Warriors: What A Nightmare

Chapter nine-Flowerpaw

Flowerpaw sat outside the medicine cats' den, waiting for Maplefur to emerge. It was too crowded inside ever since Pinespots had moved in due to a bad cough. The whole Clan was worried that he would be the first to catch greencough, so he was being quarantined in the medicine den.

Come on, I need to talk to you, Flowerpaw mentally willed the medicine cat to come out. It had been a quarter-moon since she had last talked to Maplefur with Nightpaw, and she didn't want to wait for another quarter-moon for Maplefur to talk to StarClan.

"Hey, Nightpaw," Beepaw greeted as he stepped out of the medicine den.

Does he know about us being switched? Flowerpaw wondered.

"Hi Beepaw," Flowerpaw responded.

"Are you waiting for someone?" Beepaw inquired, tilting his head to the side.

"Maplefur," Flowerpaw meowed simply, trying to look past the tabby into the den.

"Oh, she's busy," Beepaw informed her. "Pinespots is having a bad bout of coughing and we can't leave him alone."

Flowerpaw groaned. She really needed to talk to Maplefur. Alone.

"Can't you stay with him and let me talk to Maplefur?" Flowerpaw huffed impatiently.

Beepaw looked at her strangely as if she had something wrong with her.

"Nightpaw, are you okay?" Beepaw asked nervously. "You've been acting kind of strange lately."

"Oh, so Maplefur hasn't told you," Flowerpaw grumbled softly.

"Told me what?" Beepaw asked, his voice rising slightly with anxiety.

"Ask Maplefur," Flowerpaw growled. "It's all her fault."
She stomped off, leaving Beepaw looking very confused. Flowerpaw had decided she'd had enough of this, she wanted her body back. Of course, she couldn't talk to anyone about it apart from Nightpaw and Maplefur, and the latter always seemed to be busy.

The sun was starting to set, washing the camp in a dull orange light. A chilly breeze swept over the moor and into the camp, making Flowerpaw's black fur stand on end.

Her gaze flicked around the camp, looking for a particular golden tabby pelt. She spotted herself sitting between Pigeonpaw and Cherrypaw, sharing a large rabbit. Flowerpaw's mouth watered as she longed to be sharing fresh-kill with her litter-mates again.

I'm sorry, Cherrypaw, I didn't mean to break your heart, Flowerpaw silently told her sister as she recalled the awkward conversation between them when Cherrypaw had confessed her feelings for Nightpaw.

She continued to stare at the three cats for slightly too long, and Nightpaw looked up and locked eyes with her. She quickly looked away, not wanting Nightpaw to think that she was staring at him.

She flopped down in Nightpaw's nest, trying to push the image of him and Cherrypaw out of her mind.

Why does the idea of them together make me so annoyed? She thought to herself. This is ridiculous, he's just a stupid, annoying, smart, strong, sweet tom...

Flowerpaw shook her head clear of the thoughts and tried to lull herself to sleep. A dark shadow made her open her eyes, and she looked up to see a golden tabby standing over her, smiling kindly.

"You look lonely," Nightpaw mewed, sitting down beside her. "I thought I'd join you."
"Why thank you," Flowerpaw giggled. "That's so kind of you."

Nightpaw looked down at his paws, gave his chest fur a quick lick, and then looked back into Flowerpaw's eyes.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" he asked, standing up again.