Well; here is EXPECTATIONS!!! ^^ Oh, btw; if you DON'T want to read an INCREDIBLY graphic scene (well, actually; it's just like Chapter 2; Dawnpaw is back! ^^) then, SKIP RIGHT TO CHAPTER 11!!! :o I won't stop you. ;3 Although; I WOULD like it if you would read, AND review, Chapter 10 AND 11, sooooooo.... ;) Yeah. ^^
Expectations
Have you ever had a time where you felt that someone expected too much of you?
Have you ever had a time when you just wanted to say no?
Have you ever had a time when you just…. couldn't?
Lilypaw was feeling that way one morning in green-leaf. Her mentor, Leopardclaw, had ordered her to bring back ten pieces of prey.
She felt that it was too much, but it was all part of her apprentice training, she reminded herself. Besides, she had seen Blackpaw and Whitepaw, on separate occasions, bring in more than fifteen pieces of prey! It was impressive, and she had always wanted to be just like them.
For that, I'll have to get better at hunting. And I can do it this way! Her spirits soared. She could be just like her two idols!
She stalked lightly through the forest, and came up with her first piece of prey: a mouse. She was near the Sky Oak. It was scavenging among the tree roots, looking for acorns. Lilypaw let out a quiet purr. This one's all mine!
She stalked lightly toward it, and pounced.
As she flew through the air, she let out a caterwaul. She saw the mouse drop the seed it was eating, looking confused. It looked up and saw her with widened eyes. It tried to get away….
….But she was too quick. She finished it off with a quick bite to the neck. The little guy never felt a thing.
I never wanted him to be in pain, she thought. I just want to pass my hunting assessment!
As the morning wore on, her hunting went pretty good. She missed two rabbits and a squirrel, but she did get another rabbit and another squirrel to make up for the first three missed catches.
The rabbit was her favourite catch of all.
She peeked over a log and there it was, eating grasses on the other side, in the other sun-filled clearing. She let out a loud yowl and jumped over the log.
The rabbit startled; and, looking up, saw her. It immediately began to run.
Lilypaw sprinted after it at full speed. She chased it through bushes, over a tiny stream trickling through the woods, and to the WindClan border. At first, she thought she wasn't going to get it.
But then, she felt a miraculous burst of speed. She sped forward to get it and caught it in her claws. It wriggled desperately, trying to get out. But, no; she had a good choke-hold on it.
She bent down to bite the life out of it. She chomped down on its neck and snapped it. The rabbit went limp and its eyes slowly glazed over.
That's good! Lilypaw thought happily.
She took the rabbit back to where she had buried everything else. She counted her prey.
"Nine," she said out loud. "I have nine pieces of prey. I just need one more!"
She slowly crept through the woods, and, coming across a blue jay, started to stalk that. It was searching for seeds at the bottom of a tree.
One step, two steps, three steps….
On the fourth step, it was death. Death for the blue jay, I mean. She pounced on it!
She killed it and took it back to her prey stash. She took her prey back to camp.
Her mentor was sitting in the middle of the camp when she got back. When Leopardclaw saw how well she had done, he purred, "Great! You can eat first if Whitepaw and Blackpaw don't bring in more prey…. oh, wait. They're on patrol duty and elder duty today. You can eat first!"
"Thank you, Leopardclaw!" she purred, picking a plump rabbit brought in by one of the other warriors and eating it. She was hungry!
One by one, the other cats began to come and eat, too. Leopardclaw proudly told everyone how well she had done, and her brother came up her and nudged her.
"Hey, I heard you're doing as well as Whitepaw and Blackpaw now!" he said happily, entwining her tail with his.
Lilypaw looked back at Fishpaw. "Well, it all comes down to living up to expectations!" she purred happily.