Rose ran until she could no longer breathe and her paws felt like they were about to fall off. The she-cat knew that she was miles away from Timber, and she was happy with that. Her heart felt like it had been ripped open by fox teeth and her regret burned like a sizzling and spitting flame. Rose fell onto the earth and curled into a tight ball so that her muzzle touched her slightly swollen belly.
"He lied to me…I knew I shouldn't have trusted him." Rose quaked, running her tongue across her belly fur. Her body shivered in tiredness and tears, never in her life had she felt to let down. Timber struck her right in the heart!
He has another family…another mate…other kits. Rose thought with a pinch of furious anger lingering in the bottom of her heart. The same lingering anger that was the days she was still getting to know Timber. Rose regretted getting close to him.
The bright orange beams of sunset glowed behind the tall oak trees that covered the forest and turned Rose's fur into a scarlet ray of its own. Rose pressed her paw against her stomach and let out a saddened sigh.
"We don't need him…" Rose knew it was a lie. Timber was their when she fell from the tree and hurt her paw, he was there to warm her the night the rain water had made her body cold, he was there when she was attacked by the strange tom, and he was also there for her kits…
A raven flew onto a nearby tree and tipped its head in curiosity at the distressed mother. Rose's shoulder's quaked in as a fresh wave of tears coursed down her cheeks; the raven flew down beside her and dropped a flower at her paws, it was a pink rose that was lightly dappled with white flecks. Rose sniffed and looked up, the bird looked familiar.
"I know you." Mewed Rose quietly, sweeping the flower closer to her with her tail. The raven cawed lightly and shook the dust from his feathers, the floating debris from his dirty wings drifted softly into the air and reflected off of the sunset's rays. It was the raven that Rose tried to kill the day she fell out of the tree. The day I never loved Timber! Rose shook the thought away with a snarl and looked back at the bird. "Thank you…it's beautiful."
The bird tipped its head, pecked the ground once and flapped away on wide wings. Rose longed for the bird to come back but it was gone. Her world had never felt so lonely.
Thank you…I owe you one. Rose looked up at the sky and back down at the rose the bird had given her.
She lay down and closed her eyes, the rose tucked beside her cheek until a dream reached her mind.