Bashira had had a bad day. Nothing seemed to go the way that she had planned, and she hated when her plans went ary. First of all, it seemed as though as soon as she woke up the rain immediately began to pour down on her. Normally, she enjoyed rainy days, as the rain hide her tracks and scent well, but today, the rain was only depressing. Ever since she had met that male cheetah, she was in the beginnings of relaxing herself, even if it was only a bit. All her life, she had been used to running, hiding, scavanging for whatever she could get, and running some more. The pounding in her heart that made her feel chased had softened just a bit. Bashira had even caught herself smiling little by little while traveling with the male that had found her one morning. However still, today had still sucked. When she had gone hunting, she had only come in contact with a small hare. As soon as she had caught and killed the small thing, she was driven away by several hyenas that had been sneaking around her, watching and waiting for their chance to strike for an easy meal. She could honestly say that she hated hyenas, and that she had never met a good one because she avoided them like the plague. So, the only hyenas that she ever came in contact with were the malintented ones that seemed to like to ambush her. No matter how much she tried to keep her senses on full alert, there was usually one or two particularly sneaky hyenas that managed to surprise her. Bashira hated this because they were one of the few creatures that could evade her trained senses.
After that fiasco, the rain had strengthed, and began to pour strong onto the earth. It was so bad that she could barely see, and was forced to find shelter as soon as she could. Bashira wasn't even able to make it to the safe place where she had been staying while in the area. As she ran through the heavy rain, she managed to find a small cave in the rock by a stream, and she settled there. Heaving a sigh, she stared out into the soaked lands, wondering how she'd managed to get to this point in her day. Oh well, the day was descending into the late evening, she could tell even over the grayness that had come over the land. It was a good enough time to end the day, she decided. With that she laid down on the ground of the cave and closed her eyes, hoping for a better tomorrow. Only, instead of the tomorrow, Bashira descended into the dreamscape of her mind. The negativity of the day bringing up memories that she had much rather lay dormant in the back of her subconsciousness.
She was young, very young, a baby in fact. Her little paws hit the grassy earth as she romped around her big brother's legs, nearly tripping him. He yells at her her playfully, still fascinated and not yet annoyed by his tiny baby sister. Bashira's older sister wasn't far away from them, and watched her play with love in her eyes. They had been given the task of watching her while they were out so that she could play in the fields without being by herself. For here parents had warned them of the dangers that lurked in the world. They had warned their oldest to guard the young girl, becaue they had heard rumours of cub-snatchers trolling the lands. Unlike many cubs her age, Bashira did not mind being supervised, especially when it was her older siblings, because then she could eventully enlist them in her childish games, which they always gave into.
She remembered that it was when her sister began to approach her, when both of her siblings suddenly looked up into the air, as if they had smelled something. Immediately afterward, they had snacthed Bashira up and had run her home to their parents. "They're coming!," her sister had screamed to their mother and father. Alarmed, her father had grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, and had taken off with everyone to a safe place that their parents knew of. Frightened, Bashria had understood that they were under attack, but she had never known just how much danger they all were in. However, no matter how prepared they thought they were, they had never been prepared to come face to face with the cub-snatchers. They were called the Kifo, and they left trails of blood whereever they went. They were mainly known for stealing cubs and murder, but, as they were highly secretive, not much else was known about them. So, Bashira and her family had been shocked to find themselves surrounded by grinning lions.
The actual attack had been swift and brutal. Her father had set her down so that they could form a circle around her in an attempt to protect their youngest. When one of the lions charged forward, her brother had valiantly charged back, only to be taken down with a swift crushing claw to his throat, slashing it open. Bashira had screamed when she saw her brother bleeding out on the ground gasping for breathe. "You're too old," the lion had said. After her brother died, all she remebered was a blurr of violence and blood. After her brother was her mother, then her father, and finally her sister lay in a broken heap next to her father.
Bashira stood there, violently shaking and crying in fear and grief at the loss of her family. When a lion approached her, she screamed, not knowing what this lioness would do to her after what she had seen. To her shock and horror, lioness leaned down and said, "If you want to live, you will obey me," before she picked Bashira up herself and began to run away from the brutal scene with the small cub. Bashira had struggled at first, but after the lioness bit down on her, cutting into her soft skin, she simply hung limp and cried. The small girl had found herself wishing that they had just killed her along with her family, for she faced an unknown future with very unkind adults that clearly showed no remorse for hurting cubs and killing everyone else.
Bashira woke up, thrashing violently. After she managed to bang her head on the ground, she finally returned to full consciousness. Gasping for breathe, she tried to push the horrible memory away. Looking up out of the cave, she saw that the sun had risen in the new day and the only evidence that it had rained was the dew that covered the lands. Slowly standing, she refused to go back to sleep, and ventured out into the wet lands to see what this day would bring her.
