Thorncall was pacing on the beach in the middle of the night, kicking sand every time her stepped. It was windy, so the waves were huge. It was nice to have the sound of waves crashing on the shore to drown out his thoughts. And the smell of salt to dull the scent of his mother that he would catch every so often. It wasn't that she was actually there, it was just that he was imagining it. Maybe it was his body's way of comforting him, preventing him from losing his mind. He plopped down, and sand flew up around him. Thorncall looked out at sea, his eyes seeing a familiar pelt over the waves. He instantly jumped up, his paws taking him to the water faster than they had ever moved before. When his paws splashed into the water, the image began to run away, jumping over waves. Thorncall ignored the cold water. He rushed in but when he'd gotten far enough, the waves just pushed him back, making him swallow a mouthful of salt water. The image cocked its head to the side, and stronger than the sound of crashing waves, the voice rang out, "Be careful, dear." He smiled and got back up. "Mom!" He laughed, tears rushing to his eyes. "I knew you would come to me!" So he sat back down, he knew she would come to him. She was returning to shore, but when she got closer, he could see the wounds on her flank. The dog bites. Thorncall's eyes started to spew tears and he closed them, hoping the image would go away. It did, at least the blood and wounds did. Now the image was running away on the beech. The weird thing was that when she ran, no sand was thrown into the air. He ran after her, but when he caught up to her and attempted to grab her, she turned into nothing but dust. "Huh?" He grunted. Thorncall looked around the beach, and whipped around, only to see his mother again. Scarred, and beaten up. Her voice boomed out again. "Why didn't you help me, Thorncall?" It wasn't angry, just sad. "I tried. I was too late." He sank down to the sand, and put his paws over his head. "Go away, you aren't real." Maybe she was real, he had seen StarClan cats before! "That's a lie and you know it." She was angry now. "Get out of my head!" He yelled, crawling backwards. He squeezed his eyes shut, and kept them shut until he could only hear the sound of waves and wind. Thorncall slowly opened his eyes up again. She was gone. He curled up in the sand, putting his tail over his head and covering his ears with his paws. He sobbed. ---- Beech wasn't actually there, he was imagining it. Also, I know it says "beech" instead of "beach", there's a reason for that. Beech belongs to
