I have only seen myself once before, in the little pond by the oak tree.
It's not as if I was never given the chance to look, cats would tell me often of how I appeared to them. How strange I must have seemed: a 'braided' she-cat.
Unnatural. Peculiar to say the very least.
That is why my mother thought to call me Twistedkit..and later, TwistedWillow.
I was born into the meadow hills and warm breezes of Heatherclan, the only survivor of a litter of five. Our clan medicine cat claimed it to be 'queer circumstance' that four strong brothers would still their breaths where I would live instead.
I don't think my mother ever forgave me for taking the days they should have seen too.
I was the usual daughter of our esteemed clan leader, Echostar, the braided she-cat, the kit who stole her sibling's lives, and my clanmates would ensure I remembered this for the rest of my life. So, as any cat would do, I did what I could to change their minds. But, never once until that day, did I bother to look upon TwistedWillow of Heatherclan for myself.
I had become a warrior as few as two moons past - Echostar herself had insisted upon being my mentor throughout the entirety of my apprenticeship, and she made me work for everything my clan didn't wish to offer me. I had been the quiet sort, never looking elder clan members in the eye, and of course disassociating myself from the other apprentices.
They were the lifeblood of the clan, and I was the braided she-cat. Whether or not I passed or failed, they were destined to flourish.
But I knew some gladness: I liked to listen to the birds.
Strange, isn't it? A warrior of Heatherclan, kit to the great leader Echostar...enjoyed the aria of songbirds.
You can't be more twisted than that I suppose.
Apparently, if you're a braided she-cat...more specifically, me...you can.