Rainsplash

"I have told you time and time again, not to spy on Windclan. You have gone too far, Rainsplash." Leopardstar looked down on me patronizingly.

"At least I actually did something!" I spat desperately. "Your kid Halftail didn't even know of the incident until I told her. She couldn't sniff out a dead kit if she had the nose of a wolf!" I screamed. Leopardstar took a step forward. I copied her move growling. Halftail stepped forward to defend for her mother.

"How dare you speak to your deputy in such an incongruous manner!" Leopardstar boomed. Halftail glanced at her mother incredulously.

"I'd rather get killed by a badger before considering-" a loud boom echoed throughout camp.

"Because of your incompetence of respect, as well as insulting the clan leader, you will be greatly punished," Leopardstar yowled. She turned to face her daughter. I thought I had almost seen a smile. Maybe I had gone a bit too far.

"Bring him in, please," Leopardstar said sweetly.

No.

I prayed to Starclan it wasn't Stonekit. Tannish fur poked out from behind Halftail's body, and I heard a familiar voice.

And so it was.

At the sight of me, he starting yowling and hissing, trying to kick away from Halftail and run towards me. I leapt forward, only to be pinned down by Leopardstar's mate, Coalfoot.

"You're really going to stoop that low, Leopardstar? Killing a kit?" I snarled.

She scoffed, "Of course not, you ignorant fool," she paused, as if changing her original plan. "I intend to kill you in front of him,"

I stared at her incredulously. Images of punishments from Starclan for killing an innocent kit began to infiltrate my mind.

"And then I will kill him," she said frankly. She smiled a sweet, poisonous smile. Stonekit was still a squealing mess. I flinched, a small flicker of the ear, to silent him. He stopped, but soon began to cry.

"You think this will pass easily to Starclan? This will not go unpunished, killing Stonekit this way," I said desperately, trying to stall. "Death, wolves, two-legs, monsters-"

"Enough," Leopardstar yowled, jumping to her feet. "If you are to fill our minds with such horrifying thoughts, then you can bet that Stonekit's death will be slow, and harrowing. Goodbye to you, Rainsplash. I promise, you will not be missed," at that last word, three cats leaped on top of Stonekit, who was still screaming, and wailing like the noisy monsters by the grey road.

"You liar!" I screamed through tears. Stonekit was already dead. His blood was prominently spread across the middle of camp. I leapt forward, away from Coalfoot. I had freed myself, at a cost. His claws left deep scratches all down my back. I sprinted out of camp, running through the fox dung by the elders den to cover my scent. I headed for the pine forest. My shoulder began to ache, again. I shook my head furiously, trying to clear the tears from my eyes to better my vision. I could hear the cats behind me. They didn't seem in proximity, I leaped into a tree three times taller than High Rock at camp. Staggering up the tree, I heard cats' footsteps growing louder, like the entire clan had come to kill me. I wrapped my tail tightly around the branch I had perched on, watching as Halftail, Coalfoot, and three apprentices appeared just under the tree. Coalfoot looked right at me; I held my breath, wondering if he had actually seen me.

"Think she climbed up the tree?" Coalfoot said inquisitively.

Halftail snorted, "She could barely run, there's no way she climbed the tree with her sickly shoulder holding her back. She probably went West. Let's go back to camp, and just watch for her," Halftail cut off abruptly, prideful for her "observation" on my misconstrued location. The five walked East again, towards camp. I wept for what felt like hours over Stonekit, the image of his death playing in my mind over and over and over…

I ate what celandine and poppyseeds I could find before running reconnaissance for higher ground. The smell of pine trees and pollen infiltrated my nose, making me sneeze. It blinded my sense of smell. I opened my mouth to breathe as a small reprieve from the amount of pollen and scents encompassing me. My trot broke into a full on dash as I lept into the closest tree, scratching my way up, desperate to breathe fresh air. I reached the top of the tree and shook my fur out. More pollen. I hackled and looked for a way out of the pine forest. In the direction of the setting sun laid a two-legs village. In the opposite direction, an endless assemblage of pine trees. Still spitting up pollen, I looked for the short, round topped oak tree that was just outside camp. Slowly climbing back down the tree, I winced as my shoulder omitted a sharp pain that only my celandine could heal. I decided to go back to camp and rid of my emptiness. I would let them kill me. Everyone I love is dead. I have nothing to live for. My shoulder detains me from fighting. Heading in the direction of the oak tree, I began to jog towards it, trying to control my pain tolerance. Night came quickly, making navigation slightly harder. Looking up constantly in search for the Moon, I continued to follow it until I exited pollen infested forest. I could begin to smell the oak leaves' scent as my proximity to camp increased. The wide, tangled base of the oak tree came in sight just as my shoulder began to give out. I slowed down to a slow pace, my limp becoming more and more obscured. Too tired tolook for any clan cats, I easily found some poppyseeds and celandine for my shoulder. The celandine was inefficient in healing, and my shoulder soon gave out. I collapsed to the ground, unconscious from sleep loss and pain. I was too weak to fight it. It was the best sleep I'd had in a whole moon.

I woke up the next morning and began cleaning myself. Getting up, images of Leopardstar commanding her cats to kill me popped into my head. I wanted to die. I paced forward, stepping in something sticky. grunting in disgust, I expected to see fox dung as I lifted my paw.

They were cobwebs, and marigold. There was even a small pile of pain reprievement near where I had fallen asleep. Leopardstar did all this? After killing my child, and trying to kill me? Something was wrong. Never has Leopardstar shown this type of kindness to anyone. After eating more herbs and trying to rehabilitate, my instincts kicked in and I walked away from the peaceful oak tree. I stopped dead in my tracks at the entrance to camp. The common chatter of my clan was missing, and my stomach began to churn.

I smelled blood.

I was too shocked to crouch down, to look for enemies, or wolves. I walked forward slowly, almost tripping over something small, and furry, and…

wet.

I looked down slowly, too scared to look around the camp. A dead kit lay at my feet. It wasn't Stonekit, nor the missing kit found dead before Leopardstar banished me. It looked like one of the newborn kits. I backed up and yelped, horrified by the sight. Daring myself, I looked up from the kit. I almost threw up the herbs I had just eaten. I don't understand how I hadn't smelled the strong scent of blood when I had first arrived at the oak tree.

Leopardstar was lying just outside her den, and dispersed around her, were my former classmates.

All dead.