himself, being forced to come face-to-face with the real reason for his mother's death as well as his blossoming feelings for his newfound friend.
The original short story was written in the spring of 2018! Re-write coming soon (currently in progress) <3
The sequel, Dens In Autumn, focuses on Reese's older brother, Hickory, searching for him in an effort to make things right with their family after the returning threat of Cerus the bobcat. Meanwhile, Reese and Amsterdam work together to help Delilah, a tiny sphynx kitten they find wandering through the fields, find her home before the winter sets in.
Small content warning; these stories contain some depictions of gore/animal death (not much), as well as some mention of animal mistreatment (de-clawing cats and hinted at abuse/neglect). They aren't major points of the stories, but I feel like they're worth mentioning!