Reedwhisper's Visions [The Sequel to Leafpool's Choice]

Chapter 6

When Reedkit woke up, it was pitch black. The ground was icy cold beneath her paws. She shivered. A few leaves rustled in the wind or skittered across the clearing. 

Reedkit squinted out at her surroundings but could see nothing. Clouds covered the sky, and Reedkit couldn't see a single twinkling speck. It was all dark, but there were whispers. 

Reedkit stood up, walking out of the shelter of the willow to look around her. All was dark and silent, save for the whispers that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, all at once. 

Carefully, Reedkit took another few steps forward. She studied her surroundings as best as she could in the dark, and then took another few steps, reminding herself to stay alert. Reedkit lifted her nose to sniff the air, but she could smell nothing. 

There were no cats. 

So what was she hearing? Who was whispering in the dark without leaving a trace?

Her ears flicked back and forth, straining to hear the sounds, but the words were all muffled jumbles. She couldn't understand a thing.

A cold gust of wind blew through the clearing, chilling Reedkit to the bone, but it did nothing to deter the voices. They only seemed to grow louder as the wind rustled in the trees. 

The voices that were once whispers were growing, in a rising crescendo, but Reedkit still could not make out a thing. Words jumbled on top of one another and formed a chorus of sound. 

Reedkit shivered and shrunk back into herself. Whispers became conversations, and conversations turned to arguments, until it sounded like a full-blown war was taking place within Reedkit's head.

Can nobody else hear the sounds?

Am I just crazy?

The cacophony of noise grew louder still, swelling and growing with every passing minute. Reedkit crouched on the ground, ears flattened back to her head, but it didn't help a bit. 

The yowls seemed to mix into one solid wave of sound crashing down on Reedkit again and again, threatening to drown her at any moment.

"Stop, please," Reedkit mumbled, but her weak mew was not even audible to her own ears, lost in the roaring of others around her.

"Stop!" Reedkit strained to be heard, but it, too, was lost in the seemingly endless yowls of the other cats.

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Reedkit yelled. 

The yowling and screeching feel silent. There wasn't a single whisper. 

Was it a dream?

Was it my imagination?

"Reedkit, are you alright?" Leafpool burst out of the medicine den, frenzied and concerned. 

"There were... there were voices, all around me... and endless fighting... I couldn't stop them... they're gone now... I think...."

"What happened?" Heatherkit asked, padding out from the shelter of the willow.

"Reedkit heard something... strange, that's all. Go back to bed, Heatherkit," Leafpool nodded to the tabby kitten, and she slipped away. 

Leafpool took a few careful steps towards Reedkit. "Did you see the cats?"

"No," Reedkit responded.

"I don't know what you saw, Reedkit, but I think we have no reason to be concerned. Come back to the medicine den with me." Leafpool padded away, into the shade of the willow. 

Reedkit ambled in the general direction of the medicine den, still shivering. She curled up in her nest, but she didn't get a drop of sleep. Confusion and fear kept Reedkit awake all night, terrified of what this strange vision could've meant.