Long Shadows 6#

Alexia awoke. She looked around to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. Sure enough, she was surrounded by frost-covered, windblown trees. Chestnut, her young cocoa-brown foal, and Puff, her grey-and-white ghost kitty, sat beside her, looking as if they had ran a marathon. Perspiration forming on their backs and necks, casting nervous glances over their shoulders, eyes darting back and forth, and making small meows and whines.

Alexia looked around. The last time Chestnut had acted like this, they were attacked by a lage pack of wild dogs. Who knew what this could be? Alexia didn't want to stick around to find out. She picked up the supply bags and Puff, her ghost kitty, and hoped up onto Chestnut's back.

"I'm sorry. We have to move though," Alexia said apologetically to the filly.

Chestnut stamped her foot as if in reply and then shot forward as Alexia pressed her knees against the horse's flank. Puff meowed. Alexia looked down at her cat friend. Or would you call a dead cat's ghost a pet? Alexia didn't know. It seemed like everything got so messed up after that dream....

Alexia felt tears burn in the corners of her eyes, threatening to stream down her cheeks. All of the memories came flooding back to her. Running off into nowhere with Chestnut, writing a letter for her mother and father to read in the morning when the found out that she had left, finding Puff in her cellar, having a strange dream where Puff spoke to her, holding the limp body of her friend at the vet clinic....

Alexia cried She felt more painful memories flash through hr mind. These were different then the first, though. Instead of being things that she'd seen, they were things that she hadn't seen but she knew had happened. Her mother getting out of bed to start the regular morning things, like making coffee, then her mother and father bent over the note that she had wrote to them, crying.

Alexia hugged Puff. He solidified the moment her fingertips touched his soft fur. Then, he turned back into his normal look. Alexia's hands were left hugging thin air. Alexia nearly fell off of Chestnut's back. Went she caught her balance, Chestnut skidded to a halt. Towering before them was a large cave. Somehow, when Alexia saw the cave, she knew that their journey had come to an end.

Alexia whispered, "The Cave Of Fading Echoes."

-KittyLover8

© 2012

Long Shadows #5

Alexia awoke. She glanced around the cave that she and her furry friends, Puff and Chestnut, had slept in. A dim coral-colored halo had formed around the mouth of the cave. Alexia looked outside. The cool, crisp air filled her lungs and a sudden wind pushed her hair over her shoulders. Soon, the wind died. A few saplings still shuddered. Long, lush green grass gently waved in the soft breeze. Bluebirds chirped in the trees as they settled down amongst the smooth leaves for the night. The sky was a beautiful shade of indigo with thin wisps of delicate, dove-colored clouds drifting about. The sun hovered low to the west. Its dying rays lit up the clouds around it, turning them from white to a pink or orange-red color.

Good. We didn't sleep to long. We've got plenty of time to cover more ground, Alexia thought.

Alexia turned toward Puff and Chestnut. Chestnut was still asleep, but Puff was wide awake. As Alexia headed out of the cave once again, Puff followed her. She was going to take a short walk, scouting the area and watching out for any wild dogs. As she was walking, she came across a path. Alexia gasped in surprise. She guessed that people made the trail. That meant that humans must live nearby! She squinted, trying to find a house. Instead, Alexia spotted a neon sign in the distance. She picked her way back toward the cave, hoping that Chestnut was awake. Sure enough, the filly was snuffling through the food bag, trying to find one of the apples.

"Oh, Chestnut!" Alexia exclaimed, laughing. "We have to go and buy some more food while we're still close to a store." Chestnut looked at her with sad, liquid brown eyes. "Fine, fine. We'll eat first. But, lets go before dark. We don't know when the store closes."

Alexia dug through the food bag. She held up the piece of cheese and unwrapped it. She ripped off a bit and set it down in front of Puff. Then she grabbed an apple for Chestnut. She gave the horse the food. Then, she reached into the sack for her own food. She got out a banana and a piece of bread.

She sat down cross legged. She peeled off the banana's bright yellow peel. Alexia admired the cream-colored banana for a brief moment and then took a bite. Puff swiped a paw through the cheese. Alexia picked it up, guessing that, because he was a ghost, Puff couldn't eat the food. When she finished the fruit, she ate the bread. By the time she was done with that, Chestnut was eating the last of of her fill. With a final bite of grass, the horse trotted over to Alexia. The little girl picked up Puff, swung her leg over Chestnut's side and then they where off.

Chestnut swerved bushes, jumped over logs, tore through undergrowth and dogged vines and trailing branches. Soon, the trio was just outside of the rectangular-shaped tar-black parking lot.

"I's sorry, but I will have to leave you and Chestnut here," Alexia explained to her grey-and-white cat.

"Mew! Purr purr. Wow meow mrow!" Puff replied. Alexia hoped that what he'd said was cat for "okay!"

Alexia left the two begrudgingly. She ran across the lot and into the store. She searched the shelves for things that she would need. She began to head for the cat aisle when she remembered that Puff couldn't eat food. Alexia decided that she should buy a few carrots for Chestnut. She walked into the produce section. She got a bag and put two peaches, a bunch of grapes and three carrots into the bag. Then she checked out. She payed the cashier $1.90. Then she rushed outside with the bag held tight in her fist. When she returned to the spot that she had left Chestnut and Puff, she saw Chestnut settled down in the grass with Puff sleeping nestled beside her.

******

When they had walked some distance away from the cave, it was almost dawn. Alexia decided to stop for now. She looked around. All she could see was a few patches of melting snow and a small cluster of trees. She and her friends huddled underneath the trees. Then, they all fell asleep.

-KittyLover8
© 2012

Long Shadows 4#

The sun began to peak above the horizon. Alexia felt like her eyelids were as heavy as stone. She wondered how Chestnut was doing. She glanced at the brown filly. Then, when she saw that Chestnut was tired too, she said, "We'll stop before noon, Chestnut. Just a bit longer. We need to find some shelter. It looks like it might rain or snow soon." Alexia looked at the sky and saw some dark gray clouds gathering above the little group.

Suddenly, Chestnut whinnied and reared up, spilling the load that she was carrying. Alexia jumped up in surprise. She said a few soothing words to the young horse before she realized that Puff had shot out of her arms the moment that Chestnut reared. Alexia left the horse's side and began calling Puff's name and frantically looking underneath rock crevasses and bushes. Finally, after a minuet or two, Puff came out from his hiding spot that had lay somewhere to the west. And, as Alexia scooped up Puff in her arms, she saw it; a shape in the distance rapidly closing in on the trio. She squinted, trying to make out what it was. Then, she saw. A pack of wild dogs!

Alexia gasped. She snatched up the bags and ran over to Chestnut. "I'm so sorry, girl. I know that it's going to be hard but--" she glanced at the wild dog pack "we need to go, now!" Chestnut knelt down and gazed at Alexia with liquid brown eyes. Alexia got the felling that the horse understood and swung her leg over the side of Chestnut's back. Chestnut stood up and darted forward.

Alexia felt a cool breeze whip at her hair. The sound of Chestnut's hooves on the rocky ground. Then, Puff meowed. Alexia turned around and saw that the wild dogs were very close. She led Chestnut over to a bush but, right before they crashed into the brambles, Alexia pulled the horse over to the left of the bush. They rode like this for awhile, twisting and turning in different directions. After some time, they had lost the wild dogs.

Alexia pulled Chestnut to a stop. It was already past midday, and the filly was very tiered after outrunning the wild dogs. They had stopped in a cave. It was long and dark but, it provided good shelter from the snow. There was already a white dusting on the grass. Alexia turned her attention back to her friends. Chestnut was laying down with her right flank leaning on the side of the wall of stone. Puff was standing beside Alexia, purring and rubbing against her legs. Alexia sat down and pet him. Soon, her eyes closed and she gave way to sleep.

-KittyLover8
© 2012

Long Shadows 3#

Alexia stood up. "Come on, Puff. We've got to pack for the quest."

Puff walked over to the stairs and meowed in agreement. Then the pair raced up the creaky wooden steps. Alexia found herself in the living room. She turned left and walked into the kitchen, Puff on her heels. She glanced around. The only thing that Puff could eat in the kitchen was a large block of cheese. Alexia picked up the cheese. Then, she realized that she had no sack to put the food in. She ran into her bedroom with the cheese still in hand and grabbed a bag of hers that was about twenty feet tall and ten feet long.

Alexia shot down the stairs and back into the kitchen. She rapped the cheese in a thin napkin. Then, she sliced some bread and placed nine pieces into another thin napkin. She also grabbed three bananas. Next, Alexia rapped seven red apples in a napkin. Then, she rapped a handful of crackers in another piece of cloth. After that, she grabbed several bottles of water and shoved them into the bag.

Alexia walked up the stairs once again, this time she was carrying the heavy sack filled with food. She snatched up the last bag she had and filled it with two blankets, some money and a sweater. Then, she wrote a note to her mother say where she was going and way. Alexia felt tears flow down her cheeks as she set down the pen and walked outside. She knew she would miss her mother so much...but she had to do this for Puff.

As Alexia was walking out of the house, she turned toward the small stable that was in the backyard. She opened up the doors and out stepped a beautiful chocolate colored horse with a black mane and tail and white stockings.



"Good morning, Chestnut," Alexia whispered to the horse.

Chestnut whinnied in reply. Because Chestnut was only a yearling (a horse that is a year old), Alexia decided to let her carry the food and cloths bags instead of her. Alexia placed the bags on the horse's back and scooped up Puff so that he wouldn't wander away from the others. Then, they set off to start their journey.

-KittyLover8
© 2012

Long Shadows 2#

"P-Puff? Is that really you, Puff?" Alexia managed to say, still shocked at the presence of her deceased cat friend.

"Meow! Purr purr purr!" Puff chattered as he jumped off of the cardboard box that he had been sitting on top of.

"Did you really tell me to meet you down here in the cellar in my dreams?" Alexia asked Puff. Puff circled around her legs. For a moment, Puff looked like he always had looked before the accident. She felt his fur press against her, he was solid! Then, Puff turned back into a only halve-visible cat-ghost again.

Alexia leaned forward to hug her sweet little kitty, but her arms went right through him. Alexia gasped in surprise and jumped backward. Puff was transparent? The thought of her friend being transparent was slightly frightening, reasonable, for he was a ghost, but frightening.

"Meow! Mrow mew! Purr Purr!" Puff said happily.

Alexia sighed. "Puff, you're so sweet." she said dreamily.

"Mew! Mew mew!" Puff meowed. Then, Puff curled up beside her he flashed as a whole for a second and then he was once again back in his ghostly form. Alexia easily slipped into a deep sleep.

She was standing on a beach with wonderful, rolling waves crashing down on the edge of the beach pulling sand and seashells back into the sea from witch they had come. Puff walked out of the water.

"Hello, Alexia!" he called to her as he emerged from the waves.

"Puff!" Alexia cried joyfully.

"I have a mission for you. You must find the Quinonon Stone. This will enable me to talk to you and be solid for as long as I want instead of just wishing for a short flash of life. This way, I can help you along on your other missions," Puff meowed.

"The Quinonon Stone-wait....other missions? What do you mean?" Alexia was very confused.

"You will find the Quinonon Stone in the Cave Of Fading Echoes. That is all I know, and all I can tell you." Then, with a wave of his tail he meowed, "Farewell, Alexia," Puff then faded away.

"No! Puff!" Alexia called.

Then, Alexia jumped awake, finding that Puff was still purring by her side. She looked down at her loyal little friend, smiling. Then, she thought, I must find the Quinonon Stone. She was going to go to the Cave Of Fading Echoes.

-KittyLover8
© 2012

Long Shadows 1#

Alexia is a 10 year old girl with dark brown hair the color of espresso. She had a cat named Puff who died at 7. Puff had been a sweet white long haired kitty with a patch of gray on his back who had always been there when she needed him. Alexia missed Puff so much...she had had him ever scene her mother had found him on the streets as a tiny little kitten.

Seven years later, Alexia found herself crying in bed at the loss of her kind best friend. Alexia saw something out of the corner of her eye. The she recognized it! Puff! She turned toward him, only to realize that it was only a white book that had been blurred by the tears pouring down her cheeks in a steady stream. Alexia burst into tears once again, the book being a reminder that she would never see her gentle little kitty friend ever again. Soon, she had cried herself to sleep only to find herself staring at none other then Puff in a dream. Although, Alexia noticed that he looked somewhat faded.

Surprisingly, Puff opened his jaws and meowed, "Alexia! Hello, friend."

"Oh, Puff! I thought you died when the car... I remember... Puff, how I missed you!"

Puff purred. Then, he opened his eyes, Alexia noticed that he looked distant as he meowed, "When you wake up, you must go down into the cellar."

"Why?" Alexia asked.

"Just remember, go into the cellar," Puff said.

"But why, Puff?" Alexia repeated. But before she had even finished her sentence, Puff had diapered. A moment later, Alexia was lying awake in bed. She got out of bed. Then, she walked down the stairs and into the cellar. A few cobwebs were attached to the stairwell, their dull white strands quivering as Alexia whisked by. She shivered at the site of them. Alexia didn't like spiders. Finally, Alexia was in the dark cellar. Her hand searched for the light switch. Soon, she felt it. She switched it on with a soft click. Then, she looked around the cellar. To her utter surprise and amazement, she saw Puff! He was slightly faded, like he was in her dream, but there he was, sitting there on a large box in the corner.


"Meow!" he said.

-KittyLover8
© 2012