Title: Ever Forward
Word Count: 247
Rating: PG

A lone feline sat in the central clearing of the junkyard, her tail swaying slowly back and forth behind her. Save for these lethargic movements, the junkyard was completely still.

She looked to her left and saw what used to be a tire, now simply shreds of black rubber, stained with crimson streaks: a fight had occurred there, a fight in which good had been vanquished and evil vindicated. A fight in which a new leader was crowned, a leader who would bring the Jellicles into their darkest days. The young queen looked away from the tire, wincing at the memory of that final confrontation.

She looked to her right and saw the car trunk that had once been used as a plaything for the kittens but was now rusted over with neglect and old age. The kittens now feared to touch it. Rats now called it home. It was filthy. She looked away from the trunk, not wishing to remember days to which she could never return.

She looked all around her and saw faded memories of a time when justice prevailed, when a tall, silver tomcat had ruled over the tribe with bravery and courage in the face of ultimate evil. But that evil had felled him, and in his place rose a creature whose mind was as crazed as his unkempt fur. So many had been killed the day he took over. So many more wish they had been.

Everything had turned so dark.