Goldenstrike

## Extra Story

"Golden, I love you."

I turn my head to stare at Cracker. "Cracker...what?"

"Golden, I told you. I love you." Cracker’s face is firm, but his eyes hold fear.

A smile creeps onto my face. "Oh..." The smile breaks into a full open-mouth grin. "I love you, too." Can you believe it? Cracker loves me too.

Cracker pushes his face into my muzzle. Mama always said that love isn't really for young cats. Cracker and I are young, though, and I know what I feel is real. I don't know how mating works, though. Maybe I am just real little.

"What do we do now?" I'm painfully aware of my kit-like voice. My voice has always been high and squeakish for my age, but I hear it now especially. I feel like I'm three moons old.

“We become mates,” Cracker answers with a shrug.

I hesitate. “We’re so young…”

Cracker rolls his eyes. “You’re listening to your mother again. Our mothers left us here, remember?”

I feel defensive. “It’s not like they wanted to!”

Cracker nods. “That’s fair.” He entwines his tail with mine. I never want this moment to end.

\*\*\*

Been so many moons. Well, not many, but I don’t feel so kittish anymore. Me and Cracker are still mates, but he’s started leaving in the middle of the night to “hunt” and then he doesn’t return with prey.

I try not worry. But I can’t help it. One night, when he returns, I say, “Cracker, I’m going to have kits.”

Cracker doesn’t look up. “And?”

My eyes widen with shock. “What do you mean, *and*?”

Cracker sneers. “I’m waiting for you to say it’s a prank, *Golden*.”

“It’s not,” I insist.

Panic fills his eyes. “I—I can’t do this.” A single tear falls from his face. “We’re—we can’t raise kits.”

“We raised ourselves fine,” I remind him.

Cracker doesn’t reply. He just sits down in his nest. And sleeps.

\*\*\*

“Her name is Hex,” Cracker insists.

We had one she-kit. “Cracker, we can’t name her that. Hexes are curses, and our daughter is a blessing.”

“I can leave,” Cracker reminds me. “Walk out of here and never return. It’s that or we name her Hex.”

“Fine,” I say. “Her name is Hex.”

Cracker nods one satisfied nod. “How long until we leave her?”

I gasp. “What do you mean?”

Cracker’s tail lashes. “Our mothers abandoned us. We both never even knew our fathers. We can’t go soft on the next generation.”

“I’m sorry. I love you.” Do I still love him? I’ve been say the L word a lot without really feeling the strength of it.

“Hmph.” I don’t think Cracker still loves me either.

\*\*\*

“Golden! Golden! Are you Golden?”

A cat I don’t know is now up in my face. “Yes, I’m Golden, who are you?”

“Dew,” she says. “Are you Cracker’s mate?” She looks at Hex, who is hiding behind me with wide eyes. “And is this your daughter, and is her name Hex?”

I nod slowly. “That’s…all true.”

“Well, Cracker is my mate too, and he revealed his whole ‘cheating on you’ plot.”

I can barely breathe. Mama was right. You shouldn’t love so young. I was seven moons old. I had a crush. It wasn’t love. “I’m done with this.”

Dew continues. “We’ve been mates for seven moons now.”

“I became *pregnant* with this kit seven moons ago.”

Dew touches her muzzle to mine. “You need to leave. Join the Clans, darling. There’s no place for you here.”

I glance at Hex. “Will they take both her and me?”

Dew hesitates. “I doubt it. I can take her.”

My eyes widen. “Are you sure?”

Dew nods. I stare at Hex. “I’ll visit, honey.” I look back to Dew. “Thank you. Take care of her.”

I know where the Clans are. I should rest, but I won’t. I keep walking for about fifteen minutes before arriving.

*A river?* How will I cross this? I keep walking. I won’t live on an island’s Clan.

*An abandoned twoleg nest?* Why are they even living in a twoleg nest? I keep walking. I won’t live in a Twoleg Den’s Clan.

*Too many trees!* How do they breathe? I keep walking. I won‘t live in a place where cats can’t breathe.

*Only a few trees.* Perfect. I walk into their forest, only to be jumpscared by claws raking my back.

”Hey!” I struggle out, only to be put back in. I get a better view of my attacker. She’s a blue purple with blue-gray spots. I claw her forehead, and blood trickles into her eyes. A little move I learned back home.

Blinded, my attacker slashes my chest. Blood spills out. I claw her eyes, and I know she’ll probably go blind, but she’d deserve it.

She slashes wildly, occasionally hitting me. *She’s trying to kill me!* I strike her throat, and her attacks slow down. Finally, she backs out.

She lets out a feeble breath and collapses. With one last moan of pain, she stops breathing.

I can’t stop staring at her body. *I did that.* If I’m going to join the Clans, no one can know how I murdered a cat. I remember the river. I could dump her body in…

It was all an accident. I just don’t feel like either of us deserved this. But I can’t say it was me. I grab her scruff. I can’t believe a patrol hasn’t caught me. The river borders this Clan, so it’s not long until I can drop her in. I wash myself, clearing her fur from my claws. I’m such a monster. I didn’t mean this.

I look up to see a cat staring at me. “Who are you?” he asks.

I walk away. I can’t risk this. I can’t let anyone know my mistake. The scratch on my chest starts bleeding again, and I notice a limp in my paw. Whoever she was, she fought hard.

As I pass her place of death, I notice the overarching scent of blood. There’s blood everywhere. You can’t distinguish any cat scent.

Hopefully no one notices it.

“Hey, you! What are you doing here?” It’s a tom’s voice. I turn around. A dark gray tom with amber eyes. Beside him is an orange she-cat with red stripes and purple eyes.

“My name is Golden,” I tell them. “I’m a passing loner. I happened to notice this large pool of blood, and I wanted to tell your Clan about it…”

Dark Gray narrows his eyes. “Okay,” he says. He leaves Red Stripes and sniffs. Then he stops dead. “Flameheart?” he yells to Red Stripes, whose name is I guess Flameheart.

“What is it, Duskstone?” she yells back.

“Wasn’t it Pinkyfeather who was always shedding fur?” His voice was shaky and scared.

*Pinkyfeather.* Okay, the cat I killed was Pinkyfeather.

“It was…Oh StarClan, don’t tell me…”

Duskstone nods to Flameheart. “Can you keep investigating? I should take Golden to camp.”

I follow him. Whatever this new life is, all I want is for Pinkyfeather to be alive.

\*\*\*

I’m a Clan cat now. But I’ll never forget Pinkyfeather.

## History

### Path of Dragons

The main character. In this Choose Your Own Adventure game, Goldenstrike makes many choices - in the canon path, she brings Cracker to Dixiestar and trains Dragonpaw all the way.