text: The sensation of cold water on her head awakened Fiona from her already inconsistent sleep. It had rained through the whole night, and so she had fled into an old ruin of a building. It was still cold but the crumbling walls protected her from wind and rain. Now however, the water was dripping from somewhere down on her. Drip, drip, drip. Okay enough, annoyed Fiona got up. Drying her pelt with professional determination, the tabby cat heard a noise followed by the chattering of birds. She went to the next opening and peeked into the direction of the clacking noise. There were two crows quarrelling over a snail, which had hidden in her shell. Taking the shell in its beak the one crow tried to shatter it on a stone. But the house was hard and so it jumped up again into a new direction, where the other crow would catch it and repeat the process. Croaking in excitement and anger because of the task they had. Fiona felt her stomach rumbling, she too was hungry. The thought of catching one of the crows crossed her mind. But it would be dangerous, sharp talons and deadly beaks could be the last thing she saw. Fiona was not fully grown, not too long ago her mother had chased her away. She had not caught much since then, mice and hummingbirds. But never a prey as big and dangerous as a fully grown crow. The black feathers glittered in the sunlight, and again the shell was thrown against the rock. This time the house shattered, revealing the snail inside. Its feelers were searching for shelter, in the suddenly cold world. Yet the crow already plucked it from the ground, swallowing it whole. Fiona felt sorry for the snail, but crows needed to eat too. Which reminded her of the empty stomach inside of her own body. The crows flew away after concluding that there were no more snails around. Fiona’s gaze followed them; they had a nest not far from the building. Fiona thought, when there was a nest then there was prey as well. Young hatchlings not as dangerous as their parents. Hesitantly she followed, stalking through the thicket sneaking to the giant tree trunk. The tree was not very high, the greatest danger would be to get up and down out of sight before the parents would return. Patiently she waited until the two pitch-black birds set out again in search for new prey, they could feed to the hungry throats. Swiftly she climbed up, using her claws to get a hold at the uncompromising wood. The smell of young birds filled her nose and soon she could hear the twittering hatchlings. Not too long ago she herself had cried after her mother like this. Pity came over her, encouraging her conscience. Perhaps she should leave, searching for another prey. The short-haired cat looked at the sky, their parents were nowhere to be seen. Food was not always easy to find; it could go a day or two without anything to feast upon. Again, Fiona could feel the emptiness of her belly. She ignored her heart’s voice and broke the neck of one of the four little crows. Swiftly as she had climbed up, she got down again. Hiding under the next best bush. When the crows returned, she could hear their cries of losing one of their dearest ones. They flew around searching and croaking in fear of never seeing their child again. Fiona left the scene after the meal, a dark cloud hanging over her. In the morning her heart was full and her belly empty. Now her belly was full and a hole had opened up in her heart. Everyone needs to eat and everyone needs to die someday. Everyone wants to live, but not everyone survives the struggle of life.