My name is Hollowpaw, trained under Spottedfeather as the future ShadowClan medicine cat.

I try my best. I know my role in the clan is an important one, and no one expects less of me.

Neither do I.

I have lost my vision due to an incident with a battle when I was just a kit. Half my face had been clawed off and both my eyes were blinded. My skin and fur eventually healed in time, but those scars, those memories never did, and my sight never came back.

The only thing I could be was the medicine cat. I didn't complain, however. I quietly tended to my duties and thanked StarClan that I at least had a chance to be helpful in my clan. Maybe I couldn't fight and hunt well like a warrior, but treating wounds and sicknesses and possibly even saving lives, that wasn't nothing.

As a new medicine cat apprentice, I was learning the herbs, learning remedies, learning quickly from my mentor, Spottedfeather. He is an old and wise cat, the current medicine cat of ShadowClan. I knew he had been the medicine cat for a long time and I tried to trust him with my life, but every time I saw those piercing yet unclear amber eyes and that spotted pelt, my paws would hesitate of whether or not to follow.

Every time, I pushed the lingering thoughts off and mentally scolded myself.

I would trust him with everything. How could I ever doubt him?

It was near the end of leaf-fall and leaf-bare was approaching quickly. The once colorful trees would shift to a dull brown and grey color, and the crinkled leaves that fell off cracked easily beneath my paws.

The sky was heavy today and it loomed over my head. Patients were many. Our clan had been struck with whitecough, and all I could do was try to gather as many herbs as possible and pray to StarClan that the whitecough wouldn't advance into the dangerous greencough.

A young, flecked grey tom stood at the entrance of the medicine den. I could sense him, even though I couldn't see him. I turned to face him, aiming my hazy orange eyes on his.

"Ashpaw," I said, greeting him but not taking my paws off sorting the herbs. "What is the problem?"

"Hollowpaw, you see," he started, flicking his tail nervously from side to side, "two kits and an apprentice has caught the whitecough too."

My ears pricked up and my eyes widened. I growled in frustration and worry.

There had already been a number of warriors with whitecough.

"Who are they?" I asked, preparing the last bit of catmint in my jaws. Catmint was one of the most effective remedies to cure whitecough or greencough.

"Lilypaw has whitecough," the warrior apprentice, Ashpaw, told me. "Also, Echomist's two kits, Flamekit and Snowkit caught it too."

"How serious is it?" I asked again, grasping the bit of catmint in my mouth and following Ashpaw out of the medicine den.

"Lilypaw's sickness isn't too serious," he answered. "But Famekit's needs some quick treatment and Snowkit's may even advance to greencough soon."

"I'll get to it." I nodded in his direction. "Thanks for telling me."

He nodded back and bounded off.

I quickly hurried to the nursery to check on the two sick kits first and bring them to medicine cat's den before any other cats would get ill.

And while I feared for their lives and also my own, I wondered: where was Spottedfeather?

The number of sick cats had increased by the day. I was beyond worried as some of the whitecough had turned to greencough, and I only hoped they wouldn't become the deadly blackcough.

We were extremely low on catmint. The supply we had left could barely cure one cat's illness, and if we didn't find some soon, there could even be deaths.

The usually thick forest seemed much less dense as I padded through, desperately sniffing for any traces of the precious herb. My pelt didn't get caught by brambles or brushed by bushes and leaves. Instead the whole forest just felt strangely… empty and hollow.

I had circled the whole perimeter, but no catmint was found. Hanging my head low, I proceeded back to the ShadowClan camp, not knowing how to face Spottedfeather when I had to tell him, not knowing how I'd treat all those sick cats.

But then I sensed he was near.

He was crouched over a small shrub of dying leaves in the distance, and as I hesitantly decided to pad closer, I felt those familiar, narrowed, cold amber eyes staring at me.

Quickly I ran away, just a shadow among the dying, bare trees.

I tried, but it wasn't enough. And before I knew it, there was a ceremony… no, a funeral, held for Flamekit and Snowkit.

I didn't bother going. I couldn't face Echomist. But the one thing I was pondering about, was the fact that the clan medicine cat wasn't here in this serious time of sickness.

Where are you, Spottedfeather?

And the next morning after my dreamless sleep, I woke up feeling sore, tired, dizzy and my body ached all over. And when I attempted to stand up and stretch, a pain in my bones prevented me from doing that as I fell into a coughing fit.

Oh, no…

"Hollowpaw," a deep, raspy voice came to my ears.

Even though it was empty, t he familiar voice still made relief sweep over me. I called, "Spottedfeather?" I tried to get up, my muscles aching, and another cough hit me.

"Falconclaw has also caught the illness," he rasped, padding nearer to the nest I rested in.

I sighed in defeat and worry. "I'll go to—" But as the coughs kept coming and my dizziness got worse and worse, I knew something was wrong. Definitely, for a medicine cat apprentice.

I fell down again, my limbs no longer supporting my weight.

"You're sick, Hollowpaw," Spottedfeather growled. "You need to stay here and rest, and not get any more cats sick."

"No! I need to—" I protested, trying again, but it was still no good.

I could sense him turn his back to me.

"You need to rest," he repeated sternly, a growl rumbling in the depths of his throat. "Lay down and I'll go get some food for you."

With no choice, I followed his instructions. I knew they were for my own good, anyways.

I sensed him walk out of the den and return a few moments later, carrying a plump bird with him. He laid it down in front of me and hurried to the back of the den. I took a bite out of the bird, spitting out the feathers.

"Eat this," he ordered in an exhausted raspy voice as he came back. "It will help you be out of the pain and soreness quickly."

I lowered my head and sniffed the herbs he had laid down at my nose tenderly. It was like nothing I'd ever smelled. It didn't smell like anything.

"W-what is it?" I asked, a bit concerned, some coughing and hacks mixed in with my sentence. " It doesn't smell like catmint or any other herb I know."

"Trust me, Hollowpaw," he meowed, his voice stern yet somewhat soft at the same time. "You have greencough, and you'll be done with the coughing and aching if you just eat it."

I lowered my muzzle, my unseeing eyes closing sleepily and tiredly.

"I…" I murmured. "I trust you…"

And I swear, I could've sensed the corners of his lips twitch—ever so slightly, like it was barely noticeable, but indeed there—as he exited the medicine den.

Many questions swam through my head, but I decided to keep quiet for now and I finished the sparrow he had fetched for me. The herbs he had laid down in front of me lay untouched.

I lowered my muzzle until my nose was touching a smooth, oval-shaped berry.

What is this? I don't think I recognize it…

Taking it into my mouth carefully and hesitantly, I finally swallowed without chewing. It was a habit, since most herbs were quite bitter and unpleasant. But this one wasn't. In fact, it didn't have much flavor, surprisingly.

As I felt the last juices of the small berry slip down my throat, I felt a numbness in my paws, in my body, in my bones. The dizziness in my head suddenly vanished, and it was replaced with a silent yet extreme tiredness…

To sleep?

All of a sudden, scenes seemed to flash before my eyes. From where or when, I think I may have had an idea, but I remained silent, not because I wouldn't scream, but because I couldn't. Not then, anyway.

I can't see, I can't see, I can't see… I couldn't see.

A small, crimson berry flashed in my mind, and realization dawned and struck me like a lightning bolt had passed through my body.

Death… berries…

Then the world collapsed and I fell into an eternal darkness.

Pun not intended in paragraph thirteen.

– Rain