Love Story~6

Instructions

Fallowpaw was having a very different night. /Monster… Monster./ The word was ringing in her head, bouncing from ear to ear, mocking her. She saw the terror in the tom’s eyes, heard the other’s words in her mind until they were consuming her, until they *were* her. Until she was a monster. /Monster, monster, monster.../ She was, wasn’t she? She had attacked that innocent cat out of the blue, for no reason. How could she do that to him? She was a monster. The world circled around her head, whispering and screaming at the same time. As she stared at her paws, she could almost see it. Her claws would elongate, her fur would fall off in patches to reveal gray, weathered skin. Her body shrunk, revealing the fractured outlines of ribs. Her teeth grew longer and deadlier, sharp enough to kill with just a scratch. There she was. Horrid. Cruel. A monster. A monster. A Monster. A Mo- In the back of her mind, she heard her name ring. What was her name? It was Monster-no, no, that wasn’t right.. What had the cat said? “Fallowpaw? You always have fun ideas.” Ideas, fun, something to do.. Fallowpaw. That was it, Fallowpaw was her name. Fallowpaw. She quickly raised her head, snapped out of her transe. “Hm? Oh, uhm..” /Your name is Fallowpaw, not Monster. Now think of a game, Fallowpaw. Something to do. Something fun./ “Let’s.. Let’s...” After a moment of thinking, she perked up. “Let’s have a race!” She finally exclaimed, eyes bright. Only, as the other apprentices proceeded to talk, she all too easily slipped back into her mind. Darkness, darkness and monsters. The tom was crying, she was hurting him, and he was crying. Feeling eyes on her, her head snapped up, eyes wide. /Be happy, Fallowpaw./ “Oh, well I’m *obviously* going-it was my idea.” Before long, they were all lined up: Cricketpaw, Fallowpaw, Applepaw, Badgerpaw, and Mosspaw. Applepaw spoke. “One, two, three..” “Go!” The apprentices burst forward, eyes bright and grins on their faces. Almost immediately Fallowpaw fell behind, letting her grin fade into a smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of mottled brown fur, and in a moment Mosspaw was in front of her. Fallowpaw skidded to a stop right before running into the other she-cat, eyes wide. “Uhm.. h-hi?” She mewed, confused as to why Mosspaw wasn’t racing with the others. She might’ve won, too. “What’s up with you?” The she-cat asked bluntly. Fallowpaw froze. “I.. w-what do you mean?” “I mean, it’s pretty obvious-too bad those mouse-brains back there don’t have any common sense.” Mosspaw glanced over her shoulder to where the three apprentices were getting closer to the end of their race. “What’s wrong?” “Uhm..” /Don’t tell her don’t tell her don’t tell her.. You *can’t* tell her! I barely know her-I shouldn’t bother her with this stuff!/ “It’s nothing, I-I’m just tired. I had a long day of training.” Fallowpaw smiled shakily. What you most likely don’t know about Mosspaw at this point is that, one: in most situations she’s quite blunt, and two: she can read cats like a book. That does not always mean she will lend a paw to help them, unlike our friend Fallowpaw, who is selfless whether or not she knows how a cat is feeling. They differ in those ways, but you will come to see that for yourself in the not too distant future. “You’re a bad liar.” Mosspaw mewed bluntly. “And if you don’t wanna tell me, that’s fine. Just tell me you don’t want to talk about it.” Glancing over her shoulder once more, she saw the others nearly at the rock. “C’mon, let’s catch up.” Just then, a shriek cut across the field and they watched a dark silhouette fall. Sending each other startled looks, both she-cats rushed towards their friends. “Ow, ow, ow..” Applepaw was on the ground, Badgerpaw crouched beside her and Cricketpaw hovering nearby nervously. Looking up, green eyes met green and the partly golden she-cat spotted her friend. “I-I’m sorry, I’m probably just overreacting..” She mewed, trying to get to her paws. Letting out a sharp gasp she went limp, Badgerpaw trying his best to soften the fall.