A World Apart

Chapter 2

I don’t remember ever coming back into consciousness. I had fallen asleep late into the night. I had been cold and felt strangely empty as the blood left my body. I remember pulling against the ropes until my hands bled, but even that couldn’t help me. So finally I had lay there until I eventually fell asleep out of pure exhaustion.

The next morning I woke up stiff and bloody. I was scared to even look around, to see the amount of blood I had lost during the night. My ear felt horrible, but my shoulder was even worse. I tried to scream for help, but all that resulted was a high feline cry. I was shocked for a moment; not realizing it was in my own instincts to call for help.

“Mrrrroooww,” I called again, almost choking on the high sound.

I couldn’t stop crying. Every time I took a breath, the same loud cry would emerge from deep in my lungs. Instead of trying to hide the sound, I just let my body take control. It didn’t take as much energy to cry as it did trying to call for help.

After a while I heard voices outside. I continued to cry, but the intensity increased with the possibility of someone finding me. After a few moments I heard light footsteps not too far away.

“Raven?” A person asked in a questioning voice.

I couldn’t even talk. I tried, but all that came out was the same high feline cry. I finally let my head fall back against the floor when the footsteps suddenly turned into running. There was a slight pause before the body quickly squatted down next to me and began pulling against the ropes, trying to free my hands.

“Oh my God…what happened?”

I turned my head slightly and met the light blue eyes of my younger brother, Ren. I tried to respond, but only coughed and released a tiny cry this time.

“Shhh…it’s okay. We’ll get you taken care of,” He said in a hushed tone.

Finally he pulled my left arm free of the ropes and threw them aside, carefully pulling my arm to my side. Then he began on the other side, pulling the knot out and releasing my other hand. He gently pulled me up into a sitting position. I got so dizzy. My upper body collapsed in his arms and he pulled me closer. I let my head fall onto his shoulder and he held me against him.

“I’ll be right back. I’ve gotta go find dad, alright?”

I wasn’t sure if I had nodded or what, but he shrugged off his jacket and cautiously wrapped it around my shoulders. I was freezing anyway and the slight warmth of his jacket warmed me up a lot. I would have rather had him stay with me, but I knew I needed help anyway. I was embarrassed for him to see me in such condition. I was his big brother. I was supposed to take care of him, but the roles had suddenly shifted.

I watched as Ren came jogging back a moment later with our father in tow. I saw my dad’s horrified expression and he knelt down next to me. I was glad he was here. He was a doctor and he’d take care of me too.

“Oh Rave…what happened?” He asked and briefly touched my injured ear.

I jumped at the contact and felt my dad squeeze my hand as he examined my bruises.

“He’s lost a lot of blood,” he whispered to my little brother.

Ren just stared at me and I swear he was going to start crying. I wanted to tell him that I was okay - even if I was in a lot of pain, but the only thing that came out was a high cry.

“He probably has a lot of internal damage as well, by the looks of it - maybe even a few broken ribs. That’s why he’s crying. I thought I had heard something earlier, but didn’t expect it to be him. I’ve never heard his cat call before.”

“What can we do? We should get him to the hospital, right? We should tell mom - and Rhea and Robin too. I’ll call them now!” Ren said hurriedly and got out his cell phone.

If I hadn’t been in such pain I would have laughed at his concern, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even talk. My dad’s cat shaped blue eyes watched me for a moment.

“I don’t want to take him to this hospital,” He said suddenly.

“Whaddya mean? He needs to go!” Ren said.

“I know. I mean, not this hospital. If they knew he was a cat, they probably wouldn’t admit him anyway,” Dad said and watched Ren, as if contemplating the situation, “I think we should take him to Kingsdale.”

Kingsdale? Sure, I had heard stories of the place, but thought it was only a myth. Supposedly Kingsdale was a small settlement about five hours south, nestled deep within the woods. It was a tiny settlement and the only inhabitants were people like me - cats.

Ren stared at Dad for a moment with one blonde eyebrow raised,” I thought that place wasn’t real.”

“It is real. I’ve been there before. He needs real care. I’m not going to beat around the bush here when he needs serious medical attention. They have a hospital - a very good hospital from what I’ve heard. We’re going to take him there,” My father said and his eyes settled on me, “Can you stand?”

I shook my head and felt warm arms around me, lifting me up, soon after. Ren and Dad helped get me into the backseat of the car. I curled up the best I could - strangely afraid of anything and anybody. Ren had somehow maneuvered himself into the backseat with me. He threw a blanket from the trunk over me as well as offered me his bottled water, which I gladly accepted.

The ride was long and painful. Every bump shot tremors through my sore body and I felt like my body was breaking in half. Mom and the rest of my brothers would meet us there (if they could find the place). I fell in and out of consciousness before we got there. Ren sat next to me the entire time, trying to keep me awake. He had tried cleaning some of the blood off of me, but most of it was dry and crusty.

I was startled out of sleep when the car came to a complete stop after a long time of straight driving. I couldn’t see much from the position I was in, but I guessed we were there.

“Ren, go tell them we have an emergency…and don’t stare. They will look like you, alright?”

Ren nodded mutely and crawled out of the car, his tabby orange tail swishing nervously behind him. Before long I could hear voices and gentle hands pulling my weak body out of the car and onto some sort of stretcher. I was only faintly aware of what was happening. I was led to some all white room and laid on a table.

“Dad?” I managed to croak out.

“Shh…I’m right here,” He said from my right, “I’ll stay with you.”

I could already feel the people, well…cats, cutting the clothes off my body. A light blanket was thrown over my lower body as they began inspecting the damage.

“Is he a kitten?” One asked.

What a stupid question. Did I look like a kitten? I was twenty-two years old, defiantly not a little kitten.

“Yes,” was the response.

I had yet to ask my father why I was still a “kitten”, but obviously didn’t go into it at the time. I could feel hands on my body, wiping away the blood and applying some kind of sweet smelling salve to the wounds. I had expected to get an IV or immediately go into surgery, but it never happened.

The doctor who was examining me was male. I could hear his voice clearly over the others in the room. Finally he stood over me and I got a good look at him. He was taller than me, older than me, but didn’t lack the feline grace. His ears were white and gray and stood elevated above his head. He pulled a light down from the ceiling and checked out my eyes, I supposed.

“Can you hear me?” He asked.

I couldn’t find the strength to speak, so I only nodded.

“Good,” He replied.

I thought he would go back to examining me, but he stayed at my head and began asking questions,” Can you speak…or are you in pain?”

“J-Just tired,” I said in a cracking voice.

“Okay. We’ll let you sleep as soon as we get you fixed up. Can you tell me what happened to you first? The indention on your ear appears to be some kind of bite mark. It looks like you’ve got two fractured ribs and a deep gash in your shoulder and skull. You also have a sprained ankle - from a fall perhaps. Does anything else hurt?”

“M-My ear…it feels…gone. Is it-“

“Just the top was bit off, the rest of it is there. We put some numbing crème on it, while we sew it up. Who did this to you, Raven?”

“I thought…” I took a deep breath and stared at the light above me,” I thought they were normal. You know…I thought they were human. They were dogs.”

“Caniticus attacked you? How many? Do you remember?”

“Four…I think.”

I heard my dad’s sudden intake of breath. I could feel the nurses or whatever they were, pulling the blanket off my lower regions and I leaned down to yank it back up. I wasn’t ready to be displayed yet. The doctor chuckled a bit.

“You’re from the human population, aren’t you? Modesty is nearly nonexistent here, especially among families,” He said, ”We can always tell.”

So my dad and brother were asked to leave the room while the nurses cleaned me up. I was sat up and the doctor wrapped my chest up in a large, tight bandage. He fixed my shoulder and stitched it up. I knew I had a lot of stitches. I was wheeled through a short hallway and into an elevator. I fell asleep almost the moment my head hit the pillow in my room.