Rosepaw's Sorrow

Instructions

~ Rosepaw's Sorrow ~ (Part 1) “Snakefang! Snakefang! Snakefang!” Rosepaw cheered, raising her voice above the rest of the cats in the clearing. At last, Snakefang was a warrior. Happiness flooded through Rosepaw as she thought of what an accomplishment it was. Snakefang deserved to be a warrior more than anyone. Sure he was moody most of the time, and often acted coldhearted, she was sure there was more to him than just that. A slight pang of anxiety shot through her as she thought of what may come next. Today, she vowed, was the day she was going to admit her true feelings to Snakefang. Taking a deep breath, she fixed her gaze once again on Snakefang. By now he was pushing his way through the crowd of warriors, headed straight for the tunnel leading out of camp. “Hey, Snakefang, wait up!” Rosepaw called. But he was already vanishing out into the forest. Rosepaw finally caught up to Snakefang a little way from the camp, in a small clearing. Snakefang appeared to be staring in his reflection in the water, his tail tip twitching slightly. “Snakefang?” Rosepaw mewed shyly, a lump fixing in her throat. What if he didn’t feel the same way? What if he yelled at her and mocked her? How could she exist without him, knowing that he didn’t love her too? What if he did, how would she know? ‘Ask him,’ her mind screamed, startling her out of her troubled thoughts. “Leave me alone,” Snakefang growled coldly, not turning to face her. Rosepaw pinned her ears to the side of her head, taking another deep breath. “I’m sorry-- I just wanted to talk. A-are you alright?” she managed. He turned his face toward her, his face full of hatred. “Don't you see? No one cares about me. I'm as useless as they say. It's as if no cat remembers what I’ve done for them.” Rosepaw felt a tremor run through her. This was it, this was her chance! She felt all of the compassion she felt for the tom come flooding in, and she smiled brightly. “I care. I have since the moment I met you. I-- I love you Snakefang,” she murmured, her face feeling hot. “I always have and I always will. I want to be with you, I want to start a family-- to have kits," she purred, imagining their future together. She desperately longed to be with him, more than she knew, and more than she could put into words. Bravely she met his gaze, anxiously awaiting his response. But to her surprise he did not seem thrilled by this, but instead bristled with fury. His gaze narrowed coldly, curling his lip and digging his claws into the ground. “No,” he snarled, whirling to face her, his face twisting in fury. “You are nothing but a foolish young cat, you know nothing of love. You are as blind as all the rest of them! I don't want you, I never cared for you,” he hissed. A sharp searing pang of pain shot through Rosepaw, and she felt as though she could hardly breathe. Everything she had hoped for was gone, replaced instead by the most pain she’d ever felt in her lifetime. He didn’t love her. He hated her. He hated her more than she knew. She was blind, blind and oblivious to the fact he never cared for her as much as she cared for him. Who was she to think he might come around eventually and learn to love her too? After all she had done for him, after she devoted her whole life to him, what right did he have to turn her away? “How foolish was I?” she choked out, anger flooding through her from ears to tail tip as she stared at the selfish tom. “Here I was all this time chasing after your heart, but you don’t even have one,” she burst out, her gaze narrowing in an unimaginable amount of anger. At once, she turned and fled, racing in the direction of Fernclan’s camp. She hated him. She hated everything about him. So why couldn’t she bear the thought of having to live without him? She rounded the corner, her heart pounding in her ears. Something flashed out of the corner of her eye, claws outstretched. Rosepaw let out a shriek, but not before claws met her throat. She could barely feel the pain. Her cry was abruptly cut off. She hit the ground, her world spiraling into darkness. Rosepaw sat up, and shook herself. "Where am I?" She said. "Where everyone goes after they die; Starclan." A new voice said. Rosepaw's eyes widened. "I'm dead?!" She yelped. "Follow me," The new cat mewed. Rosepaw followed her to the edge of Starclan and looked down. Rosepaw saw Snakefang trudge back to camp carrying her body. He laid her down when he arrived, guilt and grief mapped his face. It was only then that he realized he loved her after all-- he realized after he killed her. THE END (To maybe be continued...)