The Broken Cat
Chapter 4
Scourge resentfully pushed his way into his den, which was a crack in a red brick building. It was dusty in there, and full of bugs and dirt. Scourge crawled into the back of it, and curled into a ball. He was tired, and more than anything, starving. He had asked Boulder hours ago to bring him something to eat, but he had not seen him since. He could hear his belly growling, cramping his insides so much it hurt. Scourge opened his green eyes against the gloom of the den, glaring out into the gray and black world.
Ihateeveryone,he thought. Igivethesecatsaplacetolive,andtheytreatmelikedirt.Whyshouldn'tImakethemfearme?Whyshouldn'ttheybowtome,Igavethemalifeoffthestreets.
Scourge shut his eyes again, dark thoughts spinning in his mind.
They're all just a bunch of misfits. Stupid, worthless, cats. I wish they were dead.
Scourge felt his heart hurt as he thought these things. He felt his paws numb as he realized every cat he cat grown close to in his eight months of being alive, they all hated him, or feared him.
They are stupid. They are too dumb to understand that maybe I wouldn't hate them the way I do,
Scourge felt his mind drifting off into sleep.
If they all didn't hate me.
Poppyseed listened to the pounding of paws coming from the gorse entrance. The evening patrol was back, and by the sounds of it, they brought in dinner for the clan. She pushed her head out of her den entrance, and saw Tanglestar, Rowenheart and a she-cat named Whitewhisker dropping their catches on the fresh kill pile. Poppyseed noticed Rowenheart limping; his paw was getting worse.
"Hi!" Poppyseed greeted them. Tanglestar stopped proudly admiring his thrush to look up at the medicine cat.
"Look at the haul we brought in!" he exclaimed happily. "There will be no hungry bellies tonight."
"Good job," Poppyseed marveled.
"Rowenheart had a hard time keeping up sometimes," Whitewhisker commented, making him squirm uncomfortably.
Poppyseed realized with a jolt that Rowenheart had not told them about the thorn.
"I noticed that too," Tanglestar said mildly as he drew a paw to wash his face. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I feel fine," Rowenheart mumbled. "I just pulled a muscle when I leaped too far," Rowenheart said, then started padding his way off to the warriors den.
"He's limping!" Whitewhisker gasped. "Poppyseed, you should go check on him."
Poppyseed narrowed her eyes. "I plan to," she growled.
"Be careful what you say!" Whitewhisker called after her. "He's very proud!"
Poppyseed didn't reply, focused on what she was going to say to her clanmate, who outright lied to his clan leader! Poppyseed peered into the warriors den, and saw Rowenheart desperately digging into his paw. The pad was very swollen, and a painful shade of red. She could see tears brimming at Rowenhearts eyes; he was obviously in a lot of pain.
"Would you like some help?" Poppyseed asked softly. Rowenhearts head snapped up as he realized she was standing there. "So you can tell me I'm going to be exiled and I deserve it?" he mumbled. "No thanks."
"Look, Rowenheart…" Poppyseeds voice trailed off. "I didn't seriously mean you would have to leave the clan, I just wanted you to learn a little humility."
Rowenheart continued searching for the thorn and didn't reply.
"Whether we like it or not, some cats are going to be born with defects. The right thing we should have done with Amissa was let her live, and teach her to cope. It was wrong to let her die, and I'm sorry we did it. But that doesn't mean we'd do the same thing to you if you couldn't use your leg anymore."
Rowenheart rested his injured paw lightly on the ground. He flinched, very slightly. Poppyseed pretended not to notice.
"Don't sit there and pretend you're not enjoying this," he hissed. "Starclans trying to teach me a lesson, and so are you. I will not life the same fate as my daughter," he pushed himself up on one paw, holding the injured one high off the ground. Poppyseed was blank for words as he pushed past her, and felt angry with herself for being so cruel to him, when it was so blatantly obvious he needed help.
"Look!" Snowy squealed. She was walking without stumbling, and Bone was impressed.
"Good job," he grunted. Snowy charged over to him and collapsed onto his exposed belly.
"Oof!" Bones breath was driven out of him. "Snowy, don't you think you're getting a little big for that?"
Snowy nuzzled her head into his belly. "I'm never too old to play with my dad!" she squealed. Bone stopped short, and didn't even react when Snowy tickled him with her tail. Boulder had heard her too, and was looking over at him with a grim expression on his face.
"I'm going outside," Boulder announced, and when Snowy wasn't looking he mouthed the words "Tell her!" to Bone. Bone pushed Snowy off him, and looked at her seriously. "Snowy, you know I'm not your dad, don't you?"
Snowy scuffed her paws on the cardboard ground. "I know," she said sadly. "I just forget sometimes."
Bone looked at her, wishing he actually was her father.
"It's just that, when I poke my head outside to get fresh air, all I see is young cats playing with their parents. Mink has three kits of her own, and I've seen that golden tabby who lives in the box next to us play with his sons. I don't have any parents," Snowy said, her eyes brimming with sadness.
"Well, Snowy you're lucky. Do you know why?" Bone said gently.
"Why?"
"Because you have two dads. Boulder and I love you like a daughter."
Snowy brightened at this. "Twodads?" she said happily. Bone nodded his head. Snowy squeaked with excitement and barreled out of the box. It took two seconds for Bone to realize what she had done. He thrust his head under the cardboard flap. "Snowy!" he cried. "Get back in here before Scourge sees-"
His voice cut off and blood ran cold. Scourge had noticed Snowy, and was making his way towards her.
