Silenced Nights - wc

[FERNKIT/10]

      "Fernpaw, Fernpaw!" The sounds of my brother shook me awake, and I glanced around nervously; afraid that a tree had suddenly fallen on the apprentice's den.

     "Berrypaw? Is everything okay?" I was sure that my worry was heard through my words, and I timidly pushed my head out of the den and into the sunlight. I meowed in surprise, turning it back around swiftly to avoid the sun.

     "Come quickly! Something... something's wrong." Berrypaw meowed, and I looked to see him kneading his paws together. I pulled myself out of the den, stretched, and wasted no time in following him towards the medicine den.

     He stopped short, and I peered past him to see a huge mass of cats all by the entrance. "Oh no..." I whimpered to myself.

     "Get back!" Goldentuft yowled, yanking me back by my scruff. Berrypaw scurried to my side, and we both shared equal looks of worry.

     I heard the pained yowls and shared wails long before I saw Lioncry and Fallenleap carrying the body. "W-who is it?" I whispered to Berrypaw, hoping my eyes deceived me.

     "Cloudpaw!" yowled Hazelfeather, pushing everyone out of the way to reach her son.

     "Please, Hazelfeather," Fallenleap begged. "The burial needs to be done soon before Shining Clan gets mad at us."

     "Shining Clan? Shining Clan has killed my baby!" Hazelfeather sobbed, weeping into the limp, tiny, white body. I regretted ever believing that Cloudpaw had been the traitor. Cherrytooth and Mistyfoot worked together to hold the devastated she-cat back as the two elders slowly carried the body farther away from the medicine cat entrance.

     "What about sharing tongues?" Berrypaw meowed loudly. "Are we not supposed to groom the dead cat's pelt?"

     "We can't risk Shining Clan getting any angrier with us." We turned around to face Snowthistle. "I will hold a meeting tonight to mourn for Cloudpaw. We will all remember him." We watched her pad away. Berrypaw turned towards me, sniffling slightly.

     "How could this happen? I checked up on Cloudpaw this morning, and he was the one who was recovering the fastest!" Berrypaw exclaimed. We shared worried glances. I looked away first.

     "I'll go check up on someone. We can't just stand here and do nothing or else someone will yowl at us," I sighed dejectedly. I wanted to get out of camp, and away from the abundant scent of death, but I couldn't abandon my clan. Berrypaw nodded.

     "I can go check up on Dad," Berrypaw murmured. We sat there for one more solemn moment, mourning Cloudpaw's passing before scurrying off to the medicine den. I pulled my ears back as I entered the den, full of illness and death. A light gray pelt caught the edge of my vision, and I pulled myself away from the main path to approach the cat.

     "Um... Foxpaw?" I glanced down at the frail, quiet body. I waited a couple of seconds, wondering if she, as well, was dead. I dipped my head, turning away before her paw grabbed mine.

     "Fernpaw, is it?" She wheezed. I turned around, sitting down as her paw let go of mine.

     "Yes... I heard you and Cloudpaw were... uh..." I went silent; wondering if she had heard of Cloudpaw yet.

     "Close. Very close. Perhaps too close. Hey, you um... He had a good life, yeah? Some bad decisions, but he was good at soul. Kind and gentle and sensitive. He scratched me when we first met... took him some time to apologize. But he was good; he never meant to cause any harm. You know that, right? Where you do something bad that wasn't meant to be bad?" She coughed, tears starting to leave her closed eyes. I shifted uncomfortably, looking down at her, unsure of what to say.