Chapter 12: Suicide after genocide
IMPORTANT NOTE: This chapter does not feature Redstripe at all, nor does it have scenes from his perspective. It is still important to the story, however, and you are advised to read it. Bluewhisker and Icetail are very important characters as you will see in later chapters.
Bluewhisker was in tears by the time she got home that day.
All she could think about was Icetail and how she betrayed her. It wasn't just the fact that she fired too early. It was the fact that she shot innocent cats and tried to kill her and her other two companions. Bluewhisker wanted revenge badly, because that's the kind of cat she is. But she knew that Icetail was completely out of her control at this point. Bluewhisker had absolutely no idea where she went and how to kill her without getting outsmarted. She knew it was best to just stop thinking about it and move on. Everyone loses close friends at some point. It's funny. Just laugh the pain away.
Fishfur and Lightpelt looked at Bluewhisker with curiosity as she started laughing hysterically, but it was worth it. A daily dose of common sense to wash the baddies away.
Icetail PoV:
The hospital wasn't so bad. They were nice. They didn't listen to her, but they comforted and cared for her when she needed it.
Memories started coming back to Icetail's head. She didn't remember much, but she remembered accidentally shooting a bullet off of the den wall into her arm. The traumatic experience played itself on loop inside Icetail's mind.
And she couldn't remember the pain of the impact. But she remembered that horrible, long thirty minutes when she had to drag her body to the hospital without dying. That experience had been more traumatic to her than accidentally shooting herself.
Icetail still wasn't sure whether she killed all of the RiverClan warriors or if some of them escaped. Redstripe hadn't died, that was clear. He emergency-teleported himself to who-knows-where. This made Icetail angry. The entire point of their mission was to kill Redstripe! But it all seemed like it was for nothing now.
Icetail still felt horrible about the whole... genocide thing. RiverClan would never be the same again. She might have eventually been let back into the camp by some other leader, but now, that potential leader would be dead.
RiverClan was gone.
Three days later, Icetail was released from the hospital and her arm was good as new.
"Thank you for your cooperation, dear. You're free to go," said one of the nurses.
Icetail nodded and exited the room, taking her backpack with her since the coppers wanted a look-see.
Out on the streets, Icetail was hated on. Every cat around her was dissing her because of the incident. Just leave me the fuck alone! She knew they wouldn't, but she raised a mental middle finger.
Cats out here never understand what it's like to lose control when you need it most. None of them could ever relate. She knew it was best to ignore them and move on, but she couldn't help clawing up a cat who tried to grab her backpack.
Soon, Icetail reached her very own destination. She didn't want to turn herself in to the police, and she still felt really shitty. She looked down from where she was standing. Her vision blurred. Fifty feet. This drop could kill her. Just like she wanted. Icetail banged her head against the tree trunk a few times. She was in tears. Crying so much that it felt unreal. But that didn't matter. Icetail had come here for a reason, and she was ready to let it all happen. Don't think. Just do it, she told herself.
Icetail reflected on her life one last time. And then she let go of the rope.
She fell for mere seconds, and then everything went black.
TO BE CONTINUED.