Hi guys! This is a challenge for a forum I'm in: AdderClan!
"No! No! No!" Lionscar cried, eyes gleaming with frustration. Shimmerpaw sat down, looking cross.
"What did I do this time?" she snapped. She had never trusted Lionscar, not ever, since she suspected he had killed her brother, Foxkit.
"Unsheathe your claws, now!" the golden tom spat. Shimmerpaw looked up in surprise. "We're not supposed to have claws unsheathed, duh."
"Don't disobey me!" Lionscar snarled, eyes glittering wildly.
"Okay, okay!" Shimmerpaw muttered. "Keep your fur on!" She crouched down again, unsheathing her claws, and leaped up, onto the back of Lionscar and scoring her claws deep inside. Lionscar screeched in pain, his eyes clouded and unlike their normally angry self.
"Yes, that's better," he purred like a maniac. "Do that quicker next time." Shimmerpaw sat down and lashed her tail. She nodded glumly, cursing at Honeystar for picking Lionscar for her mentor.
Flashback
"Catch me!" Shimmerkit squealed, jumping down onto Foxkit. The big red tom screeched as the brown cat flopped onto him, her eyes shimmering with excitement.
"Unwarriorlike," a golden tom growled from nearby, his ears flat, eyes narrowed. Shimmerkit scowled darkly at him.
"Mind your own business, loser!" she yowled, stomping away. She could hear Foxkit chattering like a starling to the big golden tom. "Come on Foxkit!" Foxkit sent the golden cat an apologetic glance at bolted away towards her.
"What's your problem?" he hissed. "Lionscar didn't do anything!" Shimmerkit just glared at him, drool hanging from her mouth in thin, limp threads.
"I don't trust him!" she sighed in frustration. Foxkit sniffed.
"Just because you don't trust him doesn't mean you have to drag me into your misgivings!" He stormed off, looking furious. Shimmerkit hesitated. Had she been a little harsh?
"What's wrong, little kit?" a sweet meow sounded behind her. Shimmerkit whipped around, her crystal blue gaze widening as she saw the majestic golden tabby she-cat standing in front of her, tail curled around her paws.
"Oh, uh," Shimmerkit murmured.
"Go on," the she-cat meowed. "My name's Honeystar." Shimmerkit glanced at her paws, and poured out her misgivings to the tom called Lionscar. At the end, Honeystar watched her with amusement dancing in her orange eyes.
"So please don't give Lionscar to me as my mentor!" Shimmerkit pleaded. Honeystar said nothing, but just nodded softly. Happiness expanded in Shimmerkit. "Thank you!"
Shimmerpaw growled softly. Looks like the old she-cat had forgotten in six moons' time their promise. Lionscar shot her a tired look, and pointed at the apprentices' den.
"Go chat with the other apprentices," he muttered, heading away to join his batch of friends. Shimmerpaw nodded, and padded over to Songpaw, Birdpaw and Ivypaw.
"Hey," they meowed. "How was training?"
"Horrible," Shimmerpaw muttered. "I'm so tired of Lionscar telling me to unsheathe my claws during training!" At the sound of Shimmerpaw's mentor, all three pairs of eyes went dark with jealousy.
"How could you say that?" Ivypaw growled. "You're so lucky to have him as your mentor!"
"Yeah, totally," Shimmerpaw snarled softly. "Now-"
"Here." Ivypaw shoved a mouse at her. "Take it. My friends and I aren't hungry anymore."
"Thanks." Shimmerpaw managed to remember her manners in the midst of her hunger and dove in. She stood up. "I'm going to sleep." She headed into the apprentices' den, feeling full. A few hours later, she woke up, tummy rumbling at pangs of pain wove through her. "Hey guys," she groaned weakly. Three orange pairs of eyes met her. "My tummy hurts. Can you get me something from Sweetberry?"
"Yeah," Birdpaw rasped. The three cats slipped out into the night. Some time later, they came back with a few things.
"Eat it," Ivypaw coaxed. "It's poppy seeds. Sweetberry said it will make you sleep so you won't feel the pain anymore." Shimmerpaw eagerly ate them. A heartbeat later, Shimmerpaw coughed uncontrollably at stumbled into the forest, hoping to find a good place to vomit so she wouldn't disturb her Clanmates. Ivypaw, Birdpaw and Songpaw followed her out.
"Well?" Ivypaw meowed, placing around. Shimmerpaw gazed at her, hollow-eyed.
"Those weren't poppy seeds, were they?" she managed to croak out. Ivypaw barked in laughter.
"Of course they weren't, foolish cat!" she snickered. An empty feeling seized her stomach, and suddenly, Shimmerpaw couldn't breathe.
"Why?" She gasped for air. "Why? What did I do?"
"Everything," Songpaw spat. "You took all the attention! You were the star of the Clan! You were always said to be a hero! We were pushed to the side like dust and beetles!"
"You took everything away from us!" Birdpaw snarled. "That's why you're going to pay. With you out of the way, we will live the perfect life."
"What did you give me?" Shimmerpaw gasped again. Ivypaw let a small smile play across her lips.
"The Twoleg poison we found at the border." Shimmerpaw gazed with sad, grief-filled eyes at the cats she called friends.
"You poisoned me?" she whispered hoarsely. "How could you?" Songpaw began to laugh. Ignoring her questions.
"You will rot here in the forest, and no one will discover our crime," she meowed. With their voices ringing in her ears, Shimmerpaw began to feel her eyelids droop and breathing slow down to short gasps.
"No," she whispered. "No, pleaseā¦" Shimmerpaw gave way to dizzying blackness, her heart giving one last pump. Her last desperate cry was never heard.
Someone, help.
Well, what do you think?
~Wish (and Amberflower)
