text: I know this may be hard to imagine, because you’ve only ever seen other little kits like you, but there are monsters in the world that are born without fur. No pelt, no tail, only a tuft on the top and sometimes a shaggy mane. The rest of them is bare skin, angry pink or brown, as tall as trees. Without their fur, the beasts are cold all the time and destroy everything in their paths to get warm. They don’t dig cozy holes like us - they tear down trees and raise hills to build their huge dens. Even the dens don’t keep them warm, though, so they eat and eat to stave off the cold. They pluck fish straight out of rivers, strike birds from the air, and move swift through the dark and strike deer from a minute’s run away. Everything they see goes down their craws and they burn it in their gullets to keep warm. But not even the fires in their bellies can heat these naked monsters. Eventually, they go out in search of fur. They come out in the day, when you’re sound asleep, and set their traps. They hide strings in the leaves to slip around little necks, they leave food to entice little babies only to snap them into crates, and they hide metal jaws to clap around tiny paws. After waiting until the cold darkness fades, they return with sharp claws and hungry bellies. They slice the skin right off your back and use it to cover their own bare hides. Sometimes, very early or late in the night, you’ll see one, lumbering along with the skins of a hundred little foxes patched together to keep him warm. So remember, kit, to sniff with care when you’re out in the world, and look out for the furless monsters in the woods. [ABOUT] I've written a few children's stories and love the freedom of them.