Willowcloud's Story
Chapter 1
I am just a normal warrior. I have nothing special about me. There are prettier cats. More beautiful than I'll ever be. Like Frostlight. She's had many toms begging at her paw tips to be mates with them. Frostlight does not like the attention one bit. I know because she is my sister. She tells me everything.
Even the clan leader likes her. Who wouldn't? She has soft silver and white tabby fur with clear crispy blue eyes and a sweetness etched all over her features. Sometimes I'm jealous of my sister because of all the toms that like her instead of me. It turned me slightly bitter, but mostly I was sad. Sad that no cat every noticed me. That's why I never talked. Even when I did talk, it was either mean, or so quiet with somber that no cat ever heard me.
It's not my fault. After the death of my father, Branchclaw, I kept my head down and didn't say anything. Don't get me wrong, it's silly to be bitter over not being liked my stupid toms, but Branchclaw's death ripped my heart in two. I was the closest to him. He understood me. He was killed many moons ago by rogues. Moonstar had made extra warriors patrol at night to make sure no other cat got killed. Now I was one of the cats that patrolling.
It's making me sick just thinking about my beloved father. I want to go back to my den. I know I can't, because we just started. "Why can't we just hunt..? The fresh kill pile is a bit low…," I murmured quietly. I waited patiently for someone to answer me. "What was that, Willowcloud?" Sunfur, who was right in front of me, asked.
I breathed in, slightly, closing my eyes. I exhaled an annoyed sigh. "Why can't we just hunt?" I asked louder, kicking a rock with my hind leg as I padded along so that I was side-by-side with her. It didn't even take a single heartbeat for Sunfur to answer. Oh no. She's a sucker for the warrior code.
"That's easy! So glad you asked! The first reason is that Moonstar assigned us this task, so we must do it. He is the clan leader. We must do as he says. Second reason is that if we hunted and brought back fresh kill, then we'd be disobeying the warrior code and our leader. Did I answer your question, Willowcloud?" Sunfur gave me a sugary sweet smile as sticky as tree sap.
Sunfur was such a know-it-all! I didn't need that much of an explanation! I wasn't a kit. But I just nodded and padded a little faster so that I didn't have to look at her. Everyone was surprisingly quiet, except for Sunfur who kept chatting about how important the warrior code was and how we need to follow it. As far as I noticed, not one cat was listening to her.
The patrol went smoothly. There was nothing to talk about and I was grateful for the silence. I liked to think when it was quiet. I went straight to my nest, ignoring any cat that called my name or tried to communicate with me in anyway. Nothing was as peaceful as ignoring every soul around me. I curled up in my nest, happy to be alone. Then I felt the tickle of another cat's fur and the sound of the cat pushing me over a little. I whipped my head around and there was Frostlight. She had curled up in my nest and fallen asleep.
"Frostlight," I growled in a whisper. "What are you doing in my nest?"
"My nest was cold and your nest is bigger so I just thought…," Frostlight trailed off. She looked at me with big eyes. Begging eyes. I sighed and lowered my head to my paws, honestly not caring about her anymore. I just wanted to go to sleep.