A Perfect Circle ~ April Contest

Prompt: "Ask yourself if what you're doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow."

Words: 1961

Nightmares

A young golden she-cat watched as a dusky-brown mouse licked its paws and cleaned its face and whiskers. She positioned herself into a crouch, ready to pounce at any moment. She felt the leaves crackle under her belly and she held her breath in hopes that the small mouse would not hear the crackling of the leaves.

The mouse lifted up its muzzle and sniffed. It turned around and started to briskly run away. The she-cat let out a growl. There was no way she'd let it get away!

She sprang into action and bounded after the mouse. The tiny creature glanced behind it and let out a terrified squeak, before bolting ahead. But the she-cat followed it, not letting it leave her sight.

She chased it, barely feeling tired— she felt as though she could run forever. A bush appeared up ahead and she watched as the mouse scurried under it. She quickly halted and sniffed for the mouse. She caught its scent and unsheathed her claws. The leaves of the bush rustled and she prepared for the mouse to come scurrying out of it.

Suddenly something blocked the sun as it ascended, covering the she-cat with its shadow. The golden cat slowly looked up to notice gleaming white fangs bared into a ferocious snarl. Bright, vibrant green eyes contrasted against dull orangey-red fur matted with blood—the blood of its prey.

"Fox!" she yowled. "Help!"

She turned around as quick as she possibly could and bolted away from the creature. Unfortunately for her, the fox had seen her as prey and chased after her. The camp appeared just beyond the horizon and she tried to put on an extra burst of speed, but her paws were suddenly stuck to the ground. She could hear voices coming from the camp so she yowled for help, but no one came to her rescue.

"Help! Help me please!" she cried.

The fox grabbed her back leg and started to pull her away from the light of her camp and into the darkness. Her leg was throbbing in pain and she thought that it would fall off.

"Somebody!" she squealed. "Anybody! Help me please!"

Suddenly, she felt as though she were flying as the sadistic creature threw her up in the air and opened its jaws wide.

"No! Please!"

The shining teeth became closer and the she-cat could see how the tips of the fox's teeth were tinged red. She closed her eyes, ready to accept her inevitable fate but yowled out for help one last time in hopes that someone would come to her aid.

"Please help me!"

"Honeypaw!"

She pricked her ears up. Someone had called her name!

"Help me!" she begged. "Please help me!"

"Honeypaw, wake up!"

The golden she-cat's eyes burst open. She was panting and a sweat had broken on her forehead.

"Wha-what h-happened?" she asked, in between pants. "Th-there was a fox. I-I saw it."

A grey tabby tom glanced at her with a concerned frown on his face. "Another nightmare, huh?" he replied.

Honeypaw narrowed her eyes. "It seemed so real, Smokewing!" she argued. "It was just like what happened two sunrises ago..." She glanced at her back leg. She had cleaned up what fur was left on her leg so it was no longer matted with dry blood.

"Your brother misses you," Smokewing purred. "He came in earlier and told me that the apprentice den isn't the same without you."

Honeypaw glanced longingly at the ferns leading outside to the camp, before glancing back down at her leg. "Well, Rowanpaw will just have to survive without me," she declared with a nod. "He still has Bluepaw, Frostpaw and Stormpaw. Littlekit and Brownkit are nearly old enough to be apprenticed as well, so he'll be fine without me. I need time to heal— how am I going to be a good warrior if I still haven't healed completely?"

She laid her head on her paws and closed her eyes. Smokewing shook his head and went back to work. He didn't need to worry... He knew she'd realise how much she missed being an apprentice and she'd beg to be let out of the medicine cat den within a matter of days.

.

"Smokewing, I'm hungry!"

The grey tabby's ear pinned back and he thrashed his tail around in anger. "Go out to the fresh-kill pile and pick something out then," he growled.

"But I still haven't healed completely!" she whined. "Every time I stand on my leg, I fall back down. It still hurts!"

"When was the last time you actually got up?" Smokewing snapped back. "Two moons ago?"

"A quarter moon ago, actually!" she retorted.

"You've been here for almost three moons!" Smokewing cried, exasperated. "Surely, you want to go back to your apprentice duties? Don't you? Your brother is already a warrior and you're still sitting in here doing absolutely nothing! Don't you want to be outside learning and having fun?"

"But I still need—"

"Yes, I know. I know!" he growled. "You still need time to heal."

Honeypaw let out a huff and Smokewing glared at her. "Does it even hurt anymore?" he asked.

"Of course it does!" she snapped. "That's why I'm in here, mouse-breath." She looked down at her paws. "It just doesn't hurt as much— but I want to be fully healed before I do anything or go anywhere."

Smokewing groaned. "Leaf-bare is nearly here— I will need space for all of my sick Clanmates and you are wasting both space and herbs." He huffed in annoyance. "I want you out."

Honeypaw's brown eyes widened. "What?" she gasped.

"You heard me."

"Bu-but I can't go yet!" she cried. "I'm still injured!"

"Smokewing! Honeypaw!" a small voice called out from outside the den. "I brought you some food!"

Honeypaw perked up and Smokewing let out a sigh, but still invited the apprentice into the den to give them the prey.

A small brown tabby tom padded into the den holding a raven almost the size of him. He put it down in front of the grey tabby medicine cat with a goofy but proud smile.

"Why, thank you, Littlepaw." Smokewing gave the apprentice a polite nod. "But my patient here could have gotten us some food by herself," he added with an annoyed tone.

"But it was the first bird I've ever caught and I wanted you to have it," Littlepaw explained shyly.
You've done so much to help the Clan and I wanted you to have my bird as a thank you."

"Did you hear that, Honeypaw?" Smokewing teased lightly. "He understands. I knew one day an apprentice would appreciate what I do to help."

"How did you even catch the bird?" Honeypaw asked. "I still haven't caught one. They're so fast once they're frightened."

"Well... I just asked myself if what I was doing today was getting me closer to what I wanted to do tomorrow," he replied, in awe that an older cat was asking for his advice.

He noticed the confused look on Honeypaw's face so he continued. "I'm a small cat," he admitted. "I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep up with my brother, even though I tried. So every day, instead of doing something useless like resting in my nest during the day, I trained or joined patrols. I knew that if I kept trying, I'd eventually reach my goal— to show the other apprentices that although I am small, I am also strong."

Smokewing glanced at Honeypaw with a smug look plastered to his face. Her eyes were wide and she nodded along to Littlepaw's every word.

"Thank you for the raven, Littlepaw," Smokewing purred.

Littlepaw dipped his head and padded out of the medicine cat den, a smile running from one side of his face to the other. Smokewing dropped to his belly and started to chew at the raven in silence. An offended huff interrupted his thoughts and he glanced up at Honeypaw.

"Are you planning on sharing that?" she huffed.

"Oh! I am so sorry, Honeypaw!" he gasped in mock surprise. He pushed the raven a mousetail length away of him. "Here, have some."

Honeypaw tried to reach the raven, but it was too far for her to reach it. She growled. "I can't get to it, Smokewing!" she complained. "Push it a little closer. Or at least come over here so we can eat it together."

Smokewing gave her a smug glance. "Ask yourself if what you're doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow." He noticed her give a small snort and a roll of the eyes. He nosed the raven a little bit closer to the golden she-cat. "Here— come on, Honeypaw. You can come over here. We'll eat it here."

Honeypaw sighed. There was no way he was going to compromise— Smokewing was stubborn as a badger— and she was hungry. She pushed herself into a sitting position on her back legs and was shocked to find that there was no pain when she sat on her back leg.

She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. She pictured herself running in the sun with her mentor, Jaypool and Rowanflame by her side.

She thought about what she wanted to be able to do tomorrow. Instantly, she pictured the camp. Brownpaw and Littlepaw would be hauling in fresh-kill. The elders would be telling the kits stories of their youth. Crowstar and Heathercloud would be sending cats on patrol— and she would be one of them!

She exhaled and opened her eyes.

Lifting herself up, she waited for a second to get her balance. She lifted a shaky front paw and placed it in front of her and repeated with her other three paws.

"I'm walking!" she exclaimed proudly.

Smokewing rolled his eyes. "You sound like you've broken a bone and have been completely unable to move."

"Just shut up and be proud for me," she snapped lightly, with an amused spark in her eyes.

"Wow!" Smokewing gasped sarcastically. "I can't believe you're walking! How is this possible? The medicine cat who healed you must be an absolute genius! He must be the smartest cat in the Clans to be able to heal an open wound that wasn't infected or broken! Well done, Honeypaw! You're walking!"

Honeypaw let out an unamused snort and padded— albeit slowly— over to Smokewing and dropped down to her belly. She took a bite of the raven, savouring the victory and triumph of being able to walk over to it. "Best raven I've ever tasted," she purred.

Smokewing gave her a smug smile. "Eh. It's a little chewy."

Honeypaw shot a mock glare at the tom. "Smokewing," she meowed.

"Mm-hm?"

"As much as I love your company and support—"

"Any time."

The she-cat slapped Smokewing in the face with the tip of her tail. "—As much as I love your company and support, I've decided that I want to go back. I want to feel the wind in my fur and I want to hear the birds sing in the trees, I want to hunt for my Clan. I want to be an apprentice again. I know what I want to do tomorrow and so today, I'm going to tell Crowstar that I'm going to go back to my apprentice duties."

"I thought you'd never leave!" Smokewing purred in relief with a chuckle.

Honeypaw took another bite of the raven and practiced what she was going to say to her leader. Soon, she'd be back and she would show the others that she was still strong and would make an excellent warrior.

Today, the medicine cat den. Tomorrow, the apprentice den!