BURIED ALIVE

A/N: Heyo! So, I was very hesitant to post this chapter. It is by far my darkest story ever. It definently qualifies as M material. If you choose to read it, it is centered around a myth in Bluestar's Prophecy. It says that Sweetpaw was buried alive and not killed by the bad mouse as it states in the book.

And thanks to all my awesome reviewers! Your support means so much to me. And to any of you who haven't yet reviewed, please do. It inspires me.

WARNING: The following contains adult themes and references. Please don't scar yourselves.

CHARACTERS

Poppydawn-Dark red tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Thistleclaw-Spiky furred gray and white tom with amber eyes

Sweetpaw-Tortoiseshell and white she-cat with green eyes

Moonflower-Blue-gray she-cat with blue eyes

Shredtail-Brown tabby tom with green eyes

Nightstrike-Black she-cat with yellow eyes and a white stripe

Well, well, well what do we have here? Oh? You want to hear a story? Are you sure about that one little kits? It's not a nice story, I must warn you. Well, if you insist...

I felt warm fur press against me as I lay in my nest of bracken and moss. My stomach hurt beyond compare and I hurt all over, Why did I eat that mouse? I thought in agony. Only the comfort of my mother beside me gave strength to my tired bones.

"It's going to be okay, my sweet. Just go to sleep now, and in the morning you'll feel better," she murmmered. I felt another cat curl up on my other side, the soft fur more of a comfort than the moss of my nest. It must have been my sister. I let out a ragged sigh and tried to sleep. It was not until nearly dawn that I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


"Sweetpaw, no!" her voice broke through to my barely conscious mind. I heard, barely, what sounded like Bluefur saying something to my mom. I couldn't move and their voices sounded very far away. I couldn't feel much; I felt nothing until someone drug me to what I assumed was the clearing. I saw nothing, smelled nothing, and heard only faint sounds.

I thought I heard Thistleclaw's voice, but I couldn't be sure. I think Poppydawn, Rosepaw, and he lay by me. I felt, on some level, noses pressing into my fur. It was such a faint feeling that I doubted whether it really was them or not. For some reason, they couldn't feel my heartbeat or my breathing. Then again, I didn't feel much of that myself.

What is going on? I thought. I tried to move, but my limbs wouldn't respond and I stayed limp. I tried to yowl, to let them know I was still alive and with them. But nothing came out. Fear began to make its way into my mind at this point. I felt hopeless and sad that I caused so much pain for my family.

Soon, it overwhelmed me and I kept trying to thrash around, hoping someone would notice any movement from me at all and try to break whatever was doing this to me. But, no one saw my struggles, no one felt my fear. I felt as if I was doomed to be this way forever. I couldn't help but feel a tremendous weight of loneliness descend on me. It caused my struggles to move to increase-not like it made a difference.

Then, a horrifically frightening realization dawned on me; what was going to happen when they buried the body they thought was dead? Had I not been in this state, a whimper of fear would have come from my mouth. I felt completely and utterly helpless; not being able to use many-if not all-my senses.

That fear traveled with me throughout that terribly long night, during which I knew my family was sitting vigil for me. I passed the time wondering what sort of sickness would make my body become like this. First, I thought it might have been a punishment from StarClan. But then I thought, Why would they do something so cruel?

After what must have been hours-time was hard to keep track of with muddled senses-I heard faint voices. One had a tone of authority. I then felt as if the noses that had been pressed into my fur had disappeared. I heard a very muffled exclamation of shock and began to wonder what was happening. After a few more minutes, I was itching to know what was going down outside my level of comprehension. Feeling had returned to my toes, even if it was only a tiny amount, it gave me hope that soon someone would notice that I was alive and well.

I then took notice of how tired I felt, so tired in fact I could have fallen asleep at any time. With happy thoughts of being saved, I gave in to the cozy darkness-as if I could see anything anyway-of sleep.

My dreams were full of scenes of me being buried alive, suffocating as dirt filled my lungs and fading away as I died. But worst of all, images of my spirit stuck in the ground to rot forever. It sends tremors of fear down my back just recalling these nightmares. I just wish I could have cut all those out of my life; maybe then the last hours of my existence would have been easier.

I woke to the feeling of being lifted off the ground. I still felt very little but it was enough to know that I was being lifted off grass and not the hard dirt of the clearing. Dread coursed through my mind and inside I screamed, No! I'm still alive!

But, as before, I was not heard. My grave digger lifted me and dropped me into what was undoubtedly my grave, my final resting place. But, my tale does not end there. I heard-my hearing had improved too, by a little-dirt being shifted and moved. I felt its cold presence on my fur as they tossed the soil on top of me to conceal my corpse as it rotted away.

I was now able to detect my faint breathing and heartbeat. By this time, half my body was encased in dirt. There was a very slim chance the tiny rise and fall of my chest would show through the layers pf soil. I struggled to move, to no avail. My mind began to panic, What do I do? How do I escape this; how do I let them know I'm alive? I could concoct no solutions to solve this horrible problem, I would just have to meet my death head on just like a warrior.

Now, I was also aware that I felt awful. My head hurt, my stomach ached, and my body was tense and sore. If only I could have let out a moan of pain. I heard more dirt shift and more soil landed on my head. I began to breathe in minuscule amounts of dirt, and it hurt like fire since I couldn't sneeze o-r cough. It coiled and flared in my lungs, making inhaling difficult. As more and more dirt was piled into my grave, I felt an increasing pressure pressing my pelt down, Wait, I thought ecstatically, I can feel again!

I tried to move, but yet again I was denied this freedom. Not even a single hair on my pelt would change position. Fear reignited in the pit of my stomach, causing me to try yet again to thrash in panic. I felt the crushing weight of not only my tomb of dirt, but of hopelessness. It had a muffling effect, cutting me off completely from the outside world. By now, I was breathing in more dirt than air but for some reason, I refused to die.

Agony seared my lungs as the dirt scratched and damaged them. The quiet was beginning to mess with my head, only adding to my frustration and fear. The fact that I could feel now tortured me as I struggled to move. In my head I envisioned what was to come; my inevitably painful demise, to the rotting of my body, for I had nothing to do to keep my mind from wandering to this horrid thought and other, far worse thoughts.

As I rotted in that hole, my fur fell off. Next came my skin and flesh as worms writhed in the muscles. Soon, the muscle dried and bone showed. Whatever skin that had not come off was peeled back, exposing even more gleaming bone. Blood had long since dried, caking the bones and skin. And finally, the most chilling part, the empty black sockets where my eyes had once been. Staring straight up, it seemed as if I was cruelly murdered.

The vision returned frequently as I lay there; for how long remains a mystery. Cruel assaults on my mind from these images and thoughts began to drive me over the edge of insanity. I could move now, but shifting the dirt proved to be almost impossible. Still no voice returned to my throat, however. Damage from the soil had taken its toll not only on my lungs and breathing but had made me mute.

Help! I would silently wail to the apparitions of my nightmares. They never did answer me, just stared with hollow, skeleton eyes. I realized then that I was well on my way to joining their ranks. The ranks of the dead souls in StarClan, Please just end my agony! I pleaded.

I moaned, having regained my voice, and almost screeched as I felt the worst sensation in my lungs and throat. It was like a burning, stinging sensation and felt like it stripped the skin right off my insides. Fear pulsed through me yet again, an old acquaintance by now. Pictures flashed in my mind and foam escaped my lips, covering my muzzle in its wetness. I felt darkness of some sort overcoming me and gladly gave in,taking comfort in the lack of thought. I thought no more until a bright white light shone in my vision, No!, I thought, No more life! No more, no more, no more!

It got brighter and brighter until a cat-like shape blocked it, causing me to sigh with relief. Then I realized the pain was gone! My stomach no longer ached and my breathing no longer caused flaming pain. I was finally dead. After countless hours I had finally joined my ancestors.

A sweet, soft meow ruffled my ear fur, "Get up, Sweetpaw. Time to come to StarClan," I scrunched my eyes against the light and peered at the cat. Her fur was blue-gray and her eyes were a soft but beautiful blue. She was the spitting image of Bluefur. Then it hit me, the cat sent to fetch me was Moonflower, Bluefur's mother.

"M-Moonflower? I-Is it over, I don't have to suffer there anymore, right?" I squeaked. My voice sounded like that of a kit saying their first words, raspy and soft.

"No my dear. You've been through a lot," she assured me, "Follow me to your final place among the stars," with that, Moonflower led me into the bright light, so similar to a star. As we stepped through the wall of brightness, birdsong met my ears, oh so welcome after the mind-breaking silence of my grave.

Lush green grass bent under my paws as I padded forward. Happiness, a feeling now seeming so foreign, gave strength to my weary mind and I bounded forward. I collapsed and rolled over in a patch of daisys, relishing the feeling of cool plants after the ever-deadly dirt.

A purr escaped my mouth as I ran and leaped and played like a little kit out of the nursery for the first time. Moonflower watched happily, her soft fur glowing dimly in the sun-high sunlight. We stayed there for the rest of the day, the blue-gray she-cat joining me in my antics after a while.

As night approached, she called me and I followed her happily into the undergrowth. She led me to a mossy nest. It was fluffy and comfy-looking with downy feathers to top it off, "This is your nest, specially prepared for you after your...ah, traumatic death," she meowed kindly. I shuddered at the thought.

"Thank you, Moonflower, for everything," I replied. I hopped into the nest as curled up, making myself comfortable. I let out a sigh of contentment and smiled. I felt even more elated when Bluefur's mother lay next to me, just like Poppydawn would do.

I soon fell asleep, Moonflower's warm presence enough to keep the nightmares and insanity away. When I awoke in the morning, I hoped to feel refreshed and ready to explore the territory of StarClan, my new home.


Many moons of peace passed in StarClan. Today wasimportant, it was the day my brother joined us up in the skies. Thistleclaw was to die in a border skirmish, the way he would have wanted to go. The best part; I was to escort him to StarClan's hunting grounds. As I bounded along to his dying place, I passed where my grave would be.

Anguish and pain flooded my senses and my breath quickened, Not this place, any place but this! I groaned in my head. Long buried memories resurfaced and I ran, ran until I could run no more. There was time before I had to collect my sibling so I sat in the leaves of the forest and weeped.

Insane thoughts raced through my head, ones of jumping off a cliff to end the pain, ones of dark, writhing masses; and ones of crazy foaming-mouthed cats ripping one another apart. Whole armies went at each other, relishing each kill and tearing off meat from their fallen enemies and devouring it.

They melded together slowly, the black shapes meshing with the foaming cats and forcing them to jump off a cliff, leaving broken, bleeding bodies in heaping piles at the bottom. White, glistening bone shown from the masses and blood flooded the dirt. These visions, so similar to those in that dark abyss of a grave terrorized me for the time I sat there in the midst of the trees.

Other, worse thoughts plagued me, ones I dare not mention to kits. These things left cats broken and scarred and violated. Oh, how much suffering one incident could cause, how much agony I endured. I wanted to wail to the sky what was happening to me. As I slowly caught my breath, I regained control and shoved the dark thoughts away.

I got up and weaved through the undergrowth and tree trunks, careful to skirt my grave this time, lest that happened again. As I reached Thistleclaw, the skirmish was just at an end and my brother lay in a pool of his own blood. I waited as his spirit rose from his body and looked around.

He saw me and whispered, "Sweetpaw? Oh, my sister!" the spiky tom ran over and nuzzled me. I nuzzled back, ecstatic to see him, "We've missed you so much. Wait, a-am I...dead?"

The gray warrior looked slightly firghtened, so slightly I may have imagined it, "Yes, it is time for you to join me in StarClan," I mewed, trying to sound as wise as possible. I turned and headed toward the light behind me, the gateway to the stars. He followed, his slightly arrogant air returning.

We were enveloped in a wave of the white light and padded into a world of lush green grass and beautiful trees. I heard my brother take in a breath of wonder. Thistleclaw gazed around in wonder, then it struck me that he had never seen this place before. Suddenly, he leaped into the air, swatting at a falling leaf that was drifting slowly down from the branches of a proud spruce.

A mrrow of laughter erupted from me. Her brother's kittenish behavior was so unlike him I couldn't help myself, "What?" he meowed indignantly. He was staring at me, his eyes playful.

"You're acting like a kit!" I burst into a fit of laughter and my white and gray brother joined in. He crouched down as soon as I finished and leapt at me playfully. We tussled in the grass for a while before we heard a rustling in the bushes to our left. Thistleclaw was on his paws, fur bushed up until a fluffy white face came into view. Her blue eyes sparked with joy as they landed on him.

"Snowfur!" he shouted, racing forward and twining tails with his mate. They purred loudly and rubbed against each other affectionately. Feeling quite awkward, I slipped away, leaving the pair to do whatever they did that day.


One day, I took a walk with my brother. He was very edgy, although we were near the Dark Forest border. On one side was the lush territory of StarClan and starting exactly at the border, slimy trees took over. The border was a shimmering shield of nothingness, transporting you from one resting place to another. But Thistleclaw seemed more wary than any other cat would have been.

I was about to ask him what was making him so ill at ease when a shimmering brown shape appeared on our territory. The shape sank its teeth into my brother's scruff and dragged him snarling and clawing, back through the glimmering wall.

"Bring him back!" I yowled, leaping through the border after them. I was engulfed by what may have been millions of tiny stars and a feeling of being disassembled washed over me. I tried to look around but could see nothing of myself. I began to panic as I frantically searched for any sign of my familiar tortoiseshell fur.

Suddenly, I was dropped into the Dark Forest. I saw the brown cat clawing at a ball of gray and white fur. Thistleclaw. I screeched a battle cry and jumped onto the tom's back. I was promptly thrown off into a slimy tree covered in dimly glowing moss. I heard a demonic laugh in my ear as all faded to black.

Yowls woke me from my slumber; it was the battle cries of two cats locked in combat, "Don't you ever touch my sister again, you filthy beast!" that was Thistleclaw as he battled the brown tom from earlier. I lifted my head groggily and watched as the Tom pinned my brother to the dank soil.

Just then, as my grogginess faded, a violated feeling washed over me and I instinctively curled my tail under me, covering my stomach. Fear overtook me as I wondered what had happened to me. I whimpered, catching the attention of the two battling cats.

A wild look entered the tom's eyes. Glaring at the tom, Thistleclaw meowed, "Oh, don't even think about it, Shredtail. I will shred you!" He struggled under Shredtail's weight and hissed in his face.

"No you won't. You need to be punished!" He drew his claws slowly across my brother's muzzle and the spiky tom spat in reply. His amber eyes blazed with defiance. His fur was fluffed up and his tail lashed, stirring up moldy leaves on the forest floor. The brown tom then whipped his head around and his green eyes bored into my skull.

"Wanna hear a secret?" the tom whispered. Scared for my own safety and fearing he might repeat whatever he did to my while I was unconcious, I nodded slowly, "I caused your misery! I caused your coma and your being buried alive by your own kin!" he yowled hysterically, "I killed you!" a cackling, insane fit of laughter erupted from Shredtail.

"I-I what?" stammered Thistleclaw in horror. He lay beneath his opponent, utterly dumbfounded at this information. His amber eyes were wide and shocked and his mouth hung open.

"You buried her alive! Ha ha ha!" Shredtail cackled. The evil tom was obviously enjoying the pain he was causing. I felt torn apart. My own brother had been the one to toss me into the worst time of my life. He had unknowingly scarred and killed me.

"No, no, no. You crowfood-eating piece of mouse fodder!" my brother surged upwards, successfully flipping over his distracted enemy and pinning him to the ground, "Die, you sniveling, no good-"

"Ah, ah, ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you," at that moment, another cat stepped out of the shadows of the glowing, rotten forest. This one was a she-cat so faded, I could see every dead blade of grass through her, "I did it for your own good, my apprentice. You were growing soft, you see, so I got rid of your weakness and made you stronger!"

She was black as night with one piercing white stripe running from her ear all the way down her face, through her eye, across her nose and down to her front paw. She walked forward and pinned me to the ground, "Join us, or she will-as a slave," her yellow eyes seemed to bore into my throat, making me feel almost dead already.

Thistleclaw froze, eyes wide again. He lowered his head and closed his eyes, "Fine," he muttered, "It's not like I don't belong here for training with you filth anyway."

He let Shredtail up and stepped back. He gazed up at me, eyes glimmering with sadness and he trudged toward me. He buried his nose in my fur for a few seconds and I just stood, frozen with shock, "Please don't. Wh-What will I tell Snowfur?" I sobbed.

"Don't tell her anything, except I went willingly," With that, he turned and plodded into the forest of dim, slimy trees and rank earth. The she-cat came forward and nudged me toward StarClan.

"If you ever want to hear about your brother, call for Nightstrike," she mewed as I crossed the border. Her voice was so nice I couldn't understand why she would be there instead of at peace in StarClan.

"I will, thank you," I replied. She turned and disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Suddenly, the violated feeling returned. I realized how scared and tired I was and raced through the trees to my nest. Nightmares plagued me night and day from then on, so much it was hard to tell when I was awake or asleep.

Memories resurfaced of the almost torture I experienced while half conscious that day-or night? I don't remember-and they haunted me along with the thought that Thistleclaw was suffering in that place.

One day, many, many moons later after out journey to the lake, I awoke to a horrid sight. It was Shredtail standing in front of me, teeth bared and glistening with blood.

Well, there you have it, the nightmare I endure even today. Oh, that? Well, I never truly left. Yes, this bright green grass, it's an illusion. Oh no! They've spotted us! Now, run. Run for your lives.

A/N: For any of you who read this chapter, please review! I really enjoy hearing what you think.

QOTC: Who's your favorite Dark Forest cat? Mine's either Snowtuft or Hawkfrost.

-Creek out!