Stormkit's POV
"Cedarkit!" I screeched angrily, a hoarse tone scratching my voice. My paws rubbed the smooth dirt as a tickle rose into my throat. A fit of coughing racked my whole body. I ignored it, holding my breath till it stopped. I had had a small cough for the past moon, but I had hid it. I didn't want to be stuck in the medicine cat's den for a moon. It was so boring in there! No one noticed the tiny jumps that my body forced me to do whenever I held my breath to stop my coughing. Every kit was energetic and jumpy, so they just assumed that I was, too.
I tackled Cedarkit, grabbing him by his stumpy tail, but he jumped up and landed on top of me. He held me down firmly, and lifted his chin high.
"No fair!" I protested. "You're bigger than me!" Cedarkit just stuck his tongue out at me, a smile creeping on his face.
"I now claim this territory for-" I cut him off, wriggling out from under him and jumping free, catching him by surprise and landing on top of him.
"I, Stormstar, now claim this territory for StormClan! In addition, Cedarstar has- "I let out a loud, painful fit of coughs, hesitating in my speech. Cedarkit looked at me with curiosity, staring into my eyes.
"Stormkit, are you okay?" I tried saying yes, attempting to answer him, but my coughs got me again.
"Stormkit?" Skypool snuck her head out of the elder's den to look at me. "Was that you?"
"Yes," I replied painfully. Skypool immediately scooped me up in her jaws and gently set me back down in the nursery.
"Badgerstep? I think Stormkit's sick," Skypool called.
"Stormkit's sick?" My mother, Badgerstep echoed. She scurried over to me, giving my chest fur a lick and pulling me close. "Get Brightshade."
My throat felt like rats had clawed it out. Brightshade entered the nursery, her red pelt bright against the ground. Skypool inaudibly mewed something to Brightshade, and she walked over to me.
"Open your mouth, Stormkit," Brightshade soothed. I opened my mouth, and she peered in. I watched as her eyes, usually full of comfort, filled with worry.
"She's got whitecough," Brightshade told my mother. Badgerstep curled up next to me, her black and white striped fur lightly brushing against my bluish black pelt. "Let me take her to my den. I'll give her something for it." She picked me up and carried me into the warmth of the medicine den. New smells reached my muzzle, overwhelming my nose. I sat back on my haunches with a fire raging in my throat. Brightshade rustled through her stocks of herbs and set a bundle of seeds and leaves at my paws.
"Eat,"" she demanded. I licked up the herbs and grimaced as a few of them scratched my throat. Suddenly, another violent convulsion of coughs racked my lungs. Brightshade immediately went into action, hitting my back to try and steady my breathing. The coughing forced all of the air out of my chest, making a light blue splotch splatter across my eyesight. It darkened and widened, and then I knew nothing but the dark blue spots that covered my vision, and my empty lungs that burned and ached from lack of air. I coughed once more, and then everything went black.
When I awoke, there was a red she-cat sitting and looking into my eyes. Didn't she look familiar? The red cat mewed something, but everything sounded sluggish and mushy. A black and white she-cat quickly appeared in the entrance of the den. What was her name? She seemed recognizable, but it was as if my memory of her was stored somewhere in the back of my mind, in a place I couldn't reach. Soon, I drifted into a fevered sleep as the red cat pushed something smooth and silky into my jaws, which soothed my throat.
It seemed like moons as I wove in and out of sleep, and sometimes the agony I felt in my chest and throat overcame me like death. When I actually slept, my dreams were not the peaceful ones that I usually had.
I was surrounded by water. It tugged at my pelt, pulling my down, dragging me into the dark depths of the lake, turning darker and darker, redder and redder, until it was a scarlet color. Bodies of lifeless cats surrounded me. I shrieked in terror, kicking and flailing my legs, but when I tried, more blood got itself down my throat, scratching and tearing at my neck, ripping me from the inside until blood poured from me, so the blood that I drifted in was not just the blood of wounds that had brought cats to their deaths, but the blood that had destroyed my life as well. I hung lifeless, alive on the inside, but frozen, unable to move any limb or even take a breath, stuck in my own dark world. Forever.
"Stormkit?" a voice whispered. "Oh, StarClan! Don't let me lose my kit! Not this young!" I opened my eyes to see Badgerstep standing over me. She saw my open eyes, and a flicker of hope danced across her muzzle.
"Brightshade!" Badgerstep mewed happily. The red she-cat rushed into the medicine den like she had a pack of dogs on her paws.
"Thank StarClan! She's awake!"
"But is she still sick?"
"I don't know."
"You're ThunderClan's medicine cat! Figure it out!"
"Medicine cats don't know everything, Badgerstep!"
"You've been here for moons, and you were Dewmist's apprentice!"
"I'm going to the Moonpool in a few sunrises," replied Brightshade calmly, managing to keep her temper under control. "I will talk with a few of the medicine cats then."
"Stormkit is my kit! I need to know now!" Badgerstep mewed furiously.
"And she's my niece! I know what to do! You just have to trust me!"
"She's more important to me than she is to you! Now figure it out!" Brightshade didn't reply. She padded back into her den and picked out two round, black seeds, and what I thought was a thyme leaf. She laid them down on the soft, dark brown soil and motioned for Badgerstep to eat them. She hesitated, but then cautiously swallowed the herbs.
"I will go visit Rainywillow in WindClan to ask her for help."
"But how will Stormkit survive without you?"
"I won't be gone for long. I'll put Dovelight in charge of watching her."
"Can I see her?"
"No." I heard Brightshade begin to pad away.
"Wait," I croaked miserably. The padding stopped, and quickly turned back in my direction, growing louder with every pawstep.
"Yes, Stormkit?" Brightshade's tone was softer than it had been with Badgerstep.
"Where's Mossykit? Where's Lizardkit? Where's Hollowkit? Where-"
"It's alright. None of them got sick."
"But can I see them?"
"Not yet," Brightshade replied sympathetically.
"Why not?" I pressed on with my questions, attempting to at least see my kin.
"You're just too sick."
"But-"
"Stormkit, just stay in my den until I come back. I'll be back by nightfall."
"Where's my father?"
"Dustnose can't see you either."
"What about Badgerstep?" I asked. Brightshade sighed in exasperation.
"Definitely not."
"I want my mother!" I cried, coughing a little bit. Why wasn't I allowed to see Badgerstep? Brightshade pressed her paw to my head and looked into my eyes. She saw the misery that I was wallowing in, and then relaxed.
"I guess your family members can see you for a little bit," Brightshade mewed, giving in. I jumped up in excitement. "Stay lying down, though." I sat back down obediently. She left the den hurriedly and rounded up my family members.
Soon enough, sitting in front of me were Mossykit, Lizardkit, Hollowkit, Barkkit, Cedarkit, Dustnose, and Badgerstep.
"Oh, Stormkit," Dustnose yowled. "I'm so sorry you had to go through with all this. It should have never happened." My sister, Mossykit stepped forward.
"I thought you were going to StarClan," she confessed. "But I was hoping." She lowered her head guiltily. The rest of my littermates did the same.
"It's my fault," Badgerstep wailed. "I shouldn't have let her go outside. She was too young!" Dustnose laid his tail on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort his mate. Brightshade peered in.
"I'm sorry, but you can't be with her any longer. I don't have enough supplies for another cat to get sick." Sadly, they trudged out of the medicine den, their tails trailing behind them. Mossykit turned her head to look at me one last time, her eyes full of sympathy and grief. Then she followed our other littermates, not even bothering to catch up. Brightshade nudged me back into a relaxed position and then squeezed some water down my throat. The liquid burned as I swallowed. I don't know if I'll ever get better, I told myself. But for Badgerstep's sake, I sure hope so.